1878. 



GLEANmGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



13 



swarming fever. Well ! of all the long winded yams! 

 and I ain't half through. R. L. Joiner. 



Wyoming, Wis., Dec 18th, 1877. 



We linve heard reports of such swarming 

 times, tiieiid J., bixt they h.ave never yet 

 come into onr own ai)inry. If you remem- 

 ber, friend Doollttle Irad just ahcnt such a 

 time in 76, and if I am correct, he didn't 

 know what to do, any more than you did. 

 It strikes me that I should turn my whole 

 apiary to queen rearing, or at least the rest- 

 less stocks, and then hive every swarm, 

 even if there Mere no more than a pint, and 

 let them raise queens. Would not this 

 -course have satisfied them ? I agi^ee with 

 you in regard to having the space a scant t 

 between the upper and lower frames, but if 

 you don't look out, they will put bits of wax 

 in the way even then ; the result will be that 

 hees will be pinched, if the combs are very 

 heavy. This is to me, perhaps, the most 

 diflicult point in a two story hive. In spite 

 of all that Doolittle and his neiglibor Bet- 

 singer have said in favor of comb honey, I 

 believe they both say they would work their 

 iipiaries entirely for extracted, if they could 

 be assured of 10c per lb. When questioned 

 closely, Mr. B. said one great inducement 

 would be that producing exti-acted honey 

 Avas ."0 much le^s urjvli-. Prof. Cook, also, 

 strongly insists that extracted honey is going 

 to be the great staple eventually. Let us 

 liave hives that will admit of working for 

 •either vdthout any expensive changes. 



SIMPSON'S HONEY PI^ANT. 



AGAIN ask permission to use the colums of 

 Gleaninh'S to answer a host of innuiries about 

 thflt honey plsnt ("S. NodcsaJ. The plant, as 

 found here, ncrrly always grows among other weeds, 

 or in hrush or prrtiallj' shaded words. I think it will 

 always he fourid more abunripnt in the vicinity of an 

 old apiary than elsewhere. The cause is that it must 

 Ije fertilized by the tec or insect in search of the 

 sweets it jielc's. The iTiot hears transplanting well. 

 It commences blcrmirg from the first to the tenth of 

 .July, or about the time that linden and clover close 

 and continues until fiost, yielding honey, be the 

 "weather wet, warm or cold, during bloom ; but not 

 being fi-equentrd at all times bj' bees. As soon as 

 hearts-ease or buckwheat begins to yield, it is for- 

 saken until they cease, when they go back to it again. 

 I feel pretty well satisfied that one acre thoroughly 

 set with it, would keep up breeding and some honey 

 storing for .50 or ICO colonics during the tiying months 

 of July and Aug. 1 have tried mustard, catnip, mel- 

 ilot, and this season mig-nonette ; the trouble with 

 them is that when honey ceases elsewhere, caused 

 by atmospheric changes, it ceases with them; but 

 not so with the horey plant. It may not yield so 

 TDUch but it will still present its cup brimming full 

 of nectar every moniing-. 



Tlie honey is of excellent ouabtj': as clear as clo- 

 vei", making beautifT.ll comb, but lacking any distinct 

 aroma, as linden cr buckwheat. It 's excellent for 

 ■cooking pTirposes, leaving none of the honey taste 

 when used for sweetening tea or coffee, and it bakes 

 eoual to sugar. 



r do not know how far North or South it would 

 flourish but I have sent seeds to every state in the 

 Union, and roots as far South as Mew Orleans, and 

 North as Wiscousin. We shall hear in due time. 



The above are as correct answers as I know how, 

 at the present time, to give to questions that have 

 been asked me through the mail. This may he old 

 to some of you, but there seems to be a goodly num- 

 ber of the 2Sf!8 subscrfbers (it should be double that) 

 to whom it will be new. Jas. A. Simpsok. 



HONEY REPORT FOR, 1877. 



I had 27 stands May 1st, about half pure Italian, the 

 balance except 4, hybrids. I closed the season with 

 ',8 stands in good condition. My apiary is now % pure 



:'■ f r . Ihe result of introducing young queens of 



my own rearing. Extracted hcney, 4,2£'0 lbs. Ecx 

 honey, 21 lbs. All sold in heme market and mcie 

 wanted. Average price. 12c per lb. 



Jas. a. Simpson, Alexis, Ills., Dec. l£th, "l?. 



The plants were fourd growing quite 

 plentifully in our nei^LLcrhood, alter we 

 once started out to look lor them. It seems 

 that they are easily broken down by cattle 

 or stock, for although we found none in the 

 open fields, they were fornd quite plentiiul- 

 ly in old tree tops, piles of brush, fence com- 

 ers, and most of all, in tie edj-e of hedge 

 fences. We secured quite a lot of the seed, 

 by simply breaking oft the stalks, and laying 

 them in a basket having a p?.per laid inside. 

 By the time we reached heme, quite a quan- 

 tity of clean seed was found en the paper. 

 The quantity of honey found in a single 

 blossom, is certainly astonishing, and as 

 it blooms profusely, I cannot pee why it 

 will not prove of great valve. We ht.ve re- 

 ceived a sample ot the Lorey licm fiiend S., 

 and should unhesitatingly \ k nounce it clo- 

 ver, both frcm looks isnd li ste, unless it be 

 that it lackf- tl e mild flavor tl at seme spec- 

 imens of fine well ripened clover pos&ess. 



T7ie A B C of Bee Cvliwe. 

 CILTTSIT. {Nepata Cutaria). This is a 

 near relative of gill-oyzr-the-geotjnd, 

 which see. Quinby lias said that if he 

 were to grow any x>lant exclusively for the 

 honey it produced, that plant would be Cat- 

 nip, and very likely he was not far from 

 right. But as we have never yet had any 

 definite report from a sufficient field of it to 

 test it alcne, either in quality or quantity of 

 the honey, we remain almost as much in the 

 dark in regard to it as we were at the time 

 he made the statement, several years ago. 

 Several have cultivated it in small patches, 

 and have reported that in a state of cultiva- 

 tion, it apparently yielded more honey than 

 in its wild state, for bees are found on it 

 almost constantly, for several months in the 

 year; yet no one, I believe, is prepared to 

 say positively that it would pay to cultivate 

 it for this purpose. Seeds have been adver- 

 tised and sold through our Journals for 

 several years, but, as many complaints have 

 been made that they did not grow, and as 

 we have entirely failed in getting several 

 different samples to germinate, we are a lit- 

 tle doubtful about the feasibility of sending 

 out seed. The only person who has raised 

 cultivated plants from the seed, that we re- 

 member of, is M. Nevins, Cheviot, O., and 

 he advises sowing it in Jan., Feb., and 

 March. It is veiy likely that this, like many 

 of the seeds of forest trees, requires the 

 agency of the frost, to make it gemiinate. 

 Such would seem to be tlie case from the 

 reports of several, to the effect that they had 

 caused it to grow in fence corners, brush 

 heaps, and many waste places, by simply 



