170 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



July 



TTie Doctor will celel)rate his 75th 

 birthday this month, and is the old- 

 est native of Washington county, 

 though still vigorous and as enthusi- 

 astic apiculturally as ever. 



We believe l>r. Blanton used to have 

 about 4(K) colonies, but of late years 

 has been somewhat below 200. How- 

 ever, he is again endeavoring to in- 

 eiease to the former number, and at 

 present has something like 23"i. though 

 he does nearly all the work himself. 

 The original forests which formerly 

 afforded a very profitable forage- 

 ground for the bees have, of course, 

 been largely cleared away to make 

 room for cotton fields, and the nectar- 

 secreting trees and plants are much 

 less abundant than in earlier days, 

 there as elseAvliere; though the cotton 

 bloom is itself a source of nectar sup- 

 ply. 



In early days Dr. Blanton was quite 

 a prolific writer on apiarian subjects, 

 and we are pleased to have called 

 forth fi'om his pen a series of lat'# ar- 

 ticles, which we are sure our readers 

 will find exceptionally instructive and 

 interesting, and Bee-Keeper readers 

 will doubtless share our pleasure in 

 learning of the excellent health and 

 apiarian success which our venerable 

 brother is permitted to enjoy in the 

 evening of his long and most exem- 

 plar}" life. 



On page 149 of The Bee-Keeper for 

 .June, reference was made to the plants 

 yellow jessamine and mountain laurel, 

 both of which are said to secrete a 

 poisonous nectar, and on page i:~>7 we 

 gave our readers a good illustration of 

 a dense growth of the former, which 

 Mr. Harris described interestingly. It 

 is rather a noteworthy incident that 

 there aijpeared simultaneously pic- 

 tures of both of these plants in the 

 .Tune nun])er of Art and Photography, 

 a photographic magazine of Atlanta, 

 Ga., and through the kindness of the 

 publishers we are this month enabled 

 to present them to Bee-Keeper read- 

 ers. As a matter of information, in 

 this connection, we quote the follow- 

 ing, Avritten by G. Small, in Austra- 

 lasian Bee-Keeper for April: "I see 

 by to-day's jiaper (March 24) That a 

 man named John Crotty. storekee])er 

 at Oparau. near Auckland, was pois- 

 oned through eating honey. This is 

 the second time that such a thing has 

 taken place near Auckland, and there 



is no doubt that it is through some 

 kind of flower from which the bees 

 gather the honey." This is from Xew^ 

 Zealand, and tends to corroborate the 

 tlieoi-y that the nectar secretion of cei'- 

 tain flowers is poisonous to human 

 beings. Such experiences are, how- 

 ever, very rare, and it is not likely 

 that a knowledge of the fact will 

 materially decrease the consumption 

 of honey. 



Some time ago Arthiu- C. Miller, in 

 Rocky Mountain Bee. .Journal, put 

 forth a nice argument in opposition to 

 the suggestion that Cuban honey 

 should be excluded from American 

 markets by a higher import duty. ^Mr. 

 Miller's plea was based upon the fact 

 that the greater part of Cuban honey 

 is produced by Americans in Cuba, 

 and his comments were actuated by a 

 keen conception of our moral obliga- 

 tions one to another, as a fraternity. 

 In a later number of the same jour- 

 nal. C. Stimson, without direct refer- 

 ence to Miller's expressed views, takes 

 occasion to confirm them, and says: 

 "I have no fears of pure honey from 

 Cuba or any other place, whether pro- 

 duced by Americans or aliens, injur- 

 ing our market. But bee-keepers 

 should fight adulterated honey unani- 

 mously, riu-e honey increases the 

 demand for honey, liecause honey is 

 far better and wholesome than adul- 

 terated sweets. Adulterated and imita- 

 tion honey decreases the demand, be- 

 cause people do not like it." Mr. Stim- 

 son evidently regards excessive pro- 

 fits exacted by dealers, and adultera- 

 tion, tbe most baneful elements to be 

 combated, and suggests local, state, 

 national, or even international organ- 

 ization of bee-keepere as a remedy 

 for the evils mentioned 



We recently published a communi- 

 cation from a New EnglanrV reader 

 Miio took occasion to proclaim to the 

 world our utter unfitness to conduct a 

 bee journal. It doubtless savors some- 

 what of immodesty for us to publisli 

 the good things which come occasion- 

 ally to encourage our efforts, and we 

 therefore seldom do so. However, as 

 an (>xample of the widely different 

 views of our readei's upon this point, 

 we Iteg to present in contrast with the 

 views of our New England friend (?), 

 as expressed on page 108 of The Bee- 

 Keeper for April, a few lines from a 



