T'H® ISMEKICKH KEB J@IJR1MKIL. 



201 



alike, and at the same age by common 

 consent. None are expected to do 

 more than others, but all are expected 

 to do their best. The drones (so 

 abused by those ignorant of their 

 habits) stand ever ready to perform 

 their most important duty, for which 

 their very lives are given willingly. 

 Can any one begrudge them their 

 leisure at so great a cost ? 



Why is it that human nature so ad- 

 mires the industrious habits and un- 

 seen government of bees, as they 

 gather honey and guard their home in 

 perfect harmony, and without com- 

 plaint ? It is because human nature 

 can see a perfect form of government 

 — a government for the people, by the 

 people, and absolute freedom to every 

 man. 



There is no half-starving mass and 

 highly-fed class in a bee-hive. When 

 a bec-republio is starving, all are 

 starving ; when it is prosperous, all are 

 prosperous ; as this bee fares, so fares 

 its brother. There is one common 

 store-house free to all. 



In short, a bee-hive eniplo3-s that 

 perfect national form of government, 

 so admired by the human race. To 

 my mind, this United States will event- 

 ually adopt a similar form of har- 

 monious proceedings, as in Bellamy's 

 "Looking Backward." 



Marlboro, Mass. 



BEE-NOTES. 



Iiiterestin;; Suggestions fur the 

 Month of March. 



Written for the. American Bee Journal 



BY DR. J. M. HICKS. 



It is now the proper time to make 

 selections from the best colonies for 

 rearing increase of queens ; this is a 

 matter of no small importance to the 

 apiarist. 



Queens and drones should, by all 

 means, be reared from colonies pos- 

 sessing the most desirable qualities — 

 such as have a gentle, mild temper, 

 and industrious habits, as well as being 

 very prolific. 



In order to succeed well, and get 

 eai'ly drones, the bee-keeper should 

 feed a little syrup every day, at this 

 season of the year, to such colonies as 

 above indicated. 



It will be just as necessary to keep 

 watch of all other colonies, and cut 

 out all drone-brood, as well as queen- 

 cells, or those not so desirable, before 

 they are hatched. 



I am very certain that bees will pay 

 at least 200 per cent, profit, in an or- 

 dinary season, v^ith reasonable care 

 and attention. Mine paid me over 

 500 per cent, last year, and at the 

 pi-esent wi'iting (Mai-ch 3) they are all 



in tine condition, with plenty of young 

 brood. 



Much depends upon the kind, style 

 and shape of the hive used in the man- 

 agement of bees, which should be of 

 such sliape and so constructed as to 

 not have any loose pieces to remove in 

 examining the l)rood-combs — the fewer 

 of such traps about a hive, the better. 



Always make the increase in colo- 

 nies by dividing them at the right 

 time, and prevent, if possible, all nat- 

 ural swarming ; but as before suggest- 

 ed, try to have plenty of young queens 

 in due time to give to the new swarms; 

 this is of much importance. 



I would suggest, to make bee-keep- 

 ing more profitable to the apiarist, as 

 well as much better for all consumers 

 of honey, that there should be only ex- 

 tracted honey placed on the market ; 

 for truly there is not a particle of nu- 

 triment in the combs, as food in the 

 human stomach, no matter how tine or 

 delicate it may appear to be. 



Honey is procured from the flowers 

 and plants, provided by Nature, and 

 the bees are the industrious workers 

 that gather and store it for man's use. 

 It is folly and absurd to think of feed- 

 ing bees syrup made from sugar or 

 glucose, and call it "honey." It is a 

 fraud on its face .' 



Alvv.ays provide plenty of pasture for 

 the bees to work on — such as Alsike 

 clover, buckwheat, raspberry, cherry, 

 apple, pear, plum, of many varieties, 

 all of which are good for honey, be- 

 sides their delicious fruits. 



Indianapolis. Ind. 



WISCONSIN. 



Report of the State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention. 



The sixth annual meetingof the Wis- 

 consin >State Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 was held at Madison, Wis., on Feb. 5, 

 1890. About 100 bee-keepers were 

 present, a few being from other States. 



President C. A. Hatch, of Ithaca, 

 called the meeting to order at 10 a.m., 

 after whicli prayer was offered by Mr. 

 A. I. Root, of Medina, Ohio. 



Treasurer M. J. Plumb, of Milton, 

 reported that no expenditures of money 

 had been made since the last meeting. 

 The president then read his annu,al ad- 

 dress. 



Mr. Wilcox asked for information 

 regarding oak-gall honey. He had 

 seen it, but no one offered any further 

 information. 



STRANGE DISEASE AMONG BEES. 



The president spoke of his experience 

 last year, in what seemed to him a 

 strange disease among his bees, but by 

 consulting a learned microscopist, he 



was informed that they were only 

 "played-out" bees. 



A. I. Hoot had also noticed tlie same 

 thing in liis apiaries. The President 

 said the Ixiis came out aljout 10 o'clock 

 in the morning; they could not fly, but 

 crawled along on the grass like young 

 bees. TIk! whole j'ard was covered 

 with bees, crawling toward the lower 

 side of the yard. They acted as if 

 stupefied — as tlies that have taken poi- 

 son. Their botlies and legs, too, were 

 covered with a greyish-like dust, which 

 they constantly tried to rub oft'. His 

 theory was, that they were afl'ected by 

 some kind of pollen. All the bees 

 seemed to be dusted. 



S. I. Freeborn, of Ithaca, thought it 

 was connected with the red-clover 

 bloom, that intoxicated them, which 

 was not the case with the white-clover 

 bloom. 



Dr. Miller, of Illinois, said that he 

 had not been much in favor of Presi- 

 dents' addresses, but after hearing the 

 one just read, he was inclined to 

 change his opinion. With regard to the 

 trouble with Mr. Hatch's bees, he was 

 of the opinion that starvation had more 

 than anything else to do with it. As 

 to the dust upon the bees, he could not 

 account for that. 



Mr. Taylor, of Minnesota, said that 

 a mess of good, warm food would have 

 relieved them ; he especially recom- 

 mended that the food be given warm. 



S. I. Freeborn was confident that 

 wann weather and honey were the 

 remedies for the trouble. 



F. Wilcox had observed the same 

 thing (the dust on the bees), in colo- 

 nies in the Heddon hives. He thought 

 that starvation was the cause of the 

 trouble. 



A. I. Root had noticed it in one col- 

 ony, that had used up its honey in 

 brood-rearing. They were cured b}' 

 feeding ; he fixed up a syrup and fed 

 them. 



THE CARNIOLAN BEES. 



Rev. T. E. Turner, of Sussex, read 

 an cssaj' on "Carniolans." 



Rev. Mr. Winter, of Madison, gave 

 a very interesting and amusing account 

 of his experience with the Carniolau 

 bees. He had not found them to be 

 as gentle as Mr. Turner had described 

 them; in fact, he had found them to be 

 the most irascible bees he had ever 

 handled, and their propensity to go out 

 of their way to seek their victims, ex- 

 ceeded anything he ever knew. He 

 remarked that a gentleman who visited 

 him, and being anxious to observe the 

 internal eeimomy of a bee-hive, went 

 with him to his apiary, and on opening 

 a liive of Carniolans, the bees "went 

 for them " pell-mell, and his visitor 

 beat a hasty retreat, saying he would 

 rather face a battery of artillery, than 

 a colony of Carniblans. 



