344 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



When I open Gleanings I keep turning- 

 until I come to Our Homes, then I just dive 

 in with all my heart. When this is all de- 

 voured I g^enerally go back to Stray Straws, 

 then to Editorial, then to Doolittle, then to 

 Rambler; but, oh my! how it hurts me to 

 think there is no more Rambler! How I miss 

 him! Then I read General Correspondence 

 and questions and answers. I think I get 

 most information from the correspondence. 

 So, let us have Gleanings just about as it 



is. G. W. DOLEY. 



Smithland, Ky., Feb. 28. 



PHACELIA AS A FORAGE-PLANT IN GER- 

 M ANY. 



Dr. C. C. Miller says, page 8, speaking 

 of phacelia: " But no one has told us yet 

 about its value as a forage-plant." A Mr. 

 Karger of Schreibendorf, writes: Mr. L., a 

 practical farmer, sowed about the middle 

 of May, phacelia, on a piece of ground that 

 had been in potatoes the previous year. 

 Notwithstanding the cold and wet weather 

 it grew luxuriantly, and reached an aver- 

 age height of 80 cm. While the phacelia 

 was in bloom, although Mr. L. fed it to cat- 

 tle that had been getting grass and green 

 clover, yet they ate it voraciously. He also 

 noted an increase of milk in quantity and 

 quality. 



A Mr. Haunschild, of Klein-Sagewitz, 

 says that a farmer of his place had 7 acres 

 of phacelia; after the first cut of red clover 

 had been fed, the phacelia was cut while the 

 second week in bloom. The cows ate it 

 with eagerness, and could hardly get 

 enough. I think the above testimony ought 

 to be sufficient to encourage all those to a 

 trial who would like to have a bee-plant 

 that might be grown in quantity to fill out 

 a gap in the honey-flow while its value as 

 feed (green or hay) would pay the farmer 

 for his trouble and expense, apart from its 

 value as a honey-yielding plant. Phacelia 

 begins to bloom about six weeks after sow- 

 ing, and care should be taken not to sow it 

 too thick. J. A. Hebrrly. 



Weisweil, Baden, Germany, Jan. 22. 



A NEW HONEY-SHRUB. 



I have watched Gleanings closely for 

 bee-plants, as I believe that, if we ever 

 make bee keeping a success in Kansas, we 

 shall have to assist them in every way pos- 

 sible; and one of the main waj's is plant- 

 ing alsike clover, sowing catnip along hedg- 

 es; sweet clover, etc., all of which I have 

 been doing for a number of years. But 

 last year, in purchasing a bill of shrub- 

 bery I included one blue spirea [Caryop- 

 teris niosfacanthus), a new hardy plant, I 

 think from Japan. It is a sturdy, upright 

 grower, and is extremely floriferous, bloom- 

 ing profusely the latter part of the season 

 until hard freezing weather. At the time 

 I discovered the first bloom, it was covered 

 with bees. I have never seen a plant that 

 bees seemed so fond of. S. G. Bryant. 



Neosho Falls, Kansas. 



WM. M'EVOY AS arbitrator IN A CASE 

 INVOLVING BEES AS A NUISANCE. 



By careful and long pleading I am bring- 

 ing certain neighbors around, and will get 

 all things settled as nice as the flowers of 

 May- The one party would not put up a 

 board wall 12 feet high, and the other would 

 not accept it if he did. I have this about 

 settled, I believe, without arbitration or 

 law. Wm. McEvoy. 



Woodburn, Can., Mar. 14. 



[I believe it was J. B. Hall, at one of the 

 conventions in Ontario, who, referring in a 

 facetious way to Wm. McEvoy and of the 

 splendid way he had of getting along with 

 people when sent out as an officer to enforce 

 the law, said that he had "just enough 

 Irish blarney ' ' to make everybody feel good- 

 natured; that his very face and manner 

 were enough to disarm opposition; and be- 

 fore he got through, the people who were 

 ready to show fight were unconsciously com- 

 plying with his requests and with the law. 

 Well, it appears this same man can use his 

 Irish blarney to good account in settling 

 troubles between a bee-keeper and his 

 neighbor. The province of Ontario had bet- 

 ter keep him as a paid official to settle rows 

 of this kind out of court, for that is always 

 the cheapest way. — Ed.] 



MOVING BEES SHORT DISTANCES. 



I wish to move 125 colonies of bees about 

 20 rods to a better and more convenient lo- 

 cation. Will you give me a point or two on 

 keeping the bees from going back to the old 

 stand? N. J. Crawford. 



Armada, Mich., Mar. 17. 



[It is a difficult matter to move bees about 

 twenty rods at this time of the j'ear. If you 

 had written during February I would have 

 advised you to move them before they had a 

 general flight. At that time the transposi- 

 tion could have been very easily effected 

 without loss. You can move them now pro- 

 viding you move the whole apiary, keeping 

 each hive and group of hives in the exact 

 ratio that it stood before in the old location; 

 but the whole apiary must be moved at 

 once, or say toward night. The surround-- 

 ings in the old location must be changed as 

 much as possible; throw in brush, farming- 

 implements, any thing that will fill up and 

 make it look like any thing bu^ the old spot. 

 The bees would be likely to find their new 

 location, but it may result in the loss of 

 some of your queens in the general mix-up. 

 —Ed.] 



a remedy for pear-blight. 

 I should like to have a few of those west- 

 ern pear-growers try a simple remedy for 

 pear-blight, as I never saw it in print. It 

 may be old to them, and no good ; but here 

 in Ohio I believe it will restore diseased 

 pear-trees if taken in time. Cut out the 

 diseased wood, and bury a few pieces of 

 rusty scrap iron around the fibrous roots of 

 the tree. I tried this on a Bartlett pear- 



