'lU 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Wagner was right, and further, that 

 evei-y colony can thus be made " profit- 

 able to its owner." How the rearing 

 of ;!,000 bees per day in each colony 

 during the white clover and basswood 

 harvests can possibly be of advantage 

 to the comb-honey producer, is a point 

 which its advocates perhaps can best 

 answer. 



This locality is considered very poor 

 for honey production, and where 

 large hives are used from 10 to 25 

 pounds per colony of streaked, half- 

 sealed mongrel looking honey is the 

 amount usually obtained, i'or three 

 seasons past I have practiced con- 

 tracting the brood-chamber to 4 and 6 

 Langstroth frames, hiving all swarms 

 on the same number, either empty, or 

 filled with comb foundation or combs, 

 as the time of issue indicated to be 

 best, and following thereafter the 

 Heddon plan as first learned from his 

 article in the ]5be Journal for 1879. 

 The difference to me between a 7- 

 frame hive — the largest I now use — 

 and one holding from 10 to 14 frames, 

 has been an average of 80 pounds of 

 comb honey per colony, each year, 

 worth at least H cents more per pound, 

 and the bees in much better condi- 

 tion for wintering at the close of the 

 late harvest. 



Haverhill. (5 Mass. 



Home Faria. 



Piscataquis, Maine, Convention. 



The Piscataquis Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation held a meeting at Sangerville, 

 Me., on Saturday. Oct. 3, 188.5. The 

 meeting was called to order by the 

 President, Mr. X. H. Smith. After 

 roll-call the President delivered his 

 address, and the renjaiuder of the 

 forenoon was spent in listening to 

 reports of those present. 



Mr. L. French had 33 colonies in 

 the spring, and now has 08. He has 

 taken from them 1,-500 pounds of comb 

 honey in sections, and ooO pounds of 

 extracted honey. He has fed for 

 winter 400 or 500 pounds of sugar, as 

 he thinks that sugar is better then 

 honey for winter stores for bees. 



Mr. C. A. Howard had 14 colonies 

 in the sjiring, and now has L'O. He 

 obtained .000 pounds of comb honey. 



Mr. French thought that the past 

 season had been an uncommonly 

 good ore for honey. In localities 

 where there was not much basswood 

 it was not considered a good year, as 

 the clover season was very short on 

 account of rainy weather. 



Among the questions discussed at 

 the afternoon session, were the fol- 

 lowing: 



" Are the Italians better honey- 

 proilucers than the black bees V" 



Mr. Fiench tliouglit that they were 

 not, ;ind said that he should contend 

 for the blacks. Mr. Jhockway and 

 Mr. Jackson thought that the Italians 

 were superior. 



" Which is the safest way of winter- 

 ing, ill chaff hives, on the summer 

 stands, or in the cellar V" On this 

 question the members were about 

 equally divided. 



The election of officers resulted as 

 follows: President, X. H. Smith, of 



Guilford; Vice-Presidents, J. H. 

 Jackson, of Sangerville, Samuel Web- 

 ber, of Guilford, Wm. Crockett, of 

 Dover, Ira Faunce, of Abbott, and J. 

 ]}. Blethen, of Monson ; Treasurer, C. 

 A.Howard, of Sangerville ; and Sec- 

 retary, L. H. Whittier, of Guilford. 



The following business committee 

 was appointed : Lucian French, Mrs. 

 Geo. Bennett, and M. H. Jackson. 

 The committee on essays and addresses 

 is composed of Mrs. Wm. Crockett, 

 JSIrs. L. H. Whittier, and Miss Maud 

 Cross. 



The time and place of holding the 

 next meeting is to be decided by the 

 business committee. 



A vote of thanks was extended to 

 the citizens of Sangerville for their 

 kindness in entertaining those present, 

 and also for the use of "the Hall. 



Philadelpbia Press. 



Poisonous Honey. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



A so-called case of death of three 

 persons by eating honey has gained 

 considerable notoriety of late. It 

 occurred in Branchville, S. C, last 

 May. It is said that several other 

 persons who ate of the honey were 

 affected by considerable lassitude and 

 slight nausea which it is supposed 

 brought relief. A very similar case 

 transpired three or four years ago in 

 the State of New York. The case in 

 South Carolina was referred to me at 

 the time of its occurrence, as was also 

 the case in New York. and in both cases 

 I suggested that some foreign sub- 

 stance, poisonous in its nature, may 

 have been collected by the bees, or 

 possibly the poisoning may have been 

 due to an idiosyncrasy of the persons 

 rather than from any specific poison 

 in the honey. 



It vi'as suggested by some one at the 

 time of the poisoning in South Caro- 

 lina, that the poisonous honey came 

 from yellow jessamine (geheminum 

 sempervirens). It is known that the 

 sap of this plant has peculiar toxic 

 qualities, and so it was suggested 

 that the honey from the flower has 

 the same. This view is not sustained 

 by vegetable physiology or by experi- 

 ence. All secretion from animals and 

 l)lants is through glandular cells. 

 These do not eliminate sap or blood 

 elements, but secrete nectar from 'ele- 

 ments in the sap or blood. The nec- 

 tar is a new substance formed by the 

 gland. Thus there is no reason to 

 think that nectar from a flower will 

 contain poison because a decoction 

 from the plant is poisonous. 



Again, bees gather from yellow 

 jessamine every year; yet, we have 

 never heard of poisonous honey from 

 it before, and probably will never hear 

 of it again. It is often stated that 

 the mountain laurel along the Alle- 

 gheny mountains secretes poisonous 

 nectar. This is a common plant, and 

 is freely visited by bees each year. 

 Yet we rarely ever hear of any evil 

 resulting fromeatingthe honey. Thus 

 the reports which have been made 

 once or twice are not worthy of 

 credence. 



M. D.. on page 509, writes as though 

 the theory of the poisonous honey, 

 indicated above, was a demonstrated 

 fact, and suggests some ethical rules 

 for bee-keepers. In view of the long 

 years of selling honey, and the one 

 or two cases of so-called poisoning, I 

 think this advice superfluous. The 

 advice to avoid all poisonous plants 

 may be answered by the query— Who 

 has demonstrated that there are any 

 poisonous honey-plants V It is almost 

 certain that there are none. 



Agricultural College,? Mich. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



The Western Convention. 



The fourth annual meeting of the 

 Western Bee-Keepers' Association 

 was held in the Court House at 

 Independence, jMo.,atlO a.m., on Oct. 

 15, 1885, the President, A. A. Baldwin, 

 of Independence, occupying the chair. 



The morning session was devoted 

 to the order of business. The Secre- 

 tary's report was read and adopted. 

 The committee on transportation, 

 appointed by the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Society, reported that 

 the A. T. & S. F., U. P., Mo. P., and 

 the H. & St. Joe railroads charged 

 first-class rates for honey in glass, 

 and for extracted honey in barrels, 

 third-class rates.the same as molasses. 

 The committee suggested that in as 

 much as the transportation companies 

 held monthly meetings that a com- 

 mittee be appointed, that had more 

 time than the present committee, to 

 carry the business further by being 

 present at one of the meetings, and if 

 possible obtain the best schedule for 

 bee-keepers. But the appointment of 

 such a committee was postponed for 

 the present. 



The Treasurer's report was then 

 read and adopted. The election of 

 ofticers for the ensuing year was held 

 at this time, and resulted as follows : 

 President, E. M. Hayluirst, of Kansas 

 City ; Vice-President, R. B. Leahy, of 

 Iligginsville ; Secretary, P. Baldwin, 

 of Independence ; and Treasurer, 

 James H. Jones, of ihickner, Mo. 



The remainder of the Uiorning 

 session passed pleasantly in the dis- 

 cussion of several topics relative to 

 bee-culture, and the President ap- 

 pointed a committee on subjects for 

 the afternoon discussion. The con- 

 vention then adjourned until 1:30 p.m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The convention was called to order 

 by the President at the appointed 

 time. The committee on the prepara- 

 tion of questions announced the fol- 

 lowing which were then discussed : 



" Will it pay to feed back extracted 

 honey in order to produce comb 

 lioney V If so. in what way can it be ' 

 done the bestV" 



Mr. Conser : I think that it takes 

 about 3 pounds of extracted honey to 

 produce one of comb honey. I do 

 not think that it would pay. I feed 

 my bees by tipping the hive back and 

 pouring the honey in at the enti ance. 



L. W. ]?aldwin : I feed my bees 

 only to get unfinished sections com- 



