THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Aptil 



cidental discouragement and neglect 

 which followed. In 1 893 the ' 'Golden 

 State " is accredited with having pro- 

 duced 7,000,000 pounds of hone}'. 



In 1893 Alderman & Roberts, of 

 West Florida, probably the most ex- 

 tensive honey producers in the state, 

 secured 90,000 pounds of honey from 

 their five apiaries. In '94 starvation 

 of the bees was averted only by 

 feeding, there being practically no 

 honey gathered. 



We have passed through the most 

 severe winter known in this part of 

 the country in over half a century , 

 and the Mangrove, the chief depend- 

 ence of the bee-keepers of the east 

 coast, was killed to the ground by the 

 extreme cold. Sixteen degrees above 

 zero was reached on Dec. 27-29, and 

 Feb. 7-8. 



Doolittle thinks that 2,400 eggs 

 per day would be a good maximum 

 average for any queen, but that a 

 prolific queen may be induced to la}^ 

 5,000 to 6,000 eggs daily. 



Christopher Grrimm, who has kept 

 not less than 250 colonies of bees at 

 any time in the past twenty years, 

 declares in the C. B. J., that "stim- 

 ulative feeding of bees in the spring 

 does more harm than good," and that 

 he has abandoned the practice. 



A correspondent, on page 51, re- 

 lies too confidently upon what he 

 terms "common sense."' Since the 

 foundation of the world, common 

 sense has never taught a man, woman 

 or child one primary principle of a 

 fact. It simply makes possible a con- 

 ception of facts, as revealed by hear- 

 say or experience. If a man had 

 lived from infancy in solitary con- 



finement, without fire, having no 

 knowledge of the outside world or the 

 things pertaining thereto, how could 

 he know that Canada thistles were 

 difficult to eradicate from the soil, or 

 that it would " hurt " to put his hand 

 in the fire? An opinion of the rela- 

 tive merits of the various races of 

 bees is more than liable to be erron- 

 eous if based on common sense with- 

 out experience. The insinuation that 

 queen-rearing is an outgrowth of idle 

 vanity, belittles a legitimate, honor- 

 able and 'digdified avocation con- 

 trolled by men of learning and intel- 

 ligence, whose scientific skill has 

 wrought improvements invaluable 

 and immortalized their names, men 

 to whom every progressive apiarist 

 owes an incomputable debt of grati- 

 tude. 



A Honey Exchange, similar to the 

 Fruit Exchange now in successful op- 

 eration in that state, is now contem- 

 plated by the California State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association. 



March 20th, 1895. 



THE RXJMSELLER KOLLS IN GOLD. 



Men stprve as they toil in the black coal- 

 mines, 



Girls freeze as they stitch in the cold ; 

 Bat in every land where the moonlight 

 shines, 



The rumseller rolls in gold. 

 The laborer laboreth all his youth 



For the poorhouse when he is old, 

 And many the farmer's toils and fears ; 



But the rumseller rolls in gold. 

 Jack drinks his wages and staggers away 



To his wife, the story is old, 

 You may read the police reports next day, 



While the rumseller rolls in gold. 

 In a coffin of pine lies the drunkard, dead, 



Under the pauper mold, 

 And his orphans beg their daily bread, 



While the rumseller rolls in gold. 



Mary Kyle Dallas. 

 From Demorest's Magazine for April. 



