April, 1908. 



American ISee Journal 



in color, very hard and easily polished. Tliis 

 variety is a curiosity, capable of forming a 

 good shadc-trcc if properly trained. 



4. iiiicaiyptus Deciptens. — Of a dwarf growth 

 at Santa Monica Station, but it blooms pro- 

 fusely during the late fall and early winter; 

 the bloom is worked by large numbers of 

 bees. 



5. Eucalyptus Diversicolor ("Karri gum"). 

 — One of the tallest growing trees in Aus- 

 tralia, producing a very valuable wood for 

 wagon-work. This tree will stand frosts nearly 

 as well as some of the better known and 

 hardy species, 



6. Eucalyptus Eugeniodics. — This stringy 

 bark produces a fairly durable timber and one 

 that can be used in building, although it is of 

 slow growth. Its range is not definitely known. 



7. Eucalyptus Gunnii (" 1 asmanian cedar 

 gum "). — One of the hardiest gums in Aus- 

 tralia. It attains a fair size in this coun- 

 trv and has a fairly large range. 



8. Eucalyptus Leucoxylon Vlronbark gum"). 

 — An upright and rather rapid grower and the 

 timber is very hard and durable. The trees 

 are found growing in the southern part of the 

 State. ^ The white flowers are in bloom during 

 the winter. 



9. Eucalyptus MclHodoraC'Yellozv box-tree"). 

 — Produces a wood valuable for wagon- work, 

 etc. In contact with the soil it is very dura- 

 ble. This is one of the best bee-trees among 

 the Eucalyptus and is in bloom all winter and 

 early spring. 



10. Eucalyptus Piperita (" White stringy 

 bark"). — An upright and much spreading 

 growth. ^The wootl is valuable for shingles and 

 other building purposes, while the leaves are 

 rich in volatile oil. 



11. Eucalyptus Punctata ('' Leather-jacket"). 

 Produces a very hard, heavy and durable, dark 

 brown wood. The flowers of this species are 

 borne in great numbers during the fall months 

 and are much sought by bees. 



Eucalyptus seedlings are quite easily grown 

 in boxes of light, sandy loam not disposed to 

 bake or crack; cover the seed very lightly and 

 then keep moist, but not wet, regulating the 

 sunshine by a lath cover, or something of that 

 sort, but do not exclude the air too much. 

 Either _ sow very thinly, or sow thickly and 

 then pick out seedling at greater distances in 

 other boxes when they are about 2 inches high. 

 Such little seedlings placed about two or three 

 inches each way will grow in the boxes until 

 about a foot high, and can then be put out 

 in place, cutting with an old carving knife, 

 so as to give each little tree a block of soil 

 which the roots will hold together until set in 

 its new place, or the roots may be dipped in 

 soft mud to keep them from drying out. One 

 soon gets the knack of growing these seedlings 

 by experience, the main point being to have 

 moisture enough ana yet not too much, also 

 to guard carefully against drying out while 

 the seedling is very small. 



Seed in small packets, 5c., postpaid, for 

 each kind ordered. 



I Conventions-^ 

 f Proceed iii^s 



Report of the New Jersey Con vention 



The New Jersey Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met in annual session at the 

 State House, Trenton, N. J.. Jan. ii, 

 1908, at 10:30 a. m., with Pres. W. W. 

 Case in the chair. The Secretary, J. 

 D. Wanser, being absent, J. H. M. Cook 

 was chosen Secretary pro tern. The 

 minutes of the last meeting were read 

 by Secretary Cook, and approved. The 

 election of officers w-as postponed until 

 the afternoon session. 



BEES AND BLOSSOMS. 



The first paper was by Prof. Case on 

 "Bees and Blossoms." This was a well- 

 prepared, scientific paper. Some of the 

 important things he brought out were 

 that plants that require the aid of bees 

 and other insects in their cross-pollina- 

 tion bear brilliant - colored blossoms; 

 while those plants that do not require 

 pollination by bees and other insects, 

 do not bear brilliant-colored blossoms. 

 Mr. Case is well versed in botany and 

 drew many illustrations to prove his 

 proposition, with much comment on each 

 illustration. Among his illustrations of 

 brilliant-colored blossoms to attract bees, 

 apples, pears, cherry, peach, buckwheat, 

 clovers, strawberries, pumpkins, squash- 

 es, melons; among colorless blossoms 

 he named grasses of all kinds, grains 

 except buckwheat, corn, etc. The paper 

 further showed how beneficial to the 

 fruit, berry, and melon grower is the bee- 

 keeper, but of especial benefit to the 

 apple, peach, and pear grower, to fer- 

 tilize the early blooms of those trees, 

 because other insects are not usually 



bred in sufficient numbers so early in the 

 season to pollinate properly such blos- 

 soms. Another important fact about bees 

 as pollinators was that bees visit only 

 one kind of bloom on each trip. This 

 law of bee-life insures cross-pollination 

 of the blossoms of each kind of plant. 

 If bees visited promiscuously among all 

 kinds of bloom, they would be much 

 less valuable as pollinators, for blossoms 

 are inert to pollen except from their own 

 kind. 



All these facts show how the fruit- 

 grower should welcome the bee-keeper 

 in his midst. Mr. Case also set forth 

 the fact that bees never puncture fruit 

 of any kind. Mr. Case made several 

 colored drawings of diflferent blossoms 

 on an enlarged scale, to illustrate many 

 of the facts brought out. 



The paper was followed by approval, 

 discussion, and questions. Some doubt- 

 ed that the bee visits only one kind of 

 flower on a trip, but could give no evi- 

 dence from direct observation. Another 

 member said he had painted bees, and 

 observed them much and carefully, and 

 had always found it true. One member 

 wanted to know how long each partic- 

 ular blossom was in condition to be 

 pollinated. The reply was, "Only about 

 6 hours." This was thought to be a good 

 point to show the necessity of having 

 plenty of bees in <the locality of the 

 fruit-grower, for the weather is often 

 very changeable during fruit-bloom. A 

 membi;r asked if the honeys from dif- 

 ferent plants might be detected by the 

 presence of the pollen in it. The opinion 

 prevailed that it might, but that it would 

 require a high-power microscope, and 



much ^ludy of the pollen of different 

 plants. 



C.\RNI0L.\N' BEES. 



The next paper was "A Season with 

 the Carniolans." The author said his 

 experience was limited with these bees, 

 but that they had done so much belter 

 for him than his best Italians that he 

 felt very partial to them. He had 

 looked up their claims in apicultural 

 literature, and corresponded with a num- 

 ber of experienced bee-keepers who keep 

 this race as- well as those who keep 

 Italians. He gave a brief description 

 of the drones, queens, and workers. He 

 compared them with Italians chiefly. 

 He maintained that they were better 

 winterers, better breeders through the 

 changing weather of the spring months, 

 became strong for any early honey- 

 flow, and were uniformly so. They did 

 this during the very unfavorable spring 

 of 1907. He could not find a single 

 unfavorable report of Carniolans any- 

 where, while Italians in all Northern 

 States wintered badly, and were slow 

 in building up. He thought these 

 qualities were fixed in this race for 

 they have been bred for centuries in a 

 country in most respects similar to our 

 Xorthern States. He also found them 

 i^entler than Italians, that thev capped 

 iheir honey whiter, used but little pro- 

 polis, and were almost free from disease 

 in an exceedingly foul-broodv locality. 



The paper was followed bv discus- 

 sions and questions. One w-anted to 

 know why the honey was whiter in the 

 comb, and it was explained that they 

 do not fill the cells quite so full of honey, 

 so that it did not touch the capping.' 



Some had tried the Carniolans, but 

 objected to them because they swarmed 

 so much, and wanted to know the man- 

 agement. Mr. Hann replied that thev 

 should be given all the room the queen 

 *ill occupy in the way of emptv comb 

 up till the opening of the clover flow, 

 and then shake all out on full sheets 

 of foundation on the old stand, giving 

 surplus room at once. Place the brood 

 m weaker colonies or in nuclei, and treat 

 that the same way in a week. Treated 

 in this way they gave more comb honey 

 than Italians, and did not swarm. 



At 1 :3o p. m. came a business session. 

 The following officers were elected for 

 the coming year: President, W. W. 

 Case; Vice-P'residents, J. H. M. Cook, 

 and Albert G. Hann; Secretary and 

 Treasurer, Geo. N. Wanser, of Cran- 

 ford. Mr. J. H. M. Cook was elected to 

 represent the New Jersey Bee-Keepers' 

 Association at the next meeting of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, and to re- 

 port on its condition. 



FUTURE OF THE HONEY BUSINESS 



The next was a talk on "The Future 

 of the Honey-Business," by J. H. M. 

 Cook. He began by telling how bees 

 and honey had been known through all 

 history, and how honey had been known 

 through the same period as a delicious 

 and luxurious article of food. Then he 

 gleaned briefly over the investigations 

 by naturalists beginning with Swammer- 

 dam in the natural history of the honey- 

 bee and the economy of the hive. He 

 referred to the practical handling of 

 bees for honey, beginning with the great- 

 est invention in all apiculture— the loofe- 



