THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



457 



buckwheat which is a rather uncer- 

 tain crop. I will now make more 

 particular mention of the most im- 

 portant of these : 



Willow gives us the first pollen and 

 honey. If not found in sufficient 

 quantity alonij our brooks and swamps 

 ■we can use it to advantage as a strong 

 hedge or live fence near our apiaries. 

 Poplar and maple are generally plenty 

 enough ; but I wish to call particular 

 attention to the sugar plum as a 

 honey-plant. It is a humble little 

 shrub often found in abundance in 

 many localities, from 2 to 15 or 20 feet 

 high ; hardy, graceful, clean, free 

 from disease or insects. It has beau- 

 tiful heart-shaped leaves, which re- 

 main on late in the fall. It blossoms 

 early in May ; flowers are white and 

 fragrant, yielding nice pollen and 

 honey. It is much used in some 

 countries as a small, ornamental tree 

 on lawns and in garden work, but I 

 do not remember of its having been 

 noticed for its honey, or any other 

 purpose than just mentioned. I think 

 it would make a splendid hedging 

 shrub, and would be particularly neat 

 and tasty as well as useful with vi'hich 

 to enclose the bee-yard, so that the 

 bees might work on its flowers with- 

 out going far from home, while the 

 early spring weather is so liable to 

 sudden changes. Its fruit too is 

 delicious, and is supposed to be the 

 same as that partaken of by the an- 

 cient lotus-eaters, referred to by 

 Tennyson. Its generic namecettjsis 

 the Greek for lotus. It can be easily 

 propagated from the small shrub 

 found wild, or grown from the seeds. 

 I urge you to give this shrub a trial. 



Next comes the horse-chestnut, a 

 most beautifull tree both as to foliage 

 and flowers ; the latter are gorgeous 

 and fragrant, and a delight to the 

 bees. "We should have more of these 

 trees along our streets and by-ways. 

 They grow fast from the nut. 



I now pass lightly along through 

 cherry, plum,* apple, and the numer- 

 ous small fruit and wild blossoms 

 nearly through the month of June; 

 and now, if the colonies are strong, 

 comes the fruition of all our hopes ; 

 led in by the early blossoms of the 

 ■white clover, and closely followed by 

 the red, Alsike, and sweet clover. 

 You all know enough about white 

 clover. The red I think should be 

 discouraged amoung bee-keepers, and 

 we should put Alsike in its place, as 

 it is as good for enriching the soil, 

 makes better hay or grazing, and is 

 best for honey. But the best of' all 

 the clovers is the sweet clover, which 

 is in reality not a clover at all. Its 

 very name " Melilot," is taken from 

 two Latin words—Mel, honey ; and 

 lotus — it really translates honey — 

 lotus, and its name is its best recom- 

 mendation. JJ'o plant known to bee- 

 keepers is equal to it for its produc- 

 tion of honey. It is hardy, will grow 

 anywhere from a muck swamp to a 

 dry sand knoll ; it blossoms constantly 

 after the first year from the last of 

 June till the severe frosts kill it 

 down. It makes an excellent renova- 

 tor of worn-out soils if left to decay 

 in the ground. Perhaps the best way 

 to try it will be to sow a small piece 



in the field to save for seed, and sow 

 all you can in the old orchard or pas- 

 tures, and feed it very sparingly or 

 none at all tor several years. 



The honey-locust comes in the first 

 part of this season. A tree of beauti- 

 ful foliage and flowers of a most de- 

 lightful fragrance, and yielding honey 

 in abundance. It may be used as a 

 shade tree along our fence corners 

 and roads, but is rather a trashy tree 

 for ornamenting the home grounds. 

 The biest use I can think of for it is 

 as a hedge-plant ; it is just the thing 

 for that. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaJ. 



Combless vs, Extracteil Honey. 



MISS DEMA BENNETT. 



I have read Mr. Demaree's article 

 on page 421 , and the Editor's com- 

 ment on the same. While I have no 

 particular objection to the word " ex- 

 tracted " as applied to honey — never 

 having the trouble mentioned by Mr. 

 Demaree— and also not having read 

 the article on page 291, in which the 

 Editor states his objections to it, I 

 think, with him, that " liquid " is not 

 an appropriate word. 



The honey in the combs, before 

 being uncapped, is more perfectly 

 liquid than it is after it has been ex- 

 tracted from the combs, and exposed 

 to the air. Mr. Demaree speaks of 

 water as an example, but it has an 

 entirely different name when it be- 

 comes solid. 



The thought came to me, that as 

 honey in sections was known as 

 " comb honey," extracted honey 

 might with propriety be called 

 " combless honey." We have " seed- 

 less " raisins and " boneless " codfish 

 — then why not combless honey ? 



Do not think that I am writing in 

 the interest of manufacturers of 

 honey-labels, for if all the country is 

 as " honeyless " as is this particular 

 locality in the Western Reserve, they 

 will not have to get up a new set this 

 year. 



Bedford,;^ O. 



For tne AmerTcan Bee Journal. 



RemoTC Bees from Section-Cases. 



J. W. BAYARD. 



In discussing Query 40-1, nothing 

 new was developed, but old plans re- 

 hashed, as well as some good advice 

 given. As the time is at hand when 

 all bee-men must " face the music," 

 I feel constrained to give my plan for 

 what it is worth. 



All using other than open-top sec- 

 tions, are working to a great disad- 

 vantage in many ways. I used the 

 closed-top sections for many years, 

 and before the advent of the smoker 

 I used to blow the smoke among the 

 bees from a roll of rags, or through a 

 goose-quill, by smoking penny-royal 

 in a pipe, and thereby giving the rob- 

 ber bees a fair show to help me out. 

 Some four years ago I adopted the 

 Heddon-case (with ;,sundry modiflea- 



tions), hence came a new plan for ex- 

 pelling the bees by a very simple 

 machine and process, as follows : 



Take a smoothly-planed inch board, 

 just the width of the sectiou-case, but 

 2 or 3 inches longer ; tack strips ^- 

 inch square on each front edge of the 

 board, and also across one end, form- 

 ing a kind of pocket for the smoke, 

 and the machine or smoking-board is 

 finished and ready for use. I always 

 use a neighboring hive as most con- 

 venient for a base of operations. 

 Being armed with the board, chisel, 

 whisk-broom and smoker, I am ready 

 to operate. 



I turn back the enameled cloth 

 gently and pour in the smoke among 

 the frightened bees, most of which 

 will run below, but ere I pry off the 

 case, hundreds will have returned to 

 contest the possession of the hive. I 

 now quickly place the case of honey 

 on the smoking-board, and with a 

 good smoker you would be delighted 

 to see the bees and smoke rush up 

 from between the combs, the former 

 taking refuge in the parent hive, and 

 within from three to five minutes the 

 case of honey is ready for the honey- 

 house. 



I never require more than ten min- 

 utes to each hive, and then the work 

 is done thoroughly and in defiance of 

 all robber bees, at any time of the 

 season. 



Athens, o, Ohio. 



For tile Amencan Bee JourxiaL 



Selling Honey— Extracted Honey, 



H. O. KRUSCHKE. 



The following taken from the Mil- 

 waukee Sentinel, is the kind of a no- 

 tice we want to see in every paper— it 

 would help to get rid of a great deal 

 of honey : 



We manufacture and keep on draught the 

 celebrated "Honey Mead," at 5 cents a 

 glass. 



This is in accord with my sugges- 

 tions of last summer. Honey must 

 be consumed by the ton before we 

 can expect better prices. These are 

 the channels to be opened : Mead, 

 wine, vinegar, medicine, etc., which 

 will tell the story. Ask the advertiser 

 to state to the bee-keeper of America 

 how it goes. We want 10,000 such 

 salesmen. 



I would like to aid in securing a 

 name in place of "extracted," when 

 speaking of honey out of the comb. 

 I have settled on three names, and 

 will place them in the order I prefer 

 them , viz : separated, comb-freed, and 

 combless honey. The first I think is 

 the best ; it is as short as the English 

 language affords for this purpose. It 

 is the word that should have been 

 used when the extractor or separator 

 came into use ; it would have saved 

 us a great deal of explaining. It can 

 be understood by all, as it tells that 

 the honey has been disconnected from 

 something, viz., from the comb. 



" Comb-freed " is also good ; it tells 

 that the honey was in the comb, but 

 has been removed from it. The ob- 

 jection I anticipate is, that in our 



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