TTHilE MMERICHIM EEEB JOlSfRrfMlLr. 



275 



XH091AS G. NE^VMAi^, 



EDITOR. 



VoinV. May 4, 1889. No, 18. 



Slia«lo\»-s.— John Andrews, of Patten's 

 Mills, N. T., sends the following poetic 

 gem : 



When darkness spreads its shade around. 

 And Hope is shadowed by a fear, 

 And Fear sits trembling with a tear 

 Upon its cheek, is wan, and sear. 

 An anxious wish, or thought, or prayer, 

 Is breathed in silence everywhere. 



Xhe BritisK Bee Journal is to be 



reduced to one dollar a year, after July 1. It 

 will be mailed to America for $1.50 a year. 



fVe are Sorry to learn that Mrs. 

 Cowan, wife of the editor of the British 

 Bee Jomnal, is again very ill, at Lausanne, 

 Switzerland. 



In Smidi & Smitli's advertisement 

 in Nos. 14 and Ifi, the offer of smoothing 

 irons was incorrectly stated. Please read 

 the advertisement as corrected on page 285 

 of this issue. 



In Kentucky, Mr. J. T. Wilson 

 writes us that bees are doing finely. lie 

 says : " My nursery is in operation. Tlie 

 ground is covered with white clover. The 

 locusts will bloom heavily. The weather is 

 warm and dry."' 



A Cioocl llonry Season is univer- 

 versally expected as well as desired. As 

 hope is made up of both expectation and 

 desire— we may correctly announce it as 

 "tlieliope" of all bee-keepers, at the 

 pri sent time. 



In the Weste)"n Plowman for May, just 

 at hand, Mr. C. H. Dibbern expresses him- 

 self thus : 



As predicted last fall, bees have gener- 

 ally wintered well. The honey gathered 

 during the autumn was excellent for winter 

 stores, and the mild winter has dealt very 

 gently with the bees. I wintered all my 

 colonies (about 175) in the cellar, and I do 

 not think the loss will be over 2 percent. 

 They are still well iirovided with honey, 

 which will last till tliey can get plenty in 

 the fields. The clover has also wintered 

 exceptionally well, so that we may con- 

 fidently count on a good honey season. 



Further on he gives the following as his 

 opinion about the crop : 



The season seems to be much earlier than 

 last year, and although it is now but the 

 middle of March, spring seems to be here to 

 stay. Our bees are now all out of the cellar, 

 fully a month earlier than last year. All or 

 them have come nut alive, something that 

 has not happened for many years. Thev are 

 also in exceptionally good condition. From 

 what we can learn from the bee-papers, 

 bees, both in and out doors, have wintered 

 well. 



The conditions are all very favorable 

 toward a good honey crop, and bee-beepers 

 should leave no stone unturned to secure 

 their share when it comes. We cannot 

 secure a share of the crop if we are not 

 ready or the bees are not ready. We want 

 the best bees, best hives, and best systems 

 of management known to the most advanced 

 bee-keepers. Then we need not worry about 

 competition. What if some box-hive man 

 produces a few pounds of honey and sells 

 ft cheap, that will not put a low price on 

 our white sections filled with still whiter 

 honey. 



I commenced bee-keeping 23 years ago by 

 buying one colony in a Langstroth hive,aDd 

 have had bees ever since. Most of my bees 

 are descendants of that original colony. I 

 do not think that a year has passed that I 

 did not learn something valuable about 

 bees. I still find that there is a great deal 

 to learn. 



Mr. J. M. Hambaugh, of Spring, Ills., thus 

 wrote us on April 23, 1889 : 



I never saw brighter prospects for a honey 

 harvest, both as regards the clover crop and 

 condition of the bees numerically. I will be 

 putting on surplus arrangements in a few 

 days, for the hives, large Quinby (n hi 

 Dadant) and ten-frame Simplicity, are boil- 

 iiig over. 



■Winter Packing: should be removed 

 and not allowed to remain around the hives 

 In the summer. This is in answer to a ques- 

 tion coming from one of our subscribers in 

 Indiana. There are many reasons why it 

 should not " remain all summer." It will 

 keep the hives too cool, and retard brood- 

 rearing. It causes dampness, and is gen- 

 erally disagreeable both to the bees and to 

 the apiarist. 



Xlie Invention of what is known as 

 the "Good " candy was referred to on page 

 179. The British Bee Jmirrud stated that 

 it was the invention of Mr. Scholtz. We re- 

 quested Mr. I. R. Good to " tell us about " 

 it. He has not done so. Now Bro. T. W. 

 Cowan writes us from Switzerland about it, 

 and gives us the positive proof that it was 

 the invention of Mr. Scholtz. In his " Guide 

 Book," Mr. Cowan mentions it as Scholtz' 

 candy, and in Dadanfs Revised Langstroth, 

 on page 321, it is distinctly stated that both 

 are one and the same thing. So th.ere is 

 another laurel for our German brethren. 

 ' We are glad to make public these facts. 



I>avi4l Koss, of Esbon, Kans., wants 

 to know it we were aware that " Lizzie 

 Cotton" was a man. He sends us the 

 Amcricim Stockman where the statement 

 is made. Oli, yes, we have .published that 

 statement several times, and probably that 

 is where the Stockman got its intelligence 

 from. The gender would be no detriment, 

 if the actions were square and right. Of 

 course we do not approve of sailing under 

 false colors. Open, true, honest, square 

 and honorable work will pay every time. 



Mr. Ross adds this about his bees: "My 

 bees are doing nicely this spring. There is 

 capped drone-brood in many of the hives." 



Jiidg;e Ricliic's Address before 

 the Farmers' Institute at Bluffton, 0., was a 

 very fine effort. We give an extract from It 

 in this issue of the Bee Jouhnal. He is 

 an eminent lawyer, and has just taken his 

 seat on the Common Pleas Bench of that 

 District. He is also a practical bee-keeper, 

 having 30 or 40 colonies, which, however, are 

 more for pleasure than profit. His Italian 

 bees are very fine. The Judge will assist 

 the pursuit whenever it is in his power to 

 do so— and help to defend it against ignor- 

 ance and prejudice. 



ITonngf <lneens are important to every 

 colony of bees. In ordering Doolittle's new 

 book, Mr. J. D. Goodrich,of East Hard wick, 

 Vt., thus expresses himself on this subject : 

 "Please send me one of the books just as 

 early as possible, for I wish to try the 

 method this season. I believe in young and 

 good queens every time. In looking over 

 my bees, in the spring, I almost invariably 

 find that the best colonies have young 

 queens, and are the ones to winter the best." 



SM-arniin;; is Nature's provision for 

 the perpetuation of the race of bees. W. S. 

 Withey, of Millord, N. H., asks: "What 

 is the best way to keep bees from swarm- 

 ing ?" They cannot be kept from swarm- 

 ing as long as they feel crowded, and have 

 a desire to seek more room by emigrating 

 from the old hive. It can often be retarded, 

 however, by giving them more room— or the 

 colony can be divided, and thus accomplish 

 the same thing in another way, as if they 

 had swarmed. 



Catalosac!^ ^or 1889 are on our desk 

 from— 



A. G. Hill, Kendallville, Ind.— 33 pages- 

 Bee- Keepers' Supplies and Bees. 



J. L. Flint, Marion, Iowa— 1 page— Fowls. 



H. H. Brown, Light Street, Pa.— 30 pages 

 —Bees and Bee-Keepers' Supplies. 



Arbor Bays.- April 26 is Arbor day 

 for Minnesota ; April 24 is Arbor day for 

 North, and May 2 for South Dakota. These 

 days should be generally observed ; a day 

 cannot be devoted to a better service. 

 Villages, schools, neighborhhods and fami- 

 lies should unite in making Arbor days 

 memorable.— £xc/ian0e. 



