THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



307 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OF THE 



,r,.^MBTR2e^ 



^TGT- 





PUBLISHED BY 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



EniTOR AND PKOPHlETOll, 



925 WEST MADISON-STREET, CHICAGO, ILL. 



Weekly, »3 a year ; Monthly, 50 cents. 



Vol. XXI. May 20, 1885. No. 20. 



APICULTURAL NEWS ITEMS. 



EDITORIAL AND SELECTED. 



Hail May ; bvight, welcome May, 

 Charming sunny month ot May; 



Like tlie birds, we chant the words, 

 To welcome, lovely May. 



Mr. AVIiider writes us that he was in no 

 way responsible for the "photos" made at the 

 Bee Congress. The Exposition photograj>her 

 did the job and got the money. We inno- 

 cently supposed Mr. \V. had something to do 

 with it. 



Mr. J. L. Harris, of Wheeler, Ind., says 

 three-fourths of his bees are dead. They came 

 through the winter all right, until the last 

 cold spell, to which they succumbed. He 

 attrilmtes his loss to lack of late breeding 

 last fall. 



American Apicultiirist.— We have re- 

 ceived from Mr. Silas M. Locke, of Salem, 

 Mass., the "American Apiculturist" for 

 lS8.'!-84, bound in one volume. It contains 

 nearly 300 pages, is nicely printed, bound in 

 cloth, and the price is l^'J.OO. 



Baokivard Spriiiii;. — An Exchange re- 

 marks that "this is undoubtedly one of the 

 dullest spring seasons we have had in many 

 years, and it seems to be universal in all class 

 of business and all over the country ; there 

 seems to be no spirit to buy, and more than 

 all, no amount of dunning seems to bring 

 settlements for goods sold during winter." 

 This complaint seems to be universal, the 

 world over, but " the shadows will soon fly 

 away" when "the sunshine" comes. Let 

 us take fresh courage, and " hope on." 



Professor Von Siebold is Dead.— The 

 "Deutsche Illustrierte Bienen Zeitung," for 

 May, announces that Prof. Karl T. E. Von 

 Siebold died at Munich, Germany, on Tues- 

 day, April 7, 1885. Prof. Siebold was one of 

 the first to accept the parthenogenesis theory 

 of Dr. Dzierzon, and has been for years the 

 Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anat- 

 omy in the University at Munich, Germany. 

 He also favored the movable comb inven- 

 tion, and was a progressive apiculturist in 

 every sense of the word. To him, as one of 

 the fathers of modern apiculture, we are 

 indebted for much of the theoretical and 

 practical, in the bee-culture of the present 

 day. 



Suppl}' Dealers should be more careful 

 when enumerating " Bee-IJooks and Periodi- 

 cals." A catalogue on ourdesk hasaniistalii; 

 in nearly everything named. Among the 

 I)eriorticals are enumerated two which ceased 

 to exist some two years ago, and of the others 

 the i>rice8 are wrong in almost every in- 

 stance. Before getting out catalogues an- 

 other season, pray do revise the list by the 

 latest Bee Joukn.il. 



A OTeetlug of Nurserymen, florists, 

 seedsmen and kindred interests, will be held 

 in Chicago on .lune 17-20. An interesting 

 programme has been prepared, promising a 

 profitable occasion to those who may avail 

 themselves of the opportunity. An outline 

 programme, hotel and railroad arrange- 

 ments, and other information may be ob- 

 tained by addressing the Secretary, D. Wil- 

 mot Scott, Galena, 111. 



Large Sale oC Bees. — The "Epoch," 

 Helena, Ark., says that the largest sale of 

 bees on record for Arkansas was made by 

 Mr. Anthony Opp, of that city, to Col. Roht. 

 Adams, formerly of Lexington, Ky., but now 

 a large cotton planter and apiarist, of Chicot 

 County, Ark. The number of colonies bought 

 of Mr. Opp was 200; price i)aid per colony, 

 ¥4. 50. This addition to Mr. Adams' large 

 home apiary makes him one of the largest 

 bee-owners in the South. 



Not Working' for Fun.— Mr. F. L. Dough- 

 erty, in the "Indiana Farmer," remarks as 

 follows about the losses of bees in winter: 

 "We cannot decide for others what they 

 should do. While the great loss of bees 

 throughout the State will doubtless discour- 

 age many, we are not among these. We 

 expect to make our apiary larger than ever 

 before ; we are not working for the fun of 

 it either. Reverses are bound to come, at 

 times, in all pursuits of life." 



Tlie Coiiimisslouer of A{£rlculture has 



called a convention of representatives of the 

 different agricultural colleges and other in- 

 dustrial and educational institutions, to be 

 held in the Agricultural Department Build- 

 ing, at Washington, on June 24, at 10 a.m. 

 The object of this meeting is to obtain con- 

 certed action on subjects relating to agri- 

 culture, among the various agricultural 

 institutions. It is desired that each institu- 

 tion of the kind send one or more delegates 

 to this meeting. 



Winter Losses of Bees.— The " Chroni- 

 cle," of Norwalk, O., for May 7, contains the 

 following item: "The losses of bees have 

 been enormous. Some bee-keepers have lost 

 their entire stock; others more than half, 

 and almost all have lost severely. Newman 

 Brothers, of this city, estimate their loss at 

 $2,000. Mr. Joseph (Jibbs has lost every col- 

 ony he had— 50 in number. It is said that 

 but two colonies remain in good condition 

 in the township of Bronson. Mr. H. R. 

 Boardman, of East Townsend, is the only 

 bee-keeper in this vicinity, so far as we have 

 learned, who has not had a serious loss." 

 Those who have wintered their bees without 

 loss, are the ones we want to hear from. 

 Will-Mr. Boardman please detail his method 

 of management for the benefit of the readers 

 of the Bee Jouhsal ? In his letter pub- 

 lished on pages 2:)5-0, he says that he made a 

 test of " honey-dew " for winter stores, and 

 still " lost none," when thousands succumbed 

 on account of its use. 



Spring has come— the weather is fine, 

 and the " blues " may be banished. We hope 

 to have a fine, rich harvest of nectar. The 

 spring is late, of course, but the bloom of 

 May will come in June, and give just as 

 much honey as if it came earlier. Get the 

 bees ready to gather it wlien it does come, 

 for " many hands make light work," and the 

 more bees we have, the more honey they will 

 gather, if it is to be found. 



Bees Breeding.— Mrs. L. Harrison, of 

 Peoria, 111., says : " Strong colonies increase 

 in numbers very fast, while small ones grad- 

 ually grow less. I shall stimulate strong 

 colonies, so that they will be able to spare 

 young bees to the weaker. I am now moving 

 the bees to clean hives, and in doing so, 

 ascertain the exact condition ot every col- 

 ony. If I find a fjueen with few bees, when I 

 move a strong colony many young bees re- 

 main in the old hive, and these I give to the 

 small colony. On jarring the hive, the old 

 bees will fly back to their old stand, and I 

 pour the remaining downy ones in front of 

 the weak colony." 



Hibernation.— In reference to the use 

 of dogmatical expressions, complained of by 

 Rev. W. F. Clarke, on page 21G, Prof. A. J. 

 Cook replies in "Gleanings" as follows: 

 " Of course, I ought to have saici, ' In my 

 judgment, bees never hibernate.' Let me 

 add that I do not plead guilty to all the 

 harsh sayings I am credited with. I mean 

 always to be courteous. Reporters at con- 

 ventions must be brief, and so they often 

 give our assertions a sharp twang that we 

 are not responsible for." 



He then discusses the theory of hibernation 

 as follows : " Hibernation I understand to 

 be like sleep, only far more profound and 

 persistent. In this state, respiration is greatly 

 reduced— the temperature falls nearly or 

 quite to that of the surrounding air, the 

 heart beats very feebly, and has power, 

 through heightened irritability, to circulate 

 impure or venous blood. The animal, when 

 hibernating, takes no food, is torpid, and 

 hard to arouse. In real hibernation there is 

 no emission of fecal matter. Most insects do 

 hibernate; indeed, so profoundly that all 

 respiration and circulation are held in abey- 

 ance. I have had caterpillars frozen to the 

 condition of an icicle, and yet, with warmth, 

 revive and seem all right. De Geer, Reaumur 

 and Kirby, all record the same startling fact. 

 Now, how is it with our hive-bees? The 

 organs of the mammals, in hibernation, are 

 as cold, often, as the surrounding air. I 

 have found, by putting a themometer into 

 the cluster, that in the case of bees the tem- 

 perature will always range from 20° F. to 30° 

 F. above the outside cold in winter. In 

 severe weather there may be a difference of 

 from GO" to 80". We thus see that the vital 

 action of bees does not fade out, and, of 

 course, the mainsprings of this action, the 

 heart and respiratory organs, do not greatly 

 lessen, or, much less, fade away. Bees also 

 take food, are constantly changing their 

 position, and are easily aroused. I do not 

 believe that bees can be taken at any time, 

 unless fatally or seriously chilled, and the 

 cluster be broken, in a warm room, and they 

 not show full activity. Therefore I repeat, I 

 do not think that our bees hibernate. The 

 great Kirby, of England, is in accord with 

 this. He says bees do not hibernate.— (See 

 Eney. Brit., Vol. II., page 787)." 



