250 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Browny, will prevent their returning into 

 their former hive, and make them pitcli 

 and form a new colony." This use of the 

 word "browny" may, however, be no 

 invocation of a spirit, but simply an 

 apostrophe addressed to the bees ; just as 

 in Buckinghamshire the death of the mas- 

 ter of the house is announced to the liives 

 in the words: "Little browny, little 

 browny, your master's dead." 



AVhen bees stay about near the hive it 

 is regarded, and rightly, as a sign of rain; 

 this generally diti'used notion is given by 

 Virgil in the Georgics ; and lience there 

 is a proverb, " a bee was never caught in 

 a shower." When many bees enter the 

 liive, and none leave it, it is also a sign of 

 rain. They were formerly used in medi- 

 cine, as we learn from Purchas' Theatre 

 of Political Flying Insects (1657) where 

 Ave are told that " bees powdered cure the 

 wind collick. Take 12 to 14 bees pow- 

 dered in anything every morning," etc. 

 B. M., in Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Changing the Pasture of Bees. 



The practice of moving bees for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining a succession of forage, 

 is not confined to Egypt. It was the prac- 

 tice inltaly inPliny's time. He says : "As 

 soon as the spring food for bees has failed 

 in the valleys, near our towns, the hives 

 are put into boats and carried up the riv- 

 er in the night, in search of better pasture. 

 The bees got, and return to the boats, 

 regularly. Tliis is continued till the sink- 

 ing of the boats to a certain depth shows 

 that the hives are full enough, when they 

 are carried back home and the honey taken 

 from them." • 



This practice is still followed on the 

 river Po, the same stream Pliny spoke of. 

 Bees were also transported from Achaia 

 to Attica, from Eubea to Scyrus, and from 

 Sicily to Ilybla, for the same purpose. 

 In Scotland, bees are moved to localities 

 where they can gather the honey of the 

 heather when it is in bloom. In Califor- 

 nia, bees are sent up the Sacramento to get 

 a succession of bloom, and in France hives 

 are carried in carts from one section to an- 

 other. Thirty to forty hives are placed 

 on one Avagon. If the weather is very 

 hot tiie Avagons move only in the night, 

 and they move sloAvly, always choosing 

 the smoothest roads. Sometimes, says 

 the author of Natural History, ten or a 

 dozen Avagons thus loaded Avith hives, 

 may be seen at once, in company. 



Much has been said and Avrilten about 

 hoAV far bees Avill lly, and the immber of 

 trips tiiey make, etc. Keaumer says if 

 Hie total number of excursions be divided 

 liy total number of bees in each hive, the 



aA-erage Avould be five or six. But says 

 another — half of the bees are employed 

 at home, so that the average number of 

 excursions Avill be ten or twelve; and if 

 the average length of each excursion is 

 one mile, each bee would fly twenty or 

 twenty-four miles, daily. Kity says that 

 the quantity of matter thus transported ex- 

 ceeds a hundred pounds. E. A. 



For the American Bee JournaU 



Answer to Mr. Bird. 



I notice in your August number, a very 

 unjust complaint from a Wm. W. Bird, 

 in which he complains that he shipped a 

 bbl. of honey to the Chicago Honey liousc^ 

 and we would not buy it, and asks wiio 

 are the staunch men that he can ship liou- 

 ey to and get speedy returns. The facts 

 in that case are these : Mr. B. Avrote ta 

 the Chicago Honey House, saying he liad 

 a barrel of nice honey, and asked what I 

 would giA'e for it; and I answered that I 

 was paying 15 cents for good — or that 

 I would pay 15 cents, if good — I am not 

 sure which, as my copy book is burned, 

 but could not Iuxa'c made any other kind 

 of an answer Avithout knowing Avhat the 

 honey Avas. As soon as I examined tlie 

 honey, I found it was very dark, vile stuff, 

 made from fire-weed, such as I could not 

 use at any price, and immediately Avrote 

 him, requesting him to direct me to turn 

 it over to some other person, Avhich he 

 did. I turned over the honey to the party 

 named, instead of using it and then 

 forcing him to take its A'alue and giving 

 him cause to complain. I think Mr. Bird 

 will not find any party " staunch" enough 

 to suit his manner of doing business. 

 Mrs. S. E. Spaids. 



The Bee in Southern California. 



The liome of the bee is In the moun- 

 tains. There they seem to thrive, and 

 ranging over the great surface common to 

 all the choicest flowers, immense quanti- 

 ties of honey are gathered by the indus- 

 trious workers. There is little difterence 

 betAveen San Diego and Los Angelos, as 

 far as the prosperity of the bee is con- 

 cerned, but undoubtedly the above named 

 places — especially the mountain regions — 

 are not surpassed by any locality on the 

 globe for successful bee culture. As the 

 invalid comes here he cannot turn his at- 

 tention to a lighter and more remunera- 

 tive vocation. While the vast amount of 

 honey is yearly going to Avaste, let us en- 

 deavour to furnish the means to collect 

 this precious substance and turn to 

 account Avhat otherwise Avould be lost, 

 and thus be uumbercd among the Hst of 

 public benefactors. A. H. Ahnoi-d. 



