168 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



that the Conger " Pure Food Bill," as pre- 

 sented at the last session, is in accord with 

 the wishes of the Association. 



Jas. a. Stone, Sec. 



The Illinois Association, at its last meet- 

 ing, also instructed the Secretary to send 

 out return postal cards to each of its mem- 

 bers, on or before the 15th day of May, 

 July, September and October, with the 

 following questions : 



1st. The number of colonies. 

 3nd. The prospect of a honey crop. 

 8rd. The amount of honey gathered to 

 date. 

 4th. Is the honey gathered No. 1 or not ? 



The returns are then to be published each 

 month in the bee-papers. 



In order that this move be made highly 

 beneficial, there should be a large member- 

 ship, that they may receive their return 

 cards; and also their dollars are needed to 

 bear the expense of issuing the cards, and 

 to have them printed ready for issuing. 



In this way it can be known all over the 

 country just the condition of bees and the 

 prospect of the honey crop. Just join the 

 Illinois Bee-Keepers' Association, and then 

 read the bee-papers. Address the Secretary 

 Jas. A. Stone, Bradfordton, Ills. — for any 

 further information desired. 



I>eslroying- Aiit!>>. — The following 

 remedies for getting rid of ants may be a 

 help to some bee-keeper. We don't guar- 

 antee them, but they may be worth trying. 

 Here they are : 



You can destroy any kind of ants in their 

 nest by pouring in about a table-spoonful 

 of bisulphide of carbon through the en- 

 trance, and then stopping it up. 



A druggist, much annoyed by ants about 

 his soda fountain, found a combination 

 that destroyed them — a powder of equal 

 parts of sugar and tartar emetic, made 

 into a thick paste with glycerine. 



Xlie Amende Honorable. — A few 



weeks ago we felt called upon to correct a 

 statement made in GJeaMvu.f/s, by Bro. Root, 

 and here is the graceful explanation and 

 apology we fully expected would follow. It 

 appeared in Oleaniugs for Feb. 1st, and reads 

 thus: r 



Bro. York, of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, calling attention to the fact that we 

 said that Prof. Cook had been writing more 

 sugar-honey articles for the agricultural 

 papers, says Prof. Cook has not written for 

 such papers for mouths. That we did see 

 articles on the subject of sugar honey. 



signed by Prof. Cook, we are certain ; but 

 we now think they must have been reprints 

 of old articles not credited, that friend 

 Cook wrote a year or "so ago for the api- 

 cultural journals. We have mislaid the 

 papers, so that we cannot now refer again 

 to them. You see when a thing once gets 

 started, it is hard to stop it. We accept 

 the correction with thanks, and hereby 

 tender our apology to Prof. Cook. 



We are glad that no more articles will 

 soon appear in favor of sugar-honey. But 

 it will take a long time to undo the dread- 

 ful influence of those written a year or so 

 ago. Verily, 'tis harder to stop than to 

 start an unwise thing. 



Open I^ig'lit Bee-Escape. — Mr. 



Jas. H. Davis, of Danville, Ky., has sent us 

 one of his metal bee-escapes. He calls it 

 an "open light bee-escape " — a device that 

 he uses in controlling swarming. It is also 

 used as an admitter, ^s well as an escape. 

 The use of something the bees can see 

 through introduces a new element into es- 

 capes, and it may be of value; but you 

 never know how a new thing may be in 

 practice when the bees test it. The "ad- 

 mitter " part is not quite understood. Per- 

 haps Mr. Davis will explain it for the bene- 

 fit of our readers. 



Sonie^vliat Mixetl.— The St. Louis 

 .Tourtud of Jyriciilture has been getting 

 things a little mixed. Here is the item that 

 shows someone was a trifle "off" when 

 writing it for that paper : 



Excellent vinegar and wine can be made 

 from honey. Dr. Miller says, in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, that if barley were $1.50 

 a bushel, honey would be used largely in 

 brewing. 



The idea of Dr. Miller suggesting the 

 using of honey in brewing ! That's a pretty 

 good joke on the Doctor, who writes " tem- 

 perance 'stray straws.' " 



The fact is. that at the North American 

 convention. Dr. Miller said: "You can 

 make excellent vinegar with honey." And 

 Bro. Muth followed with this remark: 

 " You can also make excellent wine from 

 honey. If barley were $1.50 per bushel, 

 honey would be used largely in brewing." 



That's the " long and short " of it — Bro. 

 Muth being the " long " (or tall), and Dr. 

 Miller the "short." 



Visit f lie IVorltl's Fair for only 2a 

 cents. See page 165. 



