THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



From first to last there has been con- 

 siderable talk about the planting of bass- 

 wood for honey, but, aside from the plant- 

 ing of a few trees for shade or ornamental 

 purposes, I know of only one, real, prac- 

 tical experiment in that line, and that was 

 begun nearly thirty years ago by our 

 Medina friend, Mr. A. I. Root. Wishing 

 to know all of the particulars regarding 

 this experiment, and how it was looked 

 upon after all these years had passed, I 

 wrote to Mr. E. R. Root. He turned the 

 letter over to his father, who replied as 

 follows: — 



Our ten acres of basswood orchard were 

 planted in the spring of 1873. There 

 were about 4000 trees, and they were 

 taken up from the forest. They were 

 put about a rod apart, each way, and 

 there was very little trouble in getting 

 them to live. The ground was cultivated 

 for two years after they were put out. 

 No other crops have been grown since the 

 trees were planted on the ground; and, in 

 fact, it would not be possible to grow a 

 crop there, for many of them are a foot 

 through down near the ground. We can 

 not tell exactly how many pounds of hon- 

 ey this bit of forest yields; but our apiary 

 located among the basswoods has given 

 a much larger yield of honey than our 

 home apiary, about two miles away. The 

 trees have never blossomed as fully as I 

 was led to suppose they would at the 

 present age. Almost every season there 

 will be a tree here and there loaded with 

 blossoms; but there will be others that do 

 not seem to blossom at all, or to only a 

 limited extent. The piece of land was 

 called very poor at the time I bought it. 

 In fact, it had l)een rented and crowded 

 to such an extent, without any eflfort to 

 improve the soil, that it was considered 

 almost worthless for farming purposes. 

 Another thing, it was low and wet, and 

 some of the trees were injured, and some 

 killed by water standing on the ground, 

 until I took the trouble to make ditches 

 to let off the surplus water during a rainy 

 time. While the 1)asswood thrives best 

 near running streams, or in springy places, 

 it will not stand having its roots, for any 

 length of time, in standing water. I fig- 

 ured on having the ground underdrained 

 before the trees were planted; but on con- 

 sulting experts in regard to the cost of 

 doing the work, I decided it was a more 

 expensive job than I could afford; but I 

 am verv sorrv now that I did not have 

 enough large open ditches made to take 



off the surplus water. This was done 

 after several years, when I discovered the 

 trees were not making mtich headway. 



On a few favored spots where the water 

 could get away, these large trees I spoke 

 of are to be found; and I think it is these 

 that furnish the greater part of the blos- 

 soms. 



A. I. Root. 



Accompanying the foregoing was a let- 

 ter from E. R. Root, from which I make 

 the following extract: — 



I referred 3'our letter of several days ago 

 about the basswood orchard to A. I. R. , 

 and he has drawn off the enclosed, and 

 from this you can get such information 

 as you desire; but there is one point that 

 I think perhaps he has not sufficiently cov- 

 ered, and that is that the orchard cannot 

 V)e regarded as a real success; doubtless 

 owing to the fact that it is on poor ground 

 and not underdrained, as stated in the 

 type written matter. Anothe'^ thing, the 

 trees were allowed to let the shoots grow 

 around them. This, I think, vvas a mis- 

 take, for the main body tree is little if any 

 larger than some of the shoots that seem 

 to have taken the life and strength of the 

 original tree. In late years I do not remem- 

 ber that there has been more than one tree 

 in a dozen that would have any bloom on 

 it. If the orchard had been planted on good 

 ground well drained, the result I presume 

 would have been different. 



The only really feasible plan whereby 

 a bee-keeper can secure basswood pastur- 

 age for his bees, and be assured that it 

 will not he cut away in a few years, is to 

 own the land upon which the basswood 

 grows. I have seen portions of the coun- 

 try where basswoods were very nmnerous. 

 I have seen acres, and acres, and acres, in 

 Isabella Co., Michigan, where it seemed 

 as though one-half the trees were bass- 

 woods. Even eighty acres of s//r/i forest 

 would furnish an abundant basswood har- 

 vest for a large apiary. Let no one think 

 of going to Isabella Co. with the expect- 

 ations of finding those basswoods, as they 

 have long since passed away; but there 

 are still some localities in Northern Mich- 

 igan where lands well covered with bass- 

 woods can be bought at low prices. To 

 me there would be an iiulescribable charm 

 in going into one of these northern coun- 

 ties, buying a tract of ba.sswood, and es- 



