1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



471 



J7VGS 



^^//lOM OUfi NEIGHBORS FIELDS. 2^ 



Hot and wet, toil and sweat, 



Summer showers at last ! 

 'Mid the flowers and shady bowers 

 Bees are working fast. 



BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 

 This journal is always interesting, bees or 

 no bees. Its fine pictures which have been 

 for so long a time a marked feature of it are 

 continually giving one a glimpse into the ru- 

 ral and domestic side of English life so beau- 

 tifully described by Washington Irving in his 

 Sketch book. In the issue for May 24 is a 

 picture of an old-time bee-shelter at Heaver- 

 ham. In a brick wall adjoining the house 

 may be seen what look like the mouths of 

 four bake-ovens, two above two. In each of 

 these is a straw hive, seemingly independent 

 of the weather. But after all I infer the hives 

 are empty, as the increased travel on that road 

 has made the business unprofitable. But it is 

 a strange sight to see bee life so intimately 

 connected with human affairs. 



In a previous issue, in speaking of how to 

 sell honey, one man said he would put up a 

 sign, " Honey for Sale from our own Bees," 

 and spend the best part of Saturday and Sun- 

 day in selling honey to passers-by. Mr. Quar- 

 termain, of Tenby, says, " I take the strong- 

 est possible objection to devoting the best 

 part of Sunday in selling honey to the pass- 

 ers-by, for Sunday is a day of holy rest, not 

 one for trade purposes. We have too much 

 Sunday trading, without adding to the mis- 

 chievous practice." 



\b 



Concerning a scarcity of water, one corres- 

 pondent says: " We are hoping for rain, which 

 is badly wanted by every one and by every 

 kind of crop. Water is scarce on some farms, 

 the ponds being empty, and farmers are com- 

 pelled to draw from deep wells, while, labor 

 being scarce, most farms are short of hands, 

 so there is no prospect of an improvement in 

 that direction. All that the city councils 

 have hitherto done in teaching gardening, 

 fruit-growing, dairying, and bee-keeping does 

 not seem to stem the exodus of the country- 

 man toward the towns, so that the older gen- 

 eration are gradually dying off, and those of 

 the growing generation are looking for ' some- 

 thing better than farm work,' so they say. 

 I think the matter will have to be dealt with 

 by our legislature soon or the consequences 

 will be serious in the country districts. Our 

 bee-keeping industry, notwithstanding its ap- 

 parent growth as shown by statistics, is grad- 

 ually declining among agricultural laborers, 

 new methods with modern appliances being 

 beyond the grasp of the laborer, and the old- 

 style crock holding Lt to 30 lbs. of honey is 

 practically unsalable at the present time." 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 

 An essay read by Herbert Clute at the Wis- 

 consin convention gives one an idea of the 

 immense amount of basswood still to be found 

 in that State, and especially in Clark Co. He 

 says that within two miles of him 4000 bass- 

 wood-trees fit for lumber may be found, be- 

 sides the crooked and small ones. Mr. Clute 

 says the bee-pasture will improve as the land 

 is cleared up, as they now have more basswood 

 bloom than the bees can handle. 



One correspondent in Dr. Miller's depart- 

 ment says that bumble-bees are so plentiful 

 this year that they drove the honey-bees off 

 the best honey-producing plants. He and 

 his family then went to work to destroy the 

 big fellows, and killed 614 queens in two days. 

 That's what I call stupidity if not a great sin. 

 The usefulness of these big bees is unques- 

 tionably great, and they should be protected 

 instead of being killed. The whole thing is 

 on a par with the farmer who shot all the 

 swallows around his barn because they took 

 his mud to make nests. In speaking of gill- 

 over-the-ground, the same correspondent says 

 that bumble-bees and honey-bees fill them- 

 selves so full of nectar from this plant that 

 they can not fly. But I wish the plant itself 

 could and would fly into the ocean. It's a 

 sticker around here. 



\i/ 



Selah Merrill, U. S. consul at Jerusalem, 

 gives an interesting report of Mr. Balden- 

 sperger's experience with bees in Syria. 

 Among the drawbacks to apiculture there, 

 may be mentioned Turkish taxation, every 

 hive being taxed 10 cents, and every door, 

 window, and hole in the hive being counted 

 as a hive. Then come large yellow hornets, 

 sparrows, swallows, bee-eaters, badgers, rats, 

 lizards, and moths. But the greatest enemy 

 is man. Where an apiary is set down, the 

 sheiks of the nearest villages like to receive a 

 certain amount of honey, otherwise the bees 

 will be stolen. When a hive is stolen, fire, 

 and sometimes water, is used to destroy them. 

 About a tenth of the honey produced must be 

 given away to induce people not to take the 

 hives. When the hives are being carried from 

 one place to another on camels the Arabs will 

 occasionally steal the animals. These thieves 

 are the descendants of the Midianites of the 

 Bible— those who stole the wheat of Gideon's 

 father. It's a pity Gideon has not been disci- 

 plining them in his peculiar way ever since. 



AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 

 In the Avier. Bee Journal Mr. Rockenback 

 tells a sad story of foul brood in Cuba, and 

 Harry Howe adds, " Foul brood is really much 

 worse than has been described in the papers. 

 Nearly every apiary in Cuba has it." Mr. 

 Hill admits foul brood is prevalent there, but 

 says it is not universal. Colonel Viete, an ex- 

 tensive honey -producer there, says, " I am 

 surprised to hear so much about foul brood. 

 In this part of the island we have none, and 

 my bees are doing beautifully." 



