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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



THE PROFESSIONAL BEE=KEEPER. 

 Brood Next to Top-Bars; Chunk Honey. 



BY FR. GREINER. 



The filbert-bush has of late been mention- 

 ed as a honey-plant; in fact, it has been 

 recommended as such in the German bee- 

 periodicals for many years. Dr. Dzierzon 

 has often made much ado over it. It is en- 

 tirely worthless for bee-forage. I have 

 many large bushes on my farm, some in the 

 bee-yard, but I have never seen a single 

 bee work on the catkins, or the female 

 blossoms, which latter are most inconspicu- 

 ous. At this writing, March 19, the catkins 

 are full of dust (pollen); and when jarring 

 the bush the pollen will sift out. I fail to 

 understand why the bees are not seen on the 

 filbert when they are frequently found on 

 the tag alder or swamp alder {Almis ru- 

 bra), the nature of which is similar to the 

 filbert. For bee- forage I would class the 

 alder away ahead of the filbert, but not as 

 good as willow. In other localities the fil- 

 bert may be visited by bees, but not here. 

 In Germany the woods are full of filbert- 

 bushes. Well do I remember the fun we 

 boys had gathering the nuts, filling all our 

 pockets, etc. They were a treat and a lux- 



ury to us. Here we pay 20 cents a pound 

 for them. Why not grow a few? They 

 will do well in shady places. 



As to bees forming a circle around their 

 queen, I want to add that, of course, this is 

 not always the case. At times the queen 

 is treated seemingly very disrespectfully — 

 pushed about and run over; but quite fre- 

 quently the bees behave in such a manner 

 toward her. 



Say, Mr. Editor, did anybody inform you 

 before that the professional bee-keeper has 

 been called a "humbug" by some dis- 

 gruntled friend in a certain small farm pa- 

 per? I can not understand his motive. He 

 continues thus: " Most of the would-be pro- 

 fessionals get their living off their farms or 

 in some other way." I wonder if it can 

 not be possible that the gentleman is a lit- 

 tle off. I know of some professionals who 

 have not only paid for their homes from the 

 proceeds of their bees, but have been ena- 

 bled to put out orchards, drain their lands, 

 and make many other improvements. Per- 

 haps the gentleman is of the opinion that a 

 bee-keeper is not a professional bee-keeper 

 unless he lives on a little city lot and in a 

 rented hut. I want to inform him that there 

 are many professionals who live on large 

 and small farms, raise their own fruits and 

 vegetables, and even alfalfa and alsike or 



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