1883 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



89 



hands, was commented on at the Kalamazoo 

 convention. Two reasons may be assigned 

 for it. One is, that our old bee-men have 

 without doubt overstoclced most of their lo- 

 calities for average seasons. Another is, 

 that the fresh enthusiasm of an ABC schol- 

 ar is often worth more than the ripe experi- 

 ence of one who knows how, but don't do it, 

 always. The new hands work with a will, 

 and leave nothing undone : old hands often 

 get lazy or indifferent. The reports through 

 Gleanings, month by month, bring this 

 point out in a most wonderful manner. 

 Aside from this it is likely that an untruth- 

 ful man might turn his attention to bees. If 

 he is untruthful in other things he would 

 most likely be in his reports. The best way 

 to cure him is to give him to understand 

 that untruth, like murder, will out, and to 

 go right to him and tell him of it. Of course, 

 very great care should be used in doing this, 

 that we do not wrong an innocent party. 

 Very few of the reports we have given have 

 ever been questioned, and by far the greater 

 part of them are corroborated by tlie neigh- 

 bors, for most bee-men are such a genial, 

 neighborly sort of people, that they call in 

 their neighbors to see what wonders they 

 are doing. 



PARALLEL BAR TO SAW-TABLK. 



I hrtve just been reading your directions for fitting 

 up a buzz-saw, in the Dec. No., and can agree with 

 them fully; but there is one thing you omit, in tell- 

 ing how to place the parallel bar on the saw-table. 

 To have this bar so it will at all times be perfectly 

 parallel with the saw (and this is very important to 

 do good work) at whatever distance from it, it is ab- 

 solutely necessary to have the bars of iron on which 

 it swings, exactly of the same length, measured from 

 the holes in the ends of the bars where they are 

 screwed or bolted to the wooden bar, or gauge, and 

 the table. To adjust it properly, place the gauge- 

 bar exactly parallel with the saw, and then extend 

 the iron bars at exactly a right anyle with the gauge- 

 bar, when they are screwed or bolted to the table. 

 This may seem like a small matter to write j'ou 

 about; but a lack of this knowledge once caused me 

 considerable bother and perplexity, and then I had 

 to go back to the blacksmith shop and get another 

 pair of irons made. Before I took Mr. Greeley's fa- 

 mous advice and " went west," I had a shop with 

 steam power, and quite a lot of wood-working ma- 

 chinery, and hence feel a good deal better posted in 

 that branch than I do in any thing pertaining to 

 bees. E. Hunt, 23. 



Sheridan, Montcalm Co., Mich., Jan., 1883. 



You are right, friend II. I have had ex- 

 actly the trouble you mention. These irons, 

 wlien bored, should be screwed together, 

 and tlien they are exactly right. Further- 

 more, the holes in them should be at least i 

 inch, and they should turn on pivots of tem- 

 pered steel, so as to avoid any shake or 

 spring. Uoards sometimes have a fashion 

 of crowding, and running on the saw, and 

 we want this bar to hold them right to the 

 mark. 



HONEY TROII ASPARAGUS. 



Is asparagus a honey-producing plant? I have a 

 small patch in my garden, which, after having been 

 cut as long as wauted in spring, is allowed to run 



up and blossom and go to seed. It remains in blos- 

 som a long time, and I notice that, while in bloom, 

 great numbers of bees are very busy i;pon it from 

 early dawn until dark. I am satisfied that they 

 gather quite an amount of pollen from it; but what 

 amount, and what quality of honey, as yet I am un- 

 able to determine. The flowers are very numerous, 

 small, and of a rather peculiar shape, having an al- 

 most bell-shaped, six-partite perianth upon an ar- 

 ticulated stalk; six stamens, one style, with three 

 recurved stigmas. Who has had experience 

 enough to tell us more about it? Bees certainly 

 work upon it very diligently; and if it should be 

 positively ascertained that it produces an abun- 

 dance of honey of good quality, it would be a prof- 

 itable crop for bee-keepers to cultivate, from the 

 fact that it is a vegetable that sells well In market, 

 at remunerative prices, in the early spring months, 

 while enough might be left to run up and blos- 

 som for the bees to work upon. It would come 

 in bloom, too, when other honey-producing plants 

 are gone. H. V. N. Dimmick. 



Hubbardsville, N. Y., Jan. 23, 18S3. 



I, too, have seen bees at work on aspara- 

 gus, but our patch was so limited I could 

 not well ascertain how valuable it might be. 

 Will those who live where it is raised large- 

 ly, tell us more about it V 



THAT STATISTICAL -TABLE MATTER. HAVE YOU AT- 

 TENDED TO IT? 



I wish you would give a strong urge in Feb. num- 

 ber about sending in reports (editorially.) A steady 

 stream has been coming for 2 or 3 weeks, and It 

 looks like a good success; but some, perhaps, may 

 think the omission of one report makes little differ- 

 ence, or that they have sent their report to conven- 

 tions. Now, if you lay yourself out on it you can, I 

 think, get each r'iader of Gleanings to report. 

 Mercury 31^ below zero j'esterday ; 29 to-day. 



Marengo, 111., Jan. 23, 1883. C. C. Miller. 



\'ou hear it, friends I Xow please go, this 

 minute, and give friend Miller that report 

 on a postal. If we don't give the world 

 some statement of what we are doing, how 

 will they know it isn't all glucose, and that 

 we are a class of frauds banded together, 

 just to impose on honest, hard-working peo- 

 ple y Don't make good resolutions, but just 

 act. If you get the postal, and put it down 

 right now, it will be done with. If you 

 can't write it, tell it to some of the children. 

 On page 2G of January No., friend Miller has 

 told you just what form to put it in, and 

 there are only six items. Please, now, don't 

 drop it, but do it this minute, and then you 

 will have a clear conscience for the rest of 

 the day. 



ARTIFICIAL shade; SUNFLOWERS. 



In the spring, in my hot-bed I plant sunflower 

 seeds. When up about 8 or 10 inches high, I trans- 

 plant around my hives, leaving a passage behind to 

 work the hives. This succeeds well. The flowers 

 are grown up when the hot weather sets in, and 

 makes a splendid shade, and it screens the operator 

 when working with the combs. Sunflowers furnish 

 pollen and honey; bees worked hard on them all 

 the time they were in bloom, and when ripe they 

 furnished a lot of feed for my fancy chickens, so 

 they are very profitable. Wm. Hartby. 



Brussels, Ont., Can., Dec. 18, 1883. 



