1883 



gleani:ngs m bee culture. 



249 



our bees need pollen and honey, that make beauti- 

 ful shades. Among the best, I think, is the box-elder. 

 Here it blooms just after the soft-maple and elm. 

 It is hardier than any other shade-tree we have, is 

 not liable to be preyed on by insects, nor burnt and 

 blistered by the hot sun in summer, as so many of 

 our shades arc. It is true, the bloom does not last 

 long; but it yields a large quantity of bee feed while 

 it does last. It serves the double purpose of a shade- 

 tree, and furnishes bee food. Bee-keepers in all of 

 our towns and villages might, with judicious effort, 

 line the streets and avenues with these honey-pro- 

 ducing trees that would be of great assistance in 

 building up their stock in the early part of the year, 

 and aid in beautifying their homes. 



William Little. 

 Marissa, St. Clair Co., 111., March 13, 1883. 



"■J'he willow you mention, friend L., has 

 been spoken of several times before in our 

 back volumes. I don't now recall the name 

 of it, but it is the one generally used by nur- 

 serymen as stock for budding on to the kil- 

 monark, or weeping-willow. This plant is 

 thoroughly disseminated over the country, 

 where these ornamental tops die, and leave 

 the natural root to sprout up. I think they 

 have been sold especially for honey-plants. 

 We have one in our grounds in bloom now, 

 this 10th day of April. We have put out the 

 cuttings, and will test them to see if they 

 are the same as those we have already. We 

 have never seen the bo.x-elder in bloom. 

 Can this willow be used for a hedge V Who 

 will tell us V 



Or Departiuciit for tliose wUo don't Sign 

 Tlicir Names, etc. 



f|HE following illustrates how a supply 

 dealer may be innocent, when circum- 

 ~~' stances seem very decidedly against 

 him:— 



Inclosed you will find one dollar, for which you 

 will please send me a copy of your ABC; or if you 

 have any thing later that you think will suit a man 

 who doesn't know any thing about bees, please send 

 that I think A B C will suit me. Also send me a 

 late copy of Gleanings. Please send as soon as 

 you can, and you will very much oblige me. 



Asbury, Mar. 14, 1883. J. M. Andrews. 



In the above letter you will notice that no 

 State is given. As the Postal Guide gives 

 nine "Asburys" in the United States, we 

 had either to write a postal card to every 

 one of so many different States, or wait un- 

 till our friend wrote again. It seems he 

 waited two weeks before he wrote again, 

 and here is his card: — 



Some time ago I sent you an order for your ABC 

 book, I sent registered letter; recieved return 

 card, but have not heard from the book yet. Will 

 you be so kind as to send it as socn as possible, for I 

 should like to have it? J.M.Andrews. 



Asbury. Warren Co., N. J., Mar. 29, 1883. 



You will notice that he seems to have pos- 

 itive proof that we received his money, and 

 also that we knew his address. lie is right 

 in saying that he did get a return card, but 



this return card is simply a card furnished 

 by the P. O. department, acknowledging the 

 receipt of the registered letter. The clerk 

 who goes to the postoffice, and signs these 

 register cards, of course does not know wheth- 

 er all the addresses are inside of the letters or 

 not ; so that, when the letter came to be 

 opened, we had no possible clew as to where 

 our friend lived, who wanted the ABC 

 book. 



FRIEND TRAIN'S IMPROVED REES. 



THE COMING BEE. 



f COMMENCED bee-keeping in the spring of 1864. 

 I bought, in February, 1864, 3 swarms of large 

 ~^ brown bees, called at the time the "Kickapoo " 

 bees. They had descended directly from wild bees 

 found in the Kickapoo woods. I kept them in the 

 old way with varying success, making a great many 

 experiments in management, winter and summer. I 

 bought and tried a great many patent hives, but did 

 the best in hives of my own devising, until the win- 

 ter of 1878, when I consulted you, and took your pa- 

 per and read your A B C as fast as published. How- 

 ever, I had used two styles of frame hives before 

 that, both patent, and neither as good as a large 

 double box hive devised by myself, which was a 

 moderate-sized family room, surrounded by a hollow 

 wall of dead air, and a large chamber above for using 

 surplus boxes. I had ne%'er aimed to increase to 

 more than 25 or 30 swarms to winter, killing all that 

 I did not want to keep and cou'.d not sell. I always 

 worked on the plan of the survival of the fittest un- 

 til 1876 or 1877. I then let them increase to nearly a 

 hundred swarms, when I began to make some more 

 inquiry and study, looking to more profits; and since 

 1878 it has taken nearly all my time and attention ; 

 and it is more and more interesting, and it has been 

 fairly profitable. 



I have not experimented much in the different 

 races of bees, but I have been an interested specta- 

 tor of the experiments of others. I read all that is 

 said, pro or con, in Gleanings and A. B. J., and in 

 many books, among which A B C is about A No. 1, 

 though Quinby, by Root, and Cook's Manual have 

 been not read only, but carefully studied; and I have 

 carefully noted the work and habits of the races in 

 different apiaries, and I am now determined to stick 

 to and develop a cross between the yellow and brown 

 bees in the manner proposed. And as I am a small 

 man of small means, I am not going to try to do 

 every thing I can hear or think of; but this one thing 

 I mean to do, if I live long enough. And now let 

 every man follow out his own ideas with his own 

 plans, and we shall see what the "coming bee " wiiJ' 

 be. 



So far, I find this cross (all would say hybrid, but a 

 cross between two races of bees can not properly be 

 called a hybrid) to be active, hardy, and very, very en- 

 ergetic in finding honey, if there is any within their 

 reach. And they do fly from 6 to 8 miles every year 

 that bass wood yields honey, and bring me a large 

 surplus, from 500 to 2000 lbs., and the young swarms 

 that issue at or about the commencement of bass- 

 wood bloom always fill their brood-chamber with 

 bass wood honey; and they work on red clover just 

 as freely as on white or alsike; and they are as 

 docile as I care to have them. I can do any thing 

 with them that I can do with full-blood Italians, and 



