THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



771 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OF THE 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Vol. XXI. Dec. 9, 1885. No. 49. 



APICULTURAL NEWS ITEMS. 



EDITORIAL AND SELECTED. 



In Great Britain the autumn has been 

 mild, the temperature being as high as 57° 

 Fahr. The bees have at the last moment 

 hart an airing, without which it woulii have 

 probably proved fatal to many bees, as 

 breeding was cariHed on briskly during 

 October, wherever there were young queens. 



Mr. E. C. Jordan, of Jordan's White 

 Sulphur Springs. Fred. Co.. Va., has been 

 appointed by Gov. Camei-on as a delegate to 

 the Southern Forestry Congress, to be held 

 on Dec. 16. at De Funick Springs, Fla. This 

 is a .iudicious appointment. Mr. Jordan has 

 been a great lover of trees all his life, and 

 has kept bees ever since he was 7 years old. 



Wlicn Kenetvina: your subscription 

 please try to get your neighbor who keeps 

 bees to .ioin with you in taking the Bee 

 Journal. It is now so cheap that no one 

 can afford to do without it. We will present 

 a Binder for the Bee Joukn.\i. to any one 

 sending us four subscriptions— with $4,00— 

 direct to this office. It »vill pay any one to 

 devote a few hours, to get subscribers. 



many Tlianks are due to our friends for 

 sending us so man.y iieiv subscribers, when 

 renewing their own subscriptions. The 

 reduced price for ISSO has caused quite " a 

 booTi," and is a piipulai- move in every sense 

 of that word. As we do not wish any one 

 to work for nothing, we have concluded to 

 offer premiums for jicio subscribers for ISSfi, 

 for in order to compensate for the reduction 

 of our price to $1.00. we should at least 

 thrihhle our pi-esent subscription list. 



For 1 new subscriber for a year (besides your 

 own renewali we will py-esent you either 

 of the following books— '^5 cents each. 



For 'i new subscriljers— any 3 of the books. 



For 3 licit' subscriber-!— all 3 of them ; or the 

 Western World Guide & Hand-book. 



For 4 ncio subscribers- Bees and Honey, ($1.) 



Gaskell's Hand-hook of Useful Information 

 — a very handy book of O-l pages. 



Architecture Simplilled ; or. How to Build a 

 Dwelling-house. Birn. etc., giving plans, 

 specifloations and cost— (iO pages. 



Look Within for .",.000 facts which every one 

 wants to know— 7.j pages. 



The Time for Reading has now come. 

 The long winter evenings can be utilized by 

 reading up bee-literature. We have all the 

 newest bee-books and can fill all orders on 

 the day they are received. 



The Detroit Convention is now in 



session. We expect to have a full report of 

 the proceedings in ne.xt week's issue. In 

 mentioning the advantages of such meet- 

 ings, Mrs. L. Harrison, in the Prairie Farmer, 

 remarks thus : 



Prominent bee-keepers from Maine to 

 New Mexico, and from Canada to Florida, 

 are e.\i>ected to be present, and contribute 

 inforinalion for the good of all. The most 

 obscure bee-keeper dwelling in a dug-out on 

 the frontier, or in a remote canyon, is 

 benefited by the deliberations at these 

 gatherings. If he wishes to improve his 

 bees, he can easily obtain a queen to be 

 sent to him by mail for a two-cent stamp. 

 This great privilege obtained from the mail 

 service was secured b.v effort at a meeting 

 of the North American Bee-Keepers' Society. 



The Bee-Keepers' Congress at New Orleans 

 is benefiting the fraternity at the South. 

 How to obtain lower rates on bee-keepers' 

 supplies, was up for discussion, and by the 

 successful efforts of Mr. S. C. Boylston, of 

 South Carolina, the scheduling of bee- 

 keepers' supplies are much lower than 

 formerly. So it is seen that those who 

 remain at home, as well as those who attend, 

 are equally benefited. 



Willie the Bee Journal, says Mr. 

 J. E. Pond, Jr., " was comparatively well- 

 worth $2.00 a year, some look at the price 

 without regard to value. The reduced price 

 ought to induce every bee-keeper in the 

 country to subscribe for it, and I hope they 

 will." The editor of the Lewiston, Maine, 

 Journal (who is also an apiarist), saj'S : 



The American Weeklv Bee Journai. 

 low^ers its subscription price for the com- 

 ing year to one dollar. "This is the oldest as 

 well as one of the best publications devoted 

 to the interests of bee-keepers, published. 

 At its present price, no one keeping even 

 one colony of bees, should bo without it. 

 Brick Pomeroy's Democrat says : 

 It contains more information concerning 

 bees, their treatment, profitable keeping, 

 etc., than it would were it conducted by 

 Old Bee himself. All this for #1.00 per year. 

 Every man who keeps these useful servants, 

 who " work for nothing and board them- 

 selves," should subscribe for the Bee Jour- 

 nal, for the information he will obtain 

 therefrom. 



In Rei'erenee to this item in the Bee 

 Journal of Nov. '25, page 7.30, " The first 

 bees brought to America were landed at 

 Boston, Mass., in the year 1670," James L. 

 Ellingwood, of St. Joseph, Mo., remarks : 

 Allow me to quote from Bancroft's Colonial 

 History of Virginia, Vol.1, Chap. .5, page 140; 

 "The first cotton-culture in the United States 

 deserves commemoration. In 16'21 the seeds 

 were planted as an experiment ; and their 

 ' plentiful coming up ' was at that early day 

 a subject of interest in America and Eng- 

 land. From this year, too, dates the sending 

 of bee-hives to Virginia, and of skillful 

 workmen to extract iron from the ore." 



Mr. Ellingwood will please accept onr 

 thanks for this scrap of history. Virginia 

 was evidently fifty years ahead of Massa- 

 chusetts in securing the importation of bees 

 to this country. 



I>io Ijewis's Nuffgets for December 

 comes to hand with its wonted regularitj% 

 and this number is the best so far issued. 

 The number of pages of reading matter is 

 increased about one-fourth, and it is, nearly 

 all of it, from the Doctor's own pen.— 

 " NuaoETS " contains the cream of the 

 Doctor's extensive writings on Hygienic and 

 health subjects, coupled with brief, fresh, 

 incisive and racy articles on various sanitary 

 topics. It is published dt one dollar a year, 

 by the Dio Lewis Pub. Co., 69-71 Bible 

 House, N. Y. 



Bees and Grapes.— Mr. W. W. Biles, of 

 Duarte, Calif., writes as follows on the above 

 subject, to the Pacific Rural Prena : 



Knowing of a party who had an apiary in 

 one of the largest raisin-producing sections 

 of the State, I wrote him in regarii tfi the 

 matter. His repl.v was that he intended to 

 confine his bees in their hives (or at least to 

 try the experiment of doing so) at the time 

 of drying the raisins. The following is his 

 statement in his own words : " I got my 

 wire cloth and everything ready to corral 

 them ; then we put down about eight tons 

 of grapes and watched for the result. A 

 few da.vs passed, and as no bees were work- 

 ing on the grapes, I concluded that there 

 was no need to keep them in yet a while. In 

 the meantime McPherson Bros, (the largest 

 raisin-producers in this count.y) came in and 

 bought up nearl,v all the raisin grapes in this 

 district. They chose for a drying giound a 

 piece of land adjoining my place and within 

 400 yards of my apiary. Here they spread 

 out 110 tons of grapes. I thought, now we 

 will have to look sharp, or we shall have 

 some trouble. But no. not a bit of it ; da.v 

 after da.v passed and the bees occupied 

 thein.oelves with other duties than 'eating 

 up raisins.' The crop of raisins is now dried 

 and gathered, and the bees have not been 

 confined in their hives one hour. I asked 

 McPherson Bros.' manager if he thought 

 that the bees had done any damage ; his 

 reply was, " I believe not." 



The fact is. that the bees get the credit of 

 doing what is done by wasps, birds, yellow- 

 jackets, etc. If any one who has a good 

 microscope will take the trouble to examine 

 the mandibles of a bee, and those of a 

 .vet low-jacket, they will see how widely 

 the.v ditfer. The mandible of a bee resem- 

 bles the end of a person's finger, round and 

 smooth, and is not adapted to cutting, while 

 those of a .yellow-jacket resemble the teeth 

 of a rip-saw more than anything else. 



Facts like these are worth more than 

 thousands of theories. Mr. Bliss should get 

 the aifidavits of this bee-keeper and Mc- 

 Pherson Bros., ami send them to Mr. Gustav 

 Bohn, San Bernardino, Calif., for use on the 

 coming suit, on appeal. If the bee-keepers 

 can be made to auinfce to the importance of 

 these matters, there can be no doubt as to 

 the result. 



A Law in Nebraska in relation to 

 "foul brood," provides that it shall be 

 unlawful to have in possession bees, brood 

 comb, or honey known to be infected with 

 "foul brood " orany other infectious disease 

 peculiar to bees or houe.v, or an.v hive or 

 other receptacle in which any foul brood, 

 diseased bees, or infected honey has been 

 kept. The penalty for violation of this 

 section is a fine of not less than §10 nor 

 more than $100, and imprisonment in the 

 county jail not more than thirty da.vs. Any 

 person having such bees, honey, or recepta- 

 cle, and failing to destroy it immediately, 

 shall be liable to the same penalty. All 

 persons owning or keeping bees shall cause 

 them to be inspected at least once a year, 

 and procure duplicate certificates as to the 

 condition of the same, one to be kept and 

 one to be filed with the County Clerk. If 

 the inspector thinks that the disease or 

 infection can be removed, he shall so certify 

 officially in his certificate of inspection, and 

 the owner may keep the bees for si.x months 

 for treatment. Otherwise the owner must 

 destroy them if the infection be not removed 

 at the end of thirty days. The Governor 

 shall appoint an inspector in any county, on 

 request of the State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, or any other persons interested in 

 bee-keeping residing in such county. The 

 inspector shall receive $2 a day, to be paid 

 by the owner of the bees inspected. 



