780 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



an average of about 25,000 leaves, 

 capable of throwing off In the lapse of 

 12 hours, about 340,000 grains weight 

 of water. Supposing an acre to contain 

 600 or 700 of these trees, and knowing 

 that 7,000 grains, troy weight, are 

 equivalent to one pint of water, we will 

 find upon consideration, that one acre 

 of woodland is capable of disseminating 

 throughout the circumjacent atmos- 

 phere, about 3,875 gallons of pure 

 water in every 12 hours. By so doing, 

 they help to keep the air in a limpid and 

 breathable condition, for both man and 

 the quadrupeds. 



They have proven themselves great 

 distributors and regulators of the mois- 

 ture that is condensed in Nature's 

 alembic, and precipitated upon the earth 

 in form of rain. By means of their 

 fibrous roots and sponge-like accretion 

 of rotted leaves, twigs, etc., they are 

 capable of holding a vast amount of 

 water, and by letting it out gradually, 

 regulate the distribution of the rainfall. 

 In wooded sections of our country we 

 have small streams of long duration, 

 while in those regions depopulated of 

 their forests, we have streams of great 

 volume, but short duration ; hence, such 

 sections have a succint atmosphere, and 

 are blessed with long and protracted 

 drouths. 



Mills established on the outskirts of 

 forests, with a plenteous water supply, 

 ostensibly to procure lumber cheap, 

 have, as the forests were cleared away, 

 been either compelled to shut down, or 

 else have recourse to reservoirs in times 

 of drouth to catch the superabundant 

 supply in time of floods. While we be- 

 lieve in giving due leeway to Melbourne's 

 experiments, we feel that Nature has 

 provided us with the best and surest 

 means for the prevention of drouths. 



Philanthropic men, becoming conscious 

 of the demands and needs of the hour, 

 began to give this topic their critical 

 thought, and one of the hardest prob- 

 lems encountered was the following, to- 

 wit : "How to perpetually keep a cer- 

 tain percentage of the superficial area 

 of our country in forests, properly dis- 

 tributed, and to use and husband this in 

 a manner that its usefulness be unim- 

 paired." And right here I desire to say 

 that this is an all-important question to 

 the apiarists of this day. . The kind of 

 trees that will inhabit the unproductive 

 hillsides and bordering lands of our 

 rivers, in this reforestation, ought to lay 

 mainly with them. We are aware that 

 any good, thrifty and healthy tree will 

 serve the purpose, but if by the disposal 

 of a little activity, we can get trees 



planted that will cater to various ends 

 at one and the same time in the way of 

 their forestral benefits and honey-pro- 

 ducing qualities, we have accomplished a 

 great end. No bee-keeper fortunate 

 enough to own a farm, should ever allow 

 himself to become a party to the old 

 saying, "Posterity has done nothing for 

 me, why should I do anything for 

 them ?" When it comes to planting 

 trees, whether he reaps the benefits or 

 not, he should remember that nice 

 groves of trees, judiciously grouped 

 about his farm, will do much towards 

 enhancing and beautifying it, besides 

 providing cool retreal* for the family in 

 the Summer months. What could be 

 more enjoyable to him than to be an 

 occupant of these groves 'neath the 

 thousands of bees sending forth their 

 humming cadence, whilst filling his 

 hives with garnered sweets. Looking 

 at it in the grosser light of "filthy 

 lucre," we find that trees add a money 

 value to our farms, for people fleeing 

 from the bustle and din of city life will 

 pay a great deal more for a well-wooded 

 farm than one Sahara-like. They are 

 like Cowper, when he says : 



"O! for a lodge in some vast wilderness. 

 Some boundless contiguitj^ of shade." 



Again, it should be remembered, the 

 poet's words of 



" The groves were God's first temples, 

 Ere man learned to hew the shaft and lay 

 The architrave, and spread the roof above 

 them." 



are held as worthy memory gems. 



You may talk of artificial pasturage 

 for the production of honey, but I do not 

 believe it a prosperous investment, unless 

 it is done with a dual purpose in view. 

 The raising of fruits, buckwheat and the 

 clovers is well and good, because we not 

 only receive a bountiful supply of 

 honey, but a good secondary crop of the 

 things we elected to raise, thereby not 

 only gaining in the crops themselves 

 in consequence of the fructification of 

 the bloom by the bees, as is shown by 

 more plentiful and more perfect fruit, 

 and a greater production of clover seeds, 

 besides garnering a good honey crop 

 which would otherwise have been wasted 

 on the desert air. And so it seems to me 

 if the bee-keeper is thoughtful he will 

 so manipulate his farm as to produce two 

 remunerative crops in lieu of one, with 

 about the same amount of labor. 



Hence, I am against the planting of 

 honey-producing plants solely for their 

 saccharine sweetness, such as the Chap- 

 man honey-plant, catnip, spider-plant. 



