thb; MMLMMicMn mm;m juvmnmi*. 



5l! 



THOS. G. NEWMAN fc SON, 



CHlC-AaO. ILL. ■ 



KDITOR. 



Vol, mi, An£. 2, 1890, No, 31, 



Xlic RiLsii is now all over, and here, 

 at least, all orders for goods are filled. We 

 hope the experie^ice of the past few mouths 

 will not soon be forgotten by those who 

 have had to wait for necessary supplies, 

 which should have been ordered and in the 

 apiary ready for use three or four mouths 

 ago. Those who delay ordering such until 

 they are needed for use, have had some 

 experience that should be valuable to them. 

 We have now resumed our usual prompt- 

 ness in filling orders. 



Bees as Weather Propliets.— A 



new use may possibly be found for bees. 

 Not only are they treasurers of golden liquid 

 sweets, but it appears that they may be 

 recognized as weather harbingers— but how 

 far into the mysterious and almost impene- 

 trable future the little bee may be able to 

 look, is doubtless a question in the opinion 

 of many. An exchange says this on the 

 subject : 



A nice observer by looking at the bees in 

 the early morning, during the working sea- 

 son, will soon be able to form an opinion as 

 to what the day will be, and that almost to 

 a certainty, for they will sometimes appear 

 sluggish ar(d inactive, although the morn- 

 ing is very bright, and showing every 

 appearance of a clear day, but the sun soon 

 becomes clouded, and rain follows ; and, 

 again, the morning may be dull and cloudy, 

 and sometimes rain may be falling, still the 

 bees will be observed going out in consid- 

 erable numbers, and as sure as this is seen, 

 the day becomes bright and fair. 



Thus are bees the objects of ever-increas- 

 ing interest to all who will study their 

 wonderful ways and works. 



Supply l>ealer» who desire to handle 

 a good Bee-Veil, should write for our dozen 

 rates on the"Globe" Bee-Veils, to sell again. 



iiitatislieN. — It will be remembered 

 that two years ago we printed considerable 

 corre.spondence between several apiarists 

 and Mr. J. R. Dodge, Government Statis- 

 tician at Washington. Mr. Dodge prom- 

 ised to gather statistics and have them 

 published iu the (iovernmental Reports if 

 we could get volunteers to report regularly. 

 These were called tor and obtained, and we 

 sent the list of names and addresses to Mr. 

 Dodge. After waiting about 20 months 

 for some results, we wrote to that gentle- 

 man, and here is bis reply : 



U. S. Dei'aktment or Aonu ri.Ti uk, 

 Division of Statistics, 

 WASiiiNCiTox, D. C, July 19, 1800. 

 Thomas G. Newman, Chicago, Ills., 



Dear Sir : — I am iu receiiit of your favor 

 of the 17th inst., recalling to mj- memorj' 

 our correspondence of 1888-S9, relative to 

 the collection and publication of statistics 

 of honey and bee keeping. 



You will recollect that I stated that such 

 data could only l,e obtained from special 

 correspondents actively engaged in the 

 industry, and that I must depend upon 

 those desirous of getting such data for a 

 list of reporters. " Through your efforts, 

 and through m5' own, by all channels at my 

 comraaud, I was able only to obtain a list 

 of a little more than 200 names of persons 

 sufficiently interested to make regular 

 reports. From data obtained from this 

 number, I prepared a very brief and gen- 

 eral article upon the condition of the 

 industry, but I do not feel justified in 

 presenting any statistics foi* record based 

 upon such a small number of returns. 



I was anxious then, and now, to present 

 in our montly reports as much miscella- 

 neous data as possible, upon special and 

 minor agricultural industries, but it is 

 necessary that those interested should give 

 us their active co-operation. This, bee 

 keepers as a whole, failed to do, and you 

 will readily agree with me that it is far 

 better to present no statistics than to pre- 

 sent those which might not be wholly cor- 

 rect. Two hundred names average less 

 than one for every ten coimties in the 

 United States. Very respectfully, 



J. R. DoDOE, StatisUcian. 



Since these names of correspondents were 

 sent to Mr. Dodge, Mr. A. I. Root, of 

 Medina, O., has organized such a bureau of 

 statistics, and the United States Honey- 

 Producers' Exchange (G. H. Knickerbocker, 

 of Pine Plains, N. Y., Secretary,) are in 

 the same line of business. We can well 

 afford to let them have full charge of the 

 matter. The former is published to the 

 world as soon as gathered ; the latter is 

 private, and only intended for members. 



Croin{g^ .4«'!tj'. — Mr. C. Weckesser, of 

 Marshallville, O., presents a rare oppor- 

 tunity for some apiarist to get a nice 

 business location and home. He says : 



Owing to a very excellent business open- 

 ing at another jilace, I wish to dispose of 

 m3' apiary and queen-rearing business here. 

 I have about eight acres of land, house and 

 other buildings, and an apiary of about 

 100 colonies ; fruit, berries, and some 

 nursery stock in ground. To make a quick 

 sale, I will sell at $1,700, queen-rearing 

 plant included. The location is very fine, 

 and it isaftarf/fini.— CnuisTi.vx Weckessek 



Alricun Itees on tlie ICaiiipase. 



— Lieut, von Tridemann, of the (jorman 

 Expedition in Africa, relates an interest- 

 ing incident, which has been translated 

 from the Leipzig Bienen-Zcltuny for July, 

 1890, by the Rev. S. Roese. It was written 

 by that officer in a letter to the German 

 Colonial GdzcUe, published at Witta, 

 Africa. It reads thus : 



On regulating matters after a wearisome 

 journey to give man and beast the position 

 of rest and comfort, I intended to retire for 

 a few brief moments to myself. When all 

 of a sudden a terrible confusion and noise 

 came to my notice. The animals were 

 bellowing and running in wild confusion in 

 all directions, e.vcept one goat which was 

 tied up and could not escape. A swarm 

 of bees had taken possession of the camp, 

 driving everything before it. 



The poor goat was completely covered 

 with infui'iated bees. At first she uttered 

 a most pitiful noise, when at last she bent 

 her head down, seemingly resigned to her 

 fate. 



Doctor Peters advised the shooting of 

 the poor animal to relieve her suffering. 

 Lieut, von Tiedemann, however, desirous 

 of saving the animal's life, crept up and 

 cut the rope, but not without receiving 

 two severe stings, which caused him most 

 terrible pain. He pulled the goat near the 

 camp-fire, and iu the evening she accepted 

 her usual rations. One of the assf s, how- 

 ever, died from the effects of the stings. 



B^" An article on "Double-Walled vs. 

 Single- Walled Hives for Winter," was 

 written for the A^rEUIC.^N Bee JoURX.iL bj^ 

 Dr. G. L. Tinker, and published on page 73 

 of the issuefor Feb. 1. 1890. That article 

 was afterwards copied bodily by the Michi- 

 gan Farmer, but neither credited to the 

 Bee Journ.m, nor to the author. Then a 

 periodical "down East" copied it and 

 innocently and honestly credited it to the 

 Michirian Farmer. This is but a sample 

 of the stcalinij which is continually going 

 on by some of the agricultural papers. 

 There are many honorable exceptions, 

 however, whose editors would scorn to 

 copy an article without giving proper 

 credit. 



Xlie l>elroit Fair and Exposition 

 will open on Aug. 26 and close Sept. 5. 

 The Apiarian Department is expected to 

 be very attractive. The award of premiums 

 is to begin on Wednesday, Aug. 27. The 

 editor of the AMERio.iy Bee Journal in- 

 tends to be present and serve as judge, and 

 hopes to meet many apiarists there. 



Hosiers for the American Bee Journal. 

 printed in two colors, will be sent free to 

 all who can use them. They are handsome, 

 and will " set off " an exhibit at Fairs. It 

 will tell bee-keepers how to subscribe, for 

 "Subscriptions Received Here" is quite 

 prominent at the bottom. 



We will also send sample copies of the 

 Bee Journal, for use at Fairs, if notified a 

 week or ten days in advance where to send 

 them. 



