ntmm mmmRicRH bee jouRNat. 



387 



EDITOR. 



lioveliesf of lovely things are tliey, 

 On eaith that soonest pass away. 

 The rose that lives its little hour. 

 Is prized beyond the sculptured flower. 

 —Bi-yant. 



Qneen-Rearing in the North, diiring 

 May, was very nearly impossible. The cold 

 and wet weather kept the bees as prisoners. 

 One Queen-Breeder wrote us early in June 

 that he had fed nearly a ton of honey and a 

 lot of sugar to his bees, to keep them from 

 starving during that "cold spell." Those 

 who have ordered Queens in the North must 

 therefore exercise patience, for no one could 

 control the weather. We can furnish 

 Queens from the South at once, to those 

 who need them, at 81.00 for untested, and 

 S-2.00 for tested Italians. 



Another Queen-Breeder writes us that the 

 prospect for a good honey crop is nearly 

 ruined— that but little brood is in his hives, 

 and adds, " As the brood reaiwl between 

 May 20 and June 10 gives the bees which 

 gather our main honey crop (from bass- 

 wood i, honey from tliat source will be less 

 than usual." 



We reply, that as the cold weather re- 

 tarded not only the production of bees, but 

 also the flowers, it may be later, but will 

 not be as bad as our correspondent feared, 

 if the fine weather we now have continues 

 without much interruption. Everything has 

 grown luxuriantly, and we continue to look 

 on the bright side. 



Ity Our Cliikbins: List you will see 

 that, hereafter, we will club the book, 

 " Doolittle on Queen-Kearing '" with the 

 American Bee JorRNAL, for one year, 

 and send both by mail, postpaid, for $1.75. 

 The subscription to the Bee Jouknal may 

 commence at any time. 



-Ilore lieeiii Puisonea by rarlx 

 Green,— Mr. J. A. Pearce, Grand Kapids, 

 Mich., wrote thus to Prof. Cook on June 9. 

 The Professor replied to it, and then sent it 

 to us for publication : 



I have 58 colonies of bees. A neighbor of 

 mine sprayed his apple trees, when in full 

 bloom. My bees were working heavily on 

 them at the time. They are badly poisoned, 

 and are dying by wliolesale. It was over 

 two weeks ago, and the bees are still dying, 

 workers, drones, young bees, etc. I fear 

 the queens are gone, too. 1 am going to 

 make an examinatioa to-morrow. I tear 

 the worst, for they must have stored a good 

 deal of the poisoned stuff, and where the 

 end will be I know not. I had hoped for 

 good results, as my bees were very strong. 

 I put 5S colonies into the cellar and took .58 

 out. They were in there 149 days. But 

 alas, our prospects are now slim for a honey 

 crop. I write you this for the purpose of 

 seeing if anythmg can be done by the way 

 of Legislation, or in any other way, to stop 

 this worse than useless practice of spraying 

 trees while in bloom. 1 think you are the 

 right man, in the right place, to see to it. 



Prof. Cook wrote a " Caution " to the New 

 York Tribune last month, and we gave an 

 emphatic warning on page 355. The former 

 is as follows : 



Mr. John G. Smith, of Barry, Ills., reports 

 to the Amep.ican Bee Journal, that he 

 and his neighbors arc losing all their bees. 

 A neighbor with 100 acres of orchard 

 sprayed his trees, while in blossom, with 

 Paris green. Thus the bees are destroyed. 

 1 have always urged against spraj ing trees 

 before the blossoms fall. I know it is very 

 easy to poison bees with sweets to which 

 poison has been added. Bees are valuable 

 property, and to kill them as reported, is a 

 crime. Again, the bees are a great benefit 

 to the fruit— indeed, essential to a full crop. 



Once more : The codlin moth does not 

 lay eggs till the blossoms fall ; so it is not 

 wise to spray before this, even were there 

 no bees in question. Let papers that reach 

 farmers and fruit-urowers urge all never to 

 spray trees uptil the blossoms all fall off of 

 the latest blooming trees, like Northern Spy 

 and Jonathan. Let Legislatures make it a 

 serious offense to do this, and any offender 

 liable for all damages that may result from 

 the inexcusable practice. 



It is true that Prof. Cook has advised the 

 use of " Paris Green "' or " London Purple '' 

 —preferring the latter. But he was careful 

 to say that tlie time to apply it was 

 '* M'lien tlie apples are tlie aixe oV 

 !i>inall peas.*' Ue also gave this caution: 

 " If applied earlier, it may poison the bees, 

 and would do no good for a few days, until 

 the apple is formed ; and before that, it 

 may be all washed off by a heavy rain.'' 



In utter disregard of this, some farmers 

 are now spraying the trees while they are 

 in bloom, and poisoning the bees by thou- 

 sands. This is criminal, and should be 

 punished by law, if any persist in spraying 

 the trees until all liic blossoms have 

 tallen ! 



Prof. Cook should see to it that the Michi- 

 gan law-makers, many of whom are per- 

 sonally known to him, enact such a law, and 

 provide for its enforcement. 



Bee-keepers should warn their neighbors 

 not to use Paris Green on their trees until it 

 can be done with safety. 



Our exchanges and all local newspapers 

 will confer a favor by making a note of it, 

 and repeating the caution. 



The Stinelesw Heec of Central and 

 South America (Aphis mellphona) do not 

 amount to much, as honey-gatherers. They 

 are of small size, not much larger than the 

 common house-fly, and are marked some- 

 what like the yellow-jacket. Although 

 these bees are stingless, they are not without 

 some means of defense. With their sharp 

 mandibles they can bite in a manner '• more 





Stingless Queen, Drone and Worher. 



forcible than pleasant." These bees store 

 between one and two quarts of honey, in 

 combs constructed of wax, similar to that of 

 the common honey-bee, only the cells are 

 much larger. These bees seem to be very 

 numerous in certain localities. A traveler 

 in Mexico mentions, that he found upwards 

 of 100 swarms in a single day. He found 25 

 colonies in a wild fig tree.— Exchange. 



Public I^ectiires on Uees are being 

 given now in the East, by Mr. Aspinwall, 

 late editor of the Bee-Keepers' Magazine, 

 and in Canada by Mr. 6. B. Jones, of 

 Toronto. The CamidUin Bee Joiimul has 

 this to say about the latter : 



Mr. G. B. Jones, now of Toronto, who will 

 be remembered by many of our readers as 

 an enthusiastic apiarist at Brantford, is 

 again in the ranks of progressive apiculture, 

 and is doing important work in a new field. 

 During his late silence as an active bee- 

 keeper he has been making preparations to 

 bring before the public in a most attractive 

 manner the science and practice of modern 

 apiculture, and is meeting with great suc- 

 cess and encouragement in his efforts to in- 

 terest outsiders in the honey-bee. 



He has delivered five public lectures in 

 Toronto on "The honey-bee; its marvel- 

 ous anatomy ; its interesting life, and its 

 important work.' These lectures are illus- 

 trated by over thirty large colored charts 

 prepared by himself specially for the pur- 

 pose ; large enough to be seen in any hall. 

 A sequel lecture to the above has been de- 

 livered once, which explains to the public 

 all the practical management of bees in all 

 departments of our industry, and is illus 

 trated by a full line of supply samples. Its 

 title is ^' The Honey-Bee as a Man's Ser- 

 vant." 



The Toronto press has .spoken most highly 

 of these lectures, and of Mr. Jones as a pub- 

 lic speaker. All who have heard him, say 

 he has a most happy delivery, and that he 

 presents his subject in a manner which 

 holds completely the attention of his audi- 

 ence during the two hours which each lec- 

 ture occupies. His language is simple and 

 easy to follow, and the points of his dis- 

 course are presentsd so deliberately and im- 

 pressively that they are easily remembered. 

 Scientists, pliysicians, divines, teachers, 

 lawyers, business men and mechanics have 

 all heard these lectures, and have become 

 enthusiastic in their praise. 



The Firjil Worrt of the fifth line Of 

 the third paragraph in the last column, on 

 page 301, should be twenty instead of " two." 



