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Xlie 4jiol«leii-Ro«l. 



Written for the American Bural Home 



1!Y FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN. 



Spring is the morning of the year, 

 And summer is the noontide bright ; 



The autumn is the evening clear 

 That comes before the winter's night. 



And in the evening, everywhere 

 Along the roadsides, up and down, 



I see the golden torches flare 

 Like lighted street-lamps in the town. 



I think the butterfly and bee. 

 From distant meadows coming back, 



Are quite contented when they see 

 These lamps along the homeward track. 



But those who stay too late get lost ; 



For when the darkness falls about, 

 Down every lighted street the Frost 



Will go and put the torches out ! 



Ueos to Foreiisn Countries. In 



accordance with the advice of the Interna- 

 tional Bureau of the Universal Postal 

 Union, at Berne, notice has been given by 

 our Postal Department that queen-bees will 

 be admitted to the mails— provided they 

 are packed in wooden boxes, not exceeding 

 5x2x1.1.; inches in size, closed by a wire- 

 screen protected by a movable wooden lid ; 

 and that postage thereon is prepaid, either 

 at the rate applicable to letters or to sam- 

 ples of merchandise in Postal Union mails. 

 Letter postage Is 5 cents per one-half 

 ounce. The postage on merchandise is one 

 cent for each two ounces. 



Under the regulations, queen bees may 

 be so sent to the Argentine Republic, Bel- 

 gium, Bulgaria, Chili, Colombia, Congo, 

 Dutch West Indies, Egypt, Gautamala, 

 Hayti, Hawaii, India, Italy, Liberia, Mex- 

 ico, Paraguay, Portugal, and the Portu- 

 guese Colonies, Roumania, Siam, Spain, 

 Switzerland, Austro - Hungary, France, 

 Germany, Greece, Luxemburg, the Nether- 

 lands, and Dutch Guiana. 



Still more recently Costa Rica has been 

 added to the list. 



Ki-Siilpliide of Carbon is recom- 

 mended by Prof. A. J. Cook, of the Michi- 

 gan State Agricultural Expei-iment Station, 

 ■ as one of the very best insecticides. It has 

 been used with success to destroy the 

 phylloxera on the grape-vines of France : 

 is applied to the destruction of prairie- 

 dogs in the West, and has been used by 

 Prof. Cook with success to destroy ants. A 

 single dose in the habitation of the animal, 

 or in an apartment, is usually suflScient. It 

 is exceedingly volatile, and its vapor 

 reaches everywhere. But it must be used 

 with great care, for the vapor is very in- 

 flammable and poisonous ; so that a room 

 in which it is used must be well aired be- 

 fore one enters or carries a light into it. 



Foiil Brood.— The London, England, 

 Daily News is credited with the following 

 item, on the Canadian Special Act for the 

 suppression of this terrible disease : 



Pure honey from the hive is regarded by 

 the Legislature of Ontario as sufficiently 

 important to warrant the passing of a 

 sjiecial act in the interest of honey-con- 

 sumers. The object of its regulations, 

 pains, and penalties, however, is not, as 

 might be inferred, the dishonest tradesmen, 

 but the uncleanly bee-keepers. 



In brief, the measure is designed to check 

 the progress of the disease of the honey- 

 combs, technically known as " foul brood," 

 which has done mischief in many hives in 

 Europe, and in Canada it has assumed very 

 serious proportions. 



It indicates almost a touching faith in 

 the omnipotence of Legislation, that the 

 Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, after 

 prevailing on the Department of Agricul- 

 ture to institute a formal inquiry into the 

 subject, has asked for and obtained this 

 Special Act. 



It seems, however, well estalilished that 

 the " spores " which infect the honey in the 

 comb, and defy even freezing to the point 

 of 35 degrees below zero to destroy them, 

 are caused by leaving decayed brood in the 

 hives. This practice the Act which has 

 now received the Queen's assent, seems 

 calculated to keep in check. 



The News gets things mixed in the usual 

 way I. The cause of the calamity is flrst 

 stated to be "unclean bee-keepers" — then 

 it is "disease of the honey-combs" — then 

 the " spores which infect the honey in the 

 comb," are "caused by leaving decaying 

 brood in the hives." The whole thing is 

 just such an admixture of "fact and fancy" 

 —" truth and error "—as we might expect 

 from those who know nothing of the mat- 

 ters they are writing about. 



Centuries before the Christian Era 

 peculiar limestones taken from the quarries 

 of Asia and Africa, have been used for 

 rearing magnificent buildings. These 

 quarries are composed of layers made 

 entirely from the tiny shells of microscopic 

 animals. No less than 137 species exist in 

 these limestone beds. 



In some places mountains of great height 

 are made of their shells. In Egypt the 

 layers are of such extent that for centuries 

 the rock has been used for building pur- 

 poses. The ancient pyramids and the 

 Sphinx are made of this rock. 



In Germany and France the same lime- 

 stone rock is used for building. The " St. 

 Nicholas" Magazine says : 



Insects are often foand preserved in it as 

 perfect as on the day they were imprisoned. 



The^rsf hee of all the ages was found in 

 amber, " an embalmed corpse in a crystal 

 coffin." With it were found fragments of 

 flower and leaf, as it the resin dropped on 

 the flower upon which the bee had alighted 

 and enveloped both. 



Thus are the honey-bees identified with 

 the earliest ages of this planet. They no 

 doubt flitted among the flowers of Eden, 

 and gave to Adam and Eve a taste of the 

 sweetness from Nature's laboratory ere 

 they were driven from Paradise, to earn 

 their living by the sweat of their brows. 



Bees Control a Train. — A corres- 

 pondent of tbe New York Sun describes 

 the following incident, where bees were 

 said to have detained a train : 



A swarm of bees created a block in a 

 curious manner on the Perkiomen roaUroad 

 the other day. A freight train running 

 between Perkiomen Junction and Allen- 

 town, Pa., stopped to take water at Palm 

 station, twenty miles north. A swarm of 

 bees from a neighboring farm house had 

 taken refuge in some woods near by, and 

 when the train stopped at the station they 

 came buzzing out and alighted with one 

 accord on the tender behind the engine. 



The engineer and his assistant in the 

 engine and the brakeuien standing around 

 the train were astonished at the visitation 

 and promptly sought safety in the waiting 

 room of the station. The fireman, William 

 Heist, was on the engine cab at the time 

 busily shifting coal from one side of the 

 tender to the other, and in an instant a 

 hundred bees set upon him. Half mad with 

 pain he jumped off the tender and rolled 

 wildly in the grass at the roadside. 



The schedule time fur starting the train 

 came and went, but the crew saw no way 

 in which to start. They held a consulta- 

 tion over the problem, and finally a bright 

 idea struck the engineer. Putting it into 

 execution, he crept softly and unconcern- 

 edly up to the tender, after the manner of 

 an experienced bee keeper, and secured 

 possession of the adjustable hose with 

 which engineers are accustomed to clean 

 up their cabs. He got the drop on the bees, 

 and turned on them a steady stream of 

 cold water. The effect was magical. The 

 entire swarm took to their wings and de- 

 scribed a straight line — a bee-line — toward 

 the woods. The train then resumed its 

 journej', fifteen minutes behind time. 



This incident shows how a little insect 

 may control the thundering engine, and 

 defy the power of steam. 



Convention IVotices. 



gW The annual meeting of the Union Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, will be held at Hamilton. Ills., un 

 Oct. 10 and 11, lb90. A good time is anticipated. 

 Daniel Shank, Sec. 



B^" Tbe 8th semi-annual meeting of the Susque- 

 hanna County Bee-Keepers' Association will be held 

 at Montrose, Pa., on Thursday. May 7, 1891. 



a H. M. Sekley, Sec. 



2W The next meeting of the York and Cumber- 

 land Bee-Keepers' Association, will be held at 

 Goodwin's Mills. Me., on Oct. 18, 1«90. All persona 

 interested are invited. C. W. Costellow, Sec. 



ir^The fall meetini; of the Central Michigan 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, will meet in the Pioneer 

 Rooms, Capitol Buildinji, Lansing, Mich., on Wed- 

 nesday, Oct. 15, 1890, to commence at 10 a.m. 



W. A. Barnes, Sec. 



5S^ The next meeting of tbe Turkey Hill Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, will be held at the Turkey 

 Hill Grange liall. near Wilderman's Station, three 

 miles southeast of Belleville, ills., on Oct. 30, IhHU. 

 All interested in bee-keeping are cordially invited. 



A. Fkhr, Sec. 



Z^" The Missouri State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will meet at Mexico, Mo., on Oct. 22 and 2:t, 1890. A 

 good programme, and an instructive and interesting 

 time are expected. All are invited to attend. Board 

 can be obtained for 7.'S cts. per day, or 2o cts. a meal. 

 J. W. RoDSE, Sec, Mexico, Mo. 



Xlie International American Bee- 

 Association will meet in Keokuk, Iowa, 

 Oct. 29, 30, and 31. As this is the flrst 

 meeting west of the Mississippi, in the 

 twenty years of the existence of the Asso- 

 ciation, a large attendance is expected, 

 especially as our leading publishers and a 

 number of bee-keepers of note will be there. 

 All communications should be addressed to 

 C. P. Dadant, Hamilton, Ills. 



