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SDITOR. 



Vol. in. Fen, 23, 18 



No. 8. 



:fXr. Geo. E. Hilton has been engaged 

 to edit a department on apiculture in the 

 Michigan Farmer, and he will make it in- 

 teresting, too. 



Fr. L.ederinann, of Fayette, Howard 

 Co., Mo., has passed to " the beyond," leav- 

 ing his bees to the care of others. We have 

 no further particulars. 



If we See Rig'lttly and mean rightly, 

 we shall succeed, though the hand may 

 stagger a little ; but if we mean wrongly, or 

 mean nothing, it does not matter how firm 

 the hand is.—Ruskln. 



Stitcliingp w'itli 'Wire is now done 

 by machinery upon many periodicals. 

 Qleaniivgs has just adopted that method, in 

 accordance with our recommendation. Mr. 

 Root says the machinery gives most excel- 

 lent satisfaction, and he wonders that he 

 did not adopt it sooner. The cost is only 

 one-fourth of what it took to do it by hand. 



A Pliotograpli of Mrs. Mahala B. 

 Chaddock is on our desk, and will be placed 

 in the Bee Journal Album. It is a nice 

 cabinet picture, but Mrs. C. says it flatters 

 her some. It certainly is very attractive, 

 and we expect it is quite natural. A similar 

 photo accompanies the United States ex- 

 hibit at the Paris Exposition. 



By the way, Mrs. Chaddock is getting up 

 quite a reputation as a writer. An article 

 from her pen may be found in the Popular 

 Science Monthly for this month. She now 

 writes for several bee-periodicals, and is in 

 correspondence with Sir John Lubbock, an 

 English lord and scientist. 



Oeoine— iTIexii-an Honey Plant. 



—Mr. C. II. Sapp, of Ravenna, O., on Feb. 

 13, 1889, writes as follows : 



Dear Editor :— I enclose a description 

 (taken from the seed catalogue of Samuel 

 Wilson. Bucks Co., Pa.) of the "Mexican 

 Honey Plant." 1 desire to know if you are 

 acquainted with the plant, or know any- 

 thing of its merits ? Could we reasonably 

 expect it to fulfill even one-half what the 

 description claims for it ? Would there be 

 danger of its becoming a troublesome weed 

 if introduced ? Any other information re- 

 garding it will be gladly received through 

 the American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Wilson has simply given another 

 name to the "Rocky Mountain Bee-Plant," 

 and palmed it off as " the grandest discovery 

 of the modern ajje." It has been cultivated 

 for bee pasturage for several years, and is 

 well-known to bee-keepers, and yet Mr. 

 Wilson, in his advertisement, heralds his 

 " new and valuable plant " in these words : 



The introduction of this new and valua- 

 ble plant is destined to be a great blessing 

 to the American people, especially to those 

 who are interested in bees and bee-culture. 

 No other plant, tree or flower now known 

 to the botanical science of the world can 

 equal this beautiful and magnificent speci- 

 men in its handsome and attractive appear- 

 ance and wonderful honey-producing prop- 

 erties. 



Nothing can equal the splendor and mag- 

 nificent beauty of the oleome when in full 

 bloom and alive with bees. Each petal of 

 the lovely flowers contains its miniature 

 drop of honey, which sparkle like diamonds 

 in the morning sun. For those who coo- 

 template keeping bees, either on a large 

 or small scale, nothing could be more useful 

 or easily grown than this magnificent plant. 



He then quotes the following from a cor- 

 respondent : 



No other plant known to the civilized 

 world can vie with the cleome integrifolia 

 in producing honey as food for bees. And 

 no other honey is as clear and of as good 

 quality. 



He further says : " I have frequently 

 weighed my bee-stands for a number of 

 mornings and evenings, and found many of 

 them to increase as much as nine pounds of 

 honey a day." 



Then Mr. Wilson winds up his advertise- 

 ment with these deceptive words : "As 

 yet the seeds of this valuable plant are very 

 scarce. Our agent, after traversing the 

 mountainous regions of Mexico for nearly 

 two months, only procured about 100 

 pounds." 



Instead of being so scarce, it may be 

 found in all the catalogues of the 

 dealers in bee-keepers' supplies, and quoted 

 at ft cents a packet, 15 cents an ounce, or 

 .$1.25 per lb.— while this Mexican "wonder" 

 is offered in small packets at 25 cents each. 



The plant is a good one, but is not new ; 

 neither is it " the grandest discovery of the 

 modern age I" 



Thefonicyis also of good quality— but it 

 is not true that " no other honey is as clear, 

 and of as good a quality " as stated in this 

 circular ! 



The seed is valuable, but it is not so 

 scarce as to make it cost several dollars per 

 pound, as Mr. Wilson says 1 



Its habitat is clay, gravel rock and lime- 

 stone, and it grows in the Rocky Mountains, 



but it also grows in all the western and 

 .'50uthern States, and it was not necessary to 

 traverse the mountainous regions of Mexico 

 for two months to procure one hundred 

 pounds of seed ! 



It is a pity that Mr. Wilson should have 

 misrepresented this honey-plant, which is 

 none other than cleome intef/ri/o/io, or the 

 "Rocky Mountain Bee-Plant," re-named by 

 him as the "Mexican Honey Plant." 



In reply to our correspondent, we will say 

 that the seed can be sown anywhere— 

 among rocks, on craggy hillsides, along the 

 highways, in fence corners where nothing 

 useful will grow, and where the winds and 

 rains will spread them, and in a few years 

 such waste places will prove attractive to 

 the eye, and yield abundance of sweets for 

 the table. The seed should be sown in the 

 fall, when the plants will bloom the next 

 season. 



Mr. Jolin :San, of Middletown, Iowa, 

 gave us a call last week, and we had a very 

 interesting visit with him. He rightly re- 

 marked on the matter of the Bee-Keepers' 

 Union, that downright ignorance was the 

 cause of the senseless opposition to bee- 

 keeping by fruit men. He had been a close 

 observer of the benefit of which bees were 

 to fruit, as he was a fruit-culturist as well 

 as a bee-keeper and stock-raiser. 



In the spring of 1881, after a very destruc- 

 tive winter on bees, he was riding over tlie 

 country considerably, and noticed that the 

 apple trees near an apiary were the only 

 ones that were fruitful. The bees had died 

 by the milions, and were scarce in the 

 spring, and as a result apple-trees were very 

 generally bare of fruit. Whenever he passed 

 apple-trees that showed a good yield, he re- 

 marked that bees must be near, and so in a 

 few minutes he came in sight of bee-hives. 

 He made repeated remarks about it, and 

 had several others notice the matter, and 

 he was well satisfied that the bees were of 

 the greatest benefit to fruit of all kinds, es- 

 pecially apples. 



He says that if the fruit men would only 

 give attention to this matter, they would 

 keep a few hives of bees, just for their val- 

 uable services in fertilizing the fruit blos- 

 soms. 



Wet Ready for the Harvest.— The 



Indiana Farmer makes these very sensible 

 remarks about getting ready now for the 

 coming honey harvest : " Who of our 

 farmer readers do not dislike to take the 

 time in spring and summer, when every 

 moment is so valuable, to put sections to- 

 gether, paint and repair hives, etc. ? All 

 this is work that certainly should be done 

 now, during the cold and stormy weather. 

 Think, too, what a pleasure it will be to 

 feel that all is in readiness for swarms, let 

 them come as early as they will. A golden 

 motto for any bee-keeper is, have every- 

 thing ready early, and get all in readiness 

 when it can be done with the least outlay of 

 valuable time." 



