SI6 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Oct., 



lion story ; water coming out of a dry jaw-bone, 

 any sooner than we would the stories of Mahom- 

 med cutting the moon in two, or that a stream 

 of water came from between his fingers ? 



We are now getting our bees ready to try 

 another winter; shall follow outW. J. Ronald's 

 directions. 



D. D. Palmer. 



Eliza, Mercer Co., Ill, Sept. 11, 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Adair. (Eeply to) 



Our friend, Mr. Adair, in reply to our answer 

 on the imi^ortation of bees, says that his illcho- 

 sen term, indiscriminate," applies only to large 

 importations. Why large importations of bees 

 would be more indiscriminate than small ones, 

 I am unable to comprehend. 



The queens imported into this country were 

 at first mostly from Germany; then from Switz- 

 erland ; then from Syrol and Italy. As the im- 

 porters knew neither the bees nor. the breeders, 

 it seems to me that these small importations 

 were more " indiscriminate " than a large one 

 from the best known districts of Italy. 



Mr. Adair says that he is not yet ready to 

 discuss the evils of in and in breeding on bees; 

 let us wait i;ntil he is ready. 



To prove that the importation of queens can 

 be injurious, Mr. A. shows that it is through 

 the importation of bees to America, that we 

 have imported bee-moth and foul-brood. It is 

 true that if we had never imported bees in this 

 country, neither bee-moth nor foul-brood would 

 have made their appearance, since bees did not 

 exist here before the discovery of America. 



The denouncement of the ravages of the bee- 

 moth, is of no avail, since every true bee-keeper 

 knows that it has never "killed" a colony of 

 bees. As to foul-brood, the European apiarians 

 claim that this disease was introduced in their 

 apiaries by Cuba honey given as food to the 

 bees. 



Mr. A. insinuates that perhaps what is called 

 the bee-cholera of the past two years (if such 

 a thing exists,) came from the importation of 

 Italian bees. 



He knows, however, as well as I do, that such a 

 disease has never existed in Europe. How is 

 it possible to bring a disease from a country 

 where it has never existed. 



He speaks at length on the awful misfortune 

 of importing trom Europe such insects as 

 melve, braula ceeca, phora incrassata, sitaris, 

 «S;c , &c., &c. ; but the truth is that these par- 

 asites are very rare in Europe, and that not 

 even the two most dreadful of these " braula 

 ceeca and melve" have ever been known to 

 destroy a single stock ; furthermore, it is ques- 

 tionable whether they have ever killed a single 

 bee. — Much ado about nothing. 



Some bee-keepers may think that I am grind- 

 ing my ax. But my ax is sharp and does not 



need grinding. Every year I have more orders 

 for bees than I can fill, and I have to refuse or- 

 ders for imported queens and often to refund 

 the money. Besides we, (my son and myself) 

 have never asked one cent for the publication 

 of our old or "?iew" ideas. For instance every 

 year we have sent Mr. Adair some articles for 

 his Annals, and we have never taken advantage 

 of his offer to insert out advertisements in his 

 pamphlet. The past month, Mr. Adair wrote to 

 my son asking him for two articles, for the An- 

 nals of 1873, adding that one might be — "on 

 the Italian bee, if you desire" — and our ax needs 

 so little grinding that we did not improve the 

 opportunity, and my son announced to Mr. Adair 

 that he would send him two articles entitled: 

 "Bee Culture in 1976," and "Historical notice on 

 Bee Culture in France." 



Friend Novice will see, by the above, that if 

 we are in a combat, aga-nst Mr. Adair, on the 

 stage, we are still friends behind the curtain. 



Mr. Adair had the right to criticise our im- 

 portations, as well as we had the right to show 

 that his ideas on Italian bees are different from 

 what they were two or three years ago when 

 he advertised Italian bees for sale. He has re- 

 ported a gossip on our business, we have report- 

 ed one on his : we are quit. 



•* Ch. Dadant, 



Hamilton 111 Sept. 10, 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Sendiiig Queens by M^. ', 



In sending queens by mail, I fiiij that a piece 

 of candy and a piece of sponge, moistened with 

 water, answer as well as honey., ^ p^^t^fer the 

 large, round, flat mottoes, as they are easily 

 fastened in the boxes, so that they cannot move 

 about and hurt the queens. I have sent a num- 

 ber of queens in this way, and have not lost a 

 single one. I have kept bees for weeks on 

 candy, in the cellar in the winter, and they 

 done well on it; and I can^ee no reason why 

 they should not do equally as well on it while 

 passing through the mails. James Bolin. 

 West Lodi, Ohio, 



♦-♦ 



Honey Markets. 



CHICAGO. 



Choice white comb honey, 28@30c ; fair to 

 good, 24@28c. 



Extracted, choice white, 14@16c; fair to 

 good, 10@12c. Strained, 8@10c. 



CALIFORKIA. 



Quotations from Stearns & Smith, 423 Front 

 street, between Washington and Clay, San 

 Francisco, Cal. : 



Strained, choice orange blossom honey, from 

 Los Angelos, in 5-gallon cans, 15@16c. 



Valley honey, gathered from manna or honey 

 dew, 12@14c. 



