140 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



of the worker honey-bee for the 

 purpose of illustrating the above re- 

 marks. At the conclusion of his ob- 

 servations, he added : "Besides the 

 worker honey-bee, I have brought 

 for exhibition the drone and the 

 queen of the same species, and the 

 queen-cells; the queen oi Bombus 

 Virginicus, one of our native hum- 

 ble-bees ; the Melissodes binotata, 

 male and female ; the Melissodes pru- 

 inosa, both sexes ; the beautiful An- 

 thop}io7-a dispar, male and female 

 of Tunis, Africa ; and the celebrated 

 little stingless bee of Abyssinia, the 

 Trigona Beccai-ii, which lives in im- 

 mense colonies, and stores large 

 quantities of honey. The Anthophora 

 dispar has a very long proboscis. 

 The possession of such a proboscis 

 by our own bees would add millions 

 of dollars annually to the wealth of 

 the United States. 



CANADIAN DEPARTMENT. 



R. r. HOLTERMAN, EDITOR. 



We have to report a very heavy 

 loss ; at first one-third dead was sup- 

 posed to cover the gi'ound, but later 

 reports will probably bring it nearer 

 50 per cent. The losses may briefly 

 be accounted for, at least largely : 

 by the failure of the honey crop after 

 clover ; consequent cessation of breed- 

 ing and old bees ready for winter 

 quarters ; an unusual consumption of 

 stores in the fall, followed by a se- 

 vere winter. Men who stimulated 

 breeding until a proper season, fed 

 sufficient stores of the right kind and 

 at the proper time, and properly 

 packed their bees outside or had 

 them in good cellars, were generally 

 successful. Experienced beekeepers 

 have generally been successful as 

 they know and are careful about get- 

 ting the proper conditions for suc- 

 cessful wintering. 



Martin Emyh, of Holbrook, win- 



tered 178 out of 180 ; one winter he 

 lost none out of 150 and his success 

 is fully as great m summer manage- 

 ment. He doubtless could give much 

 information of value but we seldom 

 hear of him in public. 



Most parties report bees to have 

 died in March after the severest 

 weather had passed. Is this not ad- 

 ditional proof that loss was caused 

 by aged bees going into winter quar- 

 ters and becoming worn out, and in- 

 sufficiency of stores? One report 

 before me gives eleven starved out 

 of thirteen. Bees in some localities 

 are doing remarkably well this spring. 

 Fresh honey is being stored in abun- 

 dance, combs having honey from top 

 to bottom, and here we feel confident 

 some of our colonies, unless there is 

 a sudden change in the weather, will 

 require extracting before the end of 

 the week and the prospects are that 

 beekeepers will reap an abundant 

 harvest. 



Brantford, Ont. 



BOOK NOTICES AND 

 REVIEWS. 



— "Money in Potatoes" is the title 

 of a valuable and instructive little 

 manual published by the Franklin 

 News Co. of Phila., Pa., which they 

 kindly sent us for review. 



—Mr. A. I. Root of Medina, Ohio, 

 has also sent us a potato book en- 

 titled the A B C of Potato Culture, 

 written by T. B. Terry of Hudson, 

 Ohio, which is well illustrated and 

 printed in good clear type. 



Mr. Henry Alley, of Wenham, 

 Mass., has submitted for review, the 

 proof sheets of the latest edition of 

 the "Beekeeper's Handy Book." Our 

 reason for not waiting until the work 

 was complete was because it will 

 be placed on the market at about 

 the same time that our subscribers 

 receive their journal. 



