1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



605 



years was an awful pest In alfalfa or lucerne fields. 

 By energetic measures it has almost disappeared 

 from the Old World, and within a few years has 

 again made its appearance in alfalfa seed imported 

 from Chili, and cultivated in California and other 

 parts of the country. 



The pest spreads rapidly, as it radiates in all direc- 

 tions. Its effect is something as if a barrel of salt 

 were dumped in the middle of a clover-field. As the 

 rains fall, the salt brine is washed gradually into the 

 earth in all directions around the pile; the clover 

 becomes blighted, so in a short time a large circular 

 patch will be left barren. Just so with the dodder. 

 No matter how much nectar it contains, set me 

 down as its enemy. W. A. Pryal. 



N. Temescal, Cal., Sept., 1883. 



mRS. HARRISON STILL IN THE GREAT 

 CITY. 



SHE VISITS THE "MAGAZINE" FOLKS AND THE 

 THURBERS. 



X VISITED the office of the Bee-Keepera' Magazine 

 Sept. 13, and had a pleasant chat with Mr. King. 

 — ' He showed me some Carniolan bees that he had 

 in his offlce. They were a dark-striped bee, and the 

 tips of their tails appeared to me to be blacker and 

 sharper than other bees. Mr. King said they didn't 

 sting. I do not know whether he meant they were 

 only good-natured, or s^ingZcss. These Austriaus 

 would be poor bees for me to own, if they are sting- 

 less, for the boys broke open surplus boxes last 

 night, and, meeting a warm reception, fled without 

 obtaining any honey. Mr. King had also some 

 Holy-Land bees, brought from his apiary on the 

 roof. We had them climb a string, so we could 

 turn them around and view them easily. We had 

 visited Mr. King's apiary on the roof, and watched 

 the Cyprians, Italians, and Holy-Lauds, going in and 

 out, and could perceive no difference in them. But 

 when we had this Holy-Land beeclimbing the string, 

 we could see a difference. It looked as though it 

 had some time or other been in the flour-barrel, or 

 been dusted with lily-white — a yellow bee dusted 

 with white, and a bright-red mouth. 



We next visited the mammoth establishment of 

 the Thurbers, and found it to be a great hive of in- 

 dustry. The different departments of trade, includ- 

 ing desks and paraphernalia, were inclosed with 

 wire screens, and all was activity and life. The 

 polite usher conducted us to the " Honey Depart- 

 ment," where we found samples of honey on the 

 manager's desk. We requested him to show us their 

 supply of honey, but he said their honey had not 

 arrived, but was expecting two or three carloads this 

 week. A sample of honey on the desk was from the 

 apiary of J. C. Newman, Peoria, N. T. It was in a 

 small box glazed, and was very pretty and white; it 

 did not join the sides of the box very closely, look- 

 ing as if the bees had been playing bo-peep from 

 side to side. It weighed one pound seven ounces. 

 We desired to purchase it, in order to compare New 

 York honey with white clover we had brought with 

 us, when the gentlemanly manager presented it to 

 us. This honey was put upon the table for tea, at 

 our friend's house, in lieu of the white clover from 

 our apiary. While the head of the family was eat- 

 ing the honey, he remarked that it must have been 

 " dropped into soap-suds." This man knew nothing 

 of comb foundation or its manufacture, and we 

 mention it only as a caution to those who use suds 



to keep foundation from sticking. We know by the 

 use of fdn. in surplus boxes that honey can be put 

 upon the market in much better shape, not so liable 

 to break or rua, as without it, and the trade like it 

 better. But if we were going to eat it, we should 

 much prefer honey without it. When we ate this 

 honey there was a strong beeswaxy taste in the 

 mouth, and the wax was also discerned by others, 

 the proof being in numerous cuds of it upon the 

 plates. The honey itself was very light and thick, 

 and possessed of a flavor new to us. For aught we 

 know it might have been teasel. 



Peoria, III., Sept. 30, 1883. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Mrs. il., I am very glad indeed to know 

 about our friends in New York city. The 

 idea of getting a bee on a string is a new one. 

 Whose invention is it? you see, we want to 

 see the bees on all sides. I have often wish- 

 ed that I could turn them around; but by 

 the wings or body, it doesn't work pleasant- 

 ly always. Since you suggest it, getting 

 them on a lead-pencil would do as well. 

 Your description of a true Holy-Land bee is, 

 I believe, correct. The Carniolan bees, we 

 have never seen. I think friend K. must 

 have meant they were gentle, but not sting- 

 less. Now, Mrs. H., comb made on the mod- 

 ern style of fdn., made as it ought to be, does 

 not have any thing sudsy or waxy about it. 

 Are you sure that section came from the 

 apiary of J . C. NewmanV if I am right about 

 it, he is a man fully posted, and also a care- 

 ful honey-producer. The time has passed by, 

 it seems to me, for comparing comb honey 

 built on fdn. with that made by the natural 

 process. If the fdn. is as it should be, there 

 is no difference. Soap-suds has not been 

 used for years, to my knowledge, foi' mak- 

 ing foundation. 



FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 



its honey RESOURCES, ETC. 



'fjj'J CAME to North Carolina from Connecticut in 

 Jjl 1869. I kept a few bees there with a view to a 

 — ' little honey, but more for sake of pleasure than 

 profit. In 1870 I purchased a few stocks, and have 

 had more or less, with varying success, ever since. 

 The conditions and circumstances of bee-keeping in 

 North Carolina are, as doubtless you are well aware, 

 greatly different from those in Connecticut. Two 

 things are especially noticeable; one is, that it re- 

 quires more honey, perhaps two or three times more, 

 to winter a stock in the former than in the latter, 

 owing to the fact that the bees fly out during some 

 days of nearly every week; and, except in unusual- 

 ly cold terms, several days in each week. The 

 other is, that the honey season is remarkably early 

 and short. Sometimes the jessamines, alders, wil- 

 lows, etc., are in bloom, and the bees gathering 

 honey lively by the middle of February, and swarms 

 issuing by the last week in March. They are ordi- 

 narily gathering honey in March, and swarming by 

 the middle of April. I might add a third peculiarity, 

 which is, that many plants accounted at the North 

 to be excellent honey-producers are here of no 

 value whatever. I set out a row of 36 locust-trees 

 not long after I came down here, thinking they 

 would soon yield many pounds of honey ; but though 

 they have sometimes been exceedingly beautiful in 

 the exuberance of their blooms about Easter, I have 



