Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-02-26
BEES AND HONEY.
An Interesting Article From the Ready
Pen Of Or. Lyon.
no the Tobacco Leat-ohroniele.I

Bees and honey are no recent in
vention. From the dawn OF history,
and as far back as tradition goes,
we find the honey bee laying up It's
sweets for the use of man. From
the days of Samson and David,
John the Baptist and Jesus Christ,
honey has been esteemed as a de-
lightful and healthGul food, The
honey bee has attracted the attention
of Aristotle and Pliny, of Homer and
Virgil and many lesser lights.
Yet only in the last century and
largely in the last generation has the
natural history OF this wonderful in
sect been well understood. Only
since the days of Langstroth, our
own countryman, who published his
classic on "The Honey Bee,' and in
troduced the m0UabLe frame hire, has
ee-keeping aud honey producing
taken rank as one OF the regular and
important occupations, of ten produc-
ing an income of from $4,000 to$5,000
per year. Only since then has it be-
come possible to produce from 100 to
700 pounds of honey from a single
colony in a season. He also did
much to introduce the CATALAN" or
yellow banded bees into this country,
and this solves the problem of the
much dreaded "worm" or "moth,"
which has been such terror to our
old fashioned bee-keepers. "Worms"
never do any material damage to
Italian bees kept in movable frame
hives and attended to with even
moderate intelligence and diligence.
Bee keeping in the United States
has become a business of no small
magnitude, so that now there are
published about dozen magazines
devoted to bee culture. Quite mum
Der of large factories are engaged ex-
clusively in making hives, frames,
section boxes and various implements
for the apiary, and some of these do
business of more than 500, 100000
per year.
The number of bee-keepers in the
United States is probably over one
hundred thousand, and many OF
these own from 500 to 1000 colonies
each, and some have even more and
raise honey by the ton. Some living
in the heart of cities a. New York
and Cincinnati keep bees successfully.
Some sections are of course better
adapted to honey production than
others, and California is notable
producer. But the writer has found
that the country about Clarksville Is
well supplied with honey plants pro-
ducing abundant supplies of excel
lent honey, and it is one purpose Of
this article and those which may fol
low it to arouse the citizens OF
GAINESVILLE and the surrounding
country to the fact that they are al
lowing every season, thousands Of
pounds Of delightful and healthlul
sweets to 60 to waste in our fields and
forests, which might readily be gath
cred and add 80 much to the food
supply and enjoyment of our people
If he is to be regarded as benelactor
of his race who causes t,Vo blades OF
grass to grow where one grew before,
then surely it is good work to Sc
cure the saving of tens 0
thousands of pounds of delicious
honey, which we now annually lose
We have a varied and abundanl
honey supply. First in the spring
comes the yield of nectar from the
poplar or tulip tree. This produces
a rather dark, but eXcellently favored
honey. Then the white clover over
our fields and meadows produces the
honey, generally esteemed the stand
dard honey of the country. After
that there is generally no surplus till
autumn. though the bees find abun
dance tor their own needs throughout
the summer. In the fall the bees
bring in large amount OF
fine yellow honey from the
golden rod, and a small species
of aster, generally called "wire
weed" which covers our fields with
its white blossoms. This lasts till
late in October and closes the season.
To show what may be done right
here in town, the writer would state
that, starting last spring with seven
good colonies and two poor ones, he
secured over one thousand and fifty
pounds of excellent honey and sew
eral pounds of wax, besides incrt as
ing the bees to fourteen good colo
MES and leaving them abundance ef
"stores" for the winter. Besides
this, not less than four good swarms
escaped and took the woods, which
might have been secured if more care
had been used.
OF these colonies three yielded re-
spectively 1888 lbs, 1863 lbs. and 1853
lbs.
In subsequent papers, if it shall
seem desirable, we will attempt to