IMity on Honey.— The duty on honey 

 imported into Belgium is about $1.25 

 per 100 lbs. In Germany it is about 

 $1.00 per 100 lbs. In France such a 

 duty has been advocated, but Mons. 

 Harriet, editor of L'Apiculteur has taken 

 a strong position against it. lie says 

 that such a duty would have a tendency 

 to retard its use ; that such should uot 

 be countenanced at all. If it was pro- 

 tected by a duty, its home price would 

 be increased, and that would drive it 

 out of the markets, discourage bee- 

 keeping and destroy a source of capital. 



Albinos.— Mr. L. A. Lowmaster, of 

 Belle Vernon, O., sent us a specimen 

 of his Albino bees, but they were so 

 much broken up (being enclosed in a 

 letter) that we cannot describe them. 

 Mr. L. describes them thus : " their 

 heads in color approach nearer a purple 

 than that of the Italian ; beginning at 

 the waist, they have first three distinct 

 yellow bands, then three distinct white 

 bands ; the white is pure — not muddy 

 or dirty; the wings are finer and of a 

 brighter color than those of the Italian. 

 I have found them to be better honey 

 gatherers and more gentle than any 

 other race of bee I have ever possessed. 

 The queens are very prolific." 



iglT Clouet and Bitter, professors of 

 chemistry, working separately, have 

 each discovered that all commercial 

 grape sugar contains arsenic in small 

 quantities. The source of the arsenic 

 is the sulphuric acid employed in its 

 manufacture. 



Catalogues. — We have received new 

 catalogues of apiarian supplies from 

 the following : J. Oatman & Sons, 

 Dundee, 111.; Oldham & McBeth, Keyn- 

 oldsburg, O.; J. H, Thornburg, Win- 

 chester, Ind.; J. M. Brooks & Bro., 

 Columbus, Ind. 



i§^ A letter from Herr Karl Gatter, 

 of Vienna, Austria, remarks that it 

 has been very cold there, this winter, 

 for bees, and that mice have been ex- 

 ceedingly troublesome to the apiarists. 



lH° By the Anglo-American Times of 

 London, dated Jan. 30, 18S0, we learn 

 of an accident to Mr. W. M. Iloge's 

 little boy. While Dr. Deems, pastor of 

 the " Church of the Strangers, of New 

 York," was in conversation with Mrs. 

 Hoge, they heard a scream. The Doc- 

 tor ran through the hall, down the 

 stairs, and made his way to the kitchen 

 where he found Mr. Iloge's little three- 

 year old boy who had been left alone 

 for a moment by his nurse enveloped 

 in flames. Stripping off his coat with 

 great presence of mind the Doctor 

 wrapped it around the little fellow and 

 thus smothered the flame and saved the 

 child. Dr. Deems said he knew very 

 well his letter of credit and excursion 

 tickets to and from the first cataract 

 were in the iiiside pocket of his coat, 

 but he never faltered a moment on this 

 account. The tire was extinguished be- 

 fore it had gained much headway, we 

 are happy to say. 



*ir Mr. J. O. Todd, Richmond, Iowa, 

 says he noticed on Feb. 8th, a number 

 of drones in his colonies and wants to 

 know the cause of drones being raised 

 so early. Probably the queen is old or 

 otherwise not desirable to the bees ; be- 

 ing desirous of rearing another, and 

 judging by the tine weather of January 

 that spring had come, they made early 

 preparations to carry out their design 

 of superseding the queen. 



igf Some time ago, we found a small 

 bottle on our shelves containing some 

 excellent drones. We were at a loss to 

 know where they came from, but we 

 have since learned that they were left 

 there, at the time of the National Con- 

 vention, by Mr. James M. Marvin, of 

 St. Charles, 111. He is to be congratu- 

 lated upon having such fine stock. 



igiT The Societe d? Apiculteur de la 

 Somme are about to publish an illus- 

 trated report of the apiarian depart- 

 ment of the Paris Exposition of 1878. 

 It will contain 150 engravings and will 

 be published in two parts. Price, 25c. 

 each. 



