320 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



week or more prior to putting the bees into 

 winter quarters. 



It is well known that the sulphurous acid 

 formed by burning sulphur is death to veg- 

 etation. Hence aU the spores of the mold 

 plant lodged in the cellar wall and in the 

 cellar floor are destroyed, and cannot veg- 

 etate in the hive and cover the combs in 

 the brood-chamber. It is found that the 

 ground absorbs this sulphurous acid, and re- 

 tains it for many days. This cellar fumi- 

 gation has other reasons to commend it 

 aside from bee-interests. It is disinfectant, 

 and destroys disease-generating germs 

 which may prostrate the family with fever, 

 diphtheria, etc. Jesse Orex, M. D. 



La Porte City, Iowa. 



A Bee-Keeper in Sorrow. 



I have to record the loss of my wife, who 

 had been sick for six months with nervous 

 prostration, and finally ending with brain 

 trouble, which caused her death, on Nov. 

 12, 1893. She reached the age of 68 years 

 and 10 months. I miss her very much. She 

 was a great help to me in the bee-yard. A 

 week after my wife's death I took sick with 

 " la grippe,"' and have been very sick for 

 two months. Now I am better, and I can 

 get around some. I have one unmarried 

 daughter who is keeping house for me. 



Adam Rickenbacher. 



Gahanna. O., Jan. 23. 



[We regret to hear of Bro. E,.'s great loss, 

 and also that he, too, has been sick. May 

 he have the peace and consolation that 

 comes from trusting in Him '• who doeth 

 all things well." — Ed.] 



Results of the Past Season. 



I commenced the spring of 18!t3 with 2 

 colonies of bees, for which I paid $8.00. 

 They were Italians in Langstroth frames. 

 I got one swarm and 110 pounds of comb 

 honey, mostly buckwheat. Bees did not do 

 much on white clover last year, probably 

 on account of wet weather. 



I am well pleased with the Bee Journal, 

 and would not do without it. 



James Gillette. 



Mason City, Iowa, Jan. 22. 



A Beginner's Experience with Bees. 



Two years ago Tcame into possession of 

 S colonies of pure black bees. Not knowing 

 anything in regard to them. I began to ex- 

 periment a little by transferring them from 

 the log and box hives. By the time I had 

 exhausted my knowledge and patience in 

 the sad undertaking, I had only 3 colonies 

 left. I began to think and read everything 

 I could get on bee-culture, and of course I 

 soon discovered my sad mistake. 



Last year I bought 9 colonies more, and 

 last spring I visited an apiary of Italian 

 bees, and on first sight of the little beauties 

 I decided to Italianize my blacks ; so I pur- 

 chased 10 golden Italian queens, which I in- 



troduced in June. They began laying im- 

 mediately, and in eight weeks I had as fine 

 a lot of pure 5 banded bees as you ever saw. 

 They seemed to go to work with renewed 

 energy. While the honey crop in this 

 country was very short, they succeeded in 

 securing enough for their winter use, and 

 to-day they are in fine condition. My 

 neighbor's black bees are all moth-eaten 

 and starved to death. 



I have several applications every week to 

 sell me black bees at absolutely the cost of 

 the box-hive which contains them. If any 

 of them are so lucky as to get through the 

 winter, I will purchase a lot, and introduce 

 Italian queens immediately, for I do not 

 want any more black bees. 



Caldwell, Tex. F. A. Arnold. 



In-Breeding of Animals Defended. 



On page 18, is an article from Hon. 

 Eugene Secor, in which he says the law. 

 " Thou shalt not inter-marry," is like the 

 laws of the Medes and Persians, unchanged. 

 In-breeding is repulsive, etc. Now I beg 

 leave to differ from Bro. Secor. My experi- 

 ence and observations are quite different, 

 and I recognize in Nature a law of the sur- 

 vival of the fittest. 



For instance: Take the wild birds; who 

 ever saw a more uniform and better marked 

 flock of domestic fowls than we see in the 

 prairie chicken, the quail, the wild goose, 

 the wren, the blackbird, or the jay ? Who 

 would for a moment hold the idea that the 

 elk, the buffalo, and deer, are not in-bred ? 

 And I have read that the best drove of 

 Hereford cattle in England did not have a 

 cross for 35 years. 



In my experience my best hogs, sheep and 

 cattle were from careful in-breeding — not 

 promiscuous, but by carefully studying 

 Nature's laws and following them. 



In reference also to the pollen-dust, the 

 honey-bee and other insects carry from one 

 flower to another ; does not the bee in its 

 flight continue to visit flowers of the same 

 kind until it secures its load ? or does it 

 visit promiscuously from one flower to 

 another ? My experience says it does not 

 change variety until it is loaded. So that 

 I call this in-breeding, pure and simple. 

 But I have an idea that Bro. Secor will 

 " skin " me. so I will stop right here. 



Glendon, Iowa. O. P. Miller. 



Honey as I'^ood and ]?Ie<liciMe. — 



THIS Is a little 32-page pamphlet that is 

 just the thing needed to create a demand 

 for HONEY at home. Honey - producers 

 should scatter it freely, as it shows the valu- 

 able uses ol Honey for Food as well as for 

 Medicine. It contains recipes for making 

 Honey-Cakes, Cookies, Puddings, Foam, Wines 

 etc. It is intended for consumers, and will be 

 a great help in popularizing honey among the 



f)eople everywhere, if the pamphlet is liberal- 

 y distributed. 

 Prices, prepaid— Single copy, .5 cts. ; 10 cop- 

 ies. 3.5 cts.; .">0 for $1.50; 100 for $2.50; 250 

 for 85.50: 500 for $10.00; or 1000 for $15.00. 

 When 250 or more are ordered, we will 

 print the bee-keeper's card (free of cost) on 

 the front cover page. 



