THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



339 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OP THE 



^g^SmSOAlf.,, 





PUBLISHED BY 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editou and PKOPKIETOK, 



925 WEST MADISON-STREET, CHICAGO, ILL 



Weekly, Sa a year ; Monthly, SO cents. 



Vol. XXI. June 3, 1885. No. 22. 



APICULTURAL NEWS ITEMS. 



EDITOKIAL AND SELECTED. 



'Wbite Clover is just commencing to 

 bloom in this latitude, and promises a large 

 yield of nectar. 



In the ear of the sweet white clover, 

 Low murmurs her lover the bee. 



The sunbeam's myriad kisses 

 Lie warm on the lips of the sea. 



And she glows at the touch and sparkle, 

 In a quiver of ecstasy. 



American Exhlbltiou, liOndon, 1886 

 ( Botanical Dept.) The London Garden says : 

 " Among the attractions of the American 

 exhibition to be held in London next year, 

 will be a garden comprised solely of Ameri- 

 can trees, shrubs, and hardy plants ; in fact, 

 it i§ intended that the whole of the exhibition 

 grounds shall contain no plants except those 

 of North America. The intention is to make 

 a representative gathering of the United 

 States flora, taken in latitudinal and longi- 

 tudinal directions. The former will represent 

 the characteristic vegetation of each State 

 taken seriatim from New York to California, 

 the latter from the Canadian frontier to 

 Texas and Florida. The orange and citron 

 groves of Florida and other Southern States, 

 together with rejiresentations of their cotton, 

 maize and tobacco fields, will be made. As 

 the North America flora is of peculiar rich- 

 ness, such an exhibition will not only be 

 novel, but attractive, for no country is so 

 rich in beautiful hardy trees, shrubs, and 

 herbaceous plants, and an idea of the re- 

 sources of the North American flora, will 

 thus be presented to the visitor at a glance. 

 From the opening day in May till the close of 

 the exhibition in October, it is hoped that the 

 grounds will not only prove interesting and 

 instructive to \isitors, but attractive also on 

 account of the peculiar nature of American 

 plants to flower iu continuous succession. 

 With the ordinary American flowering 

 shrubs, such as Rhododendrons, Azaleas, 

 Kalmias, English people are well acquainted, 

 but it is hoped that this exhibition will com- 

 prise large numbers of trees, shrubs, and 

 plants which are comparatively little known 

 in this country. The wealth of the herbaceous 

 plant flora of the States will be a special fea- 

 ture, and it is intended to import direct from 

 the States representative collections of wild 

 trees and plants, particularly of the most 

 attractive kinds." 



The Coniiniosloiicrol' Agriculture has 



announced that the Convention of Agricul- 

 tural Colleges and Experiment Stations, will 

 beheld on July 8, 188,'). He adds: "This 

 will not only not conflict with the commence- 

 ment exercises of many of the colleges, but 

 will also ofl'er to those desiring to attend the 

 Convention of the National Educational As- 

 sociation at Saratoga on July 14, an oppor- 

 tunity to attend both conventions without 

 too much loss of time." 



Einbleiii of Napoleon III.— The last of 

 the French Emperors, adopted, as his em- 

 blem, the honey-bee, and adorned all his 

 imperial robes with a golden representation 

 of the "little busy bee." It is said that 

 Napoleon adopted the bee as the emblem of 

 his imperial power, because the great Charle- 

 magne, the " Emperiorof the West and King 

 of France," had done so before him, and he 

 wished his career to equal if not supersede 

 that of the mightiest Emperior of the middle 

 ages. The emblem served the Empire, but 

 did not save it. 



Tlie Acacia, says the San Francisco, Cal., 

 Chronk-Je, " is recommended as an excellent 

 tree for those progressive bee-keepers to 

 plant, who are determined to render them- 

 selves independent of the vicissitudes of the 

 wet and dry seasons, and furnish some 

 honey-producing flowers tor their bees out- 

 side of the natural growth. This tree is a 

 rapid grower, does well on light, gravelly 

 soil, is valuable tor its wood as well as its 

 blossoms, and in every way seems to be just 

 the thing for bee-keepers. There are many 

 other trees and plants recommended for this 

 purpose, but the acacia seem especially 

 adapted for the locations occupied by most 

 bee-keepers in this State." 



The same paper remarks thus concerning 

 the honey crop: "From present appear- 

 ances, the bee-raen will have another fairly 

 prosperous season. The bees are generally 

 in good condition, and though it is yet a lit- 

 tle early to make predictions on the extent 

 of the honey yield, everything points to a 

 good year." 



inisrepresentatious about Honey.— 



Mr. A. F. Itobson, Italy, N. Y., writes thus : 

 I clip the following from the Yates (N. Y.) 

 County Chruntclc, and send it to the Bee 

 Journal as a specimen of lying : " The 

 Albany correspondent of the Tribune says : 

 Some curious facts were revealed by the 

 packers of canned goods in private conver- 

 sation. ' You would not think the parings 

 aud cores of apples of any use, would you ? ' 

 said one of the packers to a friend. He then 

 continued : " Well, a fruit-packing estab- 

 lishment makes use of everything ; like the 

 pork-packing factories, which save every- 

 thing except the pig's grunt. When we are 

 packing and drying apples, we have tons and 

 Urns of parings and cores. These we sell to 

 the makers of Jelly. All kinds of jellies are 

 made of the material. You cannot buy real 

 currant Jelly in the groceries. Every bit of 

 it is apple with some essence in it. But that 

 is not the sole use of apple parings. Occa- 

 sionally we keep them so long that they can- 

 not'be converted into jelly. Then we sell 

 them to the makers of strained honey. All 

 the strained hnney that you see in the market 

 is made of it— there is nut a hit of honey ahout 

 it." What next ! Does there not seem to be 

 a demand for this kind of lies ':• 



The ApiculturlHt for April and May has 

 put in an appearance (in one number). Mr. 

 Locke promises that it shall be published on 

 time hereafter. The concluding portion of 

 the official report of the Northeastern Con- 

 vention is given therein, and we will present 

 it to our readers next week. This will answer 

 several queries sent to us about the non- 

 appearance of the "Apt." 



Corn has been planted tliree times in some 

 portions of Kansas this Spring, on account 

 of the eccentricities of the weather. Bee- 

 keepers are not the only sufl'erers on account 

 of the inclemency of the season— corn Is very 

 unpromising ; wheat has suffered considera- 

 bly, and almost every crop has been injured 

 in a more or less degree. That "misery 

 loves company " is a trite but true saying. 



Bee Pasturage.— On page 346 the reader 

 will find two communications of vital im- 

 portance to the bee-keeping industry. It 

 appears that some fanatic in Wisconsin has 

 sued Mr. S. I. Freeborn for $500 for damages 

 to his sheep pasture, alleged to have been 

 done by Mr. F.'s bees. This will, of course, 

 be a "test ease," and should it be decided, 

 either by ignorance or self-interest, in favor 

 of the owner of the sheep pasture, then 

 untold trouble for bee-keepers may result. 

 Any "jealous" or "meddlesome" neighbor 

 may institute proceedings at law against a 

 keeper of bees, and the costs and annoyances 

 of a suit at law will be the result. But we do 

 not believe that any such a thing will hap- 

 pen. There certainly ought to be more 

 " common sense " exercised in such matters, 

 and we hope that justice will prevail. 



Bees are of great advantage to the clovei'S 

 as well as to other bloom, and without their 

 aid in fructifying the flowers, many a plant 

 would cease to bloom— and even to live! 

 They absolutely require the visits of bees or 

 other insects to remove their pollen-masses, 

 and thus to fertilize them. Hence, Darwin 

 wisely remarks, when speaking of clover 

 and heart's-ease : "No bees, no seed; no 

 seed, no increase of the flower. The more 

 visits from the bees, the more seeds from the 

 flower; the more seeds from the flower, the 

 more flowers from the seeds." Darwin men- 

 tions the following experiment: "Twenty 

 heads of white clover, visited by bees, pro- 

 duced '2,990 seeds ; while twenty heads so 

 protected that bees could not visit them, 

 produced not one see<l." 



Hence it would be "theheighth of folly" 

 to institute a war on the bees — the best 

 friends of the flowers and fruits. 



In Australia and New Zealand, not more 

 than five per cent, of the clover crop pro- 

 duces seed, and to remedy this the authori- 

 ties there have taken the trouble and incurred 

 the expense of importing bees— not for the 

 honey they will gather — but to fertilize the 

 plants and produce the seed, so that it may 

 " hold its own," and spread over the land. 



It would be tlie ureateM mistake of the age 

 for judges, courts, or laws to interfere with 

 the pursuit of bee-keeping— entailing disaster 

 to the farmers and stock-men of the country, 

 as well as to the fruit interests generally. 

 We call for a halt iu such a " career of mad- 

 ness," and demand a hearing for the 500,000 

 citizens of America who are now engaged in 

 the pursuit of bee-keeping. 



What do bee-keepers think of the plan 

 proposed by Mr. Heddon on page 347 'i 



