T74 



^M®' mmmmi^mm mui^ j@%smmmi^. 



m ME. 



Bees 'Working on Buckwheat 

 When in Bloom. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 673.— 1. Do bees injure buckwheat 

 when in bloom ? 2. If so, how ?— Sub. 



No. — M. Mahix. 



No. — G. L. Tinker. 



No. — H. D. Cutting. 



No.— C. C. Miller. 



No. — Will M. Barnum. 



No, sir. — Eugene Secok. 



No.— J. P. H. Brown. 



No. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



No ! No ! NO !— G. M. Doolittle. 



I think not. — R. L. Taylor. 



No. They {are a benefit to it. — A. B. 

 Mason. 



1. No. 2. How? Echo answers, 

 -Dadant & Son. 



'How? 



No, the bees were created for the purpose 

 of fertilizing plants. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Not at all, but they are a great help to it, 

 to make it produce abundantly. — C. H. 



DiBBERN. 



1. No, never. Bees are valuable to all 

 plants on which they work. — A. J. Cook. 



If encouraged, they might harvest the 

 crop and store it. I do not think that they 

 would injure it. They might grind it, and 

 make it into cakes, if allowed to take it as 

 a winter job. — J. M. SnucK. 



1. They do not; they perform a work of 

 value in all cases, in aiding cross-fertiliza- 

 tion. In fact, all bloom is aided, instead of 

 being impaired, by the visits of the bees. — 

 J. E. Pond. 



No. They do it good. Their visits the 

 more perfectly fertilize the blossoms, thus 

 causing more seed-wheat. Who is jealous, 

 envious and ignorant in your locality ( — 

 James Heddon. 



No. They are decidedly an advantage to 

 the seeding of the plants. When I was a 

 small boy, my father kept bees in box-hives 

 — lots of them — and every year he would 

 sow about one to three acres of buckwheat 

 for his bees, and to have buckwheat-cakes 

 for his family. Our buckwheat was as fine 

 as ever grew out of the ground. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



They not onlj' do not injure it, but they 

 are of great value in fertilizing it. It is a 

 false idea that bees injure any bloom. They 

 were created for the very purpose of ming 

 ling the pollen-masses, so as to make them 

 fertile. — The Editor. 



Never, in my experience. — Will M. 

 Barnum. 



I do not know anything about it. — H. D. 



Cutting. 



I never heard of such a thing. — Eugene 

 Secor. 



I do not know. Try it, and see. — J. M. 

 Hambaugh. 



I have never tried it, but I should not 

 think that it would.— J. P. H. Brown. 



Oh, dear ! there is so much that I do not 

 Tmow, and this is a part of it. — A. B. M.vsoN. 



I think not. For what do you want to 

 sow the sulphur on the buckwheat? — G. M. 

 Doolittle. 



I do not know. I do not use sulphur 

 much — and I do not want to go where they 

 do use it. — J. M. Shuck. 



I never tried the experiment, but I can 

 safely say, no. Bees care nothing for sul- 

 phur, as long as they are not subjected to 

 its fumes. — G. W. Demaree. 



I know nothing about it ; but, on general 

 principles, I should say emphatically, No. — 

 A. J. Cook. 



Buy a bushel of sulphur, and try it, if you 

 have nothing else to do. — Dadant & Son. 



I do not know. Who is envious, jealous 

 and malignant in your locality?— James 

 Heddon. 



I should think that they would fight the 

 man who put it on. Is the flour sown on the 

 bloom, to keep away the scratches, from 

 those who eat the cakes? — Mrs. L.Harrison. 



What a question ! If sulphur should be 

 found to act on bees, as "bug juice" does 

 on man, it may do so. — C. H. Dibbern. 



The man who could believe that bees in- 

 jure buckwheat when in bloom, might 

 easily believe that sulphur sown on buck- 

 wheat would make the bees fight. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



I do not see why it should, but as I have 

 never tried it, I do not know. I do know 

 that sulphur sprinkled in and around hives 

 does not cause fighting. — J. E. Pond. 



No. The fumes of burning sulphur are 

 disastrous to bees, but we never heard that 

 it caused them "to fight each other." As 

 a matter of fact, it takes the "fight " all out 

 of them, by destroying life itself. But why 

 should sulphur be " s»l07l on buck wheat?" — 

 The Editor. 



Effect of Sulphur on Buckwheat 

 Bloom. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 674.— Will sulphur sown on buck- 

 wheat when in bloom, cause the bees to flght 

 each other?— Vt. 



No. — M. Mahin. 



No.— C. C. Miller. 



I guess not. — R. L. T.vyloh. 



Convention Notices. 



tt^~ The annual meeting of the Vermont State 

 Bee-Keepera' Association will be held at Burlington, 

 Vt., on Jan. 22, 1890. J. H. Larrabee, Sec. 



IC^" The Northern Illinois Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion will hold its annual meeting in the Supervisors' 

 Room of the Court House, at Rockford. Ills., on 

 Dec. 17 and 18, 18»!). D. A. Fuller, Sec. 



tW The Cedar Valley Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will hold its ne.vt semi-annual meeting at the office 

 of Jerry Mosher, Waterloo, Iowa, on December 18 

 and 19. 1889. All interested in bees and honey are 

 cordially invited to be present. J. J. Owens. See. 



J3^ The 24th annual meeting of the Michigan 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, will be held at Lan- 

 sing. Mich., in the Capitol Building, on Dec. 2tl and 

 •J7, 1889. At that time nearly all railroads sell half 

 fare tickets; a few railroads charge one-and-one- 

 third fare for the round trip. Reduced hotel rates 

 will be given at the Hudson House. All are cordially 

 invited. H. D. Cutting, Sec. 



tW~ The bee-keepers of Huron and Tuscola Coun- 

 ties will hold a joint meeting on Dec. 16, 1889. in the 

 Union House, Concordia Hall, at Sebewaing, Huron 

 Co., Mich. All Interested are cordiallv invited to 

 attend, and make this, the Hrst meeting, a great 

 success. There will be topics of interest to all dis- 

 cussed. John G. Knuuingek, Cor. Sec. 



NEW THINGS. 



Hoiv they are Viewed by One of 

 the Bank and File. 



Written lor the American. Bee Journal 

 BY DR. C. C. MILLEK. 



I like to see the announcement of a 

 a new book written bj' a practical bei-- 

 keeper, no matter if the ideas con- 

 tained in it have been partly or wholly 

 given in print from the same pen in 

 the weekly or monthly page, still it is 

 pleasant to have those ideas collected 

 in book form, ready for easy reference. 

 So I looked eagerly for Doolittle's 

 book, and was not disappointed to find 

 that I was hardly willing to lay it down 

 before I had reached the end. Even 

 the old things in it were dressed up 

 in such pleasant shape, that they 

 seemed like new acquaintances, and 

 among the new things were some in- 

 tensely interesting. 



I think I will be doing a favor to 

 those who have not read the book to 

 urge their getting it. Even for the 

 amateur who never expects to go be- 

 yond his half dozen colonies, the book 

 has practical value, a,nd is not intended 

 merely for the professional queen- 

 breeder. 



Every bee-keeper should also add the 

 new Langstroth to his library. It has 

 on it the stamp of practicality, as one 

 might expect, coming from such expe- 

 rienced men as the Dadants. If this 

 looks like advertising, all I have to say 

 is, that it is gratuitous, and I think I 

 am doing my readers a favor, just as 

 I would to advise a friend, privately, 

 to do something that I believe would 

 benefit him. 



You are not likely to agree to evei'j'- 

 thing in these two books, but you will, 

 in the main, and even if you disagree 

 in toto, you might find benefit in know- 

 ing the thoughts and plans of good, 

 practical men. 



NEW BEE-PAPERS. 



I have just received notice of a new 

 paper to be started, having bee-keeping 

 as at least one of its principal provin- 

 ces. I alwajs rejoice to see the an- 

 nouncement of a new bee-book, but I 

 don't always rejoice at the announce- 

 ment of a new bee-paper. The book 

 is likely, no matter how poor it may 

 be, to make some addition to my stock 

 of knowledge, and even if it does not, 

 it can do no harm to my already ac- 

 quired possessions. On the other hand, 

 a new paper may do some harm to that 

 which I already have. 



I am pretty sure that the paper s al- 

 ready published are none too well sup- 



