THS MMERICJSN BK® J©l[JRirfJElLf. 



565 



Tlic Bec-MaldeiiH or France. 



Harper's Young People some time siuce 

 contained the following interesting account 

 of what are known in France as the " bee- 

 maidens." Their work, and how they 

 came to receive their prety name, is de- 

 scribed thus : 



Near the little town of La Ferte, in 

 France, there is au apple-tree which bears 

 onl}- imperfect blossoms ; and the fact hav- 

 ing long, long ago been discovered, has 

 given rise to a very beautiful custom 

 among the maidens of the village. 



When spring-time comes, and the apple- 

 tree hails the joyous time with a glad burst 

 of blossoms, the maidens of the village arm 

 themselves with gay ribbous and perfect 

 blossoms from their favorite trees, and go 

 singing to the lonely tree which has pro- 

 duced only the imperfect blossoms. Each 

 girl then kisses a cluster of the imperfect 

 blossoms, and in so doing dusts the former 

 with the pollen from the latter. She then 

 ties a distinguishing ribbon near to the 

 cluster she has dusted. 



The tree looks very gay when thus dec- 

 orated, with the pink blossoms smiling up 

 at heaven, and the dainty ribbons flutter- 

 ing in the perfume-laden air ; but the best 

 of it is when the petals drop like ''summer 

 snow," and the little apples begin to shape. 

 Then the maidens pluck off all but the best 

 fruit, and let that take all the strength of 

 the tree, so that the apples grow famously 

 and come to perfection. 



And now is seen the strange part of the 

 affair : the apples, instead of being all of 

 one kind, are as different as the blossoms 

 that kissed their blossoms, the fact being 

 that the apple is exactly like the apple on 

 the tree from which the pollen-bearing 

 blossom was taken. 



So on this one tree will be seen round, 

 rosy-cheeked apples, long yellow apples, 

 juicy apples, mealy apples, dainty little 

 apples, and " monstrous big " apples. Each 

 maiden has the apple she wished the most. 



sionally it happens to an apple tree, that it 

 bears only imperfect flowers, and then it 

 must either depend upon the nectar-hunt- 

 ing bees, or upon some other agency for 

 the pollen. 



Thus it is seen how important it is that 

 bees have access to all the blossoming fruits 

 and plants, as without their' valuable aid, 

 the fruit-grower or farmer would often fail 

 to realize anything from his orchard or 

 garden. The great value of bees, aside 

 from the honey which they produce, should 

 not be overlooked. 



Best Planii for While Honey 

 and for Fall Honey. 



WrUU.n for the American Bee Journal 



In the above is shown that the little 

 French maids perform the duty which the 

 bees usually claim as their portion of the 

 world's work. The reason that bees bury 

 themselves in the flowers and blossoms is 

 that they may extract the precious nectar 

 which they contain, and for the purpose of 

 helping the blossoms to produce their 

 fruitage, which often would not be accom- 

 plished were it not for the bees and other 

 insects. 



In some cases, if not visited by the bees, 

 the flowers would not live at all ; for some 

 flowers are what is called imperfect, and 

 need to be powdered with pollen before 

 they can make any seeds ; and the bees 

 carry the pollen from a perfect flower to 

 an imperfect flower, and leave it there 

 while they are thinking only of getting 

 nectar. 



If you will catch a bee which has been 

 gathering nectar, you will notice that it is 

 covered over with a fine dust. That dust is 

 the pollen which has clung to the fine hairs 

 on its body. 



It often happens with highly cultivated 

 strawberries that they have imperfect 

 flowers, and would not bear a single beiTy, 

 were they not planted near to some other 

 variety that has perfect flowers. Occa- 



Renie«lj' for Mites. — On page 284, 

 Mi's. L. J. Keyes, of Nora Springs, Iowa, 

 asked for a remedy for mites on birds ; as 

 none of our correspondents have replied, 

 we oft'er the following, which we have just 

 found in one of our agricultural exchanges, 

 though these directions apply mainly to 

 mites on chickens : 



After trying sulphur, carbolic acid, kero- 

 sene-oil, unslacked lime, etc., about the 

 hen-house, we tried tobacco, and find it the 

 very thing to kill and destroy the mites. 

 A little snuff scattered in the hens' nests, 

 and where the chickens dust, is a deadener 

 to the mite ; and if your hen-house is close 

 enough, fill it with tobacco smoke for a few 

 houi's, and you can say "good-bye" to the 

 mites. I have been in Texas 42 years, and 

 never saw a mite until this year, and this 

 year they come into our dwelling-houses 

 like fleas, but the snuff and tobacco smoke 

 will settle them. * 



Bee-Slings.— Mr. B. T. Marion recom- 

 mends the application of heat as a cure for 

 bee-stings He says : 



When I am stung I rake the sting off, 

 grab the smoker, give the ])art stung three 

 or four puffs with the hot air and smoke, 

 and the pain is gone instantly ; that is, if 

 I am stung on the wrist. The Bingham 

 smoker is better for the curing of bee-stings 

 than any other smoker I have used. Keep 

 a red-hot fire in the smoker, and you have 

 the best remedj' for bee-stings that I 

 know of. 



QuEKV 725.— 1. What, in your locality, 

 do you consider the best honey-plant for 

 white honey, and what is the best for fall 

 honey 1— Bell. 



White clover.— H. D. Cutting. 



Clover, knot-weeds, Spanish-needle, etc. 

 — DAD.iXT & Sox. 



1. Basswood. 2. There is 

 here. — G. M. Doohttle. 



1. White clover. 

 L. Tatlou. 



1. Clover, 2. Perhaps 

 fall.— C. C. Miller. 

 1. White clover. 



DiBBERN. 



1. White clover, 

 ters. — A. J. Cook. 



1. White clover, 

 ease.— J. M. Shuck. 



1. White clover, 

 ish-needle.- 



no fall honey 

 2. Asters, I think. — R. 

 cucumber for 

 2. Heart's-ease. — C. H. 



2. Golden-rods and as- 



3. Asters and heart's- 

 2. Coreopsis or Span- 



, M. Hambaugh. 



Alfalfa, is certainly a wonderful honey 

 plant, and is attracting great attention 

 from bee-men all over the country. It is 

 not only useful as a honey -plant, but is one 

 of the most important sources of fodder for 

 stock, and, as it is especially adapted to 

 the so called deserts of the far West, it 

 promises to yield unlimited supplies for 

 bee and beast. — Field ayid Farm. 



<'an<ly for Feeding Kees. — The 



following recipe for making candy for feed- 

 ing to bees we find in an exchange ; it will 

 serve to answer many who are enquiring 

 in regard to the subject : 



To make candy for feeding bees, put four 

 pounds of granulated white sugar in a pint 

 of water, simmer gently 20 minutes, then 

 pour into buttered pans an inch deep, and 

 cool. 



Sweet clover for white honey ; and sweet 

 clover for fall honey. — A. B. Mason. 



1. Sour-wood. 2. Aster is best for fall 

 honey here (East Georgia).— J. P. H. 

 Bkown. 



1. White clover. 2. The asters are the 

 best fall honej- plants here. — G. L. Tinker. 



1. White clover, all the time. 2. The 

 large smart-weed, and the little white aster. 

 Golden-rod is "nogood." — G. W. Demareb. 



My own locality is a poor one for honey, 

 still white clover leads for summer, and 

 golden-rod for fall. I get no white honey 

 in the fall.— J. E. Pond. 



1. Basswood. 2. The yellow flowers that 

 bloom in August and September. Buck- 

 wheat is perhaps the most useful plant for 

 fall honey. — Eugene Secor. 



1. White clover first; sweet clover sec- 

 ond ; and Alsike clover third. When 

 Alsilie is generally introduced by farmers, 

 we think that it wUl take the first place. 2. 

 For fall honey it varies greatly — no two 

 seasons being alike. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



1. White clover. There is not enough 

 basswood to be of much value. 2. It is 

 diti3cult to determine what is best for fall 

 honey. Sometimes what is erroneously 

 called heart's-ease (polygonum) is best, and 

 sometimes other fall flowers are better. 

 Golden-rod is worthless except once in 

 about a dozen years. — M. Madin. 



1. In my locality, basswood rather ex- 

 ceeds white clover in quantity, and is prob- 

 abl3' about equal in quality, the two being 

 our main sources. 2. Buckwheat, boneset, 

 and golden-rod are the three principal 

 sources of fall honey, or, in other words, 

 "August honey," commonly called "fall 

 honey." Sometimes one, and sometimes 

 the other, leads for quantity.^jAS.HEDDON. 



Clubs of 5 for $4.00 to any addresses. 

 Ten for $7.50. if all are sent at one time. 



A I^ice Hoeket nictionary will be 



given as a premium for only one new 

 subscriber to this Journal, with 81.00. It 

 is a splendid little Dictionai-y — just the 

 right size for the pocket. Every school boy 

 and school girl, as well as everybody else, 

 should own and use it. Price, 3S cents. 



