1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



393 



Nebraska, in which State the Association meets for the first 

 time. Nebraslia has a wide-awake apiarian fraternity which 

 will surely be heard from at Lincoln. 



Dbep-Blue Pollen. — One of the curiosities which the 

 observer notices in California is the presence of deep-blue pol- 

 len on the legs of the honey-bees. I never saw colored pollen 

 in Michigan. Such pollen is secured from flowers of plants 

 belonging to the family Polemoniaceaj, of which there are 

 many species in this region. I have seen at least three spe- 

 cies of Gilia with pollen of this color. A. J. Cook. 

 •Claremont, Calif. 



'Wiring' Frames for natural comb-building is thus 

 told about by B. F. Averill, of Virginia, in the Review for 

 May : 



" The present high price of foundation in connection with 

 the depression of the times, may make it desirable for some to 

 know, that very perfect wired combs may be obtained in 

 frames fitted only with comb guides or starters. I experi- 

 mented last year with about 20 colonies, and, with little 

 trouble, secured wired combs in all the frames. I used, alto- 

 gether, less than two pounds of foundation. I wired the 

 frames with three horizontal wires, and in the majority of 

 instances the bees built the septum along the wires with sur- 

 prising accuracy. 



"I found the best plan for attaching the foundation, to 

 use a narrow strip the length of the top-bar, and imbed it 

 firmly to the top wire; or else use three narrow, triangular 

 strips a suitable distance apart for Langstroth frames. Per- 

 fect wired combs may be in this manner obtained with very 

 little attention. The hives must be as level as possible cross- 

 wise of the frames, to obtain the best results." 



PERSONAL MENTION. 



Col. W. F. Codt (Buffalo Bill) is reported having about 

 700 acres of alfalfa on his large farm adjoining the city of 

 North Platte, Nebr. He ought to have a large apiary to 

 gather the nectar that his many acres of alfalfa must yield. 



Mb. N. E. France, of Platteville, Wis., is the delegate of 

 the State Bee-Keepers' Association to make another effort to 

 get a foul brood law through the Legislature. He desires, 

 and should have, the hearty co-operation of every bee-keeper 

 in Wisconsin. Write. him for instructions as to what each 

 individual bee-keeper can and should do. It is a very impor- 

 tant matter. 



Dk. Gallup, of Santa Ana, Calif., is " Galluping " back 

 into the bee-business at a lively rate for a man 75 years old. 

 In a letter dated June 4 he reports having 13 colonies, and 

 intimates that he may later on give his "experience in start- 

 ing an apiary in Southern California without bees and needing 

 no capital." Dr. G. thinks his (Orange) county the finest in 

 the State. His bees are within '4 mile of 20 acres of Lima 

 beans, which are good honey-yielders there. It may seem 

 funny that beans and honey bring the money out there. 



Me. F. a. Gemmill, of Stratford, Out. — the Assistant 

 Foul Brood Inspector of the Province — wrote us thus encour- 

 agingly of the prospects in his locality : 



"The bees here are doing well — as well, if not a little bet- 

 ter, than any previous year for some time past. Things at 

 present look very promising for a good flow from both clover 

 and basswood ; in fact, I have already extracted a few hun- 

 dred pounds of choice honey to satisfy some of my customers." 



On almost all sides there are reports similar to Mr. Gora- 

 mlll's. It does begin to look as if we were going to have a 



"regular old-timer " this year. Should such be the fact, bee- 

 keeping will be greatly revived in many parts of the country, 

 and all connected with the industry, in whatever way, will 

 feel the joyful thrill of prosperity and renewed hopefulness 

 that would accompany a bounteous honey crop. 



Mr. Ed. Strong, of Kalamazoo, Mich., wrote as follows 

 on Dec. 30, 1895 : "The American Bee Journal is the most 

 perfect of its kind now published. The outside departments 

 are wonderfully well prepared. The freedom of their expres- 

 sion, each in his own way, is a rest to the weary." 



Mr. E. J. Atchlet, of Texas — referring to the queen- 

 selling item in this department on page 362 — says that 

 one year they reared 3,000 queens and bought 2,000 more, 

 to supply their orders ; that the net income from the 5,000 

 queens was not over $750. That's quite different from 

 $5,000, that Mrs. M. Louise Thomas reported. But we want 

 the names of the " too womeJi who have incomes of $5,000 

 each, annually, selling queens." We want to gi^e them a big, 

 free advertisement. 



Mr. E. Whitcomb, of Friend, Nebr. — our big-hearted bee- 

 brother — we learn is being proposed for State Senator. With 

 a few men like him in the Nebraska Legislature, bee-keeping 

 would stand a good chance to get a hearing there. We often 

 think that if some of our grand bee-keepers had an oppor- 

 tunity to help make the laws of the land there would soon be 

 a big improvement in many directions. Some time we hope 

 the conscienceless politicians will be elected to stay at home, 

 and the sensible, righteous and incorruptible sons of toil sent 

 to the legislative halls. 



Mr. T. P. Evans, of Little Cedar, Iowa, writes: "The 

 American Bee Journal is No. 1. Everything in it is good. 

 Any one keeping but one colony of bees should take it. He 

 would gain twice the amount of its cost." 



Db. Miller, when writing to us on June 9, said : 



"Oh, but the bees are piling in the honey ! A number of 

 my colonies have the second super, and other years at this 

 date supers were not yet needed. Everything seems favor- 

 able for a good year." 



That's good. If there is any one among all the thousands 

 that we would like to see get a big crop of honey this year, it 

 is Dr. Miller. Two years ago he had to feed .$75 worth of 

 sugar to get his bees through the winter, and last year he 

 again got no honey, though the bees did gather plenty last 

 fall for the winter. We think he could stand an average of 

 say 100 pounds of comb honey per colony this year. 



The Root Family and Ancestors were gone into at 

 some length in Gleanings for June 1. It seems some one of 

 the family, in order to " get at the Root of the matter," pub- 

 lished a book of 533 pages, giving the Root genealogy. One 

 sentence in that big book reads thus : 



"The whole line have been characterized for shrewdness, 

 and noted especially for a strong anti-humbugativeness." 



Some of thera are also noted for their " honey-bugative- 

 ness," too, though we are not informed whether the book said 

 so or not. We have never been much interested in genealo- 

 gies, though to some people they are very fascinating. 



Honey »>« Food a.n«l Medicine. — A new and revised 

 edition of this 32-page pamphlet is now issued. It has 5 blank 



Fages on which to write or paste recipes taken from other sources, 

 t is just what its name indicates, and should be liberally dis- 

 tributed among the people every wtiere to create a demand for 

 honey. It contains a number of recipes on the use of hopey as 

 food and as medicine, besides much other interesting and vhiuable 

 information. Prices, postpaid, are ; Single copy, 5 cts. ; 10 copies 

 30 cts. ; 50 for $1.00; 100 for $1.7.5. Better give them a trial. Send 

 all orders to the Bee Journal office. 



