THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



137 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WASHINGTON, JANUARY, 1869. 



U^~The American Bee Journal is now 

 published monthly, in the City of Washington, 

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

 munications should be addressed to the Editor, 

 at that place. 



A Re-Correction 1 



We refer our readers, and particularly those 

 immediately interested, to an article in this 

 number of the Journal, under the caption of 

 "Facts," respecting the decision of the Circuit 

 Court for the Northern District of New York, 

 in the case of Otis vs. Austin, in which it was 

 "adjudged and decreed" that the Kidder hive is 

 an infringement of the Langstroth patent. It 

 thus appears that the "correction," made in our 

 last issue, of an editorial article in the November 

 number, was itself a mistake; and that our pre- 

 vious impression of the matter was not "erro- 

 neous." In justice to all parties we may state, 

 that our information was derived from a gen- 

 tlemen in no wise interested, pro or con, who 

 acted at our instance and solely with a view to 

 oblige us; but whose examination of the rec. 

 ords, it seems, did not extend sufficiently far 

 to reach the final action of the Court in the 

 premises— though he supposed he had got to 

 that point; and under the circumstances, almost 

 any one might have been so misled. 



In an address before the Silesian General 

 Apiaran Association, at Breslau, Mr. Kunze 

 cautions bee-keepers against emptying quite re- 

 cently slored honey by means of the machine, 

 but does not state why it should not be done. 

 Other speakers said it could be done with advan- 

 tage, while the editor of " Honigbiene" remarks 

 that late observations communicated to him ap- 

 pear to show that such seemingly unripe honey 

 "will not keep well." A worthy old lady told 

 us, several years ago, that in her family of seven 

 children "preserves and honey never keep well !" 

 Perhaps the adverse observations communicated 

 to the editor were based on similar experience. 

 Certainly the results of the experiments men- 

 tioned by Novice in the Bee Journal for 

 December, 1868, show no necessity for delay 

 in emptying the combs. No doubt this matter 

 will be fully tested next season. 



We have received Part IV of the "Guide to 

 the Study op Insects," which, like its precur- 

 sors, is filled with interesting and instructive 

 matter, richly illustrated. Part III contained 

 accounts of the hymenoptera (bees, wasps, &c ,) 

 and three full page illustrations and numerous 

 wood-cuts. Part V will likewise contain two 

 full page illustrations, with many wood-cuts in 

 the text, and if it can be prepared in time, a 

 steel-plate illustrating the transformations of 

 moths, mostly not before figured. In the pages 

 of this serial the structure and habits of the 

 honey-bee, clothes-moth, wheat-midge, hessian- 

 fly, weeYil, grass-hopper, house-fly, dragon-fly, 

 &c, &c, are figured and described in popular 

 language, so that all who choose may acquire 

 a full knowledge of our common insects, 

 whether beneficial or injurious. 



Another Honey Plant. 



A short time ago Dr. Devron, of New Orleans, 

 sent us some dried specimens of a "new black- 

 bee plant," which Prof. Porter, of La Fayette 

 College, Pa., identified as Ly thrum alatum, 

 Pursh, "a native of the United States, growing 

 west and south." It is a species of Loosestrife 

 whioh Ave have nowhere seen enumerated among 

 honey-yielding plants. Dr. Devron writes, "it 

 is a native perennial plant, which I have allowed 

 to grow in my garden for the last two years, 

 though very common in our vacant lots and 

 fields. It is a honey-plant— for bees cover it 

 from morn to night, carrying from it no pollen. 

 A strange peculiarity about it is, that it is visited 

 ly almost all the honey loving insects, even to 

 the house-fly, but never by an Italian bee or a 

 hybrid of the same, though growing in front of 

 hives containing this variety of the bee." 



It is well-known that the Italian bee visits 

 many plants and flowers not frequented by the 

 common bee; and it was supposed to be, in that 

 respect, peculiarly privileged, as enjoying supe- 

 rior advantages in having a wider range of re- 

 sources at command. Here, however, the case 

 is bravely altered and this is the first instance 

 that we know of where the Italians avoid a plant 

 visited by common bees. Is it from mere 

 indifference or from positive repugnance ? And 

 are there any or many more cases of such 

 avoidance ? 



Maj. Von Hruschka.the inventor and introducer 

 of the honey-emptying machine, announces 

 important improvements in the use of that im- 

 plement which he will shortly communicate to 

 the public. 



