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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bibulous Bees. 



The Los Angeles (Cal.) Herald has the 

 following remarks concerning the peculiar 

 habits of bees in that State. It says: 



" An immense honey production has 

 grown up in Los Angeles and San Diego 

 counties in the past 2 or 3 years. Every 

 canon and coigne of vantage, in both coun- 

 ties, has its bee farm. Col. Chalmers Scott 

 informs us that the bees in San Diego coun- 

 ty liave developed a great fondness for 

 orange blossoms and grapes. It was the 

 fashion, formerly, to make 4,000 or .5,000 gal- 

 lons of wine at Guajome every year, but 

 since the bees have made their appearance 

 the vineyard at that point has failed to 

 yield. Tiie grape forms as of yore, but the 

 juice is sucked out by the bees, thus antici- 

 pating the wine press. They dip into the 

 orange blossoms also, and tiie consequence 

 is that the fruit is dwarfed. A great por- 

 tion of the feed of bees in Southern Califor- 

 nia is the blossom of the white sage. It 

 makes a white and agreeable honey. But 

 when sheep have once pastured among the 

 white sage the bees will have nothing more 

 to do with it. 



"It is quite likely that, at the next session 

 of the Legislature, there will be an effort 

 both upon the part of the bee men and the 

 sheep men to obtain some legislation from 

 their respective standpoints." 



If some of the bee kings of California, 

 preferably those of Los Angeles and San 

 Diego counties, will state the facts, from 

 their observation, they will confer a favor 

 upon our Eastern readers. The truth is 

 what we want. 



Pkizes.— Dr. Elirick Parmly, of New 

 York, wishes us to announce the following 

 prizes (money or medal of equal value) viz.: 



^25 for the best essay on Fertilization in 

 Conliiiement. 



$10 for the best essay on Rearing Queens 

 and Re-Queening an Apiary. 



These essays are to be read at the next 

 meeting of th'e National Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation to be held in New York on Oct. 8, 

 1878. .Judges to be appointed by the Asso- 

 ciation. Ehkick Parmly. 



l^The Little Rock Daily Gazette 

 contains a report of the Arkansas State 

 Fair, and from it we clip the following, 

 concerning honey raising in that State: 



''Dr. Hipolite, of DeVall's Blnff, ex- 

 hibited a very fine article of honey. 

 The Doctor is a bee-raiser of experi- 

 ence, and he has proved to a demon- 

 stration that as good honey can be 

 raised in Arkansas as anywhere else." 



Friend Hipolite obtained the highest 

 premium for extracted and comb 

 honey. The latter was in 2-ft). section 

 boxes. One of the judges (a practical 

 apiarist) remarked that it was "the 

 finest honey he had ever seen any- 



where." When we were down there- 

 two years ago, we thought Arkansas a. 

 good State for honey raising, and it 

 seems we were not mistaken. 



1^ The Sedalia (Mo.) Democrat says: 



" Mrs. Henry Smith, living 8 miles^ 

 from this city, went into the yard ac- 

 companied by her little daughter, a 

 child 7 years of age, to get some honey. 

 The box containing the hive is an or- 

 dinary patent arrangement with draw- 

 ers. In slipping one of them out Mrs. 

 Smith Avas stung by a bee. The shock 

 and pain caused her to jerk her hand 

 back quickly, and her elbow striking 

 another box, knocking it over, causing 

 it to burst open. In an instant she and 

 the child were literally covered with a 

 swarm of insects, which stung them on 

 the face, neck and arms, and indeed 

 nearly all over the body. Frightened 

 •and crazed with pain, they started to 

 run, but they Avere blinded by the bees, 

 and it was ten minutes before they" 

 succeeded in getting into the house 

 and free from the swarm. In less than 

 an hour their faces were swollen out of 

 all recognition, and Mrs. Smith had 

 become insensible from her injuries." 



Had Mrs. Smith had a good smoker 

 she would not have suffered thus. Ko 

 one should go among bees without the 

 means of subduing them close at hand, 

 to be used in case of necessity. 



Report of the CoNVENTioisr. — It is 

 gratifying to know that our getting out 

 a " Special Edition " of the Journal 

 containing the official report of the 

 proceedings of the National Conven- 

 tion, is so generally appreciated. We 

 have had scores of complimentary let- 

 ters approving our prompt publication 

 of such a full report. 



In 1872, 150 were voted to the Secre- 

 tary for the labor of getting up -a re- 

 port of the National Convention. In 

 the present instance we have produced 

 it, printed in a special edition, without 

 a cent's expense to the Association. 



As we offer to send 10 copies for 

 $1.00 (see page 418 of this issue) to 

 those who will distribute tliem, we 

 hope those who can alTord it will take 

 this opportunity of spreading the in- 

 formation it contains to all the small 

 bee-keepers in their vicinity. Such 

 often injure markets through not being 

 posted. In this way apiarists will 

 beneht themselves as well as aid the 

 cause in general.. 



