b86 



Aug;. 9, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



in the form of honey that is "superior," is spill nails in the grass, and if they are small 



hardly warranted. 



Picking Up Spilled Nails 



Bee-keepers, perhaps more than others, 



nails they hardly pay for the trouble of get- 

 ting them out of the dirt and grass. J. A. 

 Green, in Gleanings, gives the bright sugges- 

 tion to pick them up with a magnet. That's 

 a " Green " idea in only one way. 



fe** 



Miscellaneous 

 flews -f ?ms 



Dr. E. F. Phillips, Acting in Charge of 

 Apiculture in the Department of Agriculture, 

 at Washington, called on us last week when 

 on his way back from California, where he 

 had been in the interest of apiarian work. In 

 a short time we will be able to announce a 

 bulletin on the diseases of bees, being the re- 

 sults of investigations and experiments con- 

 ducted by experts of the Department of Agri- 

 culture. It is a great pleasure to meet a man 

 like Dr. Phillips, who seems to know what he 

 is in this world for, and also why he is em- 

 ployed by the Government in the interest of 

 bee-keeping. He is both energetic and affable, 

 and will make friends wherever he goes. If 

 given the opportunity, he certainly will give 

 a goodftceount of himself in the line of work 

 he has undertaken, and deserves the hearty 

 support and encouragement of bee-keepers 

 everywhere. 



Messrs. Hildreth & Segelken, honey- 

 dealers in New York City, wrote us as follows 

 July 25: 



" As to the honey crop this season, the re- 

 ports we have received thus far are very con- 

 flicting. In some sections they are having 

 more than last year, and in others not 60 

 much. We refer principally to New York 

 State and Vermont. We should think that 

 the whole crop will be about the same as last 

 year. The Western States, we understand, 

 will have a very short crop, as well as Califor- 

 nia, and the prices on extracted honey have 

 already advanced quite a little." 



A Tripple Weddiug — Golden, China, 

 and Original— occurred July 15 in Grand 

 Island, Nebr. It was the celebration of the 

 golden wedding (50th) of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. 

 Stolley; their daughter, Mrs. Leonardt (her 

 20th) ; and another daughter's real wedding. 

 Mr. and Mrs. Stolley are old residents of 

 Grand Island, and have aided in the up-build- 

 ing and development of that locality from its 

 first settlement, having transformed out of a 

 wilderness one of the prettiest spots in central 

 Nebraska. Mrs. Leonardt lives in Texas, and 

 surprised her parents by arriving in time to 

 attend their golden wedding anniversary. 

 Miss Olga, another daughter of Wm. Stolley, 

 was married in the evening of the same day. 

 The local newspaper says it was the most en- 

 thusiastic celebration held for many a day — 

 one which will remain fresh in the memory 

 of all who were so fortunate as to be present. 

 As an evidence of the esteem in which Mr. 



and Mrs. Stolley are held, many letters and 

 telegrams of congratulations were received, 

 even a cablegram from Norway. Many beau- 

 tiful wedding gifts were displayed. Mr. Stol- 

 ley is one of the leading bee-keepers of Ne- 

 braska, and is well known to our older read- 

 ers. They were married 50 years ago at Dav- 

 enport, Iowa, and have had 10 children, all of 

 whom are living except one. We heartily 

 congratulate all three of the couples partici- 

 pating in the celebration. And may both Mr. 

 and Mrs. Stolley live yet many happy years, 

 and never grow old. 



The Apiary of J. Li. Patterson is 



shown on the first page this week. When 

 sending the picture, on April 25, 1906, Mr. P. 

 wrote as follows : 



I send a picture of 20 up-up-to-date 10- 

 frame hives and 1 "gum" hive. I have 

 already hived 5 swarms. One went off after 

 alighting on the top of a tree. A good deal 

 of my time is occupied with delivering mail. 

 If I had more time I could make a better 

 showing. I do all the bee-work myself. 



Vetch has been in bloom for the past 4 

 weeks, and the bees have plenty to work on. 

 The large tree and the 2 small ones back of 

 the hives shown in the picture are persimmon 

 trees. I planted the seed of the large tree, 

 and the small ones came up from 6elf-seeding. 

 They will be in bloom inside of 10 days. They 

 are the persimmons that grow outside of town 

 in the country, and are very sweet. The house 

 shown in the back of the picture is next door 

 to me. Our residence is in front, and is not 

 shown. 



The gum-hive colony has 11 combs in it. A 

 swarm settled in a street-car 3 miles away 

 from Augusta. It came in on the car and 

 6cared several passengers, the conductor and 

 motorman from the car, and then swarmed on 

 top of a high monument in Augusta. It 

 came down later and was caught by the next- 

 door neighbor who sold the bees to me for 75 

 cents. This colony has given me from 12 to 

 IS swarms. It turns out 8 swarms every 

 spring. A majority of them produce a good 

 deal of honey. 



The bees were hard at work on vetch when 

 this picture was taken. There is over 1000 

 acres of it within a nidi us of 2 miles of my 

 bees, and it is in bloom now. 



J. L. Patterson. 



On May 7, 1906, Mr. Patterson wrote us as 

 follows : 



The bees are at their best, having stopped 

 swarming. The different bee-keepers around 

 here have taken oil sealed honey already. 

 Most of my hives have on 2 supers, each con- 

 taining 27 pounds. The bees have been build- 

 ing comb for the past 2 weeks. One of my 

 colonies now has 54 puiinds already sealed. 



This year's vetch crop is the best in 12 



years. On account of that all the bee-keep- 

 ers in the South, where they have vetch, 

 ought not to complain about not having any 

 honey this year. Those who don't get honey 

 are lazy bee-keepers that don't look after 

 their bees. The trouble is they don't take 

 enough interest in them, nor do they read the 

 American Bee Journal. If they followed its 

 teachings they would have success. I think 

 it is a great bee-paper. J. L. Patterson. 



On July 2, 1906, we received the following 

 from Mr. Patterson : 



From the first hive on the top row 1 have 

 taken 73 pounds of the finest honey I ever 

 ate. I get 12}^ cents a pound f8r it. I will 

 get later, when I take off honey again, 127 

 pounds all together from this same colony. 

 Every one to whom I have sold honey say 

 that my bees produce the best honey they 

 have ever eaten. I helped 2 other bee-keepers 

 take off their honey, and it is not as good as 

 mine. Probably the American Bee Journal 

 helps me produce better honey. The Jour- 

 nal is the only friend that I have had since I 

 started keepirg bees. J. L. Patterson. 



We should be pleased to learn more about 

 vetch as a honey-plant. It would be inter- 

 esting to know how far north it will grow 

 successfully and produce honey. 



While we appreciate very greatly the high 

 estimate Mr. Patterson puts on the American 

 Bee Journal as an aid to bee-keeping, of 

 course all will understand that reading the 

 Journal alone would not produce any honey. 

 Undoubtedly, however, it is a great help to 

 those who will read the experiences of others 

 that are published from time to time, and also 

 the explicit directions that are often given for 

 almost every detail in the management of 

 bees. Every bee-keeper who would succeed 

 should have one or more of the standard bee- 

 books in addition to the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, as there are many fundamental princi- 

 ples and facts that can not be re-stated in 

 every issue of the Journal. It pays to invest 

 in information concerning any line of work 

 in which any one expects to succeed. In 

 other words, it does not pay to " go it blind " 

 in anything. The greater the familiarity 

 with the experiences of others who have suc- 

 ceeded with bees, the less the need of spend- 

 ing time in experiments that will be ulti- 

 mately unsuccessful. The most rapid success 

 in any business is attained by knowing the 

 pitfalls into which others have stepped, and 

 thus being able to avoid similar failures and 

 mistakes. The American Bee Journal, in con- 

 nection with one of the best bee-books, will 

 help greatly in revealing the shortest route to 

 success with bees, we believe. 



The Golden "Weddingjof Mr. and Mrs. 

 E. France, of Platteville, Wis., was celebrated 

 on July 23, 1906. They were early settlers in 

 that part of Wisconsin, having to go over 200 

 miles by stage to reach their new home. They 

 came from New York State. In the spring of 

 1S62, Mr. France, with his only child, N. E. 

 France, located in Platteville. An interest- 

 ing account of the golden wedding celebra- 

 tion appears in the Platteville Journal for 

 July 25. Although past 82 years, Mr. France 

 is still interested in fruit and bees. Alton 

 Finney was the only person, aside from Mr. 

 and Mrs. France, who attended both wed- 

 dings. Valuable presents were received by 

 Mr. and Mrs. France. We wish to add our 

 congratulations to those of others, and trust 

 that Mr. and Mrs. France may enjoy yet many 

 years of wedded bliss. 



