.«*'. 



DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 13, 1881. 



No. 28. 





Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



TERMS OP SUBSCKIPTIONi 



WEEKLY— (52 numbers) S» a year. In advance. 



Throe or Six Mutiths at the same rate. 

 SEMI-MONTHLY— The first and third numbers ol 



each month, at JSl-OO a year, in advance. 

 MONTHLY— The first number of each month, at 



i>o cents a year, in advance. 



I2T* Any person sending a club of six is entitled 

 to an extra copy (like the club) sent to any address 

 desired. Sample copies furnished free. 



If Remit by money-order, registered letter, ex- 

 press or bank draft on Chicago or New York, pay- 

 able to our order. Such only are at our risk. Checks 

 on local banks cost us 2'> cents for collecting. 



Free of postage in the United States or Canada. 

 Post :\ge to Europe 5© cent* extra. 



Entered at Chicago post office as second class matter. 



The Rev. W. F. Clarke. 



On this page we give our readers 

 an engraving of the Rev. W. F. 

 Clarke, which will be recognized by 

 those who know him, as a very good 

 likeness. 



Mr. Clarke is an Englishman, and 

 was born in the city of Coventry, 

 March 31, 1S24. He was educated for 

 the ministry, having been one of the 

 earlier students in the Congregational 

 College of British North America. 

 Before going to college he spent a 

 couple of years on a new Canadian 

 farm, and there contracted that love 

 of agriculture, which has been with 

 him a strong, if not a " ruling pas- 

 sion " ever since. 



Mr. Clarke bought his first hive of 

 bees in the spring of 1864, with a view 

 of investigating the secrets of apicul- 

 ture, in order to fit himself to write 

 on that branch of moral economy. In 

 January of that year, he had under- 

 taken the editorship of the Canada 

 Farmer, owned by the late Hon. G. 

 Brown, and published in connection 

 with the Olobe newspaper, the leading 

 daily and weekly of the Dominion, 

 lie continued editor of that paper for 

 S years, and during that time pursued 

 the study of apiarian science with un- 

 flagging interest. He was one of the 

 first to introduce the Italian bee, the 

 honey extractor, and other improved 

 appliances to the bee-keepers of Can- 

 ada. He represented the Dominion 



at the Apicultural conventions held 

 at Indianapolis, Dec. 21, 22, 1871, and 

 at Cincinnati, in Feb., 1872, out of 

 which by the harmonious blending of 

 conflicting interests, the North Amer- 

 ican Bee-Keepers' Association, now 

 so prosperous, was organized. Mr. 

 Clarke held the Presidency of this 

 body for 2 years, and, until laid aside 

 by ill-health for a time, was one of its 

 most active members and officers. 

 On the death of the lamented Samuel 

 Wagner, Mr. Clarke purchased the 

 American Bee Journal, and, act- 

 ing under the advice of leading bee- 

 keepers, effected its removal from 



of professional and literary labor. In 

 June, 1880, he became pastor of the 

 Congregational Church, in Listowel, 

 Ont., where he divides his time be- 

 tween the care of his flock, the Ag- 

 ricultural Editorship of the Western 

 Advertiser, and Montreal Witness, and 

 occasional contributions to a variety 

 of periodicals. Of late he has re- 

 sumed work on the American Bee 

 Journal, and we hope hereafter to 

 see his face and hear his voice at our 

 annual conventions of bee-keepers as 

 of yore. 



Mr. Clarke has never practiced bee- 

 keeping as a business, but wholly as 



Washington, D. C, to Chicago. III., 

 from which city the first number was 

 issued in Jan., 1873. In the December 

 following, the proprietorship of the 

 Journal passed into its present 

 hands, but Mr. Clarke remained the 

 responsible Editor for more than a 

 year subsequently, and continued to 

 contribute to its columns for some 

 time afterwards, until sickness com- 

 pelled his retirement from" that and 

 all other literary work. Happily he 

 betook himself to the recuperative in- j 

 fluences of farm-life, regained his 

 health, and for more than a year past 

 has been able to perform his full share 



a matter of scientific investigation 

 and interest, 24 colonies being the 

 most he has ever had at one time. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Honey Crop in Central N. Y. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I see by the reports in the Weekly 

 Bee Journal, that most of the. read- 

 ers are having a prosperous season, 

 and I wish it was so with all ; but so 

 far, little honey has been obtained by 

 the bees in Onondaga county, N. Y., 

 and reports of like character are com- 

 ing in from many portions of this 

 State. Spring opened with us about 



April 20th. at which time we found the 

 winter and spring had worked more 

 ruin to our bees than any season ever 

 known before. After getting things 

 in order, I found the best I could do 

 was to unite my bees down to 30 colo- 

 nies, for they stood as follows : 1 good 

 colony, 10 fair to medium, and 40 weak 

 to very weak. After reducing all to 

 30 in number, many of them were still 

 found to be quite weak, and had to be 

 helped by other colonies. Still, al- 

 though regretting the great loss, 1 have 

 been thankful it was no worse, when 

 I received so many reports from par- 

 ties who had lost all. Pollen came in 

 quite plentifully about May 1st, from 

 elm and soft maple, when the work of 

 building up our bees commenced in 

 earnest. On the 12th, golden willow 

 gave the bees a taste of honey, from 

 which our best colony gave us 5}£ lbs. 

 of extracted honey. Rightherelwish 

 to say that I know of no tree or plant 

 that helps the bees more than the 

 golden willow. It comes so early, giv- 

 ing the first honey, which seems to 

 five the bees new life and activity, 

 here are probably 50 smallish trees 

 in range of our bees, and they gene- 

 rally make a gain of from 5 to 9 lbs. 

 per colony of good honey from it, while 

 in bloom. We value this willow more 

 from the fact that it does not incline 

 to throw up sprouts or shoots as most 

 of the willow tribe does, but grows 

 into a tree similar to the basswood, 

 although it never attains a large size. 

 It grows readily from cuttings, and 

 will thrive in all moist (not wet) places. 



But to return : May 21st apple trees 

 commenced to bloom, and as the 

 weather was generally good, our best 

 colonies stocked up with new honey ; 

 the best one (which I concluded to 

 work for extracted honey) giving 19J4 

 lbs. The weather during May wasex- 

 tremely warm, the mercury going as 

 as high as 02° in the shade. 



June 1st, owing to the continued 

 warm weather, white clover began to 

 open, and as the ground was thickly 

 covered with it (as a result of the fa- 

 vorable winter for all herbage), I con- 

 fidently expected as good a yield of 

 honey from clover as in 1877. But 

 alas ! on J line 4th the weather changed, 

 and it has been cold, cold, rain, rain, 

 ever since. On June 6th there was a 

 frost which killed grapes, and even 

 our strawberries after they were nearly 

 one-half grown. On the 14th we had 

 another frost, with a week of cold, 

 cloudy weather, so the bees scarcely 

 looked out of their hives. It is 

 warmer now, but we have rain nearly 

 every day. 



I have taken 28 lbs. of clover honey 

 from the colony for extracted honey, 

 and if it should come warm and dry 

 soon, a few days' good yield mightyet 

 be obtained ; otherwise, basswood is 

 our dependence for honey for 1881. 



It has been the worst time for queen- 

 rearing I ever saw, for the cold nights 

 chilled most of the brood in newly 

 made nuclei. We now hope for better 

 times, and dislike to give this dark 

 side to the picture, but deem it no 

 more than right that the readers of the 

 Bee Journal should know that all 

 does not always go smoothly in bee- 

 culture, any more than in any other 

 business. 



