THE AMERICAN RES JOURNAL. 



37 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WASHINGTON, AUGUST, 1868. 



The American Bee Journal is now 

 published monthly, in the City of Washington, 

 (D. C.,) at $3 per annum in advance. All com- 

 munications should be addressed to the Editor, 

 at that place. 



tW Desiring to have the Bee Journal is- 

 sued punctually on the first day of each month, 

 we would request that communications intended 

 lor its pages be forwarded so as to reach us on 

 or before the 15th day of the month in which 

 they are sent. 



taP" We desire to engage the services of well 

 qualified ag nts, to procure new subscribers to 

 the Bee Journal at the several County and 

 State agricultural fairs and exhibitions, the en- 

 suing fall. Liberal terms allowed to competent 

 and responsible canvassers. 



Pure Fertilization. 



We furnish our readers, in this number, with 

 a full account of the Kohler process for securing 

 the pure fertilization of Italian queen bees, 

 which cannot fail to be of interest to all bee- 

 keepers — though it is not, in fact, a new discov- 

 ery, but mere y a shrewd modification or adap- 

 tation of suggestions made by Dzierzon, when 

 first introducing Italian bees. 



Other bee-keepers in Europe, it will be seen, 

 claim to have employed similar methods simul- 

 taneously with Mr. Kohler. We have reason 

 to know that Mr. Grimm, of Jefferson, Wiscon- 

 sin, successfully employed substantially the 

 same method several years ago, when Italian- 

 izing his apiary ; and trust to be able to show 

 in our next number, that the same or similar 

 and equally efficient methods were devised and 

 employed in this country, without previous 

 knowledge of the Kohler process. 



We had an unexpected opportunity to test the 

 efficiency of the Eodelsperger bee-bob, men- 

 tioned in our June number. On the 4th of 

 July, a swarm of bees, desiring probably to de- 

 clare themselves independent of the mother 

 stock, issued in hot haste from one of our hives, 

 at a temperature of blood-heat in the shade, and 

 settled on the dead limb of an old locust tree, 

 fully fifty feet from the ground. As it was diffi- 

 cult and rather hazardous to climb the tree to 



dislodge them, and there was no ladder of suffi- 

 cient length at hand, it occurred to us to try the 

 new bee-bob. Hastily adjusting together, with 

 suitable interspaces, lour or five small frames 

 containing empty combs, we fastened them to 

 one end of a long light pole, and put the imple- 

 ment in the hands of an assistant, who ascended 

 the tree to a point from which he could reach 

 the cluster with it and place the bob directly 

 over it. A portion of the bees very soon took 

 possession of the combs. The bob was then 

 gently lowered and its contents shaken out in 

 front of a hive on a sheet spread on the ground. 

 Luckily the queen was among the bees brought 

 down at the first haul. She was at once seized 

 and caged, and planed at the entrance of the 

 hive designed for the reception of her and her 

 companions. The bees still on the tree soon 

 began to uncluster, took wing, and af er whirling 

 around erratically awhile in quest of their mis- 

 sing mistress, succeeded in finding her at the 

 entrance of the hive, of which they forthwith 

 took full possession. The queen, still caged, 

 was then placed among them, suspended be- 

 tween two of the frames, and liberated next 

 morning. 



The account of this invention, given in the 

 June number, should have been credited to the 

 u Bie?ienzeitung,' l) from which it was translated. 



The first number of a 'Guide to the Study 

 op Insects," by A. S. Packard, Jr , M. D., has 

 been issued from the press of the Essex Institute, 

 at Salem, Mass. This work is intended to be 

 not only a scientific, though popular, introduc- 

 tion to entomology, but also a treatise on insects 

 injurious or beneficial to crops, and will be illus- 

 trated by nearly five hundred engravings. Such 

 a Manual of American Entomology has long 

 been needed, as most of the foreign works acces- 

 sible, besides being costly, are deficient precisely 

 in that which the student needs, here. 



The importance of a familiar knowledge of 

 our insects, to farmers, fruit-growers, gardeners, 

 and others, is constantly becoming m<>re ap- 

 parent, and the intelligent among them will 

 hail with pleasure the appearance of the 

 " Guide." It will be published in eight or ten 

 parts, at fifty cents each. Part 3, to be issued in 

 August, will begin an account of the Uymenop- 

 tera (Bees, Wasps, Ichneumon Flies, Saw Flics, 

 &c ,) giving the distinguishing marks of the 

 group, its structure, and special explanations 

 of terms used in describing the various species, 

 with their geographical and geological distribu- 

 tion. 



