no 
gleanings in bee culture. 
Oct. 
CULTIVATION OF CATNIP AS A 
HONEY PLANT. 
KpHE following was rec'tl in answer to an 
Jr inquiry for further particulars in regard 
to the cultivated Catnip mentioned on. page 33, 
March No. 
The bees are increasing in stores slightly upon the 
Everything else is dried out, and catnip don t 
produce half the honey it would were It not for ■ the 
ievere drouth. There are wells dry heie .it this time 
that have not failed before in forty years, .Some ot 
mv swarms are building comb and some are not. On 
the 27 th of July 1 examined nucleus No. 12 and noted 
in register, laying Queen. Aug. Hth I had occasion 
*to draw on this number for a Queen, and was fem- 
inized to find them making a desperate effort to dem- 
onstratc the fallacy of the tig ldvc theory. My nuclei 
arc made by putting division hoard in cento e of lull 
si/.cil L. hive, and a nucleus on each side. 1 his one 
had but two combs with adhering bees, when formed, 
and as nearly all the old bees would return to the 
parent stock they could not be over Strong. Ill the 
time between these two examinations (17 da> 8) this 
little swarm had built one comb the full length to the 
bottom board and another comb % as large, ine 
large one was filled with brood nearly all capped ovei 
ami the smaller comb had some brood, and all this in 
the midst of this severe drouth and scarcity. . Now 
who says a pint of bees in a hive will not work as well 
proportionally as live bushels? This nucleus was not 
fed a drop of any thing. . _ 
I believe the quality of the catnip honey is ftiUy 
equal to the clover, and the color so near it that the 
difference is hardly perceptible. Idesiie to save all 
the seed, lint have no plan of getting it out except by 
hand, and I found that too tedious last year, w ill 
not some of the friends who have been sowing Alsike 
seed give inc some light on the subject. Ihis seed is 
much finer than the Alsike hut I think it could lie i t- 
nioved bv the same process. I had supposed until 
this rear that the catnip would not bloom the hist 
season from the seed, hut I sowed some last .Januurj, 
which is the best time to sow it for the purpose of 
raising plants to put out next spring, and it. now 
’wTh'ii! ’ “ h “ hiKh cheviot^o! 
p. s. Mutli says lie will pay the same price lor cat- 
nip honey that he does for the best white clover. 
We at one time had a strong inclination to 
try a ten acre field of Catnip, but when we 
found that the expense, rent, labor etc., would 
amount to something like $25.00 per acre, to 
us, cash out of pocket, and that ’twould even 
then be uncertain of giving any precise income, 
we confess we were somewhat intimidated. 
The same sum expended for sugar to lie fed 
during the fall would be a positively safe in- 
vestment; that is we get an equivalent from 
sugar without any doubt. If an acre of catnip 
would yield during the season, a barrel of hon- 
ey, it would without doubt pay to rent land 
and cultivate it, but very much less would 
hardly make it a safe investment. 
With farmers who have the land and time, 
the ease is quite different, and if the catnip 
could lie grown without any or but little amh 
out, we should say grow it by all means. 
Friend N. offers the seed as low as seedsmen, 
and of course knows it to be fresh and pure. 
By the way will not “catnip” honey necessa- 
rily possess some medical qualities? For the 
“infantile portion of com muni ty,” for instance ? 
[For Gleanings.] 
THE HIVE QUESTION. 
*T seems to me that there is a general misundor- 
I ■■ — i’ — /\f 1 . Vi i ifoe * i i£iili_ 
seems to me that there is a general misundor- 
standing on the subject of mammoth hives, a sub 
— h jeet which Is just now calling forth a good deal of 
comment; and if you will permit me to say a lew 
words Mr. Editor I will try to keep silent ill the future 
as I have in the past, for it doesn’t behoove every one 
to become a regular contributor to a Bee .Journal it 
he is posessor of a few bees. In the first place I 
would sav that hives which are arranged lor securing 
such enormous yields of honey as we hear toll ot, are 
a humbug. Now men of mammoth hives don t say 
“fogy” till I explain in what way tlic.v are humbugs, 
I keep two mammoths in nvy apiary just_ tor "Inn,’ 
and have arrived at the following conclusion : 
In the first place they gather no more honey than, 
the same number of hoes when placed m two or three 
hives with one half or one third as many combs m 
each ; and It takes more work to extract a given- 
amount of honey from the big things, than it does 
from several small ones. Also, it often becomes m*e- 
essarv to move a hive when full ot honey, anu then ii 
you are single handed, as many ot \xs are, what arc. 
you going to do ? And when it comes to wintering 
you have either got to divide — thus entailing an extra 
expense of two sets of hives- -or else have a regular 
old fashioned barn raising to get them into the house. 
I have <>2 colonies in hives ot eight frames each, 11 j.\ 
IS*' an( i i c an attend to them more easily and get just 
as much honey as if they were in 31 hives ot twice 
their capacity, and my Queens do not lay themselves 
all away the first season. , , * , r o 
1 know it sounds large to hear it said that Mr. Some- 
body had a single hive to gather six or eight hundred 
lbs in one season, and it no doubt does stagger the old 
box-hive fraternity. Hut if any one will pay me tor 
the extra trouble 1 will (a la Hosmer) have one hive ol 
bees to gather 1000 lbs. of honey in ’75, providing it is 
a good season, and will not brag about it either, it if 
my opinion that for ease of handling and tor profit we 
want hives with capacity of about 100 lbs. ot honey 
pen' season in average localities. ...... . 
There Mr. Editor 1 have said my say, and 1 think 
that experience will teach many to “see it m a.imit 
the sa me light. I* R Hogue. 
Eoydsville, <). Sept. 8th, 1874. 
The hive question is yet receiving much attention. 
Why do we want a better frame than the Langstrotn. 
The two stow hive- I think— for many reasons, will 
ever maintain a front position. The large hives about 
which 1 consulted you two years ago, with eleven 
Eangstroth frames below, and lit teen above, the uppei 
ones hanging crosswise, and down within thyee (fights 
of an inch of the lower ones, is the invoice in my 
apiary. My bees have done well this season. i am 
still taking* honey from the upper story, * 
W. V. Moouk, Richland Station, Tcnn., Aug. 2nd, 74. 
TIIE KINO BIRD FOUND GUILTY. 
pH L. WAITE, of Berea, O., furnishes some 
J|, g, very 'positive evidence and also men- 
tions a habit of the King bird, we think not 
•■■encrally known to naturalists. During tie- 
month of June ’72, a flock of seven of these 
birds were making such regular and constan 
visits to his Apiary that his suspicions were 
aroused and concealing himself, he with watch 
in hand observed a single bird snap up 5 to - 
per minute. After having pursued this "inno- 
cent" amusement for a sufficient interval, his 
birdsliip was in the habit of taking a rest on a 
neighboring tree, where after a short medita- 
tion lie commenced a series of muscular con- 
tortions of the head and neck that finally 
resulted in his opening liis mouth wide anu 
“heaving up” a wad of some strange black 
looking substance. By chance thei r perch was 
close over a bed of Rhubarb or Pie plant aim 
our friend secured a number of these wads as 
they fell, and thus settled the point of their ms 
ing nothing more nor less, than crushed 
After they had- “squeezed” out all the homy- 
probably having no farther use for the P° 
ace” it was unceremoniously east aside wn 
his worship with a keen appetite and r.est 
the sport, went, “bee hunting” again. 1 » 
came regularly for a “meal” two or three tin - 
a day. Guess we had better use our rifles . 
shot guns in such a way as to induce then 
learn that Apiaries are “unhealthy mean 
for such boarders. 
