&54 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



25. Best display In speclnl designs lu beeswax: 



a Select Italian queen, bj- Udo Toepperwein, S2.00. 

 b Musbrooiu spawn, by tbe same, $1.50. 



26. Best display of fruit preserved in boney : 



a One Italian queen, by Udo Toepperwem, 81.50. 

 6 Mushroom spawn, by tbe same, Sl.OO. 

 27 Best collection of honey-plants, pressed and mounted : 

 'a Comb foundation, by Udo Toepperwein,»3.00. 

 b One Jumbo smoker, hive-tool, brush, and gloves, by the 

 Texas Seed and Floral Co., $2.50. 



''■ a^^o'^e'^SdTyp^rtan queen, by Willie Atchley S1.50. 



b One Atchley improved queen, by the same, Sl.bO. 

 29 Best instructive display in apiarian products, and of vari- 

 ous uses made of honey and beeswax: „,.,,. 



a One eight-frame colony of Caucasian beea, by Willie 



f) Three untested queens, by Vietor-KnoIIe Ap. Co., $3.00. 

 30. Best and largest display of bee-lieepers' supplies; 



a One Italian breeding queen, by \ ictor-KnolIe Apiary 



Co., $6.00. 

 b On,e Italian breeding queen, by the same, $.i.00. 



HINTS ON BEE-FOUAGE. 



The German empire of to-day is hardly 

 more than a third of a century old, and yet 

 in many respects the Germans are at the 

 head. 'Their advance in almost all lines is 

 phenomenal. They have taken highest rank 

 in research, and have justly gained a reputa- 

 tion for close, thorough, accurate work that 

 any of us may well covet. How is th's to be 

 explained? The Germans are not as good 

 workers, nor do they work with the energy, 

 anywhere near, that the Amei'icans exhibit. 

 It is said by good authorities that the Ger- 

 mans will do a third less in a day than will 

 the Americans. I think that the word "thor- 

 oughness" explains the astonishing progress 

 of this great people. They show this same 

 thorougiiness in observation, and so are not 

 'hindered by inaccurate or incomplete knowl- 

 edge. Thus when they tell us that the bees 

 get a very considerable part of their honey 

 from the phacelia, they know that it is so, 

 and we may believe their statement. In such 

 matters the Germans may give us two excel- 

 lent hints. They know; and, what is more 

 to the purpose, they know positively. How 

 many of us have really observed so as to have 

 any idea, from our own examination, just 

 where the bees get their nectar? and when 

 we have a thought in the matter, how many 

 of us are sure of the facts? Our German 

 brothers tnow that from phacelia, an intro- 

 duced plant that occupies waste ground, they 

 get much of their best honey. Is there not 

 an important suggestion here forus? Should 

 we not ask our Department of Agriculture 

 to seek out "phacelias" in other countries 

 for us? and should we not observe our own 

 plants more carefully, and see if we have not 

 in our own fields, and along our own road- 

 sides, plants that, if they were more numer- 

 ous, would add greatly to our honey resources? 

 We know that cold and drouth dry up the 



nectar fountains of many of our honey-plants. 

 May there not be scattering plants rich in 

 nectar-secretion that are independent of heat 

 and drouth, or at least more independent 

 than many of the plants on which we have 

 heretofore depended? I have been led to 

 this opinion by noting the bees on wild plants 

 when the orange blossoms and alfalfa seem- 

 ed not to attract them at all. We know that 

 the rapid growth of our useful plants, conse- 

 quent upon cultivation, enfeebles them in 

 other ways; and, if so, why not in this mat- 

 ter of nectar secretion? I believe that we 

 should know of a truth, by actual observa- 

 tion, just what plants give nectar, the quali- 

 ty of the nectar, their susceptibility to cold 

 and to drouth, and then when we find 

 "weeds" which are of real value we see to 

 it that they occupy every possible foot of 

 waste ground in the range of our bees. I 

 have known but one bee-keeper, in all my 

 long acquaintance with bee-keepers, that I 

 thought improved his opportunities to any 

 thing like the degree possible, and warrant- 

 ed by the importance of the matter, and that 

 was our old friend D. A. Jones, of F.eetou, 

 Canada. Along the railroad, and in all waste 

 places, he had planted borage, motherwort, 

 catnip, figwort, and a host of other honey- 

 plants which wei'e no longer weeds, as they 

 were no longer plants out of place. I believe 

 that a close search in other landrf, close ob- 

 servation of honey-plants that we may know 

 surely just their value, and extensive plant- 

 ing in all waste places, will very likely add 

 materially to our honey resources, and very 

 likely make us more independent of cold 

 and .drouth. 



TREE-PLANTING FOR HONEY. 



It may be well for the bee-keeper to pay 

 in part, at least, for the seed to induce his 

 neighbor to grow alsike clover and alfalfa. 

 It surely will oe wise for every bee-keeper to 

 become a crank on the matter of tree- plant- 

 ing along the public way. There are three 

 reasons, each of which would be enough to 

 warrant every effort to make this matter of 

 tree-planting general. The value of trc es to 

 the country in aiJecting climate can not be 

 overestimated. Europe has learned from bit- 

 ter experience the neces.-ity of trees to regu- 

 late temperature and rainfall, and so is far 

 more alive to the necessity of tree-planting 

 than are we. Wisdom shouts at us to learn 

 of them, and save the fertility of our country. 



Again, nothing adds so much to the beauty 

 of a landscape as do beautiful trees. Britain, 

 France, Germany, and, indeed, almost all 

 the countries of Europe, are more like great 

 parks than like the treeless, desert-like plains 

 so often seen in our own America. Beauty 

 is always attractive; and would we increase 

 the value of our farms and lots, we will 

 make all haste to push tree-planting to the 

 utmost. Much of Germany is famed for its 

 avenues of uniform trees along all the high- 

 ways. Let us all spring to our opportuni- 

 ties, and see to it that all our roadsides are 

 adorned with the best of our magnificent 

 forest trees. 



