138 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Copies that 3^011 may desire to use in 

 canvassing. 



Through the combined kindness 

 of Mr. L. C. Root of Mohawk, N. 

 Y., and Mr. J. W. Teffts of Buffa- 

 lo, New Yorlv, we have secured a 

 rare and valuable copy of a German 

 work published in 1783, one hun- 

 dred years ago. 



The work was a present to Mr. 

 Wall of Erie County, New York, 

 given to him by his grandfather 

 over fifty years ago. Mr. Wall is 

 over 76 years old, and has been a 

 beekeeper from his boyhood as 

 was his father before him, Mr. 

 Wall values this work very highly 

 and it was with great difficult}'^ he 

 could be induced to run the risk of 

 letting it go out of his hands. 



The work was written by one J. 

 L. Christ, a Lutheran divine of 

 Rodheim, Germany, and contains a 

 treatise or method by which any 

 person can make $200.00 in one 

 season, from tweuty-live colonies 

 of bees ; an amount seemingly small 

 but when we consider how far a dol- 

 lar would go in Germany especially 

 in those olden times, it was a fair re- 

 turn for the capital invested. 



While this work presents what we 

 of to-day would consider the crude 

 ideas of "ye olden times," yet we 

 shall find in its teachings the 

 groundwork or foundation of many 

 of our advanced ideas of the man- 

 agement of bees. We are having 

 this work translated into English, 

 and propose to publish it in the Ap- 

 iculturist, beginning in the next 

 number, and can promise our read- 

 ers a rich treat. 



THE NOETH AMEBIC AN BEE- 

 KEEPEBS' ASSOCIATION. 



The association met in the City Hall, 

 Toronto, Ont., Tuesday, Sept. 18, 1883, 

 the President, D. A. Jones in tlie Chair. 

 As the Secretary, Mr. A. I. Root of 

 Medina, Ohio, Lad not arrived, the 



meeting, after the reading of the re- 

 ports of tlie Vice Presidents, assumed 

 the character of a social gathering of 

 beekeepers from every quarter of the 

 United States and Canada. We have 

 only room to give the reports of the 

 Vice Presidents and President's ad- 

 dress, as taken from the A. B. J. 



The first report was from Dr. Millei-, 

 of Illinois. The season in that state, 

 he said, was unfavorable. Even when 

 white clover came, the bees lacked en- 

 ergy to go out and gather honey. 

 Those who had fed bees during the 

 winter did very well. The flow of 

 honey from clover closed up earlier 

 than usual, and since then they had 

 none. About three-quarters of a crop 

 had been obtained. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Augusta, 

 Ga., gave a fairly favorable report. 

 The last report of the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture in this state showed a 

 product of only 27 pounds per colony. 

 The horsemint, on which they de- 

 pended largely, yielded not a single 

 drop of honey, so far as he knew. A 

 succession of heavy frosts in April 

 had killed the bloom. The honey in 

 Georgia generally was of amber color, 

 and, for some reason which he did not 

 quite understand, it was a few shades 

 lighter this year than usual. 



Judge Andrews, of Texas, stated 

 that in north Texas the crop was 

 very light, not more than 10 pounds 

 per colony, but the honey was of very 

 superior quality. It was obtained 

 chiefly from rattan and honey locust, 

 which came into bloom early in May. 

 During the horsemint season (that 

 plant yielded little or nothing) there 

 was the most intense excitement 

 among the bees if the hives were 

 opened, or any attempt made to take 

 the honey. In middle Texas there 

 had been on the whole a good flow— a 

 finer crop he had never seen. In west 

 Texas the country had been settled for 

 only three or four years, and few bees 

 were kept. 



Mr. 0. O. Poppleton reported for 

 Iowa. Tne yield of white clover 

 honey in that state was heavy, but 

 since that, there had been nothing. 

 This was the worst season for robbers 

 he had ever knovpn. 



Mr. Hart, of Florida, gave a very 

 interesting report of bee matters in 

 his state. The yield was an average 

 one. but was from rather diflerent re- 

 sources than usual. Some of the bees 

 swarmed as early as the sixteenth of 



