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\eepeps' |\e\^ieU). 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tiqe liqtertsts of HoqeLj Producer., 



$L00 A YFAR, 



W. Z, HUTCBiNSON, Editor and Proprieioi, 



VOL. XI. 



LINT. 



ICH^GAN, JULY iO l89-\ 



NO 7 



General Correspondence. 



BASSWOOD. 



Thi; nrandest of Floney Plants is Passing 

 Away. Planting it for Honey 

 Not Profitaliie. One Little 

 Suggestion. 



W. Z. HVTCHINSON. 



^ (len : standing 

 so stately, growing 

 so gracefnlly, and 

 w iiving your wide- 

 -jirt-ading boughs; 

 with what gar- 

 l.inds of gold are 

 v(»u crowned king 

 "f the honey har- 

 vest ! To stand in 

 an apiary at mid- 

 day, when the nectar all but drips from 

 your waxy, fragrant petals, and watch the 

 bees as they leave their hives with quick, 

 upward sweeps, and return so heavily la- 

 den that many fall short of the entrance, 

 rest a moment, and then crawl wearily in ; 

 to find each breath actu.dlv redolent with 



the aroma of newly gathered nectar; to 

 look up and see, clearh- outlined against 

 the blue sky, an intricate, mazy network 

 of dark, circling lines drawn b}' the busy 

 workers as they eagerly go and come; to 

 listen to the myriads of tiny w'ings; to 

 thus stand, and gaze, and listen, is to have 

 come stealing over one a feeling of enthu- 

 siastic admiration. To open the hives, 

 and find super after super full of dainty, 

 white combs glistening with their wealth 

 of rich honey that awaits only the snowy- 

 capping before being added to the rapidly 

 growing pile in the honey-house — all this 

 is the acme of bee-keeping bliss. 



Pictures must have their shadows as 

 well as their "high lights;" and the one 

 that I have drawn is no exception. When 

 I began bee-keeping, some twenty or 

 more years ago, my bees enjoyed an un- 

 limited basswood-range; some of the trees 

 being so near that the orange-like odor 

 from the blossoms was often wafted over 

 the apiary. Now it is doubtful if more 

 than half a dozen basswoods could be 

 found within a mile of that .spot. The 

 first few vears that I kept bees, basswood 

 furnished more honey than all other 

 sources combined; during the la.st few 

 years it has furnished practically nothing. 

 It can all be told in three words " The 

 woodman's ax. " 



