1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



13 



hat it is lit tor nothing else. Cattle 

 will sometimes browse on it early in the 

 spring, otherwise it is not touched by 

 Stock. List season, although the bees 

 could find nothing else on which to work. 

 the melilot kept them busy, enabling us 

 to continue queen-rearing, and to build 

 up nuclei without cessation, until late 

 in the season. It may be sown at any 

 tune ; it is biennial; does not bloom hut 

 very little the Brst year, ami at the close 

 of the second year dies out root and 

 branch. Some objections are raised. 

 claiming that if it becomes fairly es- 

 tablished it is a pernicious weed ; but, 



as it dies the second year, root and 

 branch, it is easily gotten rid of if not 

 allowed to go to seed. As an ornament 

 to roadsides it is far superior to dog- 

 fennel or ras-weed. To those who own 

 rough, broken, or waste land, we can 

 well say it will pay you to plant melilot. 

 It yields a delicious honey, equal to, if 

 not superior to white clover, especially 

 as regards the flavor. Four pounds of 

 seed will sow an entire acre, although 

 we would advise sowing it only in waste 

 places, along the roadsides, along creeks, 

 brooks, on hillsides, along railroads, etc. 



Congratulations to the Weekly. 



"While thousands have approved and 

 praised the Weekly, and congratulated 

 us upon its appearance, weare surprised 

 that there are no more who preferred 

 the old size and shape— those who have 

 spoken of this preference being only 

 about one to a thousand who have sig- 

 nified their approval. The enthusiasm 

 over the birth of the Weekly exceeds 

 our most sanguine expectatations, and 

 it is exceedingly gratifying to know 

 that our efforts to make an acceptable 

 paper are so universally appreciated. 

 To all we return thanks for their gen- 

 erous encouragement. The Weekly 

 starts with very nattering prospects, and 

 is a success from the very first. From 

 the many letters or commendation the 

 attention of the reader is directed to 

 the following : 



The initial number of the Weekly Bee Journal has 

 made its appearance. We expected a good paper, 

 and the first number indicates that we shall not be 

 disappointed. F. N. WILDER. 



I am much pleased with the first number of the 

 Weekly Bee Journal. I have Ions wished tor a 

 weekly bee paper. Geo. T. Wheeleh. 



The Weekly has arrived and I like it. As of old it 

 is a model publication. Now get up an Emerson 

 Binder suitable for it and we will not only wish the 

 edi lor a Happy New Year— but the Weekly Bee 

 journal B successful year. James Heddon. 



[We have had a large lot of Binders made especially 

 for the Bee Journal, and will sell them at wholesale 

 rates just to accommodate our patrons. They retail 

 for a dollar, but we will send them to any address 

 postpaid forS5 cents.— ED. J 



The Weekly is received. I like it. All will be 

 pleased to know what occurs, as events transpire, 



rather than thirty days after date. 



T. F. BINGHAM. 



I liked the Monthly ; but I like the Weekly better. 

 Geo. d. staats. 



1 very mucli appreciate your change of the Monthly 

 to the Weekly Bee Journal. H. Gripe. 



I like the idea of the Weekly Bee Journal. 1 want 

 and must have every number. I cannot afford to 

 miss one of them. W.T.STEWART. 



I have received the first number of the Weekly 

 Bee Journal and am uiurh pleased with it. 



1>. L. WHITNEY. 



The Weekly Bee Journal is the one thing needed to 

 complete my happiness as a bee-keeper. 1 cannot 

 do withoutit, and shall not as long as it is published. 

 Success to the Weekly Bee Journal. H. Jones. 



I am very thankful that the Bee Journal is to issue 

 every week ; formerly it seemed very long to wait a 

 month for it. So it is with pleasure that 1 Bend my 

 subscription. My it colonies of bees are in my cellar 

 packed in straw and are in good condition. 



CHARLIE H. BltADISH. 



I am pleased with the appearance of the Weekly 



Bee Journal. I have the pleasure to hand you the 



difference between mv subscription for the Monthly 



and the Weekly for the balance of my present time. 



H. U. Littell. 



'i'ii.> publlsherof tin 1 American Bee Journal, bare- 

 tofore published Monthly, now issues that well- | 



known and favorite periodical Weekly. it is a 

 beautifully printed 8-page, 4-column paper, and Is . 

 seni to subscribers at $3.ti0 a year. -Fruit Grower. 



1 iim much pleased at the prospect of obtaining 

 weekly news on the subjeot of bee-culture. 



B. E. Mii.es. 



The Weekly Bee Journal has put in its appearance 

 and I am highly pleased with it. To think we are to 

 see it one., n week makes smiling faces at our house. 

 1 am Improving very slowly from my long sickness 

 and hope soon to be able to send you a short article. 

 G. M. DOOLtTTLE. 



The Weekly Bee Journal is received. I like it very 1 

 much, and must have every number for 1881. 



Samcel d. Riegel. 



I learn enough from the Bee Journal to pay the 

 subscription price four tones over. I have now 41) 

 colonies in good condition on the summer stands, 

 but sheltered. Hoes did not swarm much during the 

 past season— though they increased from 25 to 4U, and 

 gave me lido lbs. of surplus honey. I wish the 

 Weekly every success. G. T. S.mith. 



Vou have made a long stride in the furtherance of 

 the science and art of bee-eulture by issuing a 

 Weekly Bee Journal. I congratulate you and hope 

 it will be as great a benefit to its publisher financially 

 as it is to the bee-keeping fraternity generally. 



R. Corbett. 



It seems like parting with a friend to give up the 

 familiar face of the old Monthly Bee Journal, that 

 has made me regular visits for so many years ; yet I 

 know that this progressive age demands a journal 

 that will be more frequent In its visit. 



Lee emerick. 



I want the Weekly for 1881. I am thankful for 

 which I have learned from the Bee Journal. In fact 

 I owe about all 1 know about bee-keeping to its 

 teachings anil wish it success. I have tia colonies in 

 Langstroth hives in the cellar. JOHN MEADOR. 



Place me on the list for the Weekly Bee Journal 

 for tssl. 1 know it will bo good. You have "hitthe 

 nail squarely on the head " that should have been 

 driven long ago. in giving us a Weekly Bee Journal. 

 I wish it prosperity and a host of subscribers. 



John W. STURWOI.D. 



The Bee Journal comes in its new garb ; it has 

 greatly assisted me through the trials of the past. 

 May its visits in the future bring good news of in- 

 creasing prosperity for us bee-keepers. 



R. H. Weir. 



I hope the Bee Journal will be an abundant success. 

 I have learned much from it in the past, and confi- 

 dently expect still more the coming year. Give us 

 all the light and knowledge at your command. 



B. S. MILES. 



I have been greatly benefitted by the Bee Journal 

 in the past, and expect much profit from it in the 

 future. Wai. Beard. 



I am well pleased with the prospect of having the 

 Bee Journal Weekly, and wish it abundant success. 

 John Baxter. 



1 like the appearance of the Weekly very much, 

 and think it will be much more satisfactory than a 

 Monthly. I send you seven subscribers for it, and 

 we all wish it and you success. 



O. J. Hetherington. 



I received the first number of the Weekly Bee 

 Journal and am highly pleased with the change from 

 Monthly to Weekly. With me it is one of the indis- 

 penBables. 1 have 17 colonies packed with straw on 

 the summer stands with quilt and chaff cushion over 

 the frames. I have had one colony destroyed by 

 mice, the combs was not much disturbed but the bees 

 were eaten up except the head, wings and sting end. 

 I have now cfose the entrances of all my hives with 

 wire-cloth. C. J. Ohuhch. 



The" Weekly Bee Journal is received and lam well 

 pleased it. I should feel lonesome without the Jour- 

 nal, and wish you every success. Henry S. Lee. 



I am very glad to see the Bee Journal in its new 

 I form. This step indicates the progress of apiculture, 

 with which the Journal is keeping abreast. 



A. B. Weed. 



I like the change to the Weekly very much. Suc- 

 cess to you. E. R. Wright. 



Send me the Weekly. I wish you great success 

 with it. I am quite sure it will be a success financially. 

 S. C. OoDGE. 



I have received the first number of the Weekly 

 Bee Journal and like it first-rate. Geo. Drury. 



lam pleased with your new departure in starting a 

 Weekly edition of the Journal. I have not been a 

 reader of the Journal for the past year but will now 

 renew my acquaintance with an old friend whose 

 pages will greet tue every week. J. H. Martin. 



I am very much pleased with the Weekly Bee 

 Journal, and would not think of doing withoutit, and 

 I will find time after a while to> write some more 

 articles for it. M. Mahin, D. D. 



There was only one thing lacking in the American 

 Bee Journal and now even that cannot be said of it, 

 for we are to have our beloved Bee Journal four 

 times where before we had it only once. It is a great 

 advance in apiculture when there is a demand for a 

 good Bee Journal once a week. The weather has 

 been very cold for the past week, thermometer 10° to 

 25° below. It will go hard with bees that are not 

 protected. Henry G. Burnet. 



g^ Please examine the date after 



your name on the wrapper label of this 

 Journal and see that proper credit is 

 given. Such is often a sufficient receipt, 

 now that the JOURNAL comes weekly. 

 In the great rush of the past week or 

 two, some mistake may have occurred 

 which we shall he most happy to correct, 

 if our attention is called to it. 



(g^ Our stock of No. 1 having been 

 exhausted— we have not been able to 

 send it to many hundreds of names 

 sent in for that purpose. We send this 

 No. in its stead. 



igfThe Indiana. State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its annual Con- 

 vention in Indianapolis, January 13th 

 and 14th. The Convention will be held 

 in the State Agricultural rooms, corner 

 Tennessee and Market Streets. Re- 

 duced rates have been secured at 

 several first-class hotels. Many in- 

 teresting papers will be read on the 

 different subjects pertaining to the 

 science of apiculture. Samples of the 

 latest improved implements used in 

 connection with modern bee-culture 

 will be on exhibition. 



Frank L. Dougherty, .Sec. 



GLEANINGS. 



g3T Novice reports his lunch room a 

 decided success. It is supplied with all 

 that heart can wish for, including lus- 

 cious Florida oranges. 



<gf Novice gives the following very 

 kind notice of the Weekly : 



For the first time since the world began, we are to 

 have a Weekly Bee Journal, and I presume it is in 

 the hands of many of you by the time this reaches 

 you. The first number makes a very creditable ap- 

 pearance, and as it will be quite a task for friend 

 Newman to get up such a one every week, shall we 

 not turn in and give him a lift, in the way of subscrip- 

 tions ? If I am correct, a sample copy will be mailed 

 on application.— Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



is only as a means of an additional tax. 

 The manner, however, in which the 

 honey is collected is so curious, and so 

 worthy of imitation, that it, merits a 



particular description. The contriv- 

 ance is very simple, ami was doubtless 

 suggested by the more ancient 'custom 

 still used in the Crimea, of harboring 

 bees in cylinders made of the bark of 



trees. Tiiey build up a wall formed 

 entirely of earthen cylinders, each 

 about three feet in length, placed one 

 above the Other horizontally, and closed 

 at their extremities with mortar. This 

 wall is then covered with a shed, and 

 upwards of one hundred colonies may 

 thus he maintained within a very small 

 compass. 



From this Monastery (Saliani) it is 

 practicable to ride the whole way to the 

 summit of Hymettus, but we preferred 

 walking, that we might the more leisu- 

 rely examine every object, and collect 

 the few plants in flower at this late sea- 

 son of the year. We saw partridges in 

 great abundance, and bees in all parts 

 of the mountain, not only at the mon- 

 astery, where a regular apiary is kept, 

 but also in such numbers dispersed and 

 feeding about the higher parts of Hy- 

 mettus, that the primeval breed may 

 still exist among the numerous wild 

 colonies which inhabit the hollow trees 

 and clefts of the rocks. 



Their favorite food, the wild Thyme 

 (Thymus Serphylluni), in almost every 

 variety, grows abundantly upon the 

 mountain together with Salvia pomifera 

 and Salvia verbascum, and to this cir- 

 cumstance may be owing the very heat- 

 ing quality of the honey of Hymettus. 



The pawerful aromatic exhalation of 

 these plants tills the air with a spicy 

 odor; indeed, this scented atmosphere 

 is very striking characteristic of Greece 

 and of its islands, but it peculiarly 

 distinguishes the mountains of Attica. 



Mr. G. H. B. Hooper, editor of the Dominion Api- 

 arian Bazaar, writes: "The Bee Journal is well 

 worth all it costs, and should be in the hands of every 

 bee-keeper in America, as 1 hope it will be." 



I am very glad we are to have a Weekly Bee Jour- 

 nal. I think it will he a great benefit to bee-keepers 

 in general. A. D. stocking. 



I welcome the Weekly Bee Journal, and wish it and 

 its editor much success. WM. Christ. 



I have received the first copy of the Weekly Bee , 

 Journal. It is just the thing, and is what 1 have been 

 for years wishing for. I hope it will be a success. 



J. H. MCRDUCK. 



<^° We have to ask the indulgence of 

 bur correspondents. Notwithstanding 

 we have increased the capacity of the 

 Bee Journal to a Weekly, still there 

 is such a quantity of matter sent in 

 that we can only give a tithe part of it 

 this week — but we will give all a chance 

 as fast as possible. The enthusiasm 

 with which the Weekly is greeted, ex- 

 ceeds our most sanguine expectations. 



l®" Those who have subscribed for 

 the Monthly or Semi-monthly, and may 

 want to change for the Weekly, can do 

 so at any time by paying the difference. 



Imported (jueens.— Mr. G. M. Doolit- 

 tle, is reviewing Novice's ABC book, 

 and on this subject says : " I have had 

 three daughters of imported queens 

 from as many breeders, and none of 

 them compared with the stock I had 

 taken pains to breed for honey. With 

 the majority of apiarists, probably, your 

 remarks are correct ; but we have a few 

 breeders whose queens are far ahead of 

 a promiscuous importation from Italy— 

 at least, such is my opinion. Five 

 hundred dollars would not hire me to 

 breed all my queens from an imported 

 mother, and iet my present stock go 

 down." 



Fire Weed is reported by E. Tarr to 

 be the greatest honey-producer down in 

 Maine. It grows from 4 to 7 feet high, 

 and commences to bloom about Aug. 1. 

 It give white honey of tine flavor, and 

 Mr. T. reports thousands of acres there, 

 and the few bees in that locality, therein 

 revel with delight. 



Perforated Separators.— J. C. Carpen- 

 ter has gotten up a hand machine for 

 perforating separators. He says it will 

 perforate tin or paper rapidly, and costs 

 but $5.00. It makes holes three-eighths 

 of an inch in diameter and three-eighths 

 of an inch apart. 



r I like the Weekly Bee Journal and think it will a 

 benefit to bee-keepers and hope it will pay the pub- 

 lisher well. I wish it success. D. Lovejoy. 



JgJ" We are happy to state that Mr. 

 Doolittle is slowly recovering his health. 

 His many friends will be glad to hear it. 



BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 



J. S. Wood copies from the travels of 

 Edward D. Clark, LL.D., the following 

 items on Cyprus and Hymettus bees and 

 honey : 



In these little cottages we found very 

 large establishments of bees, but all the 

 honey thus made is demanded by the 

 Governor ; so that keeping these insects 



BEE-KEEPERS' MAGAZINE. 



Test of Adulteration.— Professor Has- 

 brouck gives the following test of 

 purity for honey : " Honey is very dif- 

 ferent from commercial glucose. It is 

 a mixture in very nearly equal parts of 

 dextrose and lacoulose. The dextrose 

 is the part that ' candies,' is the same 

 kind of sugar as that which is found 

 dried in raisins, and is about one-third 

 as sweet as cane sugar. The lacloulose 

 will not candy, and is sweeter than cane 

 sugar. Glucose made from starch is a 

 mixture generally of one part dextrose 

 and three parts dextrine — a gummy 

 substance used for stiffening calicoes, 

 and for gumming the backs of postage 

 stamps. Dextrine is never found m 

 pure honey. Now the test of dextrine 

 is the solution of sub acetate of lead, 

 or Goulard's water, which can be found 

 at any drug store. This precipitates 

 the dextrine in any mixture as a thick 

 white curd, which remains floating in 

 the liquid. The same solution put into 

 honey does not change its color. This 

 simple test is very striking, and always 

 reliable. The glucose formerly manu- 

 factured contained foreign matter 

 gathered in the process of making, by 

 which it could be easily detected; but 

 the specimens I have seen recently con- 

 tained so little of these that they could 

 be demonstrated only by the practical 

 chemist. The way on which we rely to 

 distinguish honey from its adulterants 

 is by the polariscope, with which we 

 can tell the difference between honey 

 and grape sugar, and cane sugar, and 

 glucose, as plainly as one can distinguish 

 gold and iron, by the unaided eye. 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE. 



Bees in Ireland.— It has been stated 

 so often that 1879 was disastrous among 

 bees that I need hardly endose it as 

 regards Ireland. Rain and wind pre- 

 vailed all the honey season here ; but 

 for three or four seasons it has been so 

 unpropitious for honey gathering that 

 nearly all the old apiarists have been 

 discouraged. I fed the bees abundantly 

 in autumn, winter and spring, with 

 syrup made from I lbs. of loaf sugar, to 

 a' quart of water, one spoonful of vine- 

 gar, and half a glass of best whisky. 

 This mixture I gave them in a dishfuls 

 of 2 or 3 lbs. well covered with small 

 pieces of sticks. 



