30 
“ NOVIOE’8 ” GLEANINGS IN I1EE CULTUHE. 
please correct ns. Wo think (notwith- 
standing that the extractor is a great in- 
vention) that the majority of the honey 
will bo sold in the comb lor a great many 
years to come. Hoping you will excuse 
this long communication, and will think 
the matter over favorably, 1 remain as ev- 
er your friend, J. ]>. Moohk, 
Binghamton, N. V. , 
A perusal of the above leaves us just || 
about in the condition wc were the first , 
time wc ever attempted to speak at a de- 
bating society, viz : we could only think 
of one idea, and same one Who pitied us 
called it a heavy one, as we hope the fol- 
lowingone is: Getthin white-wood veneer 
and make frames by folding up strips 
about lj or 11 inch wide; these frames to 
be of such size that four or six would till 
« large frame. When these are filled with 
honey and sealed up they can be removed 
and sold singly or in boxes. As the 
frames can be made for ] cent each or 
less, they can be sold honey and all. The 
veneer can be purchased very cheaply. 
No. 47.— Docs Mellilot clover blossom 
the season it is sown ? Is Sweet Mignon- 
ette a good honey producer, and can it ho 
profitably raised by the acre — that is, will 
it pay ? To make bee-keeping pay nuy 
and every year, it needs other flowers than 
white or alsike clover or basswood. There 1 
is hardly a year that all blossoms yield : 
honey, and to have only clover and bass- 
wood for honey producing is like some of j 
the Southern States planting only cotton 
to make money from. We need more 
honey producing plants, and if there are 
any that will pay to cultivate it will bo a 
step forward, Ac., Ac. I think you must 
see what I am after. Can anything be 
done ? Can the seed of Sweet Mignenette 
be bad in sufficient quantity to plant an 
acre ? J. L. Tuo.wsox, j 
Big Tree Corners, N. Y, 
Mellilot does not blossom until second 1 
season, and with us, bees pay but little at- ^ 
feution to it. We find it one of the worst 
weeds to "dig up" it has ever been our 
fortune to encounter, and cannot see that 
it differs materially from common sweet 
clover.. B. II. Stair A Co., 115 Ontario 
st., Cleveland, (>., can furnish any qunnti- 
tp of Mignonette seed, but we must think 
such experiments risky, for nothing short 
of acres of any plant would give a defi- 
nite result. If, we select some plant that 
will pay otherwise than as a honey plant, 
we can go to work much 'more safely. 
For instance, large yields of honey are 
obtained in Germany from the rape fields : 
in some eases the honey 1ms, been known 
to run out of the hives in the evening, so H 
great is the yield. We give below a letter 
from Messrs. Stair A Co., rcc'd Feb. 20th: 
“We have heard summer rape very fa- 
vorably spoken of as a honey plant. \Vs 
wish you would agitate that subject in 
“Gleanings,” and if it is worth while we 
will give you modes of eulture. Wo will 
also buy the seed product up to 40 or 50 
Ini. if any one wishes to try it.” 
If a sufficient number care for the mat- 
ter, we will give the further particulars in 
our next. 
No. 48. — I have received nearly four thous- 
and lbs. box honey, and five or six hun- 
dred lbs liquid honey from seventy-two 
stocks, with which I commenced" last 
spring ; besides increasing my stock to one 
hundred and twenty, an increase of forty- 
eight,. I expect to realize thirty-five cents 
per pound for box honey above expenses 
of shipping, commission, Ac. It is being 
sold now in the New York market at forty 
cents per pound, wholesale. I am very- 
sorry you have no better success in getting 
box honey, usually I get about onc-half os 
much weight with boxes as with the ex- 
tractor; and box honey is worth about 
twice as much as the extracted. This 
year I have done better than this, getting 
nearly as much cap honey as extracted, 
.) ames E. Chase, Bridgeport, Vt. 
Our friend certainly should be satisfied 
with the prosperity of his apiary, and his 
last item seems to favor Gen. Aduirs 
position, viz : "That it is possible for them 
to build comb to contain the honey as fast 
as it is stored, when every thing is most 
favorable for. such results." Our experi- 
ence has been quite different, for we have 
many times observed that the amount of 
honey taken with the extractor is seldom 
anything near what miyhi bare been ob- 
tained had it been used always us soon ns 
the bees had filled (and portly sealed ) 
their combs, and before they begun to con- 
template swarming. However give us the 
facts on both sides by nil menus. 
No. 40. — Mr. Bavin is rather ashamed 
that he cannot make a better report of 
swarms nnd suplus honey. But the fact is 
Mr. Davis was^taken by surprise. He had 
calculated the fire had nearly destroyed 
his apiarian prospects by burning out by 
the roots every tree and Bush in this large 
swamp, some 1200 acres; nnd was not 
prepared for such*, wholesale swarming, 
commencing in May and lasting until 
September. Several went off, for which I 
was thankful, for I had my hay and grain 
;« take care of, and ^tliey came too thick 
and fast, — seven or eight in’a^day and no 
hives made you see. Old” refuse combs 
that set leaning against the hives would in- 
filled, all the boxes that I could get a 
chance to put on and some of the caps 
were filled; some of them built comb in 
