AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. ' 



241 



seeds ; the more seeds the more plants ; 

 the more plants the more flowers ; the 

 more flowers the more bees," etc., or 

 words to that effect. 



I believe that we may look for the 

 advent and rapid increase of new honey- 

 plants, in any locality where plenty of 

 honey-bees are kept. I know that the 

 same has proven true with the spread of 

 that best of all our honey-plants the 

 pleurisy. 



Of course, it pays fifty-fold for the 

 outlay of time, etc., to get a few seeds of 

 any plant which you think may thrive in 

 your locality, and thus give it a start, 

 when the bees will do the rest, provided 

 the plant has those tenacious qualities 

 without which no honey-plant is worth 

 fussing with for honey alone. 



I began about ten years ago to scatter 

 seeds'of such honey-plants as^ would hold 

 their own against poor seasons, grass 

 and weeds, in waste places, and the 

 result is that the pleurisy and sweet 

 clover are the stand-bys, and from them 

 alone we now get a yield which keeps 

 the bees from robbing, and at the same 

 time gradually increases our surplus 

 work, while previously we had a perfect 

 dearth for about two weeks between 

 'basswood and buckwheat, boneset and 

 golden-rod, etc. 



It took time, but now that I am enjoy- 

 ing the benefits of the trouble and fore- 

 thought of years ago, I am glad and 

 proud of what I did. 



What I read in Gray's Botany, years 

 ago, about the epilobium, made me so 

 sure that the plant would not thrive 

 here, that I' never scattered any of the 

 seed, although now I wish I had. But 

 after all, it may be that I would have 

 made as many failures as attempts and 

 that nature had scattered the seeds one 

 thousand times> before one catch 

 resulted. 



Again, we are not forgetful that when 

 once started by nature we can pretty 

 safely count on a continuation of the 

 plant even as far south as 42'. Prof. 

 Cook can tell us, in classical terms, all 

 the reasons. 



I shall take my horse and buggy, and 

 gather the seeds from these two patches 

 of the epilobium (as it continues to bloom 

 and produce seed all through this month) 

 and look for more plants, if it takes all 

 my time, for with this plant, in addition 

 to the pleurisy and swoet clover, we will 

 enjoy one endless surplus flow, from the 

 beginning of June to the last days of 

 August or to September 10. 



I hope Prof. Cook will give us a good 

 article on this subject, and correct any 



mistakes I may have made regarding the 

 development of honey-plants. 

 Dowagiac, Mich., Aug. 6, 1891. 



M in Anstralla. 



HEXRY TURNER. 



I used to look upon bees as very tire- 

 some, stinging little things, and have 

 occasionally found them so since I cap- 

 tured a swarm passing by, two years ago 

 last December; anyhow,,! only got one 

 sting in taking them. 



Three weeks later, wanting some 

 advice, I applied to a friend some dis- 

 tance away. He examined the bees and 

 told me there was no queen amongst 

 them, but offered to help me until such 

 time as I got my bees in working order. 

 He brought me a frame of brood, but no 

 queen was reared from it, nor was a 

 second frame of brood more successful. 

 He then brought a third frame with a 

 sealed queen-cell, from which a very 

 nice queen hatched out. I paid him 15s. 

 for the queen. I then paid 14s. for a 

 Langstroth hive for them, but by this 

 time our Winter was at hand, and the 

 bees had a good supply of honey, which 

 my friend advised me not to take away 

 till after the Winter had passed ; and not 

 till the following August did I carry out 

 n\y first removal of surplus honey, up to 

 December I had taken about seventy 

 pounds. On looking at the bees a fort- 

 night later, I found one frame nearly 

 full of royal cells, two of which were 

 sealed. I very foolishly destroyed all 

 but one, and that one I put into a nucleus, 

 thinking to get another swarm ; but I 

 reckoned without my host, for they flew 

 away, so I was left worse off than ever, 

 as I had destroyed all the other cells. 



Three days later we had a number of 

 wet days in succession, and the moth 

 got into my nucleus and destroyed the 

 royal cell, and nearly everything else in 

 it. The combs were one tangled mass of 

 web and grubs. What few bees were 

 left I united with the old colony. 



I then procured another queen, and 

 clipped her wings, thinking this would 

 prevent her wandering off, but after 

 several attempts to clear out she got into 

 the grass, and was there destroyed by 

 small black ants. My friend, having no 

 more queens for sale, offered to sell me 

 a small colony for a pound note. I 

 accepted the offer, thinking to unite the 

 bees, but I found that the old colony was 

 rearing more queens, and I did not dis- 

 turb them. 



