THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



1. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WASHINGTON, JULY, 18G7. 



III^~ The Amekican Bee Journal is now 

 published montlily, in the City of Washington, 

 (D. C.,) at $2 per annum. All connnunications 

 should be addressed to the Editor, at tliat place. 



The third volume of the American Bee 

 Journal, of which this is tlie first number, we 

 are gratified to believe, commences under more 

 favorable auspices than either of its predeces- 

 sors. There have been considerable accessions 

 to our subscription list within the last two weeks, 

 and a warm interest manifested for the success 

 and permanent establishment of the paper. This 

 is encouraging, and shall be met by correspond- 

 ing efforts on our part. We have arranged to 

 receive an additional number of foreign period- 

 icals and publications, and shall thus have in- 

 creased facilities for furnishing our readers with 

 early information of whatever improvements or 

 advances in practical bee culture are made 

 abroad. 



In an essay on '■^ American FruW'' by Dr. 

 Porsch, General Secretary of the Horticultural 

 Society of Bavaria, published in the Frauen- 

 dorfer Blatter in June, 1848, it is alleged that 

 " the first hive of honey bees that was carried 

 to North America, came from Germany." The 

 authority on which tliis statement was made, is 

 not given ; but we shall endeavor to ascertain it. 



Melilot Clover. 

 This plant is strongly recommended for b<?e 

 pasturage, in this number of the Bee Journal, 

 by one of our correspondents ; and the last 

 number received of the Bienenzeitung contains 

 a communication from Mr. F. Bahr, of Saxouy, 

 which gives it a high character, both as a ho- 

 ney-yielding and a forage plant. If it combines 

 the two qualities it may receive favorable atten- 

 tion in this country from farmers residing where 

 soil and climate are suited to its growth. It is 

 not to be expected that any crop will be exten- 

 sively cultivated here merely for bee-feeding 

 purposes. In good soils, some substitute for 

 red clover is needed, which, in addition to the 

 nutritious and ameliorating properties of that 

 crop, shall furnish supplies of honey available 

 to the bee, and offer besides some special ad- 

 vantages which may cause it to be selected in 

 preference. In some localities Alsike or Savc- 

 dish clover, it is thought, will be found to an- 

 swer this purpose. In others, perhaps, Melilot 



clover may prove available. In poorer lands 

 and sandy districts, moreover, some plant is re- 

 quired which shall there supply the means of 

 improving the soil, furnish forage for stock, and 

 yield honey for the bees. In such districts in 

 Germany, a plant called Serradella (Orni/h"pus 

 sativa) has been introduced from Spain, and is 

 successfully cultivated. There is much thin 

 and sandy land in thiscountrj^ especially along 

 the seaboard of the Southern States, where this 

 plant might prove to be, in all respects, a high- 

 ly valuable acquisition. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



Bees, and Allen's New Patent Hive. 



This is an age of utility and improvement, 

 especially in material things. Contrasting the 

 state of the world fifty years ago, with its pres- 

 ent advanced position, we are struck by its 

 rapid progress in the useful arts. Inventions of 

 all kinds in every department of labor, inven- 

 tions many of which greatly facilitate work 

 and shorten the time of its perlormance, are 

 the order of the day, and all the various branches 

 of industry are constantly receiving new im- 

 petus and fresh acquisitions from increased me- 

 chanical skill. This is as it should be. Progress 

 is a necessity of our nature, a requirement of 

 our condition, by which our energies find t m- 

 ployment and our wants are supplied ; and he 

 who tlius tries and succeeds, is a public bene- 

 factor. The man who causes two spears of 

 grass to spring up where but one grew before, 

 or saves lime and hand work in the perlorm- 

 ance of labor, or increases usetul productions 

 of any kind, deservas the gratitude and thanks 

 of his fellows. But if any such improvement 

 is deserving of credit and reward, much more 

 is that which is the best of its kind, which is 

 not only an advantage to the world, but the 

 greatest benefit of whioh the subject is suscep- 

 tible or at least has hitherto received. These 

 thoughts were forcibly suggested the other day 

 by an examination of Mr. T. R Allen's model 

 for a new hive, truly called " The Home." 



The cultivation and improvement of bees 

 with reference to the production of honej', is 

 an old and honorable occupation which has 

 done much to sweeten the acidity of life. 

 Honey has always been taken as the tj-pe of 

 sweetness for the taste, and has even been sup- 

 posed to clear the intellect. "Butter and honey 

 sha'l he eat that he maj'' know how to refuse 

 the evil and choose the good." It is said of 

 Sophocles, a Greek writer of great sweetness, 

 that the bees settled on his lips in the cradle. 

 Virgil devoted a whole book of the Georgics to 

 an accurate and minute description of bees, 

 their habits and right mauag<meut as practiced 

 in his time, showing that tlie ancieuis highly 

 appreciaied the importance of this httie insect 

 in contributing to their wants and i njoymcnts. 

 And the moderns have improved in this case, 

 as in almost all others, upon the old models, 

 having studied the bee with close inspection 



