I bet she made the nets herself. There is some fancy work around the top I think.
What keeps them on the top of their heads?
Spider Plant (Cleome pungens)
American beekeepers speak in glowing terms of thisplant for bee forage. The secretion of honey is describedas enormous, and unlike most bee flowers, the bloomsopen early in the morning and the afternoon, thus pre-venting the evaporation of the nectar.
In hot weather the evaporation of nectar from flowers isconsiderable; indeed, more so than is generally thought bybee-keepers. Therefore, honey-secreting plants that do notopen their petals until after the scorching heat of the dayis past, will be invaluable to the apiarist, especially as inthe case of the spiderplant, which produces honey in suchabundance.
Mr. Root says, in speaking about the spider plant (page 221,“A B C ”) : “ Not only does a single floweret produce a large drop, but some of them produce a great many drops.Last evening we made observations by lamp-light, and before nine o’clock the globules of honey were of the sizeof large shot.
The crowning experiment of all took place this morning. I was up a little after five o’clock, and with the aid of a teaspoon I dipped honey enough fromthree or four plants to fill a two-drachm phial, such as weuse in the queen cages, a little more than half full. The honey in some of the flowerets had collected in a large quantity, so large that it spilled out, and actually streamed on the ground.
I have called this honey, but in reality itis raw nectar, such as is found in clover and other flowers. The taste is a pure sweet, slightly dashed with a mostbeautiful, delicate flavour, resembling somewhat that of the best new maple molasses. The honey will be as white as the whitest linden, so far as I can judge. With the aid ofa lamp, I evaporated the nectar down to thick honey.
You can see something of what the bees have to do, whenI tell you that I had in bulk only about one-fifth part asmuch as when I commenced. You can also see that wenow have some accurate figures with which to estimate theamount of honey which may be obtained from an acre ofhoney plants.”
The seed should be sown in April in a pan or box, using fine soil. Give the protection of a frame or greenhouse(see chapter on the raising of plants from seed).Plants raised from seed in April and grown on, will flower in August. Plant these two feet apart each way.
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| Prairie Moon Nursery has seeds and plants of the Simpson Honey-plant |
"I have for years had dreams of a honey farm, with acres of flowers of different colors, blooming at different seasons, and keeping the bees away from the stores and groceries when we have a dry spell in the fall.
The dream has been partially realized with the Simpson honey-plant, Mollie O. Large's spider plant, and the seven-top turnip, and I am pretty well satisfied it will pay to cultivate these for honey alone. "
Fig-wort, or Simpson Honey Plant. (1887 and 1888)
This is a queer tall weed that grows In fields and woods, and it bears little cups full of honey. It has produced so much honey under cultivation on our honey farm during the past two years, that I am much inclined to place it at the head of the list of honey-plants.
It bears honey all the day long from July to October. Very hardy: blooms first year, and after that shoots up from the root every year, but needs planting anew, about every three years. The seed sometimes lies in the ground many months before germinating.
If sprinkled on the tub of damp leaf-mold, packed hard in a box, and rolled hard, being kept dark and damp in a warm place, they will sprout in a week or two. Then give all the light and air possible, but not too much water. Price of seed, from cultivated plants, 20c per oz., $2.00 per lb. If by mail, 18c per lb. extra, for postage.
" It is a large coarse grower from 4 to 8 feet in height, coarse leaf, and branching top covered with innumerable little balls about that size of No. 1 shot. When in bloom there is just one little flower leaf on each ball which is dark purple, or violet at the outer point and lighter as it approaches the seed ball. The ball has an opening in it at the base of the leaf. The ball is hollow. It is seldom seen in the forenoon without honey shining in it. Take a branch off and turn it down with a sharp shake and the honey will fall in drops. It commences to bloom about the 15th of July and remains until frost. Bees frequent it from morning till night. The honey is a little dark, but of very good quality. I think it would be best to sow in seed bed and transplant."
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| This illustration shows the square stem well. |
Webster Thomas, editor of the The Bee-keepers' Instructor: A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Science of Bee-keeping in All Its Branches, writes, in 1881:"We have a small patch of the Simpson honey plant on which the bees have been busy for a month past. This plant, unless the weather is very dry, secretes honey during the entire day. It would certainly pay well to cultivate it largely, as it bridges over the gap between the summer and fall flow of honey, and continues on until killed by frosts.
Let those who have the land to spare and time to cultivate it, try the experiment and see if it does not pay well."
King's Cure-all as a Honey-Plant.
I send you some pods of seed of a good honey plant. What is its botanical name? We call it "King's cure-all". It blooms a little on a single stalk, the first year; the next year it throws out branches, growing 6 or 8 feet high, and blooms about the middle of July, and continues blooming till frost. The flower is a small cup with a lid over it, keeping out the sun and rain. The bees work on it early and late. S. P. Sowers.Dunlap, Kansas. ("early and late" - June through September says a plant site)
[The plant seems to be Scrophularia nodosa (" Figwort," Simpson's Honey Plant). The fruit capsules are more densely produced than is common with the above species, but it cannot be far different, and there is no near relative known to me to which it may be referred. It is, probably, the variety known as Marilandica.—T. J. Burrill.]
I am puzzled with the result of my experiment with the Simpson's honey plant. I have a few plants in bloom near my bee stands. I can see the nectar in the flower and squeeze it out in great, sweet, honey-tasting drops, but I have never been able to see a bee work on it, while they will suck away at a few nearly dried up Catnip and Mignonette flowers at the foot of these plants, within two feet of them.
Why do they not work on the Simpson? The bees were very busy on Catnip and Motherwort this summer. These plants when once established will take care of themselves for years, as they are hardy, drought proof perennial plants, and are worthy of extensive planting. I shall continue my experiments with the Simpson honey plant as well as with others.
S. B. Kokanour, Manhattan, Kansas.
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Tuskegee & Its People - Their Ideals and Achievements By Booker T. Washington |
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| http://www.womenintexashistory.org/learn/papers/ |
"I would gladly purchase exemption from indoor work, on washing-day, by two days' labor among the bees, and I find two hours' labor at the ironing-table more fatiguing than two hours of the severest toil the apiary can exact."I repeat, that apiculture offers to many women not only pleasure but profit. Mrs. L. B. Baker, of Lansing, Mich., who had kept bees very successfully for four years, read an admirable paper before the same convention, in which she said:
"But I can say, having tried both (keeping boarding-house and apiculture), I give bee-keeping the preference, as more profitable, healthful, independent and enjoyable. ...I find the labors of the apiary more endurable than working over a cook-stove indoors, and more pleasant and conducive to health. ... I believe that many of our delicate and invalid ladies would find renewed vigor of body and mind in the labors and recreations of the apiary. By beginning in the early spring, when the weather was cool and the work light, I became gradually accustomed to outdoor labor, and by midsummer found myself as well able to endure the heat of the sun as my husband, who has been accustomed to it all his life. Previously, to attend an open-air picnic was to return with a headache. ... My own experience in the apiary has been a source of interest and enjoyment far exceeding my anticipations."
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| from: The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture |
"The next day Fanny & I were sitting under some trees by the horse trough. We had passed the night, & I had got acquainted with my new cousin. How lovely the scene! We could see the orchard, the big potato field.
There was a Grandma, too. Uncle Hiram's mother lived with them. She was tall. One of my memories was of watching this Grandma Kimball take a swarm of bees. In one of the trees near the house a large swarm had collected. Mrs. Kimball came out with her face all veiled & with the bee-trap, like a large corn popper at the top end of a long pole, & she could just reach with it the swarm in the tree, pulling on a lever she opened the trap, shoved it over the swarm & then pulled the lid closed.Of course some would escape. I was not frightened. Bees do not sting if you do not touch them. Then she carried the bees to a hive. Fanny & I trotted or paced along here & there. I do not remember the rest, for something else attracted my attention just then, I think. The land here was rich. There was a beautiful bed of pansies around one of the trees, in a circle. I never saw such beauties!"
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The Progressive Bee-Keeper is his work.
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"At about the age of 19 I took my first lessons from a teacher in drawing, who located for a while in our village—a Mr. Bryant—a painter and lover of art, and those three terms of evening lessons I today look back upon as one of the brightest spots in my life. But the dark cloud of the Rebellion interrupted my studies, and shot the life out of one of the most lovable of teachers; for, true to his moral teachings, he was willing to die for the principles he loved. His teachings were always accompanied with moral lessons. This man, for he was a true man, and one who followed closely after his Maker, and has left an impression upon my life coupled with his noble actions, was always in the endeavor to show the why and wherefore of every thing—the cause and effect, whether applied to drawing or other things.
...
During the war I was engaged by the Spencer Rifle Co., of (Tremont Street) Boston, and while there made good use of my time evenings, and what spare time I could command, by studying under various teachers and schools.
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| 1860s, Tremont Street- image courtesy of the Boston Public Library |
From there I went to Amesbury, Mass., with the intention of learning photography; but my employer, Mr. Clarkson, soon went out of business, and my career in that direction came to a sudden close.
In my early days our family lived in this same town of Amesbury, and I felt somewhat at home, so I went into the mills there and stayed a year or so. It was at this time, or just before the photographing business was given up, that I made the acquaintance of that lovable and renowned Quaker poet, John G. Whittier. and I have had many friendly talks and visits with him; have met him in his rambles along the Powow River and the meadows of the Merrimac.
...In 1867 or 1868 I left home to take up that branch of business, and to engrave the same on metal, at first under a Mr. Chandler, then under Woodbury, whose place I afterward filled....Then came that great event, and what appeared as a terrible evil (which turned out a blessing, as most appearances do), the great fire of Oct. 9. 1871, and blotted out academy, music-house, and a thousand things which entered into my life, and atone time barely escaping with even that: with clothes torn and burnt, with body bleeding, I, with multitudes, made our way to the lake, and in many dangers made our way to places of safety.
I was in a dazed and helpless condition. But, let the details of those events pass. Suffice it to say that at that time I realized more than ever that great truth, and the blessed hope that came with it, that "the Lord's providence is exerted for our good every atom of time.
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The music-plates of the sheet-music department were saved in an underground vault, and were afterward purchased by S. Brainard's Sons, of Cleveland; and this circumstance, and my intimate knowledge of the catalogue, etc., brought me to Cleveland (have not seen Chicago since).
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After serving the Brainards about a year I became associated with the business of wood engraving as artist and designer, and have been in that up to date....In looking back I can see now what the Chicago fire was all about (that is, so far as regards myself), which was, that I might meet and wed one of God's loving helpmeets, and to give me work to do which I should not otherwise have had. ..."
