828 



XMS MMEE'RICMIf MM^ J@^mi€mL>. 



Xlie l^angiiase ol* Clover. 



Written for theAmerhMn Bee Journal 



BV EIGEXE SECOR. 



Tell me, little wiuged rover, 

 That art bappy in the clover, 

 Playing hide-and-seek all day, 

 While I mow and rake the hay — 

 Tell me, dainty, restless bee. 

 What j'ou in those flower-cups see, 

 As you roam the fields among, 

 (rleauing treasures with your tongue. 



Thus the sprightly miss replied. 

 As from flower to flower she hied : 



'■ Whenever I journey o'er field or glen, 



In search of the nectar in clover. 

 And peep in the red and white blossoms, 

 then 



I think of a maiden with lover. 

 The red are the blushes on modesty's cheek — 



Tho" white is the bride's favorite color — 

 So I a sip from the former do seek. 



But am wedded to white, tho' duUer." 



Further quoth her busy sister. 



That well had .spoke.or I had missed her: 



" This fact I obsen-e in my travels: 

 Xot the brightest are the sweetest, 

 Mot the largest are completest; 



The knowledge of worth unravels 



The mystery why we often 

 Pass the showj' gardens over. 

 Seeking modest, sweet white clover. 



Hidden in the meadow corners." 



Then up spoke a cousin we caUAmericaiia, 

 A bee "at home," North, or in Louisana : 



" But the red and the white with the blue 



sky above. 

 Make the colors which all Americans love ; 

 And the stars and the stripes iu triumph 



wave over 

 The land where we find nearly all kinds of 



clover." 



A queen bumble-bee came buzzing that way. 

 And this is what I heard her say : 



•■ Those distant relatives spoke quite well. 



But have not told it all ; 

 There's more in clover yet to tell. 



So I"ll some facts recall. 

 The threefold leaf suggests to me 



Its triune virtues rare ; 

 Where clover grows, the mighty three — 



Beef, milk and honey are. 

 And where this last, best gift is found. 



To bees and clover due. 

 What flocks are there ! What fruits abound ! 



What wealth the wide world through ! 

 The world itself, too, is a gem — 



It's always running ' over.' 

 With ' love ' and ' lover ' — sweetest words 



Because they're found in clovei:" 

 Forest City, Iowa. 



HISTORICAL. 



Some Facl§ About mailing Bees 

 27 Year§ Ago. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY C. J. ROBINSON. 



I submit a few historical notes re- 

 lating to the origin of shipping queens 

 per mail. In Dailanls' revision of 

 Langstroth's boolc, it is recorded (as 

 new matter) lliat Mr. Townley and 

 Mr. Alley were tlie first shippers. Such 

 record has no foundation in fact, and 



is erroneous, as I know from personal 

 knowledge. 



The Rev. L. L. Langstroth was the 

 first queen-breeder who shipped Ital- 

 ian queens by mail. The history of the 

 matter is : In 1860, L. L. Langstroth 

 & Son bred queens from the Italian 

 queens imported by S. B. Parsons. J. 

 P. Mahan bred from queens imported 

 by himself. His queens and those for 

 Mr. Parsons came into New York har- 

 bor on the same ship, and arrived in 

 September, 1859. Later, our lamented 

 Samuel Wagner and Richard Colvin 

 imported queens, from which Mr. 

 Colvin bred queens for sale. Still 

 later (in 1861) William Rose, of New 

 York, imported Italian bees. 



In the season of 1861 there was a 

 lively competition in the queen-trade. 

 All of the queen-breeders sent queens 

 by express. Mr. Langstroth bred or 

 furnished his queens in boxes or frames 

 5 or 6 inches square, and he sent 

 queens with a hundred or more work- 

 ers on one frame by express. Mr. 

 Mahan, who was joint owner with Mr. 

 Langstroth of the Langstroth patent, 

 used comb frames running from side 

 to side of Langstroth hives, instead of 

 running from end to end of the hive. 



In sending queens ordered, he placed 

 one of the comb frames, on which were 

 a queen and a few workers, in a box 

 suitable, as for a cage, and forwarded 

 all by express. 



I received queens from Mr. Mahan 

 by express, and one queen from Mr. 

 Langstroth. I was distant 20 miles 

 from the express office, and was both- 

 ered to get queens from the office when 

 they arrived. 



In the summer of 1863 (it may have 

 been in 1862) I was inspired with the 

 idea of shipping queens by mail. Then 

 I wrote to Mr. Langstroth, stating that 

 I conceived the idea of sending by mail 

 instead of express. He promptly an- 

 swered me, giving it as in his opinion 

 that the plan of mailing queens was 

 not practical. On reading his answer 

 I determined to experiment, and I got 

 a paper-box about the size of a Peet 

 cage, but thicker, put in one end a 

 piece of old comb with honey in it ; 

 fastened it with a needle and thread ; 

 punched holes in the box with an ilet 

 punch ; caught a common queen ; let 

 a few of her workers on to the honey 

 in the cage ; dropped in the queen and 

 closed the box ; wrapped paper around 

 the cage, making holes to correspond 

 with the air-liolesin the box ; addressed 

 the package to L. L. Langstrotli & Son, 

 Oxford, O., and put it in the mail- 

 pouch. 



A few days later, I received a letter 

 from Mr. Langstroth, informing me 

 that the bees came all right, and that 

 he began to believe that they might be 

 transported through the mail. He, at| 



the same time, sent me an Italian 

 queen in a very small cage — a pine 

 stick one inch square, corners dressed 

 off, and a |-inch hole bored in one 

 end about 2j inches deep, a bit of 

 honey (in comb) put in the bottom, 

 the queen and some six workers put in 

 the hole, wire-cloth nailed on the open 

 end, and a paper having on it my ad- 

 dress was glued on the stick. 



The package came all right in the 

 mail, but the bees were dead, and the 

 queen (a fine Italian) was just dying 

 when I received it. The cause of their 

 dying was because they were daubed 

 with honey. 



I reported the arrival of the bees 

 and his ill-success, whereupon he mailed 

 to me another queen. The cage was 

 like the first, only a little larger. Both 

 queens were fine, beautiful Italians, 

 and he sent them gratis. 



Such was the origin of mailing 

 queens. Messrs. Langstroth & Son at 

 once adopted the plan of sending out 

 queens to their patrons by mail, and 

 were the first to do so, and others fol- 

 lowed Mr. Langstroth's way of shipping. 



As for myself, I never sold a queen, 

 and do not make any claim other than 

 that of the original thought, and ex- 

 ecuted the plan, set the example first, 

 and then Mr. Langstroth put it into 

 practice. I wish to have given to Mr. 

 Langstroth that which is his due, and 

 I want what is due me. I know that 

 Mr. Langstroth has priorit}' over all 

 others in the business of sending out 

 to patrons Italians queens by mail 

 transit. I feel that it is unjust for 

 other parties to be credited with the 

 honor, and that, too, in his famed book. 



I am aware that I am looked upon 

 as being inimical to Father Lang- 

 stroth. Such has, I presume, been 

 prompted by reason of some of m}- 

 criticisms, but I want to do justice. He 

 was greatly benefited by my sugges- 

 tion and experiment, and he so ac- 

 knowledged at the time. At that peri- 

 od I was one of his few disciples. Mr. 

 Langstroth was being driven to the 

 wall during the period from 1860, and 

 later years. See his answer in June, 

 1861, which was published in the 

 Country Oentleman, and copied into 

 the AMfikiCAN Bee Journal, in the 

 June issue for 1861. I then esteemed 

 Mr. Langstroth about the same as do 

 his latter-day disciples. Herewith I 

 enclose for your perusal a leaf from 

 the Country Genlleman, on which is an 

 article I wrote. Wliat prompted me 

 to write it, was the circumstances of 

 the case. Mr. Langstroth is a very 

 modest man — a clever soul — not ac- 

 tively brilliant — his aspirations were 

 only for mutual good — he was no 

 financier, and he could not cope with 

 such brainy, active men as were his 

 opponents. I saw how it was in the 



