TH^ HEMERICaiH BE® JQURlHai,. 



243 



EDITOR. 



Vol, in. April 20, 1889, No. 16. 



Sweet April ! iiKiiiy a thoiinlit 

 Is wcd.l.-il unto 111.'.', a.s lirarts an- w/il : 

 Nor sliall Ihuy tail. till, to itsauttniiii hroiif.'lit, 



Life's gulilfu I'riiil is shed. 



—Longfellow. 



A Golden I'lioiisflit for us all is thus 

 shaped by Mr. Johnson : " History can be 

 formed from permanent monuments and 

 records ; but lives can only be written from 

 personal knowledge, wliicli is growing every 

 day less, and in a short time is lost forever." 



Xlie Bee ; its Life and Labors— was the 

 topic upon which Mr. G. R. Jones gave a 

 lecture on March 33, before the students of 

 McMaster College, Toronto, Out. The sub- 

 ject was amply illustrated by charts, and 

 the Olnbe says that " the lecturer showed 

 his enthusiasm in, and careful study of, the 

 subject discussed."' 



Scientific <(ne4'rn - Rearin;;. as 



practically applied ; being a metliod by 

 which the best of queen-bees are reared in 

 perfect accord with Nature's ways. This is 

 the title of a new book of nearly 300 pages 

 written by G. M. Doolittle, of Borodino, N. 

 Y., and is now being printed at this ollice. 

 It will be published and ready for delivery 

 by May 10, ISS'J, and will be sent postpaid 

 for one dollar. It will be printed in the 

 highest style of the art, and is nicely illus- 

 trated. 



In this book Mr. Doolittle details the re- 

 sults of his experiments in rearing queen- 

 bees for the past four or five years, and is 

 the first to present liis discoveries to the 

 world. It will be out in good time for every 

 progressive bee-keeper to test the various 

 discoveries which it details, during the jires- 

 ent season. Send all orders for the book to 

 this office. The usual discount to dealers 

 in lots of 10 or more copies. 



Hees and VesfetuWes.— The follow- 

 ing vegetables are valuable to apiarists, says 

 an e.xchange : 



Of the pea and bean family the Lima bean 

 is about the only one that attracts bees, 

 though it is claimed by some that the vari- 

 ous sorts of cow-peas (Uolichos) are honey- 

 yielding. 



The blossoms of the curcurbita tribe are 

 very rich in honey and pollen ; in other 

 words, cantaloupes, water-melons, cucum- 

 bers, squashes, and even pumpkins are use- 

 ful in more ways than one. The two former 

 may be cut in slices and exposed to the bees 

 during the dry month of August ; being 

 destitute of acids— unlike most fruits— they 

 furnish a most valuable substitute for the 

 nectar that is so scarce in the fields and 

 woods at that time of the year. 



Turnips allowed to run to seed are of the 

 highest value to the bee-keeper ; the variety 

 called "seven-top" is said toexcel all others 

 in that respect. The same is true of mus- 

 tard. Seed onions are very much relished 

 by bees, and colonies become quite heavy 

 from that source alone. The tassels of In- 

 dian corn also furnish a large quantity of 

 pollen. 



JExtracte«l Honey is coming into use 

 largely. It is most salable if it is put up in 

 glass jars and tin pails, the former being 

 preferable for small quantities, which may 

 hold from one up to ten pounds. These 

 should be carefully labeled and tightly 

 closed, says the Lewiston Journal, and 

 then adds the following : 



The proper marketing of honey is of the 

 utmost importance to th» producer, and if 

 good quality, and put up in such packages as 

 are most popular, will command the highest 

 price, and bo in constant demand. Its con- 

 sumption is rapidly on the increase at home, 

 while abroad an extensive market is being 

 opened up, of which California producers 

 are taking advantage by direct shipment. 

 Highest in quality and in price is the white 

 comb honey, which this year commands a 

 good price at wholesale, put up in one-pound 

 sections. These are just the size an indi- 

 vidual wishes to purchase to carry home for 

 his family as he returns from his business 

 occupation, and not only is of delicious 

 flavor, but It is pleasing and attractive to the 

 eye. The larger, old-fashioned boxes, con- 

 taining many combs, are rapidly going out 

 of demand, and soon will be difficult to 

 dispose of at any fair price. 



Paste for labels on tin pails may be 

 made thus : 



Make a thin solution of white glue, then 

 thicken it with wheat flour until it is about 

 the consistency of paste. This is to be made 

 the same as any other paste. Coverone side 

 of the label with the paste, then put on the 

 honey can or pail, and I think you will not 

 have any trouble about labels coming off. 



Paste made in this way will hold the labels 

 to the tin so well that they will not come 

 off. Just try it, if you want to make your 

 honey to be attractive, and to sell readily. 

 A nice label on a can of honey helps won- 

 derfully. 



XliiM <>i)'iiKib|,. I'siiii comes from a 

 farmer, and wa-i published in the Pacific 

 Rural Press, advising the date-palm culti- 

 vators to encourage the presence of honey- 

 bees to fertilize the " date " bloom, and thus, 

 cause it to bear fruit more abundantly. 

 Under the heading of " Bees and Fruit," h& 

 writes thus : 



EDiroiisoF THE RiiiAL PuKs.s :— In a re- 

 cent issue in an article on the date-palm of 

 Mr. VVoltskill's propagation, 1 note what is 

 said of the dilliculty of fertilizing the fruit 

 blossom. Allow lue to suggest an idea to- 

 this venerable hoi ticulturist, and others in- 

 terested in the cultivation of this valuable 

 food. I am of the opinion if a few colonies 

 ot bees were located in near proximity, say 

 a quarter or a half mile, there would be no 

 tailure on the part of the fruit to perfect 90 

 per cent, of the berries. The busy little bee 

 going from the male to the female plants 

 with Its basket of pollen, and rubbing about 

 in the flora of each, completes the work 

 which Nature for some reason has left to be 

 performed hy an outside agency. The 

 ' date • must be, I am quite sure, a honey- 

 producmg plant. 



Note tlie economy of the method I pro- 

 pose. While it eclipses in its completeness 

 the bungling manipulation of the human 

 species, it also harvests the nectar which 

 would otherwise be "wasted upon desert 

 air. The prejudice ot fruitmen is so strong 

 and deeply rooted that I fear my suggestions 

 will go unheeded. Often a bigoted people 

 in the present stage of progress and radical 

 change, lay a charge at the door of inno- 

 cence, and persecute even unto death. 



If the sins which are charged to the busy 

 bee were laid at the doors ot the guilty, our 

 friend might escape ; but the fact that it is 

 tound in bad company, condemns its ca.se 

 without further investigation. Kemove all 

 birds and other pests that i)rey upon your 

 fruits, and convert your orchards into an 

 apiary, and 1 will wager that you suffer no 

 loss. Our best authorities claim, and I 

 think correctly,that the bee never punctures 

 the fruit, but follows rapidly any other 

 agency which has commenced the work of 

 destruction, repairing the damage so far as 

 Its manipulations are concerned, by collect- 

 ing the nectar and sealing it in the tiny jars 

 tor the future use of his |)ersecutors, who, 

 in their blindness and ignorance, heap in- 

 dignities upon its defenseless head for these 

 good offices. 



As the Scotch poet says. " Man's inhu- 

 manity to man, makes countless thousands 

 mourn, ' so his inhuman treatment of his 

 benefactors in the brute and insect life, is 

 the cause of untold mourning. 



From •» Insect I.ile," sent out by 

 the Division ot Entomology, Washington, 

 D. C, we learn this : " At a meeting of the 

 Entomological Society of France, lately, 

 Mr. H. Lucas exhibited two specimens of 

 the common honey-bee, which were col- 

 lected near Bordeaux, and which were re- 

 markable from the fact that in one the 

 left eye is small, while the right eye, on the 

 contrary, is strongly developed, and even 

 extends beyond the medium part of the 

 front. With the other specimen the exact 

 contrary occurs, and it is the left eye which 

 is more developed than that of the right 

 side, which is plainly smaller. On account 

 of this extremely remarkable anomaly, it 

 could be said that these bees, from this 

 character, belong upon the one side to the 

 male sex, and upon the other to the 

 neuter." 



