THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



275 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OF THE 



^^Yi^MSRIOAM,.,. 



• .^ Of?" 



WEsSmmm 



P0DL1SHED BY 



THOMAS G. NE\vMAN, 



EllITOR ANP PltOPitlETOH, 



925 WEST MADISON-STREET, CHICAGO, ILL 



Weekly, S«S a year ; Monthly, GO cents. 



Vol. XXI. May 6, 1885. No. 18. 



APICULTURAL NEWS ITEMS. 



WISE AND OTHERWISE. 



Our Triends sometimes do us more dam- 

 age thjiu our enemies. 



To give aivay a copy of " Honey as Food 

 and Medicine " to every one wlio buys a 

 package of honey, will sell almost any quan- 

 tity of it. 



Sai^ai'ioiiK iiieu do not become discour- 

 aged at small losses, but prepare their busi- 

 ness for an increase on more systematic 

 management. 



Mr. F. Cliesliire delivered a lecture un- 

 der the auspices of the " British Institute of 

 Agriculture," on April 1.3, 1885, at the Thea- 

 tre in South Kensington, London, on "Honey 

 — its PrOfluction and Storage." 



I?Ir. James B. ITIasoii, Mechanic Falls, 

 Maine, has sent us his 48-page Catalogue of 

 Bee-Keepers* Supplies. Though it is, per- 

 haps, the last one to be issued this season, 

 it is one of the nicest in its mechanical ap- 

 pearance. 



Do not forget to give the flower beds at- 

 tention this spring. They will amply repay 

 the little trouble and care by their rich per- 

 fume and generous spread of gorgeousness. 

 The bees will revel among them and grant 

 generous returns. 



Xlie " British Honey Conipauy," of 



London, is e.\pected to be of great advantage 

 to both the producers and consumers of 

 honey in Britain, affording a ready market 

 for the former, and protecting the latter 

 from imposition, by the nefarious schemes 

 of adulterators. 



S. mcl>ees. May, Mich., has sent us a 

 reversible-frame device. It is very simple, 

 consisting of a piece of bent wire in the cen- 

 ter of each side-bar, which holds the frame 

 in the hive, and the top and bottom-bars 

 being alike, the frames can be inverted at 

 the pleasure of the apiarist. 



Two Honey Mert-liants— R. A. Burnett 

 and Bond & Pearch— were "burned out" 

 last Sunday night, and several firemen were 

 crushed beneath the falling roof. As the 

 stock of honey was light and kept in the 

 basement and store, their losses on honey 

 will be very light, in all probability. 



Bee-Keepliij!; ; Plain and Practical : how 

 to make it Pay, by Alfred Riisbridge. This 

 is the title of a new English book of 144 

 pages, nicely printed, with an illuminated 

 cover, and illustrated throughout. Mr. Kus- 

 bridgo writes with the pen of a Master, de- 

 tailing his practical advice in every chapter. 



Short .trtieles are more acceptable than 

 long ones, and do more effective work. A 

 short article lias twice the chance of prompt 

 publication that a long one has, and ten 

 times the chance of being read. What we all 

 want is short, meaty articles. That is, say as 

 much as possible in few words. Boil it down. 



It is estimated thatthereai'e about 3,000,- 

 000 of colonies of "bees in the United States, 

 and the annual yield of honey is said to be 

 about 120,000,000 of pounds ; but last year's 

 short crop did not exceed one-half that 

 amount of honey. About one-third of the 

 honey produced is "in the comb," and two- 

 thirds of it is extracted. 



Tlie American .4|>ieu1tiirist for April 

 has not j-et made its appearance. Mr. Locke 

 writes us that it is " delayed," and that the 

 "cause will be explained soon." Perhaps 

 the explanation may be found on page 286, 

 Any bee-i>aper unconnected with the sale of 

 bee-keepers' supplies will find an up-hill 

 business, to say the least. 



It is a trite remark that " He who stops to 

 pick a flaw in others' knitting-worlc drops 

 many stitches in his own." It is often better 

 to let an error pass than to exercise undue 

 ambition to criticise everything and every 

 body. Remember that all we do, write or say 

 may also be criticised, and all have need of 

 the kind indulgence of friends to cover up 

 many a fault. 



In Ciermany, teachers employed by the 

 Government travel from place to place, to 

 give instructions in bee-culture, and in the 

 villages an important organization is the bee- 

 club, under the direction of which exhibi- 

 tions are given and prizes are awarded. It is 

 said, also, that the German ruinl school- 

 master is examined in bee-culture before he 

 is given his diploma. 



Mr. F. li. Dresser, of Detroit, Mich., sends 

 us the following item, and enquires: What 

 importance do you attach to it ? "A mount- 

 ain of pure honey, estimated to be 1.50 feet 

 deep and 20 feet wide, is situated in the 

 bosom of a noted peak in San Bernardino 

 County, California." We published it some 

 years ago, and asked the best apiarists of 

 California if there was any truth in it ; we 

 were informed that it was pure fiction. 



Herniaplirodite Bee.— Mr. F. Bechly, 

 Searsboro, Iowa, has sent us a bee, with this 

 remark: "What is it — a drone or a worker?" 

 We sent it to Prof. Cook, and here is what he 

 says about it : " The bee has the head, 

 mouth-parts, eyes, antenna?, thorax, legs 

 and wings of a worker-bee, and the abdomen 

 and reproductive organs of a drone. So it is 

 really a drone. This is one of the so-called 

 hermaphrodites — not a real hermaphrodite, 

 as such an animal has both sexes complete 

 in the one body ; whereas this insect is 

 only functionally a drone, while it is in some 

 respects like a worker. I have had a good 

 many such specimens. Such abnormal de- 

 velopment is often found among higher ani- 

 mals—even as high as sheep, cattle, etc." 



A large demand for bees has sprung up 



on account of the losses in some localities. 

 Those who have good stock and make it 

 known by judicious advertising, now find 

 ready sale for them. Though the losses are 

 heavy, in some cases, energetic men do not 

 become discouraged ; disasters give them 

 fresh nerve for new achievements, and more 

 systematic work. 



Don't Disturb the Bees — The "Indiana 

 Farmer" gives this caution: "With new 

 honey and pollen coming in at a rapid rate, 

 one is inclined to want to sec what is going 

 on inside the hive, and while a few examina- 

 tions each week may not injure the bees, it 

 is a better plan to give them time without 

 too much interruption. The brood is easily 

 chilled and the hives cool off very quickly 

 while standing open. With the bees confined 

 to what frames they can cover nicely, and 

 with plenty of stores in close proximity to 

 the brood-nest, but little now is to be done at 

 this time except to wait until they grow 

 stronger." 



On ^Vintering, Hibernation, ete., 



Prof. A. .J.Cook sends us the following items: 

 "Mr. Thielmann, on page 2C.J, gives us some 

 very excellent points. I have noticed the 

 constant motion of bees in a cluster in win- 

 ter. The bees, though, when wintering best, 

 are comparatively quiescent, and are by no 

 means dormant, as are true hibernating ani- 

 mals. Disturb a hibernating animal and it 

 only rolls up the tighter ; disturb a bee, and 

 it prepares to show flight, and will even take 

 wing when it is very cold. In sooth, beej 

 do not hibernate. Jlr. T. asks how bees can 

 be kept from breeding ? ^'ery easily— keep 

 away all pollen. It looks now as if dampness 

 and ventilation of our cellars were of little 

 account, if we will only keep the tempera- 

 ture right, aud see that the bees have enough 

 and proper food." 



A New Bee Plant is thus described by 

 the "American Agriculturist" for May: 

 "It would, perhaps, be more accurate to say, 

 a new use for an old plant, as a correspond- 

 ent of the " The Garden " (London, England) 

 recommends the well-known and popular 

 Slebold's Stone-crop (Sedum Sieboldii), as a 

 plant to be grown for bee-i)asture. We do 

 not remember having seen any of the Sed- 

 ums mentioned by our apiarists as of value 

 in furnishing either pollen or honey. This 

 Japanese Stone-crop is perfectly hardy, at 

 least near New York, and is one of the most 

 ornamental of the large genus to which it 

 belongs. Its numerous stems, sometimes a 

 foot long, are trailing, or almost prostrate. 

 On this account it is often grown in hanging 

 baskets, and in pots and pans ; it is more 

 frequently seen as a house-plant than a 

 hardy one. It has several excellent quali- 

 ties for a bee-plant, being easily propagated, 

 and thriving in poor soil ; it is also a capital 

 rock-plant, and endures the longest drouths 

 without apparent injury. Its clusters of 

 purplish pink flowers are produced at the 

 end of each stem in the autumn months, and 

 last a long time. Its late blooming particu- 

 larly commends it for apiarian use, as it 

 comes at a season when honey-yielding flow- 

 ers are scarce. The plant is kept by florists 

 generally, and may be propagated by break- 

 ing up the plant and setting out the stems 

 singly, or the stems may be cut into pieces 

 two inches or less long, and rooted in the 

 usual manner." 



