238 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



ly. Of course, an iron gauge which can be 

 adjusted at any required distance from tlie 

 saw is a great heJp for cutting different 

 lengths of lumber. And as before, your 

 stuif must be held tight up to this gauge, 

 yuch a table, well made, ought to cost per- 

 haps $45.00 for the short ones, or $50.00 for 

 the loilg ones, as described above. If made 

 as we have directed, it should, with a man- 

 drel of proper size, be capable of carrying a 

 VZ or 14 inch saw, and should cut up heavy 

 planks used for chaff-hive corners, or such 

 as will be required for slicing up wood into 

 separators, or any similar work. Where inch 

 boards are to be cut, or any thing thinner, 

 we pile them up until we get as many as the 

 saw will reach through. JJy this means we 

 cut three or four, or even more, where the 

 lumber is thin, at one cut, and one person 

 handles it all easily. 



FACTS AND FALLACIES IX APIOIIL.TURE. 



FRIEND WILTSE S APIARY, ETC. 



to take the photograph, a team was driven some 

 30 feet back of the small apple-tree in the fore- 

 ' ground that obsti-ucts the view of a few of the 

 near hives, and the artist placed himself in the 

 wagon, facing his instrument toward the house. It 

 was at 4 o'clock P.M., on the 26th of October. Not a 

 breath of air was stirring. A patch of spring rape 

 near the ravine had withstood the effects of a tem- 

 perature of 24° on the morning of the 18th, and was 

 Btill furnishing honey. The bees were tiy ing briskly. 



east and west, and 20 rods north and south, is in- 

 closed with an osage-orahge hedge. Eight rows of 

 apple-trees arc planted across the west end of the 

 patch (two of the trees show in the photograph), 

 and six rows extend along the north side some rods 

 beyond the house. Beyond these, in the north-east 

 corner, is a vineyard containing 600 vines. The api- 

 ary is on the south half of the patch; south of the 

 center. At the north-east is the house, and on the 

 east a dozen or more cherry-trees. A tight board 

 fence is on the north side. In the distance, on the 

 north-east and east, are two rows of forest - trees 

 along two water - courses. Several other watex-- 

 courses, skirted by timber, are within the bees' 

 range of flight. The ground on which the apiary is 

 located descends slightly to the south-west. The 

 fence and the trees check the force of the winds 

 from all sides but the south. No shade is provided 

 for the bees. 



THE HONEY-PRODnCING TREES AND PLANTS OF NE- 

 BRASKA. 



We; can reasonably expect surplus honey from 

 basswood, from the 5th of June to the 10th of July; 

 from English smart weed, from the 8th of August to 

 the 10th of September; from buckwheat, from six 

 weeks after it is sown to the time it gets ripe. We 

 may hope for honey in limited quantity from alsike 

 clover, frorii May 1.5th to June Kith; from sumac 

 (B/ut.s r/Jabra), from June 12th to July; from sumac 

 (U. CapilUna), from July 15th to August. When all 

 the conditions are right, nearly all kinds of trees 

 and many kinds of plants furnish light flows of hon- 

 ey; and nearly all furnish pollen. Without one or 

 more of the. above-mentioned trees or plants in 



APIARY AND RESIDENCE OF JEROME WILTSE. 



We had been uniting queenless slocks of bees with 

 those having queens, and s tti g the empty hives at 

 the front, and, as a consequei ce, open -paces arc 

 left, and the ap ary ha^ a str ggling appearance. 

 The blue-grass, with which the ground is covered, 

 obstructed the view of the entrances, and the bees 

 do not show. The hives near the trees, though be- 

 yond the extreme limits of the limbs, appear to be 

 under them. Ever, thing ap' ears t > be de^.resicd 

 In height, and extended in width. In other respects 

 the appearanc s ar<' rig>it. 



The apiary is located three and a half miles west 

 of the Missouri River, and Ave and a half north of 

 the Kansas line. A five-acre pntch of land, 40 rods 



abundance, and enough other trees and plants from 

 which honey and pollen can reasonably be expected 

 to furnish the necessary food continuously, or near- 

 ly so, within the range of flight of the bees of an 

 apiary, it is useless to station in this section of 

 country. The following incomplete list of the more 

 important trees and plants for the 1 ^st three years, 

 given In the table below, will give a correct idea of 

 how atmospheric changes have affected the trees 

 and plants of the country. 



COMPARATIVE TIMK OF BLOSSOMING, FOR THREE YEARS. 

 Names of Trees and Plants, and what they Produced. 

 1880 —March 3, hazel ; pollen. 25, maple; honey and pollen. 

 Api-il 2, white- willow; honey and pollen. 18, apple, plum, 

 June-berry, cotton wood; honey and pollen. 20, red-bud; 

 honey and pollen. 27, oak; pollen. 



