THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



93 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WASHm aTON, NOVEMBER, 1866. 



^W The American Bee Journal is now pub- 

 lished monthly, in the City of Washington, (D. 

 C.,) and all communications should be address- 

 ed to the Editor, at that place. 



The Egyptian Bee. 

 We copy in this number, from the London 

 ''Journal of Horticulture,^'' a portion of Mr. 

 Woodbury's translation of an article relative to 

 the introduction, into Germany, of the Egyptian 

 bee. This variety of the honey bee, hitherto 

 known in Europe only to scientific entomolo- 

 gists, now engages the attention of practical 

 apiarians there, and will doubtless be brought 

 to this country ere long. We have received a 

 copy of Mr. Vogel's treatise on the subject, 

 which, with the remaining portion of Mr. 

 Woodbury's translation, and several articles in 

 the Bienenzeitmig, will enable us to place before 

 our readers a full account of what, we trust, 

 may prove to be a valuable acquisition. 



~ iim » ugp^ — 111 



lE^" We heard recently of a bee-keeper who 

 "killed olT' his common bees by brimstoning 

 them, and sold the honey, with the intention of 

 introducing the Italian bee in his apiary next 

 spring. Should all his neighbors who keep 

 bees "go and do likewise," he will probably not 

 be much annoyed with hybrids next summer, 

 provided he makes a fair start with pure stock. 

 But had he been a subscriber to the Bee 

 Journal, he might have discovered that there 

 is " a more excellent way." Experience is a 

 dear school ; yet some folks will take lessons in 

 no other ! 



Bee Superstition. 



A correspondent of the New Zealand papers 

 gives the following story as being told by a 

 Buckinghamshire bee-keeper. He relates as 

 follows : 



" Superstition indulged in with regard toBeoe^ 

 — These are many and curious. .1 remember 

 when I lived in Buckinghamshire and kept bees 

 there, noting some strange beliefs respecting 

 them. One evening I was stopping at the 

 house of a farmer whose mother had died that 

 morning. His wife went out in the evening, 

 and tapped at every hive, repeating before 

 each : ' Bees, bees, your mistress is dead !' and 

 she gravely assured me that if she had not done 

 so, the bees would inevitably have forsaken the 

 spot. One day a difiiculty occurred between 

 myself and my gardener in respect to the bees. 

 He wanted to have his way in reference to 

 some arrangements for them, ;ind I had rather 



a desire to have mine, and Ave had a little 

 difference on the suljject, whicli I cut short by 

 ordering my wishes to be promptly attended to, 

 whereupon the fellow went half-unwilling, 

 half-sulkily away, saying : ' TIic bees will all 

 die ; they'll all die, because there's been words 

 about them.' Now, as I did not wish hia 

 words to come true, I took the liberty of smok- 

 ing my last weed at night up and down the 

 garden-walk by which the bees stood, and by a 

 curious coincidence the gardener came prowling 

 round there, and was rather surprised at finding 

 me out at that time. The same thing liappeucd 

 the next night, and finding that I did not mean 

 to permit an epidemic amongst my bees if I 

 could prevent it, he did not come again, and 

 my bees did not die after all. If I had not 

 suspected that the rascal would strive to serve 

 me out, no doubt my bees would have perished, 

 and I should have been requested to believe 

 that it was in consequence of there having been 

 words about them, which, after all, would no 

 doubt, in one sense, have been perfectly true." 

 — Journal of Horticulture, (^London.') 



[Correspondence of the Bee Journal] 



There is considerable interest felt in bee- 

 culture in this region. There were in the 

 summer of 1863 about four thousand colonies in 

 this (Harrison) county. That season was so 

 extremely unfavorable for honey-gathering that 

 the number was reduced by starvation to about 

 one thousand before the next spring, notwith- 

 standing nearly four thousand dollars worth of 

 Cuba honey was purchased and fed. Success 

 to the Bee Journal. R. W. 



Cadiz, Ohio. 



I AM pleased with the appearance of the Bee 

 Journal thus far, and hope it will prosper 

 abundantly. In New England we have had the 

 hardest season for bees that has been known 

 for many years, and some of the older bee- 

 keepers who manage bees on antiquated prin- 

 ciples are discouraged. But the enterprising 

 and scientific apiarian is not disheartened by a 

 single unfavorable season. J. L. H. 



Walpole, N. H. 



Bees did not do much here this summer in 

 swarming or gathering honey, on account of 

 the wet season. M. W. 



Venango Co., Pa, 



Bees have done poorly here. Pew swarms 

 and little honey. I have twenty-fiTC Italian 

 stocks. J. T. M. 



Geanga Co., Ohio. 



I have received the July and August num- 

 bers of your excellent paper. There are but 

 few bees in this country yet ; but it is about to 

 be revolutionized and made of some note in 

 bee-culture. A. K. 



Fort Dodge, Iowa. 



