March 27, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



CONDITIONS OF DEE-EXISTENCE, 



There's an idea on page 120 that will pay for some 

 more rellection, perhaps. The conditions of existence whicli 

 surround the hee cannot be very greatly changed. Animals 

 are plastic in man's hand because in domestication the con- 

 ditions of their existence have hecn changed immensely. 

 The struggle and anxiety about food is entirely removed. 

 No more trentbling fear, and running away from rapacious 

 beasts. Shelter in place of exi)Osnre to the elements. Leisure 

 lime in abimdanoe in the place of preoccupation. Provoca- 

 tion to think. Opportunity to form friendshiijs both with 

 man and with each other. No wonder metamorphosis sets 

 in and gets lively. Will not the lack of similar things 

 make the bee unresponsive? Sounds forcible. But why 

 then should these two crowds of people disagree so? One 

 crowd says: Don't cross varieties, and beware of the daugh- 

 ters of your best honey-colony — else your stock will get to 

 varying loo much. T'other crowd says: Don't expect much 

 result in one million years because bees will not vary 

 enoujili. Let's mix these two crowds and take the average. 



TESTING TONGUE-LENGTH OF BEES. 



'Sir. Simpson's way of testing tongues with honey in 

 small glass tubes is obviously the right way. I used actual 

 clover-tubes when I was in the biz ; but I wished for glass 

 tubes pretty strongly. The going-to-be difficulty of tilling 

 them worried me a little : and I never thought out the cor- 

 rect solution. To see Mr. Simpson's solution made me 

 mentally swing my hat. Put the shorter leg of a J-shaped 

 wire in the tulie, and withdraw it while the mouth of the tube 

 is plunged in honey. .-Mso his way of testing the capacity of the 

 honey-sac seems about as good as weighing, and very much 

 less fuss. 'Spects any of our bees liave sacs big enough ; so let's 

 not worry about that at present. ■ If we could make their 

 sacs bigger more bees would fall and perish on the road. 

 Page I JO. 



BEWITCHED WITH BEES. 



Bewitched by a ruta-baga turnip — some men would as 

 soon be, as to be bewitched by a bunch of torpid bees 

 underneath a down-cellar hive. As related on page 121, 

 INIr. Doolittle finds it difficult to get out of his cellar, 

 he's so bewitched. No possible doubt about the fact that 

 Mr. D's bee-fever struck in and became chronic. We really 

 hope he won't be killed (Biddle-brother style) eloping with 

 an}' apicultural -turnip. 



ARE THERE TWO V,.\RIETIES OF YELLOW SWEET CLOVER? 



Anent Dr. Miller's answer on yellow sweet clover, page 

 123. If I remember the reports aright, there are two quite 

 different yellows — one the same thing as the white, the 

 other a totally different species. Just now I half remember 

 that we have been told somewdiere of the distinct species 

 having at least two varieties that varied considerably. 



HAULING BEES IN OPEN HIVES. 



About hauling bees with wide-open hive entrances, if 

 there are two persons along, and a smoker, and only a few 

 hives, it is very much the best way. To keep in an in- 

 furiated condition for hours is quite damaging to the bees ; 

 and being unable to get out does not help the damage any. 

 Even if the two persons are greenhorns they can be told 

 how to keep bees in subjection with a smoker. On the other 

 hand, having captive bees break loose on the road (as they 

 mostly do) will "try the bottom" of non-bee-keepers very 

 severely. Page 126. 



PROPER VENTILATION FOR .\ BEE-CELLAR. 



"Here she goes, there she goes" — first complete victory 

 for ventilation through the soil only — then fresh air and lots 

 of it every night. Both ways certainly succeed in the bee- 

 cellar. Which is the one that will akvays succeed? Page 127. 



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Why Not Help a Little — both your neighbor bee-keep- 

 ers and the old American Bee Journal — by sending to us the 

 names and addresses of such as you may know do not now 

 get this journal ? We vfill be glad to send them sample 

 copies, so that they may become acquainted with the paper, 

 and subscribe for it, thus putting themselves in the line of 

 success with bees. Perhaps you can get them to subscribe, 

 send in their dollars, and secure for your trouble some of 

 the premiums we are constantly offering as rewards for 

 such effort. 



Biographical. ^ 



»-^?r5*'WV»'5*''W*f^"v»'w^«'^''vi"^'9r'w^'^>r^t* 



REV. OSCAR CLUTE. 



The death of this good man, .so well and so favorably 

 known to apiarists the world over, which occurred at the 

 Soldiers' Home, Santa Monica, Calif., about Keb. 1, will 

 come to bee-keepers generally, as it did to the writer, with a 

 shock, and will bring sorrow no less than surprise. 



Mr. Clute was born in New York, near liingharaton, 

 about 63 years ago. ICarly life on the farm formed attach- 

 ments which never let go their hold. His preparatory 

 course was passed with high grade at the Binghamton 

 Academy. Reentered the Michigan Agricultural College 

 with the class of 1862, in IH.S'J, where he was a highly- 

 respected classmate of the writer. His character and 

 scholarship while at the College were excellent. He won 

 not only the regard of students and teachers, but, likewise, 

 the admiration of all connected with the College. By hard 

 study he gained time to teach one year during his course, 

 when he was at the head of the Ionia city schools. His suc- 

 cess there was pronounced. This bright record, both as a 

 teacher and as a student, led to his engagement as instruc- 

 tor at his Alma Mater, immediately upon graduation. 



He was specially good in mathematics, literature, and 

 science, which he dearly loved, and his professorship, which 

 he received later, wps in mathematics, though he taught 

 with marked success the biology, especially entomology, 

 which always attracted him greatly. 



In 1866 he resigned his position, and was succeeded by 

 the writer. He then took a theological course at Meadville, 

 Pa., and upon its conclusion entered the Unitarian minis- 

 try, his first charge being at Vineland, N. J.: while there 

 he was one of the founders, and the first president of a very 

 sucessful horticultural club. He also took great interest in 

 agriculture, and wrote extensively and ably for the agricul- 

 tural press. 



In a few years he resigned at Vineland to take a more 

 responsible position at Keokuk, Iowa, and later he was 

 advanced to the First Unitarian Church at Iowa City. 

 While at Keokuk he visited the writer at the Michigan 

 Agricultural College, and of course looked over the bees. 

 He was enthusiastically won to the bee-keeping ranks. His 

 culture and ability stood him in good stead, and he marched 

 rapidly to the front. He came intimatelj' to know the 

 Dadants, and, as Garfield said, to sit on one end of a log with 

 Mark Hopkins on the other was the equivalent of a college 

 course. So to be in close touch with the elder Dadant was 

 sure to push one naturally fitted rapidly to the front as a 

 bee-keeper. 



Mr. Clute often told me that his income from his bees 

 was for several years in excess of that received from his 

 church, though the latter was an influential one. While at 

 Iowa City he wrote "Blessed Bees." This charming 

 romance was at the same time so fascinating and so realis- 

 tic that it had a wide reading, and many supposed it was 

 the record of actual experience. 



About 1888 became to the First LTnitarian Church of 

 Pomona, Calif., from which he was soon called to the presi- 

 dency of his Alma Mater. He remained at the Michigan 

 Agricultural College for three years, when he resigned to 

 take a like position at the Florida Agricultural College, 

 where he staid for some years. He was always known as a 

 hard worker, a close student, and at the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College he always did what he could to aid the bee- 

 keeper's art. He was always an eloquent advocate of any 

 and all efforts to further every department of agriculture. 



Prejudice, because of his Northern birth, was bitter 

 against him in his Florida home. His home was burned 

 while there, and with it went valuable manuscripts, which 

 was not only a loss to him, but to agriculture. 



President Clute, after a short, well-earned rest, came 

 again to his old Pomona church. He remained there less 

 than two years, when disease — a kidney trouble — necessi- 

 tated his rest from all mental work. For a year he was 

 very successful as a breeder of Belgian hares, but he was 

 unable to continue, and for the past year or more he had 

 been unable to do any work. 



The past months he spent at the Soldiers' Home, near 



