THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



595 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OF THE 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Vol. XXI. Sept. 23, 1885. No. 38. 



APICULTURAL NEWS ITEMS. 



An Accident is reported by the Advocate, 

 Piper City, Ills. It says : 



A calf belonginff to J. C. More, turned over 

 a hive of bees. The infuriated bees, after 

 sting-ing people rij^lit and left, crossed 

 the road and attacked in a body the gray 

 mare of E. H. Brooks, used by him in run- 

 ning- the horse-power at the creamery, and 

 within a short time they had her down 

 writhiufr in the agonies of death. She was 

 blimi, ;nni instead of fleeing from her pur- 

 suers, she only ran round and round till the 

 bees liud linished their vindictive work. 



The bees very naturally resented the 

 turning over of their house ; but vigorous 

 measures should have been instituted at 

 once to prevent such a disaster. Smoke or 

 water could have been used to great advan- 

 tage—but perhaps the apiarist was an " old 

 fogy," or absent. 



Tlie Pliaeelia presents a modest 

 looking spike of flowers. Most of the varie- 

 ties are blue, though there are some white, 

 and all are hardj' annuals. Still, we believe 

 there is a species in California that lives for 

 several years ere it dies. For a garden 



EDITORIAL AND SELECTED. 



Tlie Convention at Independence, Mo., 

 will be held on Oct. 15 and 16, instead of the 

 date heretofore given. The Secretary made 

 a mistake when " consulting the calendar." 



Anollier Suit is commenced against the 

 bees for damages said to be done by them to 

 grapes. The Bee-Keepers' Union will help — 

 but its limited number of members is very 

 discouraging. But few realize the danger '. 



For $1.25 we will send the Weekly Bee 

 Journal to new subscribers from now until 

 the end of 1885— over 15 months. Now is 

 the time to subscribe. The sooner it is done 

 the more iieiv subscribers will get for the 

 money. 



A party of gentlemen, while fishing in 

 the waters of the Oconee, Georgia, one day 

 during the past week, found a big tree in 

 the form of a large cypress. After cutting 

 it down, it was ascertained that the hollow 

 near the top contained something like a 

 hundred pounds of honey. 



Belore frettlna Ions; about what mar- 

 ket to take your honey to, try the home 

 market. Put your product up in an at- 

 tractive shape, offer it at the neighboring 

 stores for a reasonably paying price, and 

 you will And customers enough, we'll 

 warrant.— Ex. 



inontlily subscribers will, no doubt, be 

 delighted at the prospect of getting the 

 Weekly for a dollar a year. Believing that 

 they will prefer a Weekly at that price, we 

 shall discontinue the Monthly edition at the 

 end of the present year, and those who have 

 paid for any portion of next year will have 

 credit on the Weekly pro 7-ataforall amounts 

 duo them on the Monthly. 



Double up weak colonies for winter. 

 Two of such when united will consume but 

 little more honey than one would if win- 

 tered alone. Weak colonies will consume 

 much more honey than strong ones, to en- 

 deavor to keei> up the necessary heat. When 

 doubled \ip the enlarged population sup- 

 plies much of the necessary warmth. There 

 is no economy in trying to winter weak 

 colonies. 



plant it possesses little to recommend it to a 

 place among our other flowers. Atditferent 

 times it has been highly spoken of in the 

 bee-periodicals as a plant for bee-pasturage, 

 and from California, where several varieties 

 grow in great profusion, we learn that It is 

 of value to the bees, as it blooms in early 

 spring. The engraving is from Vick's Floral 

 Guide, Kochester, N. Y. 



Honey is used in making gold ink. Here 

 is a receipt given by the Toledo Blade : 



Genuine gold leaf is rubbed with honey on 

 a plate of agate or ground glass by means of 

 a flat pestle, until the whole presents a uni- 

 form mass, in which no distinct particles of 

 gold can be recognized. This mass is care- 

 fully removed into a vessel with water, 

 which will dissolve the honey and leave the 

 gold in an extremely disintegrated state 

 behind. The water has, accordingto the size 

 of the vessel, to be removed twice or three 

 times, when all the saccharine matter will 

 have been washed away. The remaining 

 gold is then mi.xed with a sufficient quantity 

 of a solution of gumarabic, shaken well, and 

 is ready for use. The writing is to be rubbed, 

 after drying, with a Hat piece of ivory, when 

 it will present the lustre of pure gold. Silver 

 ink is prepared in the same way, from silver 

 leaf. 



Tliere lias been a partial failure of 

 lioiiey (says Mrs. L. Harrison in the Prairie 

 Farmei-) in the North and West, this season. 

 In some parts of Michigan and Wisconsin 

 large quantities of honey were obtained 

 from basswood, but in other parts no honey 

 was gathered. White clover honey has been 

 almost an entire failure, owing to cool 

 weather,during its blooming. In this locality 

 (Peoria Co., Ills.), during the month of 

 August, there have been abundant showers, 

 and vegetation is green and flourishing, but 

 the weather has resembled October in cool- 

 ness. Bees, in all localities heard from, have 

 been able to make a living, and a little more, 

 and are strong in numbers— hives are uni- 

 versally running over with bees. There has 

 been honey enough to keep up brood-rear- 



ing all the time. Had there been a great 

 flow of honey, the brood-nest would have 

 been filled with honey to its exclusion. 



Lamentable I^rnoranee, says Prof. 

 Cook, causeil Mr. Powers to sue Mr. Free- 

 born for trespass, because he avers that the 

 bees are detrimental t(j his sheep. The Pro- 

 fessor, in the Philadelphia Press, adds : 



Mr. P. notices that his sheep run from the 

 clover to the fence corners. Who has not 

 noticeil the same thing in the summer when 

 that ilri';iiled enemy, the sheep bot-fly (Estriw 

 ovisi attempts to attach its eggs to the nose 

 of the sheep ? Ignorant of the true cause, 

 this Wisconsin shepherd blames the bees, 

 and thus brings suit against Mr.F. for heavy- 

 damages. 



Perhaps no point in science is more fully 

 proven than that bees are of great value in 

 fertilizing such flowers as they visit tor pol- 

 len and nectai-. If Mr. Powers understood 

 the case aright, he would feel very kindly 

 towards Mr. F. and his bees, and would, 

 instead of prosecuting, kill the fattest and 

 plumpest lamb in the flock and send it as a 

 just reward to Mr. Freeborn. 



\VIiat a Woman oan do, is illustrated 

 by the following from a local paper in She- 

 boygan County, Wis. Mrs. Hills is a student 

 of the Bee Joub.val, and one of the most 

 progressive apiarists : 



Mrs. Henry Hills, at her genteel and cozy 

 home on the hill, overlooking a considerable 

 portion of the village, although much given 

 to botanical and kindred studies, combines 

 with her sesthetic occupations and house- 

 keeping, a utilitarian pursuit which deserves 

 more than passing notice. Just how she 

 became on friendly terms with the " little 

 busy bee," we are not advised, but she has 

 evidently formed a pleasant and profitable 

 compact with the little workers, both parties 

 seeming to relish the arrangement. Mrs. 

 Hills, with but slight aid from her husband 

 (whose business demands his full time), has 

 established and perfected an apiary that is a 

 credit to her genius, taste and patience. She 

 now has a steady demand for both extracted 

 and comb honey, and the genteel packages 

 used, as well as the quality of the contents, 

 has much to do with the popularity of the 

 goods. The extracted honey is placed for 

 sale in neat, covered tin-pails, small and 

 large, as needed ; and the comb honey is 

 prepared by the bees in one-pound square 

 frames, and these sections are placed by 

 Mrs. H. in packages of heavy paper with 

 tape-bail, the same as used by first-class 

 confectioners for their candies. 'These latter 

 packages are simply " too sweet for any- 

 thing." We advise our readers with a 

 "sweet tooth" to give Mrs. Hill's apiary a 

 trial. 



Dr. Talmadge lately preached a sermon 

 from this text : " And they gave him a 

 piece of a ^loiicy-com'/. "—Luke '24:42. The 

 following are a few of his salient points : 



We are told, in the last chapter of Luke, 

 that they brought a Jumey-eomb to Jesus. He 

 ate it. It must have been refreshing to Him 

 after the abstinence of the grave. 



Jesus says in the Canticles to the Church : 

 " Thy lips drop as with the hiniey-comb.** 

 Jesus will accept that which we bring to 

 Him. There is as much honey now for Christ 

 as there was in the time of the disciples. 



A glorious banquet has been spread. He 

 tells you and me to go out and invite the 

 people to come to it. Oh, that now we might 

 bring the honey-comb of a grateful service I 



When they shall come from the East and 

 from the West, from the North and from the 

 South, a great multitude that no man can 

 number, standing around about the throne, 

 there will be a circle of martyrs and apostles, 

 a circle of all the redeemed, a circle of the 

 loved ones who have died in Jesus ! Oh, 

 that will be the anthem of redeemed ■! That 

 will be the Sabbath of the ages, and the 

 trees of the heavenly wood, like the forests 

 of Ephraim, shall drop with /i07jey, and 

 Jesus, like Jonathan of old, may dip his 

 sceptre into it. 



Heavy Rains in England, last week, did 

 great damage to outstanding crops. 



