THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WASHINGTON, OCTOBER, 18G8. 



dF" The American Bee Journal is now 

 published monthly, in the City of Washington, 

 (D. C.,) at $2 per annum in advance. Ail com- 

 munications should he addressed to the Editor, 

 at that place. 



The Fifteenth Annual General Convention 

 of German Bee-keepers was held in the city of 

 Darmstadt, on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of Septem- 

 her, Professor Leuckart, of Giessen, being the 

 President. As there was no meeting for several 

 years past, from political and other causes, the 

 attendance Avas doubtless unusually large on 

 this occasion. The topics for discussion were 

 to be announced in the Bienenzeitung for Aug- 

 ust, which, though now due, has not yet been 

 received. Reports of the proceedings of these 

 Conventions are not usually published very 

 promptly, and several months may elapse before 

 they reach us. 



Complaints are reaching us, from many quar- 

 ters, of the failure of the honey crop this season, 

 and some desponding bee-keepers seem to be so 

 discouraged by disappointment, as to be ready to 

 abandon bee-culture for something that '■'■promi- 

 ses to pay better /" But what is that some- 

 thing ? Is there any pursuit that is always 

 prosperous, or independent of times and sea- 

 sons ? Grain crops sometimes fail in extensive 

 districts from unpropitious weather, atmos- 

 pheric influences, or insect depredations. Shall 

 farmers therefore horrify each other with dole- 

 ful croakings, and cease to plow and sow ? 

 Fruit has failed, this year, even more generally 

 than honey. Shall horticulturists therefore, 

 dismayed thereby, cut down and burn their 

 trees, resolving to try their hands at something 

 that "will pay better 1 ' than raising apples, 

 peaches, or plums ? When farmers and fruit 

 growers set us such examples it will be early 

 enough for bee-heepers to think of following in 

 their wake. But until then let them hold on 

 pcrseveringly, trusting that the average of years 

 will show that bee-culture is as icmunerative 

 as any other ordinary business— not even tan- 

 ning excepted, though that is supposed to be the 

 surest " in the long run." 



The Yankees must stir up their bees, or they 

 will be left altogether in the rear, and have to 

 depend on treacle and tar and tallow as substi- 

 tutes for honey and wax. Only think 

 of it, at the "Great Fair of the New England 

 Society," held at New Haven early last month, 

 where the six eastern States were represented 

 and premiums Avere proposed for a greater va- 

 riety of products, Datural and artificial, than 

 could have been found in Noah's ark or Bar- 

 man's museum, there were exhibited only 

 " One sample of honey and Avax, and 

 Two boxes of honey ! I" 



The Committee on Honey reported that they 

 attended to the duties of their appointment, 

 (Avhich must have been onerous indeed,) and 

 "found but two samples on exhibition." They 

 aAvarded the first premium ($5) to Chauncey 

 Goodrich, of New Haven, and the second pre- 

 mium ($3) to Isaac Baldwin, of Morris, Con- 

 necticut. 



The Committee also reported that they "found 

 one sample of wax, but deemed it unworthy of 

 a premium." Surely the cordwainers ought to 

 have been permitted to come in here for sAveep- 

 stakes ! 



Perhaps the premiums offered were not suffi- 

 ciently tempting, or not of a kind to bring out 

 competitors. We suggest to the managers to 

 adopt a different plan for the future. Let them 

 abandon sordid money baits, and next year of- 

 fer a few full sets of the Bee Journal as pre- 

 miums, flanked by copies of Langstroth and 

 Quinby and the various Guides, Manuals, and 

 Text Books on bee-culture, with a lot of im- 

 proved movable comb hives, and half a dozen 

 honey-emptying machines in addition, to be 

 operated on the spot by their makers. There 

 would be good sound sense in this ; and if it fail 

 to excite emulation and bring out a show richly 

 worth looking at, Yankeedom must have lost 

 her enterprise and her apiarians their skill. 



Pure Fertilization. In the July number 

 of the Bienenzeitung, Mr. F. Pdnecke says: — 

 " The Kohler process, asAvell as those proposed 

 by others, can be made available on'y where 

 single and small hives are used ; but, not, or 

 with great difficulty, where bees are kept in 

 compound hives or large pavilions. Persever- 

 ing study has, however, enabled me to devise 

 a method applicable in any case, easily man- 

 eged, and sure in its results. I shall probably 

 make it known hereafter." 



