SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
79 
NEW AND CHEAP FOOD FOR BEES. 
It is stated in the London Gardener's Chronicle that a 
: correspondent of that paper has long been in the habit of 
1 supplying the London shops with fresh honey in the 
,| comb all the year round. In the hardest winter his sup- 
i ply was equal to the finest summei. How he succeeded 
Ij in this was a mystery. It finally came to light 
ij that he fed his bees, in the absence of flowers, on a 
solution of the oil cake made from the seeds of the Bene 
I Plant {Sesamum Orientate^ Indeed he would boast that 
j he wanted no flowers for his bees. 
I The Sesamum orientale, or Bene is cultivated in vari- 
I ous paits of the world, both as food and for oil. The oil 
I remains sweet for a l®ng time, and is sometimes used as 
i a substitute for sweet oil. In China and Cochin China 
I it is used as a substitute for butter in pteparing the vari- 
ous dishes. It is cultivated to a considerable extent in 
several of the Southern States. It is sown in drills about 
four feet apart, in the month of April, and the seeds are 
gathered in September ; it yields a large proportion of oil 
which is expressed in the same way as linseed oil. It 
grows much like cotton, from three to six feet high, and 
bears numerous square seed pods, about an inch and a 
half long. The leaves of the plant have long been used 
as a remedy for the dysentary, and cholera infantum or 
summer complaint of children. For this purpose the 
freshly gathered leaves are placed in a tumbler of cold 
water, which immediately becomes ropy, without losing 
its transparency, or acquiring any unpleasant taste, and 
is readily and even gratefully taken by the little sufferers, 
and in such cases is used as a substitute for other drinks. 
The Sesamum is indeed a valuable plant if cultivated 
alone for its medicinal and domestic uses, if not for its 
oil, which last, however, under proper management, 
would prove a profitable product where the climate favors 
its perfect maturity, which perhaps would not be North 
of the 38th or 39th degrees of latitude. — The Sesamum 
cake is extensively used in France for manure, and is 
most valuable for all growing crops. 
Should the Sesamum prove as valuable for bees, as the 
statements seem to claim for it, it would warrant the im- 
portation of the oil cake from England and France for 
that pu>-pose. — But we would advise some experiments 
for this purpose before much expense was incurred in 
that wav. 
T he Flore des Serres relate=: the discovery of the value 
nf the cake for feeding bees from the following circum- 
stances : “Two bee-masters in a village in the depart- 
ment of the Var, in the south of France, were in the habit 
of wintering their hives in the forests of Mandelieu. 
When uncovering the hives the apiarians perceived about 
noon, on the 4th of May, 1856, that their bees were out 
and yet the hives were full, and of extraordinary weight 
for the time of the year. Surprised at the circumstance 
and wondering what the bees could be at, they remained 
on the watch till evening. About G o’clock the bees be- 
gan to return, loaded with an incredible quantity of the 
richest plunder; so heavy, indeed, were their burthens 
that the least experienced observer could not have failed 
to notice it. Astonished at such an event, the bee-mas- 
ters proceeded to examine the fields and mountains in the 
neighborhood, but in vain; they discovered nothing in 
the country around them at all different from preceding 
years. At last they crossed a field in which the oil-cake, 
resulting from the pressure of Sesamum seed was being 
prepared for putting into the ground with potato sets, as 
is the custom in that country, where Sesamum cake is 
much valued as manure. 
The cakes had been steeped in a pit of water till they 
were reduced to a state of liquid plaster for it is thus that 
cakes are used with most success at Mandelieu. “ Oho!” 
said the farmer who was planting the potatoes, on seeing 
the apiarians, “ You are come to see how we make bee- 
soup Look there, every day for some time past, we have 
been overrun with your swarms, and they feast famously; 
they take their fill, I assure you.” On returning to the 
same place next morning, the mountaineers were con- 
vinced of the truth of what the farmer had said, for there 
were the bees in prodigious numbers, buzzing about the 
tub and feasting on the Sesamum cake which it con- 
tained. 
The bee-masters from Mandelieu took the hint. They, 
immediately placed near their hives some large tubs, filled 
with Sesamum cake, dissolved in water to the consistence 
of pap. The bees no longer wandered from home; the 
tubs were kept regularly filled with “ soup,” as the farm- 
ers called it, and the bees stayed at home. The food has 
since been given in winter with perfect success, only if 
the weather is frosty, it is necessary to use warm water, 
in order to keep the Sesamum cake soluble. The results 
have been astonishing, not only in a large increase of 
honey comb, but in enabling the bees to increase beyond 
all belief, nearly ten times the quantity being bred in con- 
sequence of the facility afforded of obtaining abundant, 
and as it would seem excellent nourishment from this un- 
expected source. 
It is an easy matter for some of our Southern bee-fan- 
ciers where the plant is grown to make an experiment, 
and see whether there is any exaggeration in this French 
statement. We know that the French are a visionary 
people, always making some grand discovery in nature 
— but as this statement is given with so much clearness, 
it seems to bear upon its face the semblance of truth, and 
as we can see no room for them to be deceived, nor any 
motive in them to deceive others, we think the facts should 
be proven by experiment. — Valley Farmer. 
CULTIVATION OF THE PEA-NUT. 
A correspondent, of Yolo County, who has a practicM 
experience in the cultivation of the pea-nut, submits to 
the readers of the Unionise following considerations in 
connection with the raising of this product : 
Many readers of your paper wish information as the 
cultivation of the pea-nut. I will say, first, that it re- 
quires light, sandy soil, such as will best produce water- 
melons and sweet potatoes, and yet I am persuaded that 
the pea-nut can be raised on soil so dry that it will not 
produce either melons or potatoes. Too damp or irri- 
gated land will not do, as the pea will (as many of us in 
California have done) overshoot itself. The time to plant 
is from the 1st to the lOth of April. The way to plant it 
is to break your ground with a harrow, to a level, then 
open your drills four feet apart and about one or one and 
one- half inches deep. The pea has to be broken, and 
two kernels dropped in the drill, twenty-four inches apart, 
and covered, as above stated, one to one and one-half 
inches deep. After they come up, the vine spreads out 
on the ground, much like the red clover. When six or 
eight inches long, they commence to blossom, when the 
vine between the rows is taken and the vine and blossoms 
are covered about one inch deep, leaving the ends clear. 
This is the first working. And again, when they have 
grown out again with plenty of blossoms, cover as be- 
fore, until the 1st of August, which will make two or 
three workings. There is no use in covering after the 1st 
of August, as the pea will not mature. 
Now for tne gathering. I generally commence the 1st 
of October. Get all the ends of the vines in each hill in 
your hands, and pull them up gently, and you willb ing 
nine-tenths of the peas; turn them over, with the peas to 
the sun, until sufficiently dry to gather— say six to eight 
days — when, of course, they will be gathered and sacked. 
— Sacramento Times, 
