1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



223 



day, the first for this season, and if the 

 weather continues nice for awhile, so we 

 can get them in good condition early, we 

 may be able to get a good crop of honey. 

 The last tour seasons have been very poor, 

 and we would like a change very much. I 

 have had a bad case of bee-fever for several 

 years, and if we should have a real good 

 season like we used to have, years ago, I 

 suppose I would get clear beside myself. I 

 have been occupied in several positions, 

 but have never found anything so fascinat- 

 ing as the bee-business. 



I admire the get up of the Bee Journal 

 very much, and I get more pleasure from 

 its pages than any book or paper I take. 

 May its shadow never grow less. 



W. S. Feeback. 



Carlisle, Ky., March 13. 



The North American at Toronto. 



It afforded me much pleasure to meet so 

 may bee-keepers at the North American, in 

 Toronto, many of whom I had read about, 

 but when we meet face to face it seems so 

 much nicer. It seemed almost providential 

 that we had with us dear old Father Lang- 

 stroth. of whom I had heard so much, but 

 when I saw him, and heard the gracious 

 words that fell from his lips, it was then 

 that I began to realize in the old veteran, 

 the Grand Old Man. 



At the convention there were essays read 

 and commented upon, but one I have in 

 mind deserves credit, and that was that 

 " Convention Song." the words written by 

 the Hon. Eugene Secor, and set to such 

 nice music by Dr. C. C. Miller. I don't 

 wonder that the Doctor is so charming 

 when he has such good music in him. I 

 don't need to say much about Mr. Secor, 

 for my mother was a Secor, and they are 

 great folks. 



That Convention Song I presume would 

 not have been sung had it not been for 

 Messrs. Newman, York, Calvert, and Miss 

 Root, and it was appreciated by all, es- 

 pecially by the Hon. John Dryden. Minis- 

 ter of Agriculture, Dr. Mills, and many 

 others. I think it would be nice to have it 

 sung and put into practice, for surely we 

 are brothers; and let us not know any 

 dividing lines. The nearer we get to the 

 sentiment of that song, the better we will 

 be prepared for that Heaven where I trust 

 we all shall meet. 



Wallace Secor Walton. 



Scarboro Junction, Canada. 



Poor Honey Year. 



The last was a poor honey year in this 

 section ; 5 colonies that wintered gave me 

 only 7.5 pounds of section honey and 2 

 swarms. The same Italian queen swarm- 

 ing twice— once in June, and again the 

 last of August. 



I am wintering 10 colonies— 8 out-of-doors, 

 4 packed in chaff, and 4 in fine marsh hay — 

 and 3 in the house cellar. On Feb. 37 they 

 were all alive, and had a good flight, the 

 first since early in December. 



I grow fruit for a living, and keep a few 

 bees to fertilize the bloom, and I am satis- 

 fied it pays, even if I get no surplus honey. 



W. C. Nutt. on page 1.58, expresses my 

 views exactly, only I prefer to locate east 

 of the Mississippi river. On account of 

 poor health. I am obliged to seek a warmer 

 winter climate. Like Mr. Nutt, I would 

 like to correspond with some one in west- 

 ern North Carolina or Virginia, northern 

 Georgia or Alabama. If he finds more 

 localities than he can occupy, perhaps he 

 will generously divide with me. 



A. H. Smith. 



Paw Paw. Mich., March 5. 



Bee-Keeping in Florida. 



Bees in this locality find something to 

 gather from the ti-ties nearly every day 

 during the winter. Flowers bloom, being 

 protected by the heavy growth of evergreen 

 shrubs, and bees carry in heavy loads of 

 pollen. 



I should judge from observation, and 

 from what I've learned from others, that 



colonies will be stronger in the spring, that 

 have had the sun shining upon their hives. 

 They are rearing young, and need warmth. 



The scuppernoug grape has been called 

 the good-sense grape, for it never leaves 

 out until all danger from frost is passed. 

 and sheds its leaves in the fall. It would 

 be a good shade for bees, for it would pro- 

 tect them the only time they need it— dur- 

 ing the summer's heat. And another item 

 in its favor is, that it does not thrive spread 

 on the side of a trellis, but runs up, and 

 spreads out in every direction over a level 

 surface, forming a dense shade. The cata- 

 logues which say that this grape should not 

 be trimmed, make a mistake. Where it is 

 allowed to grow thickly, the fiowers 

 smother, and little fruit is produced. Again, 

 the tendrils wind so tightly around a 

 branch that the sap cannot circulate, and it 

 will perish. This trimming should be done 

 when the leaves fall, or sooner, for if it is 

 trimmed when the sap is rising, it will 

 bleed to death ; if it does not die. it will 

 weaken it so much that it will fail to bear 

 that season. One vine will cover a quarter 

 of an acre or more. From the dangling 

 roots, which I've seen hanging from vines, 

 I imagine that it is of the nature of a ban- 

 yan. 



Bees are pressed with work now, for ti-ti 

 and other wild shrubs and trees are bloom- 

 ing, and so are fruit-trees. Pear and plum 

 trees are white with bloom, while a breeze 

 brings down a shower of white petals from 

 the peach. The early varieties of peaches 

 — such as ''honey" and "angel" — have 

 fruit larger than hazel-nuts; the peen-toes 

 are shaped like a small, flat tomato. 



Mrs. L. Hareisos. 



St. Andrews Bay, Fla., March 16. 



Elements of Botany* by J. T. P.ergen, 



A. M.; Ginn & Co.. Boston. Price, postpaid, 

 $1.20. 



Every bee-keeper, and I might say every 

 farmer, can. and should, know at least the 

 elements of botan.v- 1 do not know of a bet- 

 ter place to learn them than in this new work 

 just from the press. The subject Is handled 

 here in such a fresh, vigorous, simple, and at 

 the same time scholarly, way, that J cannot 

 see how anyone, .voung or old, could take up 

 the book and give it a few minutes' attention 

 without becoming greatly interested in the 

 subject-matter. Prof. Bergen is an experi- 

 enced teacher, and has learned that there Is 

 an interestiug and attractive way to state 

 what has sometimes been called " dry facts," 

 — dr.v, 1 apprehend, many times on account of 

 the Way they are presented. 



We have here just enough of the laboratory 

 method combined with an outline of vege- 

 table anatomy and physiology, and a brief 

 statement of the principles of botanical class- 

 iticatlon to give the student a clear idea of 

 the foundation principles of botany, and not 

 enough of abtruso technicalities to confuse 

 and discourage the learner, render the work 

 unfit for common school use, or as a popular 

 hand-book. 



The bee-keeper will be interested in the 

 recognition his industry indirectly receives 

 when, in speaking of bees. Prof. B. says: 

 '■ They accomplish an immense share of the 

 work of fertilization by means of the pollen- 

 grains which stick to their hairy coat." I. 

 for one, feel like encouraging all such recog- 

 nition, and bidding the students of the land, 

 who are thus helping forward our industry to 

 a more general recognition, a Godspeed. He, 

 also, very properly makes a distinction be- 

 tween honey and nectar— a discrimination 

 which is frequently overlooked, not only by 

 botanists, but by writers on apiculture as 

 well. Emerson T. Abbott. 



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Money Order office P. O., Gunnison, miss. 



One-cent stamps taken under $1.00. 



J. H. SIPLE. 



Mtntion the American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Thomas G. Newman and family ex- 

 pect to leave Chicago for California, April 

 16. arriving in San Diego the evening of 

 the 'JSrd. We'll all- 

 Hope they'll like the '• Sunset State," 

 With its heaps of honey and "Golden 

 Gate." 



Mr. E. Whitcomb, of Friend, Nebr., be- 

 lieves that sweet clover and alfalfa promise 

 great things for bee-keepers in the future in 

 the State of Nebraska. He thinks the past 

 drouths may prove "a blessing in disguise.'' 

 A dry sort of blessing, probably. 



Mr. J. C. Hicks, of Kentucky, writes: 

 "I like the American Bee Journal very 

 much. It is worth all it costs." 



Mrs. L. Harrison is again at her old 

 home, 831 Hurlburt St.. Peoria, 111., after 

 several months spent in Florida. She says 

 the movable-frame hive is slowly marching 

 through that State; and that in her opin- 

 ion there is no honey there equal to the 

 white clover honey of the North. We 

 thought the orange-blossom honey was 

 about as tine, but you know tastes differ. 



Mr. E. Kretchmer, of Red Oak, Iowa, 

 was shown in Gleanings for March 15 by an 

 excellent portrait. Takes a good "picter." 



Mr. Wm. Stollet, of Grand Island, Neb., 

 said at their last State convenion that he 

 had 200 tons of sweet clover hay. He pre- 

 fers it to any other kind, if rightly treated. 

 His stock like it best. too. He says his are 

 " educated cattle." Wish he'd tell just how 

 to treat sweet clover for hay. 



Mr. Daniel Danielson, of Clarkson, S. 

 D., doesn't think it will pay to sow rape for 

 honey alone, though the bees work on it 

 lively. — Gleanings. 



Rev. E. T. Abbott some time since lec- 

 tured before a meeting of the Kansas 

 State Board of Agriculture, and Mr. Co- 

 burn, the Secretary, wrote Mr. Abbott as 

 follows afterward ; 



" I wish personally to thank you for your 

 excellent address at our meeting, which 

 was apparently listened to with profit and 

 pleasure by the large audience of bright 

 Kausans, who heard it." 



Mr. Coburn also sent a copy of a resolu- 

 tion adopted unanimously by the Board, 

 expressing its hearty thanks to all who 

 contributed by their excellent essays, ad- 

 dresses, etc. Those Kansas folks are quite 

 appreciative. They seem to " know a good 

 thing when they see it," or bear it. 



Mr. Geo. McCullougii, of Iowa, says: 

 " The American Bee Journal is very excel- 

 lent help in the bee-business, and well 

 worth preserving for reference." 



Hon. R. L. Taylor- Superintendent of 

 the Michigan Experiment Apiary — thinks 

 some bee-editors are somewhat careless in 

 their criticisms of his experiments, partic- 

 ularly Gleanings' criticism of his honey- 

 heating experiment, where it seemed to 

 Editor Root that the result of the experi- 

 ment would have been more valuable had 

 Mr. Taylor used extracted honey, instead 

 of comb honey broken up, as the former 

 would have been free from any beeswax. 

 Mr. Root thought the wax being heated 

 with the honey was apt to affect the flavor 

 of the honey as much, or more, than the 

 beating. That looked reasonable to us. 

 We believe Mr. Taylor expects to experi- 

 ment again, using the extracted honey, 

 free from all comb. 



