188 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The War in Europk.— The war cloud 

 that has been gathering over Europe for 

 years has now commenced to break. Ac- 

 tual hostilities have begun and what the 

 end may be no living soul can tell. At 

 present it seems likely that the whole of 

 Europe will be involved. 



"It is an ill wind that blows no one any 

 good," is a trite remark. And tliough we 

 do not wish to have war with its terrible 

 desolations and suffering simply for the 

 benefit it may be to us, still as it must come 

 it may be well to see what effect it will 

 have upon our country. The Factory and 

 Farm, very truthfully remarks tliat "no por- 

 tion of this country will be benefited by a 

 foreign war as will the great West and 

 Northwest. The demand from abroad will 

 be for our wheat, corn, flour, meal, etc., and 

 at prices that will make farmers happy and 

 give large returns for their labor. Wheat 

 and corn have already gone up amazingly. 

 There will be a call for every bushel that 

 can be spared for export. There is no 

 danger of flooding the markets by over pro- 

 duction, and, should the war continue, the 

 acreage must be largely increased. New 

 farms will be opened, the price of lauds 

 materially advanced, and general good 

 times for farmers be experienced," 



Chinese Mustard as a Honey Plant. 

 —Perhaps one of the very best honey-pro- 

 ducing plants is tall Chinese mustard. It 

 remains in blossom a very long time, seems 

 to yield honey continuously, is equally 

 vigorous to resist drought, or wet, and 

 flourishes in all soils. It may be sowed any 

 time from May 1st to middle of June — the 

 earlier the better. It will seed itself— its 

 greatest drawback — yet it is far less trouble- 

 some as a weed than common mustard. It 

 should be planted in drills a foot apart, for 

 ease of cultivation. An ounce will plant a 

 space one rod by four. 



We can only fill a few orders for this seed. 

 Those who desire it should send early. 

 Price, per ounce, 20c.; quarter pound, 75c., 

 postpaid. 



White's Extractor. — Friend White 

 has sent one of his extractors to our office 

 for exhibition. It was advertised in our 

 last issue, and consists of two cans, one 

 stationary, 12 in. deep and 20 in. in diameter 

 with a faucet for drawing off' the honey. 

 The second can sits in the first, in which it 

 revolves, throwing out the honey through 

 perforated tin on the sides and bottom. 

 This perforation makes an excellent strain- 

 er for the honey, as well as a receptacle for 

 holding it during the process of the neces- 



sary evaporation before bottling. The 

 frame is made of 2x6 in. plank, mortised in- 

 to the feet, a cross piece over the top sup- 

 porting the usual gearing. The inside can 

 revolving in the outer one, makes consider- 

 able noise, and it does not run as easily as 

 others without such an arrangement. 



That First Curved Knife.— In refer- 

 ence to the item on page 158 of our last is- 

 sue, friend Murphy writes: 



"Friend Chapman is a little mistaken in 

 his statement in regard to the curved-point- 

 ed honey knife; he took his ABC lessons 

 from me in the honey extracting business. 

 I do not know whether I or Winder got uj) 

 the. first curved-pointed honey knife, but I 

 got the first curved knife at the heel, in 186tt 

 or 1867. It was accidental, having one with 

 very little 'temper' in, and getting it bent to 

 a curve; it worked so much better that I 

 had them made that way, until I tried the 

 curved point, and found that in uneven 

 comb I sometimes wanted both curves, to 

 work to the best advantage, and recom- 

 mended friend C. to have his made that 

 way." 



On another page friend Chapman corrects 

 the statement we made in the May number. 

 A typographical error made us give the 

 wrong year of the first one he manufactur- 

 ed. "Honor to whom honor is due." If 

 friends Murphy or Winder made the first 

 one— that laurel they shall wear. The A. 

 B. J. seeks to do no one injustice— the exact 

 truth in detail, is all it asks, or will be satis- 

 fied with. 



Clean out the Hives.— The past win- 

 ter has been a long and cold one, and much 

 debris has accumulated in the hives. In 

 some, it may be damp and mouldy, and the 

 afiluvia from it would not be of the best 

 kind. Lift such combs into a clean hive, 

 pruning off all old queen cells and scraping 

 off all offensive matter. Scrub the old hive 

 with a brush and hot suds, and rinse it out 

 with boiling water. A clean hive will de- 

 light your pets and they will work so much 

 the better for it. Shake off the young bees 

 in front of the new hive and there will be 

 no loss in that direction. 



♦ *■ ^» I « 



m^" East or a point north or south of east 

 is perhaps the hest situation for hives.— 

 Ranging them under a south wall is the 

 worst situation possible, the heat sometimes 

 is so great that work will be eutii-ely sus- 

 pended for some of the most valuable hours 

 of the day. They are also exposed to all 

 the storms of wind and rain which prevail 

 from that quarter. 



^^ We sell Catnip seed for 30 cents per 

 ounce. This Is a good time to sow it. 



