372 



May 2, 1907 



Then pour the honey into the vessel in 

 which the paste is to be made ; leave it 

 to cool ; then add flour and mix it up 

 well. This is the remote preparation, 

 and the paste may be left in that con- 

 dition for weeks and months without 

 fear of deterioration. The proximate 

 preparation is made on the day on 

 which the cake is baked, and consists 

 in adding- the other ingredients, when 

 the paste is worked thoroughly up 

 again. The ammonia must first be 

 placed in a cup, pour on it a few drops 

 of cold water and stir it well, so as to 

 form a thick paste, then mix it up with 

 the rest. Then take a piece of the 

 paste, roll it out into a cake not over % 

 inch thick, and cut up into convenient 

 sizes as desired. This done, put the 

 cakes on a flat tin (which must be 

 greased beforehand) and bake from 12 

 to IS minutes in a hot oven. — Br. Co- 

 LUMEAN, St. Mary's Abbey, Buckfast, 

 Devon, England. 



American Me Journal 



Bees Wintered Well— Remedy for 

 Bee-Sting Poisoning 



On Nov. 20, 1906, we put 87 colonies 

 of bees into our bee-cellar. They win- 

 tered well. On March 25, 1907, we set 

 out one colony, the thermometer show- 

 ing 70 degrees. We set out the rest by 

 moonlight that evening. The next 

 day they had a good flight, although 

 the east wind was a little rough, but at 

 S p.m. the thermometer showed 70. 

 Although the last 3 days of March were 

 very rough, cold, and windy, yester- 

 day the bees brought in pollen. The 

 one colony set out on the 2Sth brought 

 in pollen shortly after being put out. 



On page 93 is given a remedy for 

 beesting poisoning. Will the writer 

 please tell us how to use this remedy, 

 and what quantity to use ? Bee-sting 

 poison has had at difi'erent times a 

 severe effect on me, and caused terrible 

 agony and distress, therefore to know 

 a remedy would be greatly appreciated. 

 Mary Theilmann. 



Theilman, Minn., April 3. 



RcfleciiofiiST 



California Bce-Kceper 



By W. a. Pbtal, Alden Station, Oakland, Calif. 



A Swarm of Bees at School 



The little episode of the " thawed 

 out " Berkeley bees reminds me of the 

 time the principal of the Hawthorne 

 School, San Francisco, had with a 

 swarm of bees that came from Princi- 

 pal Prior's apiary. The latter's school 

 is in South San Francisco, while his 

 residence adjoined the Hawthorne 

 School. One day Prof. Prior's bees 

 swarmed and lit on a small tree in the 

 school-yard next door. The children 

 became frantic. They were not used to 

 seeing "bees at school." The lady 

 principal did not know what to do, but 

 she thought it well to ring up some of 

 the city officials. The Fire Department 

 was called upon the scene to quench 

 the fiery bees ; the Health Department 

 to allay any poison the bees might in- 

 ject into the pupils ; and, I believe, the 

 Pound Department was sent for to 

 lasso the bees and put 'em in the lock- 

 up with the " bad dogs." 



It was a comic mix-up all around, 

 but no harm was done after all. 



The Bees at Berkeley 



A big laugh has gone up about the 

 Berkeley bees. The daily papers of 

 Oakland and San Francisco were full 

 of it. It came about in this way. But 

 first let me remark that the story re- 

 minds me of the child's story of " Mary 

 Had a Little Lamb," or especially that 

 portion which recites that "it made 



the children laugh and play to see a 

 lamb at school." 



Prof. C. W. Woodworth, the head of 

 the entomological department, was 

 going to tell his class " how doth the 

 busy bee." But the hour was not a 

 sunshiny one on this late March day — 

 a day just after the long, wet spell. 

 Live bees were required to elucidate 

 the subject — I was going to remark, to 

 etitiven thesu'oject, and that was about 

 the way of it, anyway. 



Well, the bees did not wake up to 

 the fact that they were to be real good 

 bees for this auspicious and educative 

 occasion ; they were required to step 

 about a bit lively. They could kind of 

 number them. A happy idea seemed 

 to strike the dignified Professor ; he 

 would put some " ginger" into the ob- 

 servation-hive full of bees. So the 

 hive was placed near a stove in the 

 lecture-room. 



The class was assembled, and as a 

 merry hum passed through the lads 

 and misses at the fount of knowledge, 

 another hum started up in the hive. 

 The bees began to wake up ; they be- 

 gan to step about pretty likely ; in 

 fact, they became very animated. They 

 got out of the hive ; they were no re- 

 specters of persons; the Professor and 

 students, it was rumored, were attacked 

 by the bees with ginger in them. 

 There was a hot time in the class-room. 

 The "co-eds" screamed; the male 

 students would have fought, but there 

 was no general to lead 'em in the fray. 

 The bees were getting the best of the 



assemblage when Ralph Benton (the 

 papers got his name as Button) was 

 called in to bring order out of chaos, 

 and did. So great is the name of 

 " Benton " in the " Land of Berkeley," 

 as former Gov. Pardee used to write it 

 in one of his parodies when he was a 

 student at that University. Benton 

 met the bees and smote 'em wing and 

 sting, and no lance, sword, javelin nor 

 sting had he. But the bees made the 

 children scream and scamper " to see a 

 bee at school." 



Alfilarela — A Rich Nectar Secreter 



I had written somewhat at length of 

 this plant a score of years ago. It is 

 still one of our very best early honey- 

 producers. Some call it "pin-weed." 

 When the rains -come early we find it 

 in bloom rather sparingly in Decem- 

 ber. All through April and May it is 

 abundant ; I may state that it is about 

 the most common weed we have, and 

 makes an excellent forage for neat 

 cattle. The flowers are rather small, 

 and mostly of a sickly-pink color. This 

 year I have what I believe is a new 

 variety here on our place. It is thrifty 

 as to growth, and the flowers are pure 

 white. I am going to propagate it that 

 I may have quite a showing of the 

 plants. Mr. J. S. Harbison, in his 

 "Bee-Keepers' Directory," page 172, 

 states : 



"This plant yields large quantities 

 of pollen for about 3 months, commen- 

 cing in March and ending in June." 



Had Mr. H. pursued his investiga- 

 tions a little further during the pioneer 

 days of bee-culture in California, he 

 would have found that this plant was a 

 rich honey-secreter, and that in moist 

 places it grew and thrived the year 

 around. Like the geranium, it seems 

 to be a part of California. I believe I 

 should have been tempted to have 

 called it the "State Flower," if the 

 choice had been left to me, instead of 

 the Escholtzia, or golden orange Cali- 

 fornia poppy — the gorgeous flower of 

 hill and plain. Though the latter is 

 plentiful in patches, it is not to be 

 found everywhere about as the alfilarela 

 is. Well, long may they both wave. 

 Here, in passing, I may mention that 

 the California poppy is visited by the 

 bees; it is a veritable store-house for 

 pollen. I never saw any nectar in its 

 gorgeous chalice-like flowers. 



Honey as a Health-Food. — This 



is a 16-page honey-pamphlet intended to help 

 increase the demand for honey. The first 

 part of it contains a short article on " Honey 

 as Food," -written by Dr. C. C. Miller. It 

 tells where to keep honey, how to liquefy it, 

 etc. The last part is devoted to " Honey- 

 Cooking Recipes " and " Remedies Using 

 Honey." It should be widely circulated by 

 those selling honey. The more the people are 

 educated on the value and uses of honey, the 

 more honey they will buy. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample copy for a 2-oent 

 stamp; 50 copies for 70 cents; 100 for §1.25; 

 350 for $2.25; 600 for $4,00; or 1000 for 17.50. 

 Tour business card printed free at the bottom 

 of front page on all orders for 100 or more 

 copies. Send all orders to the office of the 

 American Bee Journal. 



