THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



19 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OF THE 



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I'-M 





ilEjOTUr^ 



PUBLISHED AT 



925 WEST MADISDN-STREET, CHICAGO, ILL. 



Weekly, 9SZ a yeiir : Monthly, 50 cents. 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



EDITOR ANH PROPRIETOB, 



Vol. XXI. Chicago, Jan. 14, 1885, No. 2. 



^" The fare to the World's Exposi- 

 tion at New Orleans from Chicago 

 and return (good for 15 days) is now 

 only $20. This will be an extra in- 

 ducement to those who intend to go 

 to the "Bee-Keepers' International 

 Congress," to be held there on Feb. 

 24, 25 and 26. In response to many 

 inquiries, we will now say that it is 

 our intention to be present and take 

 part in the deliberations. We hope 

 there will be a large representation 

 from the North. 



m" The Rev. Wm. Ballantine, of 

 Sago, O., has just published a new 

 work entitled " A Practical Treatise 

 on Bee-Culture." It is sold at 50 

 cents, in paper covers, and 75 cents 

 bound in cloth. The author has done 

 his part well, but the printer has made 

 a botch of it. 



^^ We have had a " shower " of 

 Postal Cards saying that the Bee 

 Journal of Dec. 31 was not received. 

 By referring to the first page of the 

 Bee Journal for Dec. 24, it will be 

 seen that it coTisBiued the index and 

 closed the volume for 1SS4, being the 

 tifty-second number for that year. As 

 there were (ifty-three Wednesdays 

 (our day of publication) in last year, 

 we published none for Dec. 31, and 

 the first number for this year is dated 

 Wednesday, Jan. 7, 1885. 



Catalogues for 1885.— We have re- 

 ceived the following : 



James Hcfkloii. Dowajriac, Mich. 

 F. A. & H. O. Salisbur.v, Geddes, N. Y. 

 B. .1. Miller & Co., Nappauee, Ind. 

 • J. S. Tadlock, Lulintr, Texas. 

 .7. .7. Hurlliert, Lyndon, Ills. 

 Illustrated TatalOKue ot the Plant Seed Co. 

 of St. Louis, Mo., in English and German. 



Absolute Phenol. 



Many correspondents are enquiring 

 what Mr. Frank Cheshire means by 

 " Absolute Phenol " in his article on 

 Bacillus alvei, or what is generally 

 called "foul brood." We have re- 

 sponded twice to this inquiry that it is 

 simply pure carbolic acid. Dr. James 

 Dalziel writes the following on the 

 point to the New Zealand Bee Journal, 

 which we think will be interesting to 

 our readers : 



I need scarcely say that when I 

 received the November numberof the 

 Bee Journal 1 at once read Mr. Che- 

 shire's paper witli very great interest, 

 but when I reached the following 

 sentences : — " Here a caution is need- 

 ful. (Carbolic acid is an impure phe- 

 nol, and is useless. It contains creo- 

 sote and cieosols, and bees abhor it. 

 Absolute phenol must be used. It is 

 difficult rather to obtain," etc., I was 

 considerably amused, and reminded 

 of tlie following story : — An English- 

 man and a Scotchman, on a tour 

 through Ireland, were conversing on 

 vegetarianism ; tliey were loud in 

 their praises of potatoes as an article 

 of daily diet (tlie Scotchman called 

 them " taties," pronounced " taaties ") 

 and asked the Irisliman for his opin- 

 ion of them as vegetables. He replied 

 that he could not altogether agree 

 with them ; potatoes and taties might 

 do very well with English and Scotch 

 stomachs, but he had once tried some 

 potatoes and they agreed with his 

 stomach so badly that he had to send 

 for the doctor, and was very bad in- 

 deed for several hours ; but there was 

 a vegetable whicli he had eaten at 

 every meal for years, and it had never 

 disagreed with him yet, and that was 

 — ■' spuds." 



Tlie difference between " phenol " 

 and " carbolic acid " is the same as 

 between '' potatoes " and " spuds." 

 " Phenol " is the French name, "car- 

 bolic acid '' the English name for the 

 same article, and " impure phenol " is 

 "impure carbolic acid;" "pure car- 

 bolic acid " i.s " pure phenol." On 

 this point the British Pharraacopceia 

 is, I think, stillicently good authority, 

 it says : " Acidus carbolicus. Synon- 

 yma, phenic acid ; phenol ; hydrate 

 of phenyl ;...." Any good dic- 

 tionary will inform your readers that 

 " synonym " is " another term signi- 

 fying the same." As to the difficulty 

 in obtaining, I think it can easily be 

 gotten from any good chemist or 

 druggist. 



i®" A little boy discovered a bee 

 crawling about on his hand. Finally, 

 the bee stopped for a moment, and, 

 after remaining stationary for an in- 

 stant, stung tlie little fellow. AVhen 

 the cry of pain was over, the little 

 child said to his mamma that he did 

 not care for the bee"8 walking about 

 on him, but he did not like his sitting 

 down on him. 



Qujcvics ^ ^e:pUes, 



An Enthusiastic Welcome. 



As we had every reason to expect, 

 the initiatory number containing this 

 new Department was received with 

 the most enthusiastic endorsement. 

 The opinions of the many practical 

 honey-producers are worth much more 

 than the opinion of any one person, 

 no matter how much he knows or 

 how successful he may be. 



Again, much more care will be be- 

 stowed upon the questions, and more 

 thought before answering, because 

 every one knows there are others 

 who are answering precisely the same 

 question, and the answer records his 

 judgment by the side of his cotem- 

 poraries,to stand until the undeveloped 

 and undefined future shall make all 

 things clear, and decide who was 

 right and who wrong. 



As we have three belated replies of 

 Query, No. 2, we will reprint that 

 Query and give those first. 



Bees Uneasy and Roaring. 



Query, No. 2.— Dec.16 was cold and windy, 

 with the thermometer at zero; next morning- 

 it stood at 'M degrees above, the wind has 

 ceased, and the bees were roaring as if it 

 was in June. What caused the uneasiness ? 

 Is it a sign of diarrhea ? 



Dk. C. C. Miller suggests the follow- 

 ing : " Was it not the bees stirring up to 

 get fresli feed ? 1 think that bees do this 

 habitually, by spells, and the rise of tem- 

 perature would induce all to partake at 

 the same time." 



H. K. BoARDMAN remarks thus : " The 

 change in temperature was a sufficient 

 explanation of the disturbance described- 

 being neither the heat nor the cold, but 

 the sudden change of temperature which 

 invariably produces such disturbance, 

 and in proportion to the violence of such 

 change, whether rising or falling temper- 

 ature." 



J. E. Poxi), Ji!., replies as follows : "1 

 do not think that tlie explanation given 

 could be diagnosed as bee-diarrhea. It is 

 true that l)ee-diarihea is accompanied by 

 such a roaring as is described, but tliere 

 are other causes that might produce the 

 same. My opinion is that the bees were 

 hibernating during the severe cold 

 weather, and tlie sudden change of 20° in 

 warmth, awakened them, and the roaring 

 was caused by those efforts which they 

 always make at such times, to restore the 

 equilibrium of lieat within the hive ; 

 another reason for so thinking is, that if 

 affected with bee-diarrhea, they would 

 have given furtliermanifestationsof being 

 so troubled." 



