212 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Marge, 



flange of the wheel, and several bones on the instep 

 broken. From the first, however, he has suffered 

 comparatively little pain from so severe an accident, 

 and the wound has healed so favorably, that no opera- 

 tion will be needed. A very heavy boot alone saved 

 his foot from bein<r crushed to a jelly.* The articles 

 from Mr. Lanirstroth's pen, written while conflned to 

 his bed, will be gratifying: to our readers, and we 

 cannot but esteem it providential that he was here 

 when my fjilher died, and able to prepare the obituary 

 which appears in this number. 



G. S. Wagner. 



To the Priencls of tlie American Bee Journal. 



It is hardly necessary to say, that the American 

 Bee Journal will not die with Mr. Wagner. He was 

 maturing a plan for illustrating it largely, so as to 

 place it in the very front rank of progress and im- 

 provement ; and was promising himself the pleasure 

 of relief from the mere drudgery of business details, 

 while he devoted himself more exclusively to his work 

 as editor. His journal will continue to be conducted 

 in the interest of no hive or clique, but will be the 

 same honest, intelligent and reliable publication that 

 it has been from the commencement, its pages open 

 to eveiy man who has any decent utterance for or 

 against any hive or any theory in bee-culture — such a 

 publication, in short, as the intelligent beekeepers of 

 America demand and will have. 



The readers of the American Bee Journal, who h«ve 

 60 often feasted on its treasures, and who feel how 

 much they are indebted to it for success in their favor- 

 ite pursuit, will doubtless be anxious to know how 

 they can best show their appreciation of the pre-emi- 

 nent services which the late Mr. Samuel Wagner has 

 rendered to the cause of bee-culture. Friends, rally 

 round tha Journal! Let all arrearages be promptly 

 paid up, and let every one try, with that hearty deter- 

 mination which commands success, as soon as possi- 

 ble to remit money for new subscribers. That you 

 may be the more zealous in so doing, bear in mind, 

 that for a considerable time Mr. Wagner published 

 this journal, not only without any remuneration for 

 his services as editor, but at a considerable pecuniary 

 loss. At last it has become more than self-support- 

 ing ; its list of subscribers has grown more rapidly 

 of late than ever before, and is one of the most perma- 

 nent of any periodical in the land. Not by pufHng and 

 other more questionable methods so widely practiced 

 by papers which have no real merit, but by honest, 

 persistent, intelligent ivork, he had reached a point, 

 where it seemed that his largest expectations would be 

 fully realized ; that the American Bee Journal would 



* Mr. Langstroth has for years when travelling pur- 

 chased tickets of the Railway Passengers Assurance 

 Company. He did so on this trip, which entitles him 

 to thirty dollars a week while he is laid aside from 

 attention to his business. 



not only do a great work for the beekeepers of this 

 land, but would afford him a support in his old age, 

 and be a valuable property to be bequeathed to his 

 family. 



I know too well the large number of generous men 

 who appreciate this journal, to doubt that they will 

 now come forward with new zeal, and will, both as a 

 duty and a labor of love, do all that needs to be done 

 to carry out hia plans, and thus continue to make 

 Samuel Wagner's American Bee Journal the highest 

 standard of authority in everything pertaining to 

 practical and scientific bee-culture. 



L. L. Langstkoth. 

 Washington, Feb. 23, 1873. 



Sugar Syrup Dysentery and the Hruschka. 



Novice's observations, shown to me by Mr. Wagner, 

 that bees when wintered on sugar syrup, in their first 

 flight do not discharge faeces like those fed on honey, 

 is entirely new to me. I have repeatedly wintered 

 stocks on sugar syrup, having in one very poor sea- 

 son fed it to nearly one hundred colonies, which, in 

 the month of September, had only a few weeks' sup- 

 ply of food on hand. If properly prepared and 

 seasonably fed, it seems to answer, to say the least, 

 as well as honey. Both Mr. Wagner and myself 

 have this winter had numerous letters, informing us 

 that the mortality among bees from dysentery has 

 been unusually severe. Several persons have attribu- 

 ted it to the large quantities of new cider stored up 

 by the bees. In many localities, large quantities of 

 very thin honey were gathered too late to be thickened 

 or sealed over by the bees. This thin honey in cold 

 weather soon becomes thinner still, and then by fer- 

 mentation sours, and is almost sure death to bees, 

 especially if they are entirely confined to their hives. 

 I believe that the Ilruschkawill probably aflord us an 

 effectual remedy against this cause of dysentery ; for 

 all this thin honey can be emptied, and if the bees have 

 not sufficient winter stores, it may be replaced with 

 sugar syrup. The thin honey may be reduced by 

 heat to a projier consistency, to be used as spring 

 food, or perhaps at once safely fed to the colonies 

 from which it was taken. There is often enough of 

 this late gathered honey to injure, if not entirely 

 destroy a colony wliich has enough winter food with- 

 out it. 



L. L. Langstkoth. 

 Note. — It seems to me that Mr. Gallup, or some 

 other correspondent of the Journal, has emptied the 

 thin honey to protect their bees from dysentery, but 

 I cannot refer at this time to their communication. 



We hope shortly to present to our readers 

 translations of some unedited letters of Huber, which 

 are full of interesting facts relating to the experi- 

 ments of that great apiarian. They will be accompa- 

 nied with notes by the Kev. L. L. Langstroth. 

 I 



