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581 



THE GOL,DEIV-ROD. 



WritUn for the Youth's Companion 



BY MAHALA B. CHADDOCK. 



Yes, let our nation's emblem be 



The liowei- timt blooms from sea to sea, 



That tliiiRs bv every roadside free 



Its wealth of feathery gold ; 

 That decks the mountains in their pride 

 And wjives aionj? the prairies wide, 

 And smiles when frailer beauties hide 



From autumn's gathering eold. 



In fields where happy children meet 

 And hear tlie wild bees humming- sweet. 

 And t read the sward with nalied feet. 



Among the orchards fair ; 

 On banks where scarlet berries grow. 

 In (|uiet lanes where lovers go, 

 Bright l)ursts of yellow glory show— 



The Golden-rod is there. 



Where barrens burn, where torrents pour. 

 Where swells the bill, where sweeps the shore, 

 Where sparrows flit, where eagles soar. 



It shakes its conquering plume ; 

 In the old graveyards, briar-grown, 

 By cabined poverty, well-known, 

 Man's friend the Golden-rod alone 



Maintains its faithful bloom. 



And e>"es that weep the year's decay 

 Smile last to see that flower display 

 Its f iihid mantie o'er the gray, 



While 'neath October's sky ; 

 Its splendor that survives so well. 

 Flashing from every hill and deU, 

 Continuous like a sunset spell. 



Gilds summer's long good-bye. 



Symbol of loyal life, confessed 



By North and South, by East and West, 



Faith's bravest blossom blazons best 



The empire of the free. 

 And lirceze and sunshine, bee and bird. 

 Will join when patriots speak the word. 

 And say. " Our floral sign preferred. 



The Golden-rod shall be." 

 Vermont, Ills. 



EPLIES. 



The Exclusive Production of 

 Comb Honey. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 653. —If no more honey were to be 

 extracted, how much would the price of honey 

 in the comb be enhanced ?— New York. 



Not any. — H. D. Cutting. 



I do not know. — P. L. Viallon. 



Probably none at all. — C. C. Miller. 



None at all, I think. — R. L. Taylor. 



Not much, if any. — M. Mahin. 



Not one per cent., in my opinion. — 

 J. E. Pond. 



But verj- little, if an}-, in this 

 locality. — A. B. Mason. 



I doubt ver)- much if it would affect 

 the price one cent. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



Very little, I think. T doubt if they 

 compete much. — A. J. Cook. 



Too hard a question for me to an- 

 swer. — J. P. H. Brown. 



It would not be enhanced at all, but 

 would surely drop. It is a fortunate 

 thing for comb-honey producers that 

 so much of the honey crop is extracted, 



as it supplies different wants, and pre- 

 vents, to a great extent, an over-supply 

 of comb honey.— C. H. Dibbern. 



Not a particle. Some prefer comb, 

 and others the extracted.— Mrs. L. 

 Harrison. 



I do not think that it would better 

 the price more than one-third ; and 

 this would be more than depreciated 

 in the great howl which would go up 

 for "extracted honey." — Will M. 

 Barnum. 



It would advance in price, but the 

 supply would also offset the price.— G. 

 L. Tinker. 



The extractor has come to stay, so 

 that there is no need of that if. — G. M. 

 Doolittle. 



If the Emperor of Germany were to 

 buy all the mules in this country, how 

 much would horses be worth ?— J. M. 

 Shuck. 



I do not know. Extracted honey, 

 when well ripened, should bring the 

 same price that comb honey does. — 

 Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Can you guess ? Comb honey will 

 remain a fancy, while extracted will 

 become a staple article, within reach 

 of everybody, rich or poor. — Dadant 



&S0N. 



I think that it would be quite a little; 

 but no such condition of affairs will 

 ever take place. When you witness 

 the lethargy with which bee-keepers 

 support their Union, do not think for a 

 moment that they will ever agree upon 

 the kind of honey which all shall, or 

 shall not, produce. — James Heddon. 



If no more honey were extracted, 

 and no more were " strained," and no 

 '■ imitation honey " were put on the 

 market (imitation extracted I mean, 

 as I do not believe it possible to manu- 

 facture comb honey), I think that it 

 would enhance the price 25 per cent. 

 But that millennial time will never 

 come. There is no use to pray for it. 

 — Eugene Secor. 



Not a cent. Comb honey will always 

 be used as a luxury, and in no very 

 great quantity under any circum- 

 stances. The pure article, taken from 

 the comb by means of the honey ex- 

 tractor, is already a staple in my home 

 market, and may be made a staple 

 anywhere, if the right man has control 

 of its introduction. One of my custo- 

 mers, the other day, when laying in a 

 supply of the pure article at my honey 

 store-room, remarked that he would 

 " as lief have leather in his stomach, 

 as to have wax there." — G. W. De5I- 

 aree. 



It is impossible to ascertain — we 

 ma}' guess all we like. My "guess" 

 would be that the advance in price 

 would be exceedingly small, if any. — 

 The Editor. 



MAILING BEES. 



Sending; Bee§ by the Pound 

 Tlirougli the IMails. 



Written as a Private Letter to the Editor 



BV G. M. doolittle. 



Friend Newman : — You will doubt- 

 less remember that I spoke in my 

 book that it was my belief that the day 

 was not far distant when enough bees 

 would be sent in the mails with a 

 queen, so that they would build up 

 into a colony, if sent early iu the sea- 

 son. If you do not so remember, you 

 will find the item by turning to page 

 138 of "Scientific Queen-Rearing." 

 Well, when I wrote that, I hardly 

 thought that the " day " would come 

 so soon as the present ; but such is the 

 case, for to-day I am in receipt of one- 

 half pound of bees which came in the 

 mails, all alive but two, and as bright 

 and as lively as "crickets," although 

 through poor directions, they were 

 missent, going to New Jersey, thus 

 keeping them some four or five days 

 en route, instead of two, which would 

 be the reasonable time had they come 

 direct. 



Mr. E. L. Pratt, of Marlboro, Mass 

 was the sender, and is, as far as I 

 know, the first one to take advantage 

 of the suggestion which I made. 



The cage is three-cornered, or tri- 

 angular, iu shape, to give it strength, 

 and is llj inches long, each of the 

 three sides being 4 inches wide. One- 

 and-one-half inches of one end, is 

 partitioned off for candy, thus leaving 

 ten inches for the bees. Equi-distant 

 between the candy and the opposite 

 end ai'e two pieces of J-inch stuff, fitted 

 in nicely, to which the sides are nailed, 

 giving it strength enough to sustain all 

 the strain which could ever be brought 

 to bear upon it, thus overcoming any 

 danger of breakage which would let 

 the bees out. Through these parti- 

 tions are bored numerous three-eighths 

 holes, so that the bees can cling in 

 them and roam through the cage at 

 pleasure. On each of the three sides 

 are three l}-inch holes covered with 

 wire-cloth, which give ample ventila- 

 tion even in the hottest of weather, 

 while in a cold time the bees can all 

 cluster in the compartment next to the 

 candy, which will allow them to keep 

 warm during frosty nights. 



Mr. Pratt says that he considers the 

 cage ample for one pound of bees, and 

 from what I know of the matter, I 

 think that he is right. He writes that 

 if they come all right, he will petition 

 the Government to allow bees by the 



