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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



now TO KAISE BASSWOOD-TREES 

 FROM CUTTINGS. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT SOWING THE SEEDS. 



A liETTER FROM ElVGIiAND. 



OLD FOGYISM STILL ALIVE. 



eINCE August number of Gleanings, wherein 

 » you state that basswoods can be raised from 

 cuttings by an expert, with my name attached 

 to the article, I have received quite a number of 

 letters asking for the modus operandi, that others 

 might become "experts." I would remark, by the 

 way, that one needs just a little more than simply 

 being told how to do a thing, in order to fairly suc- 

 ceed — much more to become an expert. 



I answered some by letter; but now comes the 

 "scratchetary" of the Ohio State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, Mr. Daniel Spear, asking for specific direc- 

 tions, through Gleanings, how to treat both seed 

 and cuttings. So, with the editor's permission, I 

 will tell all I know in about a minute. 



First, you must know that the wood used for cut- 

 tings is of the current year's growth, and thoroughly 

 ripensd; cuttings not less than six inches long, and 

 cut, in this latitude (41° N.) from the 15th to the last 

 of October. Tie the cuttings in bundles of 50 each. 

 Pack them in clean sand, in a cold frame, with tops 

 down, butts within two laches of surface. Put on 

 your sash, and cover enough to keep from freezing. 

 As soon as weather begins to warm up in spring, 

 say in March, uncover the sash each sunshiny day, 

 and let the bed get warm, covering each night to re- 

 tain warmth. Keep the top of the soil damp, but 

 not too wet. As the weather grows warmer, the 

 sash will often need to be raised and the bed aired, 

 as it must not get too warm. 



About the last of April or first of May take up the 

 cuttings, and you will find the butts well healed over, 

 and ready to root. Now put them in the propagat- 

 ing-bed, with good bottom heat, and in sharp sand. 

 Keep the sand well moistened, and cuttings partially 

 shaded when the sun shines hot. When I speak of 

 propagating-bed, I mean a forcing-house, of course. 

 I do not think they can be rooted out of doors, as 

 we grow grapes, currants, etc. Any one who has 

 ever grown roses from cutting3. or who understands 

 the art of green-house propagating, can grow bass- 

 wood trees from cuttings successfully. Now, in two 

 or three weeks the cuttings will be rooted, and can 

 be potted off, or transplanted at once to out-door 

 bed, and the after-treatment must be good. Mulch 

 them, and hand-pull weeds; water when the ground 

 becomes dry, if eai-ly in the season; after they be- 

 come well started they are quite hardy.* 



Now in regard to the seeds: They are gathered in 

 October, and either sown at once, or packed in sand 

 over winter, and sown in drills in the spring. The 

 ground is mulched, and weeds kept off by pulling, or 

 with scuffle-hoe, not stirring the ground deep enough 

 to reach the seed. The plants will not appear until 

 the following spring, and a fair per cent will ger- 

 minate. It is said that young trees yield more seed 

 than old, but a larger proportion of the seed from 

 old trees will germinate. 



Rantoul, 111., Oct. 8, 1883. H. M. Morris. 



We have tried the seeds just as you rec- 

 ommend, friend M., but we got very few lit- 

 tle trees. I think 1 would prefer to buy 

 them of you, at the prices you usually sell 

 them. 



HAVE a few minutes to spare, and I thought I 

 would drop you a line and tell you a few facts 

 about bees here. They are in the same old 

 channel they were thirty years ago. I have seen 

 several lots of bees, and they are all kept in the old- 

 fashioned straw hives, and all whom I have talked 

 with know no other way. When I talk with them 

 they look at me with a suspicious eye, and seem to 

 think It can not be so. They keep their bees all 

 summer; and when the winter comes they put 

 sulphur under them, and then what they have (the 

 honey, dead bees, burnt sulphur and all), what a 

 muss! and they do not seem willing to learn. 



This part, I should think. Is a grand place for bees. 

 The winters here are very mild. Bees live all winter 

 on their summer stands, and they are now working, 

 and I should think are doing well. The straw hive 

 In use here Is a small concern; will hold only about 

 }4 what my hive will hold. When I tell folks the 

 amount of honey taken from my bees they seem to 

 say to themselves, "This can not be true." They 

 have no late improvements here for handling bees; 

 they do not know any thing about the chatf hive or 

 the movable frames, or the extractor, or the smo- 

 ker, or any thing else for handling them; and I find 

 there is not one as yet who knows any thing about 

 the queen bee. All they do know Is, they know bees 

 will sting If you get near them, and so they let them 

 alone. 



1 expect to call on friend Abbot next week; will 

 then report to you about what he Is doing. I expect 

 to remain here in this place but a few days; will re- 

 turn to America about the 15th of October. 



W. A. WiCKHAM. 



Murden, Kent, England, Sept. 18, 1883. 



A HONEY REPORT FROM MISSOURI 

 AND KANSAS. 



OlOME friend has sent us a record of the 

 ^^ honey report of the Western Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association, held at Independence, 

 Mo., Sept. 20 and 21. The friends will no- 

 tice, that although their reports are not ex- 

 tra large, the table indicates a progressive 

 state of affairs both in Missouri and Kansas. 



*The point Is this : If put out like other cuttings, the vitality 

 ■will spread itself in top erowth, to the detriment of the root; 

 beace the object in starting the root first;. 



W. C. Harroldson, Buckner. Mo 



Younp: & Lane, Lexington. Mo 



J. H. Fink, Independence, Mo 



Elias EUis, Independence, Mo 



Jas. T. Sale, Blue Mills, Mo 



C. M. Crandall, Independence 



Scoville & Anderson, Colurabus. Kan . 



L. W. Baldwin, Independence, Mo 



Jas. Nelson, Wyandotte, Kan 



Jas. D. Meadow, Independence, Mo 



Jas. H. Jones, Buckner, Mo 



Sam'l D. Gregrj?, Kansas City, Mo 



F. J. Farr, Levasy, Mo 



Jonathan Georpe, Independence, Mo 



Phidel Baldwin, Independence, Mo 



W. B. Thorne, Johnson, Kan 



Jas. A. Nelson, Wyandott, Kan., and Scoville & 

 Anderson, Columbus, Kan., reported principally In 

 the queen-rearing business. H. Scoville, Pra. 

 C. M. Cbandall, See, 



