1864. 



THE ILLmoIS FAEMER. 



239 



I he White Willow Controversy. 



Bloomikgton, III., June 27, 1864. 

 M. L. Dunlap, Editor lUinois Farmer, Okampaigti 



lU. : 



Herewith please find copies of the replies of 

 Messrs. Miiikler and Galusha, in regard to that 

 white (or swamp) willow business. If convenient 

 please publish. Trulj', F. K. Ph<enix. 



[Here follow two letters of 0. B. Galusha, one 

 of which we have already given, and *.hc other of 

 litter date is in substance a repetition. — Ed.] 



S. G. Minkler writes June 18th, as follows : 



"I received your letter about the white willow 

 yesterday. You use the word swamp willow ; I 

 never used the word. I said you cut a large quan- 

 tity at Peoria Lake. My authority i s one of the 

 employees of the I. C. R. R. He said it was sent 

 down that road to Bloomington. Now, if you ne- 

 ver shipped any willow in that direction, then the 

 thing was made out, of whole cloih. I think he 

 had no interest in the matter any way, for the con- 

 versation was like this : "Are you doing anything 

 in the willow ?" I replied, "No." He said Phoe- 

 nix was shipping two car loads per day or week, I 

 will not be positive which. He further stated that 

 he (Phoenix) had a large number of hands cutting 

 at Peoria Lake, and it came to the I. C. B. R. from 

 Peoria. And so I told Mr. Bragdon, and also Mr. 

 Galusha. Further than that Mr. Galusha has no. 

 thing to do in the matter. 



Yours respectfully, 



S. G. Minkler." 



— The mystery grows deeper the further we look 

 into it. At first sight the case looks plain. Mr. 

 Phoenix is accused of shipping two car loads a day 

 or week, and cutting them at Peoria Lake. Now, 

 the inference is natural that the willow at Peoria 

 Lake is native willow. How easy in this connec 

 tion for Mr. P, to have solved the whole mystei7 

 and told us that at Peoria Lake is a large planta- 

 tion of white willow, that he purchased and had 

 shipped, or that he had purchased what was rep- 

 resented to him to be white willow, or any other 

 state of facts ; but on the contrary Mr. P. chooses 

 to be silent, and to leave the public to draw their 

 own consluaions, and he need not be surprised 

 f some of them are drawn unfavorable to him. — 

 There may be some strategy behind this that we 

 cannot see — some denounment that shall take 

 us all by surprise. 



Our own explanation of the matter is this: that 

 Mr. P. purchased white willow cuttings at Canton, 



in Fulton county, and shipped them at Peoria. — 

 We have no knowledge of this, but merely infer it 

 from the fact that at that place the Messrs. Over- 

 man get fhcir supplies, and that large trees exist 

 thereabouts, and that large amounts have been 

 sent thence ; and there is no reason to suppose 

 that Mr. P. did not deal largely in the Fulton Co. 

 willow. Wo arci unwilling to believe that Mr. P. 

 knowingly had cut or purchased any swtinip willow, 

 and yet from the letter from Mr Minkler and hig 

 reticence in the premi.-es, a contrary conclusion 

 might be drawn by the reader; and did we not 

 know that there was a large amount of white wil- 

 low in Fulton Co, and that Peoria was the nearest 

 point of shipn^ent we might also be led into the 

 same error. When it was so easy to explain the 

 whole matter we regret^that Mr. P. did not see fit 

 to do so, and thus end the mystery. 



We vfi.l say a word in regard to Mr. Minkler 

 whom we have known for several years. No man 

 stands higher amongj^his acquaintances; straight 

 forward in his dealings and truthful in his state, 

 raents, we do not think he would knowingly say a 

 word to the disparagement of any one. At the 

 same time humbugs and petty swindles are not 

 his favorites. 



We shall be pleased to publish any statement 

 Mr. P. may choose to make in the premises, more 

 particularly as from present appearances be is the 

 only one that can do it satisfactorfly to all con- 

 cerned. Had he done so with Mr. B. when the 

 subject came up between them, nothing more 

 would have come of it. As the matter now stands 

 many persons will conclude that some one has the 

 wrong willow. — Ed. 



* Watching- the Bees. 



We wintered sixteen out of eighteen hives of 

 bees. The two de«d swarms were small, and, on 

 account of the early frost, did not fill the hive 

 with comb. But few of the swarms had a sufficient 

 supply of honey, and from one to two months were 

 fed with melted sugar. This was poured into old 

 comb and placed inthe upper chambei of the hive. 



So soon as the apple blossoms began to open 

 new era dawned upon them and they all made hon- 

 ey rapidly. Never were bees more active. The 

 old comb was filled and in a few days they began 

 to fill the drawers. But we had committed one se- 

 rious error in not giving them a good supply of un- 

 bottled rye flour, to aid them in breeding, so as to 

 enable them to swarm early. It was not untU May 

 25th that the first swarm appeared; this and a 

 succeeding one left for the woods, not having been 

 carefully watched. 



