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707 



XHOMAS G. IVEYVMArV, 



EDITOR. 



Vol. mi, Oct 25,1890, No. 43, 



"In the "World is darkness, 



So we must sbine ; 

 You in your little corner, 



And I in mine." 



Will You go to the International next 

 week, at Keokuk ? 



If Feeding the bees is necessary, no 

 time should be lost in supplj'ing them with 

 food for winter stores. 



Considerable Honey, iu some 

 localities, has been gathered during the 

 past few weeks — and there, feeding will be 

 unnecessary. 



E. L. Pratt has removed from Marl- 

 boro, Mass., to Beverly, Mass., an excellent 

 location for bees only a few miles from 

 Salem on the eastern division of the Boston 

 & Lowell railroad. 



The Jtutumn Convocation of 



apiarists in Switzerland occurs at the same 

 time as the Convention of the International 

 at Keokuk, Iowa. It opens at the Hotel de 

 Prance, in Lausanne, on Thursday, Oct. 30, 

 at 10 a.m. We are reminded of the Con- 

 vocation of the same society we attended 

 eleven years ago, at the same place, and of 

 the many excellent apiarists we there met 

 for the first, and, perhaps, for the last time 

 in our lives. M. de Ribeaucourt, the Presi- 

 dent, and M. Ed. Bertrand, the Secretary, 

 we remember with more than ordinary 

 pleasure, and we hope that the Convoca- 

 tion of the present autumn will be exceed- 

 ingly jjleasant and profitaVjle. 



IVIelissa, the honey-plant introduced 

 to apiarists by A. C. Tyrrel, was exhibited 

 at the Nebraska State Fair, and by a 

 reporter was very much misrepresented— 

 claiming that Prof. C. E. Bessey stated 

 that it belonged to the sunflower family, 

 and its name was "actinomerissquarossa." 

 To this Mr. Tyrrel replied through the 

 Wurhl-Herald, from which we copy the 

 following ; 



It is not true that the plant in question 

 belongs to the sunflower family, neither is 

 its title " actiuomeris squarossa," nor is it 

 the first, eighth, or sixteenth cousin of the 

 sunflower. It belongs to the mint famil}', 

 as will be shown by the following partial 

 description of libiatae mint family : Chiefly 

 herbs with aromatic herbage, square stems; 

 opposite simple leaves, more or less two- 

 lipped corolla (whence the name of the 

 order, at once distinguished from all the 

 related family lij' the deeply four-parted 

 ovary), as if four ovaries around the base 

 of a common style, ripening into as many 

 seedlike nutlets or akene, each containing 

 a single seed. As in all these families, 

 there are two lobes belonging to the upper, 

 and three to the lower lip of the corolla. 



Flowers from the axils of the leaves or 

 bracts, usually in cymose clusters, or run- 

 ning into terminal racemes or spikes. 

 Stamens four, parallel and ascending, and 

 projecting from a notch on the upper side 

 of the corolla. Nutlets reticulated and 

 pitted, obliquely fixed by the inner side 

 near the base. 



My plant differs from actinomeris squar- 

 ossa very materially ; in spreading in- 

 volucre, irregular rays, broadly winged 

 akene, growing 4 to 10 feet high is a per- 

 ennial, and flowers in September. 



The plant I call melissa in our rich bot- 

 tom land and highly manured, never grows 

 to exceed 2 feet and 10 inches in height, 

 and usually blooms about July 10, and is 

 an annual. 



I am "proud of my pet," for T was 

 awarded a medal at the Paris Exposition 

 on a gallon of melissa honey, the only one 

 awarded on that class of honey in the 

 world, which speaks volumes for the 

 merits of the " weed " as a honey-produc- 

 ing plant. And I should think that all 

 loyal Nebraska apiarists, and others inter- 

 ested in any growing industry, would be 

 proud of the fact that any article of com- 

 merce produced in the State, and brought 

 into the shar^jest comi^etition with the 

 whole civilized world, should possess suffi- 

 cient merit to entitle the exhibitor to 

 receive the prize. 



Of course. Prof. Bessey never made any 

 such statement. Prof. T. J. Burrill, of 

 Illinois, and Prof. Chas. R. Barnes, of Wis- 

 consin, state emphatically : "The plant is 

 Melissa officinalis." That settles it. But 

 some reporters have very erroneous ideas, 

 and persist in making all the trouble they 

 can — anything for a sensational article. 



Mr. Tyrrel writes us as follows about his 

 honey crop : " If reports are true, I have 

 taken more than three times as much 

 honey, per colony, as any bee-keeper in 

 Nebraska." 



Let ?tll who can do so, make arrange- 

 ments to go to Keokuk next week, and 

 enjoy "the honey feast" with us. We 

 expect to be on hand at the opening, and 

 remain until the close, and shall be pleased 

 to meet the reader there. 



>»^*»«»f «« 



The Season in England.— Mr. 



W. T. Crawshaw, of Welwyn, England, 

 writes us as follows : 



I see your report in the Amekica.v Bee 

 JouKN'AL, that the honey season in England 

 is a failure. It has not been a failure with 

 me, as I have had an average of ao 

 I)ounds per colony. I have taken 67 

 pounds from one in a Simmins' new hive 

 (the non swarming bive). As far as I can 

 learn, bees have done fairly well in this 

 district ; if the wet weather "had not set iu 

 during the latter part of June and the 

 beginning of July, this would have been a 

 grand honey year. W. T. Cuawsuaw. 



All we know about it, is that the British 

 Dec Journal stated that the wet weather 

 had greatly injured the honey crop, which 

 is also confirmed by Mr. Crawshaw. We 

 remarked that the opposite (a drouth) had 

 made the honey crop a failure in America. 

 We are glad to know that the honey crop 

 in Herefordshire is not so bad— but that 

 may not be a fair representation of the 

 whole of England. We have localities in 

 America where an excellent yield is re- 

 ported—but on the whole, we have only 

 about one-fourth of a crop. 



The Illinois State Fair was opened 

 on Sept. 30, but it has been a long time 

 since there was a good exhibit of bees and 

 honey at a State Fair in Illinois. Some 

 way or other the bee-keepers of this State 

 do not believe in exhibits of honey, or else 

 the premiums are too. small to call out an 

 exhibit that will be creditable. Mrs. L. 

 Harrison, in the Prairie Farmer, gives her 

 impressions of the honey exhibit this year, 

 in these words : 



Of course bee and honey exhibits have 

 superior attractions for me over anything 

 else, and thither I wended my way. I 

 found a few congenial spirits, and enjoyed 

 a heart}- hand-shaking all around. Illinois 

 bee-keepers have very little to show, but 

 Io%va has come to the rescue with a fine 

 display. One exhibitor from that State 

 could fill the whole space allotted to the 

 industry by the State Fair Association. 

 This exhibitor has white clover honey in 

 sections, and extracted in cute little glass 

 pails too expensive for the general market. 



One exhibitor of this locality has Mason 

 jars of dark wine colored honey gathered 

 in June. He thinks that it was gathered 

 from raspberry, and it is of fine flavor. It 

 is humiliating, but Iowa, no doubt, will 

 bear away the blue. 



Bees and queens are on exhibition, and 

 attract considerable attention. Timid per- 

 sons give them a wide berth, although they 

 are securely caged. 



Fumes of Sulphur will again do 

 their deadly work in many places this fall. 

 A visitor at this office a few days ago, said 

 he was going to kill 100 colonies ; and in 

 his neighborhood about 1,000 colonies will 

 share the same fate. This has been de- 

 cided upon, rather than to provide them 

 with winter stores, as they had gathered 

 none. 



Cliil>»< of 5 New Subscriptions for $4.00. 

 to any addresses. Ten for $7.50. 



