178 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



THE COMING HONEY PLANT. 



SOMETnilfG MOEE ABOUT IT. 



(f^^jIR:— Your card of the Uth rec'd. I would have an- 

 n^i swered sooner but was waiting to get the botanical 

 y>!!^ name of the plant, as I took a root, together with the 

 young shoots and old seed stalk to Prof. Rodgers of Mon- 

 mouth ; but he has failed to make it out yet, I herewith 

 send you the last seed 1 have on hand, and I am now sat- 

 isfied that it is useless to sow it before fall ; for it will not 

 gerrainato without lying in the ground over winter. The 

 seed 1 saved was in good condition. I sowed early in 

 spring and none has appeared as yet, while, where it fell 

 from the stalk last fall it is up thick. I discover that it is 

 a perennial and requires two years to bloom. I have 

 taken up some roots and planted where I can culti- 

 vate. The flower stalks are two feet hi?h on 

 them now. I will report mora fully in the fall. I have 

 rec'd a great many letters and have so far sent a few seed 

 to all. I would ask privilege of saying through your pa- 

 per (for it seams to go every where) that it is useless to 

 ask for a pound of seed, as I do rot lielieve there could be 

 one pound of seed gathered in Warren Co. It is iv~!t 

 found in any quantity except where I sowed it a few years 

 ago, and the seed is so smull that one pound would pro- 

 duce plants enouirh to plint a section (or 640 acres) «f 

 l:ind. Tl'.e seed ripens as it blooms so that there is no 

 amount of ripe seed at one time. I will cheerfully answer 

 any questions in regard to it or other things through 

 Glisanisgs, but please excuse me from individual corres- 

 poadeuce fur the next two months, for work commences 

 in my apiary in earnest. 



1 would say f u ther in regard to the plant, that it is not 

 a noxious weed and will not grow where c ittle can get it ; 

 its favorite place is along hed;e fences, where the heflge 

 has been trimmed and left lyin/, under brush heaps, in 

 fonce corners, &c. As soon as I get the name I will send 

 it vou. Jas. a. Simpson. 



Alexis, Warren Co., Ilk., May 23d, 1877. 



The " new honey plant " spoken of in May No., page 

 136, by Jas. A. Simpson, Alexis, Ills., is a very old one 

 in this vicinity. It grows* wild here, being lound in 

 abundance along lence rows, open wood ^pastures, 

 along rail road tracks, &c. In fact it is a very com- 

 mon weed but never a troublesome one. It has the 

 habit of never growing where it will be in tlie way. 

 It is a perennial and would be of the easiest culture. 

 Its roots are small aiid fibrous and so very numerous 

 that the plant is always fresh and green in the driest 

 weather when most other green things are wilted. 

 Friend Simpson has not overstated its honey bearing 

 properties. Uees will work on it to the exclusion of 

 everything else I cvor saw growing in its vicinity. 

 Its name is Scrofulana 3Iarylandic<v ; commonly 

 called carpenter's square, I sui'uose because of the 

 shape of the stalk. A. W. Fokeman, M. D. 



White Hall, Ills., May 2Cth, 1877. 



liAWN HIVES, AN3>COVK51'«Fi>K hives; 



JFASTCBf SECTIO.^'S, "%V1NTERING, &f. 



5rp II.VVE built a Lawn hive for trial, it suits me 

 Jsjl first rate so far. I put a swarm in it in January. 

 «i I left the ("lUrance the lull width of hive, tliink it 

 will be better in vv-arm weather and better to clean 

 out. I thinlv I boat your roof. The roof is round ex- 

 cept a 4 Incii strip in center. It looks likeatiiink. 

 Tiie rounding pieces are }i inch basswood; just lay 

 them on the hot stove and keep the upper side wet — 

 5 minutes will bring ihem round enou"?!!. Nail them 

 on right away with tlaishing nails. When well paint- 

 ed, I think tliey v/ill never check, at least tliey never 

 do in carriage work. Just tiy one. I think it cheap- 

 er tlian yours with so much tin and work, and it looks 

 -foxy." 



I have been making some sections inside Langstroth 

 frame to s 'e how ihoy look. Think 6 looks better 

 than 8. I have made some with 3 sections which I 

 think would work. Take a top bar and fasten 3 

 frames .5^^;;8,'s on tlie under side by two X inch brads 

 driven from the under side Into top bar and a small 

 screw from the top into each, \yhen the screw is 

 drawn, it is easily pried from the brads. Clasp the 

 bottoms by double pointed tacks; this makes a vari- 

 ety of sizes with but little waste of room. We sell a 

 good many full frames at h >me but tliey are too heavy 

 for the groceries. I should like to see how the fancy 

 sections are used. It they are in a large Idoek, it 

 don't seem that tliey would be attractive, and how 

 can they be cut out for the table to look true and nice? 

 i think thf^y miglit i)e maile of thia stuff steamed and 

 bent, for hsarts, &;>., tlien they could be hung up 

 with "blue ribbons" you know. 



I thought I had the cellar for wintering. Gravelly 

 soil, concrete wall 22 inches thick, dry as an upper 

 room, room partitioned ofl' with same material in one 

 corner 20x15, 8 feet high— (iO swarms in two rows 

 around on shelves— 1x3 feet high. I put them in first 

 of December. Took thorn out first of February for a 

 fly, then again about the 2lth of February. They do 

 not seem to make much noise until 3 or 4. days of 

 warm weather, but keep coming out one at a time and 

 get lost on the floor; it is dark as midnight and well 

 ventilated by a tube and elbow 4x6 from the outside, 

 and tube to stove pipe. I think there are too many In 

 the room ; last winter wns mild and 30 swarms didnot 

 get uneasy. I don't think it necessary to carry them 

 to summer stands after they have been In cellar a 

 month and I had watched them closely. I just set 

 them out around tlie cellar door, just as it happens. 

 I keep them across the road some 8 rods away in 

 summer. Alo.nzo Bokden. 



South Lyon, Mich., March 13th, 1877. 



Your roof would doubtless answer nicely, 

 but the expense of the thin basswood, would 

 be considerably more than the pine, which we 

 always have on hand, for the roof is made of 

 the very same pieces that are used for the si- 

 ding, and where a number of hives are made, 

 the labor is trifling. You are right about the 

 fancy sections, but we need the blocks all the 

 same, even if we do succeed in getting thin ve- 

 neer bent into the required shape, for the 

 spaces between these fancy sections must be 

 closed with something. 



Bees will sometimes come out, and at other 

 times they will not, even if the wintering room 

 be ever so dark, and at present we are about 

 as much in the dark about it, as we are in try- 

 ing to tell why bees sometimes winter finely, 

 at other times do not, with precisely the same 

 treatment. 



TilUM' SWAKITIS, AlfD VE.VTILATION. 



SOME or X WOMAN'S EXPERIENCE. 



E are very much pleased with the extractor,' 

 frames, section boxes, &c. The frames are 

 it splendid. Several of our neighbors that' 

 have see'n them think they will send to you tor some. 

 The section box is ju:-t the right size for a great many 

 who only want a pound of honey and the section box 

 full will just nil the tiill. 



I was soriy when I road D. W. Fletcher's letter in 

 "B! listed Hopes" in the May No., but I can not agree 

 with him that bee-keeping is poor business to depend 

 on tor a living, or that it requires considerable capi- 

 t.d, but I do think it rcquircs'a good deal of care to 

 insure success, and so does any other business, to 

 make it profitaOle. livery one in this locality except 

 ourselvt's had bad luck "with their beea last winter, 

 i)ut it W1S all through ignorance or carelessness. 

 Some of Ihem never read a book or paper on bee- 

 keeping in tht ir lite and did not know how to care for 

 them, thoae that did know were careless and neglect- 

 ed Ihem. 



As for capital it was. Oh, such hard work for us to 

 raise the .S:W. that our flret hive of bees and the ex- 

 press co^t. We got them two years ag > the 2i)th of 

 May. We increased to 7 that summer by arliliclal and 

 natural swarms and wintered tliem in the cellar with 

 good success. Increased to 21 la«t summer and win- 

 tered the same as before. Five hives got the dysen- 

 tf^ry two wce''s iiefore setting th'>m out but they are 

 doing as well as the others now. Wo sold honey 

 enough last summer to pay for our bees, lumber and 

 paint lor hives, awl fil.^tO per day lor the time my 

 husband was emnloved in making hives and caring 

 IVn- the bees. I liuvo sold Sll. wor:h of honey lhi3 

 spring and our hives are all full of honey which we 

 intend to extract as soon as our bees get lhro\igh 

 swarming. They commenced to swarm on the 17ih 

 of May ; we have had 13 swarms. We had one swarm 

 to-day that had three (piccns, and the hivo that cast 

 the swarm killed and carried out tour more. It was a 

 third swarm ; the same hive cast a swarm yesterday. 



I would like to have every man and wo'man who 

 has struggled tor years in poverty, fry b3c-keeplng. 

 If vour nVighbors and friends laugh at }"ou and proph- 

 esy all sorts of bad luck, jn.st give" them to understand 

 that the word fail is not in ycur vocabulary. 



