564 



XH® aBSERICSES; B.E]© JO^KHMH,. 



^■^^■^'■m»^*« 



Blackberry Ulossoms and Itees. 



From a thicket in the corner of a zig-zag- 

 fence, 

 Where the succulent pokebcrry stalks up- 

 rear, 

 With the sassafras and sumach in a wild growth 

 dense. 

 The blackberry blossoms through the brown 

 rails peer. 

 With dewdrops shining on their long, white 

 sprays, 

 Where the yellow bee buzzes and the redbird 

 flies. 

 They marvel at the world and its new-found 

 ways. 

 With innocent wonder in their wild, sweet 

 eyes. 

 Magnolias are white. 

 And roses are bright. 

 An many there Ijc that love them ; 

 But with dew-besprinkled faces 

 And wildwood gi-aees, 

 Oh, the blackberry blossoms are above 

 them. 



When the pine boughs are swinging in the soft 

 May breeze. 

 And honey-bees are boasting of their spring- 

 tide gain; 

 And the mockbird is singing out his happiest 

 glees, 

 To the cotton-tailed rabbit in the end of the 

 lane; 

 They lean their faces on the moss-grown rails 

 And listen to the melody the mock-bird 

 weaves ; 

 While the lizards go a-darting with their trem- 

 bling tails 

 Like slim, long shuttles through the last 

 year's leaves. 



Chrysanthemums are fair. 

 And orchids are rare, 

 And many there be that love them; 

 But with dew-besprinkled faces 

 And wildwood graces. 

 Oh, the blackberry blossoms are above 

 them. 



—Samuel Minturn Peek. 



Swarmins;.— A correspondent having 

 noticed query No. 6.50, on page 534, asking 

 ^vhat would be the ne.xt economic invention, 

 replies as follows: 



In answer to queries, I have it perfected 

 now. It is a "swarming attacliment," and 

 can be constructed and attached to any hive, 

 at a cost of from 35 to 50o. each. It not only 

 makes it absolutely impossible for a swarm 

 to abscond, but it will actually liive the 

 bees in a new or empty hive on any stand 

 the apiarist may desire, when there are no 

 obstructions between the two hives. Or it 

 will conduct the swarm to a convenient 

 place to hive them, settle them in the shade 

 and hold thim there until the apiarist can 

 hive them at his convenience. 



In answer to the .5th sub-ouestion, let me 

 say that I insist on having all the honor and 

 glory attached to being the inventor of the 

 first swarm-hiver and controller. 



I am perfectly willing that this self-hiver 

 shall be tested and used for a whole season 

 before 1 receive a single cent (or it; and I 

 am satisfied no apiarist will do without it 

 after trying it once. 



Now, I propose that the bee-keeping frater- 

 nity pledge me $1,000, due one year from 

 this date, providing my invention is a suc- 

 cess in the hands of a majority of the bee- 

 keepers. If it is not a success, I do not even 

 want a "Thank you, sir!" 



As soon as enough reliable bee-keepers 

 pledge $1, S5, $10, or S20 to raise the whole 

 amount to Sl.OOO, a description of it and 

 directions for using it will be furnished for 

 publication, and a complete attachment will 

 be furnished the editor, to have it engraved 

 and make it plain for everybody. It is just 

 the thing (or Sunday; you will find the new 

 swarms just where you leave them when 

 you get home from church; and in out 

 apiaries, there will be no more watching for 

 swarms. 



A '• Poiiud " to Imprison llees. 



—The New York Press of Aug. C, contained 

 a very amusing article on "Will they 

 Tag the Bees?" and putting them in the 

 " pound " for trespassing, by visiting the 

 fiowers in a neighbor's fields. It was sent to 

 us by Mr. J as. McNeill, Hudson, N. Y., and 

 will be read with great interest. It reads 

 thus: 



Will they Tag the Bees ? — The re- 

 cently-reported decision ot the General 

 Term of the Supreme Court in the central 

 part ot the State, declaring it trespa^s tor 

 honey-bees to go upon lands not belonging; 

 to their keeper, is enouiili to make the late 

 Mr. Canute, King of Britain, turn in his 

 grave with bones green with envy. 



Is each bee to have a little tag fastened 

 around its waist by a delicate little wire? or 

 are bee-collars of brass to be a staple article 

 of Central New York manufacture? And 

 will the statute gravely enact that " any bee 

 found roaming at large or caught trespass- 

 ing outside on the flowers of any person not 

 its owner, will be put in the pound until 

 redeemed by the payment of one dime?" 



In default of payment of the dime by the 

 owner, said owner being presumably notified 

 by the publication, through advertisement 

 in the local newspapers, of the number 

 found on the bee's tag or collar, the bee will 

 probably be put up at auction and sold to 

 the highest bidder. This will require the 

 creation of several local offices, and a bee- 

 pound will be a necessary annex to the office 

 of every country justice o( the peace. 



It is the solemn duty of the Press to pro- 

 test against this circumscription ot the liber- 

 ties of the bee. Had the bees of ancient 

 Greece been numbered, registered an<l tag- 

 ged, they would never have tried to suck 

 honey from Zeuxis' painted flowers or 

 alighted on the lips of Xenoplion. Had the 

 bees of Merrie England worn collars in the 

 days of Dr. Watts, they would never have 

 inspired that classical Ivric of our childhood, 

 "How doth the little busy bee," etc; for 

 the doctor would have seen that the bee was 

 a slave and a creature of circumstance, busy 

 only because it had to be, and he would 

 never have held it up for admiration as a 

 model being. The General Term ot the 

 Supreme Court should go to the bee, con- 

 sider her ways and be wise. 



The Press is right. The General Term of 

 the Supreme Court should learn wisdom 

 from the bees. When at home they defend 

 their domiciles, but when roaming around in 

 search for that which Nature has provided 

 for their sustenance, they are timid, and 

 never volunteer an attack. The Court mis- 

 judges them and condemns them without 

 evidence, except that which comes from 

 prejudice and malice. 



Tlie Erie County, New York, Bee- 

 Keepers' Society will hold a meeting on 

 September 5, during the first week of the 

 International Exposition. It will be a good 

 time (or all the bee-keepers o( that region in 

 the United States and Canada, to turn out 

 and see the exposition, and meet and get 

 acquainted with each other. Dr. A. B. 

 Mason is to judge the Honey and Apiarian 

 department. The cash premiums in the 

 Bee and Honey Department amount to 

 over 8400, besides medals and diplomas. 



Eating: Five Pounds of honey at 

 one sitting, is the sweet feat performed by a 

 man named Kirkland, of Florida. 



Xlie Golded-Rod in Maine.— Mr. 



L. F. Abbott, editor of the Lewiston, Maine, 

 Journal, writes about the season, the nation- 

 al flower, and the crop of honey in Maine, 

 in this language, to the Rural Home, tie 

 says: 



It is evident that while the bee-keeper 

 has had a fairly good season to build up his 

 apiary, the surplus crop of white honey will 

 be much less tiian the opening spring gave 

 hopes that it might be. 



In parts of the State the apiarist has a 

 reserve to fall back upon for a winter's sup- 

 ply for the bees. This is the golden-rod 

 yield— the national flower, by the way, let 

 us hope— which in this section is a bountiful 

 one. 



Already the beautiful golden corymbs of 

 the earlier blooming species are tempting 

 the bees to sip the nectar which this flower 

 so abundantly yields up to the last of Octo- 

 ber in some seasons. Golden-rod yields pol- 

 len abundantly as well as honey, and from 

 thiscircuiustauce and the pollen adhering to 

 bodies and legs of the bees when gathering 

 nectar from tne flowers of golden-rod, a yel- 

 low tinge is imparted to the combs (rom the 

 bees passing frequently over them. Golden- 

 rod honey is rather dark in color, an amber 

 hue, quite handsome when extracted and 

 put up in clear glass jars. 



The texture of well-ripened golden-rod 

 honey is not quite equal to clover, but 

 thicker than the average ot what is denom- 

 inated the yield from fruit bloom— the pro- 

 duct of orchards and gardens. 



Golden-rod honey soon granulates if ex- 

 posed to the air. For this reason, all uncap- 

 ped honey, whether in sections or brood- 

 trames, when removed from the hives, 

 should be extracted from the combs. When 

 capped in brood-frames and kept till the 

 following summer a large part will be found 

 to have become granulated. For this reason 

 it is best to dispose of golden-rod honey be- 

 fore it gets many moths old. 



The outlook, taking the country over, Is 

 far less than an average crop of honey. This 

 with other things will have an eifect upon 

 the market price. 



The market was never cleaned up better 

 of old stock than at the present time, and 

 the short supply last year improved the price 

 somewhat, and there is no reasou that the 

 price should be lowered. At any rate honey 

 producers should not be in a hurry about 

 making concessions to an empty market, un- 

 til the returns are all in and we know what 

 the crop is. 



Settling of Swarms, ete. — In a re- 

 cent number of the Prairie Farmer we Hud 

 the following paragraphs in regard to 

 swarming: 



All this fuss and feathers, rattling a dish- 

 pan and key, to settle bees, is of no use, un- 

 less it eases the teelings of the operator. 

 The Creator evidently intended bees for the 

 use of man, and implanted in them the in- 

 stinct of clustering near to the hive from 

 which they issued. I had a swarm remain 

 clustered over night during a cold rain. 

 This clustering gives the person an oppor- 

 tunity of putting them Into a hive, and keep- 

 ing tliem, aud it is the same in all parts of 

 the world. 



" When a swarm issues, does the queen 

 come out first?" I caught four out o( six 

 queens that issued one forenoon. Half of 

 tlie swarm, apparently, would be out before 

 the queen: in several instances she came 

 out so late that 1 had despaired of seeing 

 her. I am ot the opinion that the workers 

 rule the colony, and not the queen. If they 

 miss her, they return, as she is tlie mother- 

 bee, and when they swarm, they have not 

 the means to rear another. 



