188S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



115 



OUR ROYAIi HOM5V-TKEE. 



A PLAN FOB PBOIiONGING THE LINDEN SEASON. 



fJlHE linden, or basswood, so far excels all known 

 honey-trees, that it has no competitor any- 

 — ' where near, close enough to be a rival. And, 

 compared with the average run of trees, its period of 

 bloom is quite long; but the bee-keeper feels sad, 

 and the bees feel " like a bear robbed of her whelps " 

 when the blooming is finally over. It would be very 

 nice if we could prolong the linden season by plant- 

 ing road-sides and pleasure-grounds and timber- 

 plantations with some kind of lindens that bloom at 

 a different season from the wild ones. In Decem- 

 ber's Exchange of 1878 I agitated the idea of planting 

 European lindens for this purpose. Reports were 

 sent in from trees already established in this coun- 

 try; and it turned out that, instead of blooming 

 later, they bloom two weeks earlier than ours — al- 

 though in the botanical flora they are marked "June 

 — August." This was rather a disappointment, but 

 we got two important facts, at any rate; one, that we 

 can prolong the linden season in the other direction 

 from what we were thinking of; and the other, that 

 lindens change their time of bloom when taken to a 

 different climate. This last fact is greatly empha- 

 sized by the report given in the A. B. J. last sum- 

 mer, of the blooming of American lindens in the bo- 

 tanical gardens of Stockholm, Sweden. How late do 

 you suppose our basswonds bloom when taken over 

 there? September fourteenth! 



Well, f illowing the report previously mentioned, 

 H. A. Davis wrote from Western North Carolina 

 that lindens bloom well Into August there; and that. 

 If taken north, he believed they would bloom much 

 later. To test the matter I sent for half a dozen lit- 

 tle trees by mail — hope the boys won't say. "You 

 stingy churl, why didn't you send for some great big 

 ones by express?" I'll do the best I can to make 

 amends, by pushing the trees ahead. My trees were 

 set March 32. 1880. One died; three fell into that 

 state of hopeless stuntedness to which transplanted 

 forest trees are so liable; and two took hold and 

 grew. One especially delights my eyes by its vigor. 

 Can't quite hope to see it bloom the coming season; 

 but next year I hope it will solve one corner of the 

 problem for us. I fear, however, that the variation 

 will not be very great, from the fact that my trees 

 came from a mountain region, which may not after 

 all be much more forward than Northern Ohio. I 

 have heard since that there are lindens in Texas 

 (called wahoo in some places there), and this is what 

 I am trying to get at in the present article. Will not 

 some public si^ihted comrade in Texas send a few to 

 Mr. Root's honejj-plantation? Texas has a very early 

 and very extreme climate; and if lindens from there 

 will endure northern winters, we may hope for as 

 much difference in the time of bloom as there is be- 

 tween New York and Stockholm. 



It is surprising to see how much the linden chang- 

 es the time of its bloom in response to a little 

 change In atmospheric conditions. The same tree 

 will vary nearly a whole month in different years. 

 And where there is a hilly country that has lindens 

 growingboth in the valleys and on the hill-tops, there 

 the happy bee-keeper has a chance to " scoop " all 

 the rest of us, when it comes to the game of brag; 

 for the trees on the bills bloom long after the others, 

 and give him a double lioden harvest. 



The linden will probably prove an easy tree to de- 



velop ornamental varieties from. On page 318 of 

 last year's A. B. J. one is mentioned that has a 

 crook in the petiole, or leaf-stalk, to throw tho sil- 

 very side of the leaf into view. It would probably 

 be easy to get a variety, with coral-red petioles and 

 leaf-veins, if it were worth while — at least it runs 

 in my head that I have seen trees that showed con- 

 siderable red. This adaptability to ornamental pur- 

 poses is likely to count something in favor of the 

 honey-supply by and by. 



Our country is rapidly approaching the point 

 where timber will have to be planted and raised as 

 a crop. The linden has one great advantage for this 

 purpose, that it will be well to keep In mind. Other 

 trees, when they are cut down, "die and make no 

 sign." A basswood stump hasn't the slightest idea 

 of dying. Protect it one year from the greedy brows- 

 ing of stock, and it will throw up a whole brood of 

 wonderfully thrifty saplings. These can be cut one 

 at a time, and shoots trained up in their places. 

 Don't you see that a basswood-timber plantation, 

 once well under way, would yield a regular j'early 

 harvest for an indefinite period? In forests where 

 basswoods grow naturally, these stools of six or 

 eight trunks of all sizes are often seen; so there is 

 no doubt of the feasibility of getting them started 

 under cultivation. Such young and quickly grown 

 trunks make the grandest kind of sections; and that 

 demand supplied, they make splendid lath. 



WINTERING REPORT. 



Packed for winter 117 colonies in my regular way, 

 and 13 more in various experimental ways. Of the 

 former lot I believe all at this date are holding the 

 fort. More bees come out and die on the snow than 

 one likes to see; but I hope it will not amount to 

 any thing serious. Of the 13 experimentals, 9 are 

 not get-at-able, and I do not know their condition ; 3 

 are O. K. ; one got drowned by the pit it was in filling: 

 with water during the flood of rain and slush with 

 which February opened out. E. E. Hasty. 



Richards, Ohio, Feb. 15, 1883. 



I am with you, friend Hasty, on the bass- 

 wood-devetoiiment project, and my 4000 are 

 coming into bloom now more and more 

 every year. In our forepts here we can find, 

 occasionally, blossoms that are as much as a 

 month apart in their time of blooming. In 

 our back volumes we have given proof that 

 they may be raised from cuttings, and it is 

 no great task to get a basswood orchard to 

 blooming. 



ANSWERS TO SOME QUESTIONS. 



ABOUT WIBE-CLOTH WINDOWS TO THE HONEY-HOUSB. 



eN page 70, in your comments to A. A, Fraden- 

 burg, you ask those who have tested Doolit- 

 tle's idea on screens for windows to report. I 

 was greatly puzzled to find out some plan of gettinir 

 the bees out of sections just taken off the hive, and 

 still not letting the bees from the outside get at the 

 sections. I tried all the different plans I could think 

 of, but only to fail, as my bees were something like 

 yours — educated to rob at every opportunity, and 

 almost without opportunity. Well, I read friend D.'s 

 plan in the A. B. J., and so, thinks I, I will try it; 

 but I am sure my bees will And the way in. So I 

 made a large box with a tight-fitting cover, and cut 

 a hole about 3 ft. square in the front, and covered it 

 with wire cloth, letting It run up about 6 in. higher 



