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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



30 days! I do not think the feed, besides 

 what they picked up (in the same orchard 

 where the cow got the dandelions), has cost 

 over 6 cents each per duck. Is not that get- 

 ting good meat cheap enough? 



DANDELIONS FOR HONEY. 



The two articles in regard to dandelions 

 were read with very much interest, as I have 

 always considered it a vei'y valuable plant 

 for ' bee-keepers, as it comes into bloom so 

 early in the season, and being a plant yield- 

 ing both pollen and honey. The market gai'- 

 deners at Belmont, Arlington, Beverly, and 

 other surburban places near Boston, Mass., 

 have for years been raising dandelions for 

 the New England trade; and, being a plant 

 that seeds very heavily, and spreading by be- 

 ing cut, the land iia some sections of the 

 State is like a bed of gold when in bloom. 

 Nothing better than dandelions for greens. 



In 1894 I was working in the apiary of Mr. 

 J. D. Goodrich, East Hard wick, Vt., Ver- 

 mont's veteran apiarist and practical queen- 

 breeder. The fields were golden when the 

 dandelions were in bloom; and the bees, be- 

 ing extra strong for the time of year, stored 

 honey very fast from the dandelions, so we 

 had to extract it from several colonies; also 

 put on some extracting-supers to give the 

 bees more room so as not to crowd the brood- 

 chamber with honey. I have never seen any 

 thing like it since fi'om the same source. 



Piwe dandelion honey is of fine flavor, a 

 very light green as to color, but granulates 

 very quickly, being nearly solid in three days 

 after extracting if not sealed from the air. 



Mr. Hoot, I think you have an extra good 

 cow, and would sell for a good price here — 

 $75.00 or more. Bkooks D. Cook. 



South Lyndeboro, N. H., June 24. 



CAN BEES HEAR? 



I like to study bees and chickens, and all 

 domestic animals — in fact, all animated na- 

 ture, especially when I am able to lend a 

 helping hand. But I like to talk to bright 

 boys who want to lear7i more than to do any 

 thing else in the world. While at Dry Knob, 

 Mo., last fall, spending an evening, a young 

 bee-keeper called, and, soon after, another 

 one. The name of the latter was Joseph M. 

 Tietz. Well, I do not know that I ever spent 

 a happier evening than in talking with those 

 two boys, answering their numerous ques- 

 tions and giving them encouraging Avords in 

 battling against obstacles that seemed to lie 

 in the way of their progress and across the 

 pathway from earth to heaven. The inci- 

 dent was called to mind by the following 

 letter: 



I believe it was Dr. Miller who asked, " What have 

 we got to prove that bees can hear "r " I am not cer- 

 tain that is right, but, as well as I remember, it is 

 what Mr. A. I. Root told me last fall when in Daclede 

 County. Here is a very simple way to prove that bees 

 can hear; and, not only that, but that their hearing is 

 very good. 



At the close of day, when the bees have ceased work, 

 and you can hear that comfortable droniog in the hive, 



go to the back of the hive, stoop down, and bring your 

 hands together so as to make as loud a report as pos- 

 sible. Listen and you will hear that loud roar of dis- 

 turbance. Wait a moment and clap your hands again; 

 another roar will be heard. At the end of two or 

 three clappings (if they have been loud enough) you 

 will see bees running excitedly out of and into the 

 entrance, hunting for the racket. 



You do not have to be right at the hive for them to 

 hear it. With your hands one foot from the hive, and 

 your ears two feet from the hive, they can very easily 

 hear you. and so can you hear them. I tried it on 

 several colonies the other evening with the same 

 effect on all of them. Please try it. 



Oakland, Mo., April 29. R. D. Wilson. 



While I would call the above experiment 

 quite conclusive, I know some urge that the 

 bees felt the vibration of the clapping hands; 

 to which I would reply that, if I am correct, 

 all sound is vibration, and I myself am pret- 

 ty well satisfied that bees hear just as human 

 beings or other animals hear; and, as our 

 young friend proves, their hearing is very 

 acute. 



our MILLIONAIRES AND DIVORCES. 



I have several times made comments in re- 

 gard to the way our modern millionaires are 

 trampling not only law but decency under 

 foot, putting away their old wives who la- 

 bored hard and faithfully to help accumulate 

 the wealth (no doubt many times harder and 

 more faithfully than the men themselves) 

 that they might be unhindered and unham- 

 pered in chasing after some sensational ac- 

 tress. Dan Hanna's recent divorce and third 

 marriage have called forth more comment 

 and protest than almost any thing hereto- 

 fore. If I remember correctly, after he had 

 been divorced from two wives he has recent- 

 ly (and almost immediately after the divorce) 

 married ano'ther one, and a divorced one at 

 that. The editor of our Medina Gazette 

 sums it up in a terse and forcible way that 

 might seem pretty severe to some people, 

 but I think he is only taking the stand that 

 should be taken by every home paper in our 

 land. Here it is. What do you think pf it? 



Dan Hanna's frequent divorces and marriages make 

 a fine commentary on the divorce laws of this nation. 

 When he gets sick of a wife he simply casts her off. 

 forces a divorce by his nasty conduct and the lure of a 

 big alimony, and then— marries another one ! This is 

 done by law. How can respect for marriage and the 

 home thrive when law permits this sort of legalized 

 libertinism? It is such as Dan Hanna that do more 

 injury to the morals of this country than all the com- 

 mon criminals in it, and the divorce laws become a 

 public stench because of such reprobates. 



Now, friends, this is a serious matter. We 

 might argue that if men and women agree to 

 this sort of thing it is their own atfair ; but 

 how about the children born of such mar- 

 riages? and how about the example these 

 rich and many times influential men set be- 

 fore all our children — our boys and girls? 

 What will become of the homes of our land 

 if this thing continues? Or shall we give up 

 entirely having homes for our people and 

 our children? May God help us; and may 

 he help our good President in the firm stand 

 he takes in defense of our homes and the un- 

 born children of the future. 



