THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



259 



Sellii^ Honey. 



The follo\viiig[|wLicli we find ia the 

 Stock Breeder, shows liow a demand 

 for honey can lie created in any local- 

 ity hy a little exei\ioii, A -suspiciotis 

 customer, at a Bee'\im^ Honey Shovv, 

 introduces the conversation thus, 

 pointing to a nice jar of honey : 



" That looks very nice indeed. How 

 did you fix it to make it look so nice?" 



" It is not ' fixed ' at all, sir, in the 

 sense you mean. Our entire crop of 

 honey is just like this ; in fact, this is 

 but a fair sample of extracted honey 

 as produced to-day all over the coun- 

 try ; different locality making differ- 

 ence in flavor in some instances, on 

 account of the different kind of flow- 

 ers on which the bees work. Take a 

 jar along with you." 



" No, thanks ; I never eat honey ; it 

 makes me sick." 



" Well, take a couple of these little 

 jars to the children." 



Four weeks later. 



" Say, have you any more honey like 

 that you gave me at the fair?" 



'• Yes, sir, plenty of it." 



" Bring me down 2 or 3 pounds ; the 

 cliildren like it quite well." 



Of course we took him the latter 

 amount. Some time later we took 

 him another 3-lb. jar. To-day he 

 writes : " I had thought myself proof 

 against wiles of any bee or any honey 

 man, but I succumb ; those little 

 homeopathic jars of honey did the 

 business. The children cry "for it, 

 and — well it is not bad to put on warm 

 cakes. Please send me 50 pounds." 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OP THE 



,^4-) 



^M^RiOA]Hr'>.M 



'^^W 



^^« 





PUBLISHED BY 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



EniTOIt ANIJ PUOPKIETOR, 



925 WEST MADISON-STREET, GKICAGO, ILL 



Weekly, ^Z a year ; Monthly, SO cents. 



Vol. XXI. April 29, 1885. No. 17. 



i^We regret to learn that Mr. J. E. 

 Pond, Jr., Foxboro, Mass., is confined 

 to his bed by rheumatism and heart 

 disease. He has been ill for two or 

 three months. 



^" Another new bee-paper comes to 

 our desk ; it is called Tldsskrift for 

 biskjotsel, and is edited by Mr. Ivar S. 

 Young, and published at Christiana, 

 Norway. We cannot read a word in 

 it, but as Mr. Young has been a sub- 

 scriber for the Ajieiucan Bee Jour- 

 nal for years, we expect it is " up 

 with the times." 



^" We liave received a pamphlet of 

 44 pages from Mr. A. I. Boot, entitled 

 " The A B C of Potato Culture ; how 

 to grow them in the largest quantity, 

 and of the finest quality, with the 

 least expenditure of time and labor." 

 It is illustrated with 20 engravings, 

 and is nicely printed. Mr. Root is 

 the publisher of it, and says : " It is 

 written by Mr. T. B. Terry, the suc- 

 cessful farmer and potato-grower of 

 the State of Ohio. Mr. Terry is em- 

 ployed most of the winters in giving 

 lectures before farmers' institutes, 

 and he is always authority on any 

 thing connected with agriculture. 

 The book is not only a valuable one 

 to potato-growers, but a great part of 

 it applies to the management of al- 

 most any crop on the farm, especially 

 to the preparation of the soil, man- 

 ures, etc." We can furnish it at 40 

 cents, post-paid. 



^° It is now high time to send 

 ■orders for everything needed in the 

 apiary for the coming season, so as to 

 have it on the spot and all ready for 

 use when wanted. 



Bee-Eeeping in Tunis. 



Mr. Frank Benton is in Tunis, 

 Africa, and gives the following ac- 

 count of the establishment of a "model 

 apiary" there, and describes it, as well 

 as the bees, as follows : 



The movable-comb hives were not 

 all in place, and the colonies in suita- 

 ble condition to take full advantage 

 of the first yield of honey — that from 

 wild rosemary blossoms — but some 

 surplus has been obtained and many 

 combs have been constructed, so that 

 when the jujube blossoms open, next 

 month, an excellent harvest may be 

 safely counted upon. The rosemary 

 yields wonderfully, and as thousands 

 of acres are covered with its pale, blue 

 blossoms, during .January, February 

 and March, it will be a great depend- 

 ence. 



A medium colony transferred on 

 the last day of February, produced 

 over 40 lbs. of extracted honey, be- 

 sides building out several frames of 

 foundation, in 20 days. The rosemary 

 is the plant from which the famous 

 Narbonne honey of France is gath- 

 ered, and the Kassartyr honey is most 

 excellent in quality. Some of it is 

 quite transparent, very thick, and 

 possesses a pleasing aromatic taste. 

 Altogether the proprietors of " The 

 Kassartyr Apiary " have every reason 

 to feel encouraged in the work which, 

 they liave undertaken, and it has al-' 

 ready begun to have its influence, as 

 two other apiaries on the same plan 

 are soon to be established in the prov- 

 ince, and several enterprising parties 

 are talking of introducing the culture 

 of bees on their estates. 



A few words about the bees of 

 Tunis : They are dark— even darker 

 than our common black bees— but, 

 strange to say, they possess nearly the 

 qualities of Syrian bees, and show, ex- 

 cept in color, very little resemblance 

 to the black or German bees. Like 

 Cyprians and Syrians, they are some- 

 what smaller- bodied than are the 

 common bees, and they adhere very 

 well to the combs when handled, but 

 can be shaken off readily. They are 

 also active and energetic workers ; 

 but, unlike the Cyprians and Syrians, 

 they are liable at times to fly at one 

 and sting him when he approaches 

 the apiary. They bear smoke rather 

 better than other Oriental races. The 

 queens show a tinge of bronze color 

 and are very prolific. On the whole, 

 Tunisian bees are not to be dispised, 

 even if they are true Africans in 

 color. 



I have been wondering how this race 

 of bees got here, and have only been 

 able to offer tlie following explana- 

 tion : Early Greek colonists must 

 have brought Hymettus bees with 

 them. History might lead us to this 

 conclusion, and it is indicated by their 

 color, qualities, etc., and particularly 

 their disposition to submit to smoke, 

 as well as by the fact that all other 

 Mediterranean countries from which 

 bees might have been brought here at 

 an early date have, as their general 

 types, yellow races of bees. 



1^ A Scotch pamphlet, entitled 

 " An Essay on Bees," by Wm. Thom- 

 son, is on our desk. It is published at 

 80 Gordon St., Glasgow, Scotland, and 

 may be obtained of R. J. Bennett 

 Esq., secretary of the Scotch Apiarian 

 Society. It contains 84 pages and 25 

 illustrations. The author has for years 

 been known as a prominent writer on 

 apiculture in the British periodicals, 

 his nom de plume being " A Lanark- 

 shire Bee-Keeper." It is written in 

 his usual interesting style. 



^ After July 1, 1885, the weight of 

 a letter which can be sent for 2 cents, 

 will be increased from one-half ounce 

 to anything less than one ounce. 



^" Honey to the value of about 

 $27,000 was imported into Great Brit- 

 ain during the month of February, 

 1885. 



Catalogues for 1885.— We have re- 

 ceived the following : 



Rev. Wm. Ballautine, Sago, O. 

 G. R. TyrreU, Laporte, Ind. 

 J. W. Newlove, Columbus, O. 

 W. C. K. Kemp, Orleans, Ind. 

 O. Judd Co.'s hprinjr Catalogue of publica- 

 tions, 851 Broadway, New York. 



