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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 27 , 1905 



An Appreciation from England 



The following editorial paragraphs, taken 

 from the British Bee Journal for June 22, and 

 which we are pleased to reproduce here, are 

 very appreciative of Mr. Frank Benton and 

 his long journey after bees and honey-plants 

 across the ocean : 



We have been favored with a call and a 

 pleasant interview with Mr. Frank Benton, 

 Apicultural Investigator, United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, who, in his official 

 capacity, has undertaken a journey extending 

 more than half around the world in search of 

 foreign bees and honey-producing plants. It 

 came as an agreeable change from our ordi- 

 nary editorial work to spend a few hours with 

 so fully-informed and widely-traveled a bee- 

 specialist as our visitor. Few men have had 

 such a long and varied practical experience 

 with foreign bees in their own habitats as Mr. 

 Benton, who seems eminently fitted for the 

 task entrusted to him. Fully impressed with 

 the importance of his mission, he was frank 

 and willing to a degree in conveying to us — 

 and through us to our readers — what his jour- 

 ney really meant, and this will be realized 

 when we say that, after a very few days' stay 

 in England, he goes through France, Ger- 

 many, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and to 



Turkey ; then leaves Constantinople for the 

 Caucasus, thence across the Caspian Sea and 

 by rail on to Bokhara, and, if possible, 

 through Afghanistan by caravan to Punjaub, 

 in India, and finally from Calcutta to the 

 Philippine Islands. 



The specific object of his errand is, among 

 other things, to obtain a good supply of Cau- 

 casian queens of a particular strain, which 

 has been tried in the experimental apiary of 

 the Government apiary at Washington by Mr. 

 Benton himself with gratifying results. He 

 also hopes to be able to do something towards 

 deciding the usefulness, or otherwise, of the 

 giant bees of India, Apis dorsata, and other 

 species of this genera, known as Megapis dor- 

 sata, M. zonata, etc. 



With all this before him, we heartily wish 

 for Mr. Benton's success, and if the desired 

 object is secured, as we trust it will be, British 

 bee-keepers will no doubt, in some degree at 

 least, benefit from his labors, because, should 

 the particular strain of Caucasian bees men- 

 tioned maintain the extremely docile and pro- 

 lific character of those already tried at Wash- 

 ington, we shall hope to see them introduced 

 into this country for the general good of the 

 craft. In any case, we shall hope to hear 

 from our good friend occasionally as time 

 passes, and that he may return safely from his 

 journey will be the wish of all readers along 

 with ourselves. 



/T 



K 



VTiiscMancons VUxvs 3tems 



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Crop Reports and Prospects. — The 



California National Honey-Producers' Asso- 

 ciation sent a notice to its members July 6, 

 signed by Secretary H. J. Mercer, from which 

 we take the following information as to crop 

 reports and prospects : 



Southern California will have about % of a 

 crop. 



Central California, " prospects are for a 

 fair crop." 



The Colorado crop will be about 60 percent 

 of a full crop. Worms are destroying honey- 

 plants. Eastern slope cold and windy. 



The Arizona honey crop to date is the light- 

 est in many years. 



In Texas a fair crop is expected. 



They estimate the crop for Southern Cali- 

 fornia to be 125 cars of 20 tons each. This 

 estimate is not a guess, but is based on reports 

 received and the number of cases and cans 

 sold. 



A Visit to Mr. E. J. Baxter.— The 



morning of the second day we were at the 

 Dadants', Mr. D. hitched up a good horse to 

 the carriage, and gave us an 11-mile ride 

 along the east shore of the Father of Waters. 

 It was a somewhat exciting drive, as nearly 

 all the bridges along the road had been washed 

 away during the recent unprecedented flood, 

 80 that we were compelled to ford streams 

 often up to the box of the carriage. In one 

 township 27 bridges were reported as having 

 been thus swept away. But much of the way 

 was very pleasant, as it was iu the shade, and 

 also early morning. 



About a mile north of Hamilton the sweet 

 clover is simply wonderful in its luxuriant 

 growth along the roadsides. Mr. Dadant 

 said it was right there where his father, some 

 40 years ago, first recognized melilot, or sweet 

 clover, in this country. He had been familiar 

 with it as a good hoaey-plant in his native 

 France. So he began at once to gather the 

 seed and scatter it until all over that region it 

 grows in rich abundance, and is a source of 

 much nectar for the bees. 



We arrived at Mr. Baxter's about U a.m. 

 He was just getting barrels ready for the first 



extracting of the season. Besides a home 

 apiary of about 100 colonies, he has several 

 out-apiaries, in all some 250 colonies of bees. 

 And he seldom has a failure in the honey 

 crop. Like his brother-in-law, Mr. Dadant, 

 Mr. Baxter believes in large hives, and runs 

 for extracted honey exclusively, following 

 the Dadant methods of management which 

 are invariably successful. 



Mr. Baxter has always made money at bee- 

 keeping, his annual honey crop running up 

 into the tons. He is a director in the State 

 Bank of Nauvoo, which is one of the most 

 prosperous institutions of the kind in all Illi- 

 nois. Its capital is $25,000, with a surplus 

 fund of $50,000. Its deposits of all kinds 

 amount to nearly half a million dollars. 



Nauvoo is a city of perhaps 2,000 popula- 

 tion. It was founded by the Mormons who 

 were compelled to leave it in 1847, going on 

 to Salt Lake Citv. A few of the small brick 

 houses built by the Mormons are still in use 

 at Nauvoo. Some of the larger buildings 

 were constructed out of the stone from 

 the Mormon Tabernacle, which was taken 

 down after they left Nauvoo. 



But to return to Mr. Baxter. He has two 

 sons and two daughters, the elder of the latter 

 being a musician. Both sons are at the State 

 University, as is also Maurice Dadant, men- 

 tioned last week. 



Like Mr. Dadant, Mr. Baxter is just com- 

 pleting a brick mansion. It is a result of his 

 bee-keeping — a substantial proof that he has 

 succeeded. It is located at the side of the 

 home apiary. (See first page) . The picture of 

 the apiary was taken before the house was 

 built. It would be utterly Impossible to get 

 a good picture of it now, as it is located under 

 so many large trees, some of which are bass- 

 woods. And how the bees were humming on 

 the just-opening blossoms I It seemed we 

 never saw much finer basswood trees than 

 those in Mr. Baxter's apiary. 



As the white clover had been yielding for a 



week or two, oh some hives there were 3 and 

 i 10-frame exlracting-supers. Each had 9 

 frames, so there would be thick combs, thus 

 requiring less work in uncapping. 



Mr. Baxter seldom has any swarms. This 

 condition would be expected as he uses hives 

 and methods similar to the Dadants, as before 

 mentioned. 



Mr. B. has been a reader of the American 

 Bee Journal for over 20 years. 



Both Mr. Baxter and the Dadants are large 

 growers of grapes, and have clearly proven 

 that grapes and bees may be kept within close 

 proximity to each other without one doing 

 damage to the other. The Dadants were in- 

 duced to plant grape-vines on a large scale in 

 order to convince their neighbors that bees 

 did not, and could not, damage sound grapes. 

 Mr. Baxter has one of the largest vineyards 

 in the country, and the Dadants have about 

 13 acres of vines, and grow as fine grapes as 

 anybody, in spite of near-by iapiaries. Nauvoo 

 is noted for its vineyards. 



Immediately after dinner Mr. Dadant drove 

 us around the city of Nauvoo, then we started 

 on the homeward trip by another route. The 

 day's 22-mile ride afforded a good chance to 

 visit with Mr. Dadant. And we improved the 

 time. 



We arrived just in time to partake of Mrs. 

 Dadant's splendid supper, after which it was 

 necessary for us to start for Keokuk to take 

 the train for Fort Madison, and then back to 

 Chicago again. It was a pleasant 2-day's 

 trip — one that we will not soon forget. 



The Apiary and Residence of W. D. 

 Soper, of Jackson Co., Mich., appear on 

 the front page. On July 3 there were 75 col- 

 onies of bees in the apiary, all booming, and 

 pait had 3 stories on, each 12 inches deep. It 

 is Mr. Soper's farm residence, as the large 

 grain-barn can be seen in the distance at the 

 right. It is located 4 miles north of Jackson, 

 on the Lansing road. Mr. Soper is also a 

 dealer in bee-supplies, and is a general all- 

 around hustler. We had the pleasure of meet- 

 ing him at the Michigan State Convention, 

 held at Grand Rapids, last February. 



Walter S. Hoss, a new queen advertiser, 

 located at Indianapolis, Ind., is sending out 

 some very fine Italian queens. We think a 

 trial order will convince any one that he has 

 nice bees. See his advertisement on another 

 page. 



Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Coveyou, of Em- 

 met Co., Mich., are rejoicing over the arrival 

 of a fine baby boy, born July 13. They intend 

 to make him the " Bee-King of the North." 

 We hope they will succeed in so doing. 



"Unite," Not "Winter" 



The word " winter " in first line of the last 

 paragraph of my article on pages 452 and 453 

 should be " unite." I was writing solely with 

 reference to the uniting of weak colonies in 

 spring, and not about wintering at all. 

 Whose was the mistake I am unable to say. 



The season here so far has been a fairly 

 good one for honey. The weather is very wet 

 at present. I have had but 4 swarms. Cause, 

 an abundance of storage-room in the shape of 

 drawn combs. Edwin Bbvins. 



Decatur Co., Iowa, July 3. 



