1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



o03 



DEATH FROM EATING POISONED HONEY. 



Since the article on page 445, last issue, was 

 printed, we have received very full and complete 

 reports of the whole matter. Our thanks are due to 

 the postmaster, and Mr. J. G. Postell, who lives near 

 there, as well as the editor of the Branchville Ban- 

 ner. It is, a good deal as we expected, considerably 

 e.xag-gerated. In sifting- the matter down, there are 

 only three deaths-two negro children and a white 

 hoy, and it does not seem to me that the case is very 

 clear that even they died from eating honey, al- 

 though it is quite probable. We have also received 

 a letter giving- very full particulars, from Mrs. 

 Dukes, the mother of the boy who died. He was 

 about eleven years old. Further particulars will be 

 given in our next issue. 



THE CANADIAN BEE-.JOUUNAL. 



Hno. Jones still continues to make one of the 

 brightest and most wide awake go-ahead journals 

 published anywhere in the world. In his issue for 

 July 8, in speaking of suitable clothing for students 

 in the apiary, he advises tlioni to singe all the hair 

 from their hands and wrists, as bees are always in- 

 cited to sting by any thing in the shape of hair or 

 fur. I believe the idea is a good one. On an- 

 other page he mentions that his students discovered 

 they could tell when a colony was likely to send out 

 a s.varm soon, by the actions of the bees in front of 

 the hive. Although I do not remember to have 

 seen this subject discussed before in i)rint, from 

 what I have noticed I am inclined to think he is 

 right about this also. The ditlei-ent behavior of the 

 bees will lie noticed from an hour to sometimes as 

 nuich as half a day before the swarm issues. 



THE OHIO ST.\TE KAIU. 



The Mcekeepers' Association have an annual 

 meeting on the fair-grounds. There is an especial 

 reason why ILis desirable we should rally round the 

 Ohio State Fair this year, and that reason is because 

 they have for the first time decided to run a fair 

 without beer or other into.xicating drinks. Don't 

 lei the whisky men say it is a failure. We extract 

 the I'ollowing fi-om the Fann (Uid Fiirsi'li': 



'l"he Ohio Stale Fair will beheld in Columbus dur- 

 ing the week bcgiMiiiiig.\ugiist;ilst,and we take this 

 occasion to remind nin- Ohio readcis that the State 

 ISoard of A-iiciilturc has resolved not to allow the 

 srilingon the I air-;; r<ininls <if intoxirat ing li(|U<>rs ot 

 aM\- description, malt or alcoholic. 'I'liis action of 

 the Slal<- Hoard was taken in deference to what 

 was lielieved to be the wish ol a great majority of 

 tin' agricultural coiiimuiiit.\ . It was taken with the 

 earnest intention ol making tlie State Fair a gather- 

 ing to \vhi<'h every larnier of Ohio might take his 

 wife and daughters, with the assurance that they 

 should not be insulted there liy rultians beastialized 



Moreover, this ac 

 tact that it would 



I was taken in the lace of the 

 only insure direct loss of a 

 source of i-e\('rnie whicli had previously- been a nni- 

 terial lielii in the tinancial management of the fair, 

 but would also entail a considerable imlii-ect loss by 

 developing the factious O|)position of the liquor in- 

 teiests ol t'olumbus and elsew here. 



THE nEE-KEEPEri S H.\NDV-I$()OK. 



We are in receipt of a revised and enlarged edi- 

 tion of the above book. It contains many engiav- 

 ings, and much valuable matter, and seems to be 

 fully up to the present date. Several pages are de- 

 \-oted to reversible frames. Perforated zinc and 

 drone-guards are also considered at length. Alto- 

 gether, friend Alley has succeeded in giving- us a 

 very atti-acti\e and nsetui bee-book; but we think 

 he makes a mistake in setting the price at $1.50, by 



mail postpaid, instead of the usual price of fl.25 for 

 books of about that size. The book does not con- 

 tain nearly as many pages as the ABC or Prof. 

 Cook's Manual; and besides, the amount of matter 

 is very small on each page, being large type, largo 

 raargiDj and the matter very much spread out. A 

 full page contains about 874 "ems," and a full page 

 of the largest type used in the ABC book contains 

 3330 " ems." We can furnish the new edition at the 

 above price, or the old one for an even dollar, post- 

 paid. 



FALSE STATE.MENTS IN UEGAHD TO THE HONEY 

 ItUSINESS. 



So large an amount of matter has been received 

 in reference to this, together with clippings from 

 newspapers, that it would almost fill an issue cf 

 Gleanings. We shall give the principal part of 

 them next month. The greater part of them come 

 from newspaper reporters who are in search of 

 something sensational. As an illustration: Are- 

 porter went to visit a bee-man in Michigan, to write 

 up the honey business. The bee-man was away 

 from home, and the reporter found a large sized 

 bee-feeder in the back yard where the bees were 

 being fed in the open air. Jumping at conclusions, 

 and filling in so as to nuike it look as if a big fraud 

 were 1 eing perpetrated, he made quite a sensational 

 article, which is being copied everywhere. The 

 gist of this rejwrt was, that this bee-man, who had 

 about fifty colonies of bees, kept a shingle out in 

 front of his house, saying, " White-clover honey for 

 sale," while the white - clover honey is all made of 

 glucose fed to the bees in the back yard. May hr 

 the reporter thought he had got the thing about 

 right, but it is pretty evident that he did not care 

 very much whether he was right or not. W'hat he 

 saw was nothing but the usual arrangements for 

 feeding bees out of doors, during a dearth of honey ; 

 and there is no ground for deciding that the man 

 was selling sugar or glucose as honey. 



SOWING BUCKWHEAT. 



N(jw is the time to i)ul in your buckwheat, if it 

 is not already done. We extract the following 

 from the ,l»ii,-»-iV((»i Auririilliiriat : 



Huekwheat is worth at least seventy-H\ e cents a 

 bushel for feeding, if it is properly led. It is best 

 ground with corn, as fine as possible, and may be 

 led with cut hay or straw moistened with water. 

 The seed may lie sown early in July. We have 

 found thick seeding the best. 'At least" one bushel 

 l>er acre should be used. It pavs to prepare the 

 ground as well lor this ci-op as lor ativ other, but it 

 is especially iisel 111 foi- the imipose of breaking up 

 an old mea.low and preparing it for resccding. 

 The sod will be well rotted and the soil mellowed 

 and made ready lor a fall grain crop, if this is de- 

 sired, to be followed b>- the gra.«s seed the next 

 summer. No other crop except i>eas so well nu'l- 

 lows the ground as buckwheat, ami this is precise- 

 ly the elfect required in i-eseediiig land. IJesides 

 this useful purpose, buckwheat is valuable lor its 

 grain. It will easilv produce tliirtvor tortv bushels 

 per aci-e, if well managed, and ii bushel ol it is 

 worth two bushels ot oats of the light sort usuallv 

 grown, which is largely husk. The crop, too, is put 

 in at times and harvested at times convenient for 

 the farmer. 



With us we never get a good crop without sowing 

 l)hosphate with the buckwheat, l)y means of an or- 

 dinary wheat - drill, with fertilizer attachment. 

 With phosphate we have had a good yield of honey 

 and grain, on ground that would not yield any 

 thing, comparatively, without it. Of course, it may 

 be sown even in our locality as late as the middle o f 

 August; but where it is put off so late there is 

 great danger of losing the gvftin by frost. 



