Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-02-06

physician, is along the line of research
that the department of agriculture has
been carrying on for years past, and with
grandly encouraging hope that by SINH
lar means of incubation two great
scourges that destroy the swine at the
West can now be controlled. Pasteur, a
French eXperimenter, years ago establish
ed the fact that the chief diseases of silk
worms were brought about by the attacks
OF microscopic organisms; and not only
this, but suggested remedy by which
the trouble was overcome.
So the problem of the diseases of bees,
II not already solved, is far on the way
to solution.
The third condition: Good food for
bees-the food continuous and abundant,
is the one that demands the gravest at
tention. How upon this condition turns
the result, that of failure or success
Some years the industry is so remunera-
tive and satisfactory. Then some sea-
sons so disappointing and almost dis
hearteniug
grand problem arises. Can good
food for our bees be secured the season
through? Such a problem is worthy of
solution. 1t ought to be solved; it must
be solved.
The wonderful fact that the earth con-
tains within itself materials for all the
fruit, all the grain, all the vegetables,
all the sugar, all the clothing we need ;
that out of the same corner of the gar
den, from the same black mould, by the
chemical power resident in the sun and
the various plants may come the potato
with its starch, the melon with its sugar,
the tomato with ITS acid Juice, the mint
with its fragrance, the clover with its
nectar, this wonderful fact seems always
new though we turn to it every day. 1t
is the riddle of old, tout of the strt ny
came forth sweetness"
Out of this earth, this dark soil, so rich
in all possibilities, must the nectar come.
And it must come by way of the plant.
What plant or plants shall draw honey
from the rock, the broken rock which
forms the soil? We know the usual
sources of nectar supply. We wish they
were more rich, more unvarying, more
certain, We are thankful for these. But
these, as it seems to me, should be rein
forced by others more abundant in nee
tar, more sure in yield.
Restating the problem, there is re-
quired in addition to our present stock of
plants one having certain characteristics.
chief among which are persistence and
hardness, thriving along our roadsides
and waste places whatever the soil, rich
in nectar, in bloom the season through.
and especially in bloom during the dearth
should desire more than these three
grand characteristics here mentioned !:
that while the flower should give sweet
ness to the bee, its leaf or stock or seed
shall subserve some other valuable pur-
pose. Such seems to me is the problem.
On successfully solving it the bee-keep-
ing industry takes its place as perma-
nent and remuneratiye one. Millions of
money will be added to the income of
the nation. Can it be solved? That in
quiries pushed faithfully and in the
proper direction will bring success. we
have right to expect. Individuals, as
sociations, agricultural colleges and ex-
pertinent stations, should take up the
subject, nor should bee-keepers be salts
fled until the desirable result is reached.
AS members of this association you
know what has been going forward in
this line OF research. Men in and out of
official places have been working away
at the problem. The method has been
the systematic trial of such plants, found
in other or home regions, as give prom
end has not been reached, we NAV hope
this method will give at length just what
is needed
| have been especially interested in
what has been going forward under the
direction of one whose name you all
know, one who has already done great
service to the bee-keepers of the country,
Prof. a. j. Cook of Michigan. With
ample means at his command as an officer
of the Agricultural college and expert
ment station, he could carry forward
Investigations on a scale that no ordinary
man could afford. These have been so
important, that even at the great risk of
repeating what you are already familiar
with, | venture to present an abstract of
his reports of the work.
The most promising plants coming I'M
der his notice were the Chapman honey
plant known botanically as EchiaopS
spherocephalus; the Rocky Mountain
bee plant, CleOme iHtegrifolid, and
foreign mint, IA bee balm of the genus
Melissa. He has made trials of these
during the two past seasons, 1889 and
1890, occupying land to the amount of
fourteen acres. The results in brief may