152 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



just ready to die, and then expect them 

 to winter well. 



Wm. Anderson — I think bees that 

 work best winter the best. 



Pres. Taylor — I notice Mr. Cornell 

 speaks of seeing the bees eject water 

 when flying from their hives. I have 

 seen the same thing, but I question 

 whether it is always water that has been 

 taken from the system by means of the 

 urinary organs. For instance, I have 

 fed bees thin sugar syrup towards even- 

 ing, and they would fly soon after and 

 discharge this water. It seems to me 

 that they flew too soon to have had time 

 for the water to have entered the system 

 and passed through the urinary organs. 

 (Concluded next week.) 



From "The Stinger. 



The new engraved heading that OUanings 

 has hoisted over Dr. Miller's "Stray Straws' ' 

 is in a bad tangle ; the spider-web arrange- 

 ment that is used to hold the straws to- 

 gether, seems to have encountered a West- 

 ern cyclone. 



What a heathen Oleanings is getting to be ! 

 In the last issue of that paper for the year 

 so recently ended, is a short editorial which 

 thoroughly astonished me. I expected to 

 see the editor of that magazine wish his 

 readers a "Happy New Year." But he did 

 not do it ; it really seems that the editor 

 has queer views on the custom of wishing 

 one's friends and neighbors the usual com- 

 pliments of the season — "stereotyped plati- 

 tudes of the season," he calls them. The 

 good old times when everybody and his 

 neighbor tried to be merry and happy are 

 passing away, and instead we are having a 

 period where the motto seems to be, "Hustle 

 for yourself and leave me alone." It is no 

 wonder that the country is seeing such dull 

 times. If things keep going from bad to 

 worse, as they have for some time past, it 

 is hard to tell where we shall land. Nothing 

 helps to buoy up a disheartened brother 

 more than a kind word spoken to him at 

 that season of the year when the whole 

 Christian world rejoices in the birth of a 

 Saviour, and the ushering in of a n^\v year. 



Oleanings In its improved form is fair to 

 look upon ; a sweet maid of sixteen could 

 not be more charming. There is yet one 

 thing about it that does not suit the eye of 

 "The Stinger," and that is the ugly head- 



ing that is used for the title of the magazine 

 at the beginning of the reading matter. I 

 prefer plain, modest type, something after 

 the style of the Review. 



And the American Bee Journal is guilty 

 of the same crime, in my eyes. Discard . 

 that cumbersome engraved title, and use 

 plain type. Take Scribiier's, The Cosmopoli- 

 tan^ Harper''s or the Century for a model. 

 How much neater the headings of these 

 magazines look, than engraved ones. Nuf 

 sed. 



I notice that Dr. Miller is still "pulling" 

 those queens through the columns of the 

 bee-papers. Keep on. Doctor, and they will 

 be well "pulled" by the time you get 

 through with them — they will not even 

 have any hair upon them. 



Rambler is getting to be a paragrapher, 

 and his first attempt in that line is given in 

 the first issue of Oleanings for this year. He 

 calls them "California Echoes." I think it 

 would have been better to have labeled 

 them "Rambling Echoes," as they do not 

 seem all to come vibrating upon the air 

 from o'er the Sierras or the Rockies, but 

 rather from various quarters. 



OUaymigs has an article on "Apiculture in 

 Chile," in the last issue that has reached 

 me. I have never eaten any Chile honey, 

 for the reason that it is gathered during 

 our winter months, and I am afraid that it 

 would make me chilly to eat it. I want my 

 honey so that it will not make my teeth go 

 chit-a-chatter. Colorado honey is about 

 right for me, though I can stand Eastern 

 honey very well. 



A correspondent of Gleanings tells of the 

 "oldest bees in the world." They were 

 found wrapped in the winding sheet of a 

 mummy— one of the Pharaohs. I suppose 

 the bees were "laid to rest" with "the late 

 lamented" king, so that they might sting 

 him and keep him warm. 



But I have heard of a frog that is older 

 than those bees. It was found away down 

 in the bowels of the earth in Oregon. When 

 the poor old fellow was released from the 

 earth that had been his home for 30,000 (?) 

 years, he hopped out as lively as a cricket, 

 and winked at a pretty girl that stood not 

 far off. Now, trot out your bees that have 

 been hibernating as long as that frog was, 

 and I will take pleasure in going several 

 thousand miles to see them. 



Jake Smith is at it again in Oleanings. 

 That funny f ulosofer has been foolin with 

 beez agin, and I do declare if he does not 

 look out for his self, he will find his self in 

 a lunytick asilum. I haint no dokter, but I 

 no what I am talkin of. 



W. P. Root's ancient bee-books are going 

 to get a set-back by the editor of Oleanings. 

 That's too bad; I wanted to see the poor 

 old books get ample justice done them, and 

 Mr. Root was doing all he could to give 



