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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 7, 



The Old, Old Story. 



We cannot resist the temptation to 

 publish the following : 



South Haven, Mich., Aug. 30, 1881. 



We regret that the management of 

 both the American Bee Journal 

 and Gleanings should have resolved 

 upon such action as they have, result- 

 ing in our financial embarrassment. 

 Presume it's no use for us to repeat 

 that we are paying fast as we can. 

 H. A. Burch & Co. 



We can assure Mr. Burch that we 

 did not " resolve upon such action" 

 until the complaints against him be- 

 came so numerous that we could no 

 longer doubt much of his business was 

 tinctured with "crookedness" (toput 

 it mildly). For nearly two years we 

 have heard more or less of complaint, 

 and have remonstrated with him for 

 his lack of promptness ; but more re- 

 cently we have been much censured 

 for carrying his name in our advertis- 

 ing columns, which we should not have 

 done had we not supposed he was at 

 least honest; but when statements 

 of his derelictions were received, sub- 

 scribed and sworn to by numerous 

 victims, " the management" could not 

 do otherwise than " resolve upon such 

 action." Mr. Burch had passed that 

 " point beyond which forbearance 

 ceases to be a virtue:" 



The assurance of Mr. Burch, that 

 " we are paying fast as we can " may 

 be gratifying to some, but there are 

 many, probably, who look upon orders 

 on the "management" of Gleanings, 

 by Mr. Burch, for the repayment of 

 money sent him for bees and supplies, 

 in about the same light that Dr. E. E. 

 Worthen does. 



The South Haven, Mich., Sentinel, 

 of Aug. 27, gives the promised partic- 

 ulars of the case where Mr. Burch has 

 had money for goods over two years, 

 and yet the order is unfilled, and adds : 



With such charges staring him in 

 the face, we should like to know how 

 much cheek it required for Master 

 Burch to write to the Bee Journal, 

 " If you feel like saying in the Bee 

 Journal that you regret our being so 

 much behind, but are assured that we 

 will make all satisfactory as far as lies 

 in our power, we shall feel gratefid." 



Another Dishonest Dealer.— In the. 

 September number of Gleanings, we 

 find the following allusions to another 

 of those swindlers who would bring 

 disgrace upon any respectable calling 

 they might adopt : 



Lebanon, Mo., Aug. 15, 1881. 



I drew on G. W. Marshall for the 

 pay for his advertisement, and he re- 

 pudiated it, and we drop his card ; and 

 if any one has lost money by reason of 

 his ad. in our Journal, we are ready to 

 make it good. E. M. Harrison. 



[That is business, friend Harrison, 

 and here is our hand on it. Let us 

 suffer long, and be kind, but when a 

 man repudiates his honest debts, he 

 should be held up as a warning.] 



And yet, under the editorial head of 

 the same paper whose publisher con- 

 demns thisG. W. Marshall,we find him 

 accredited, as late as the August num- 

 ber,with being its regular subscription 

 agent, and he has been so announced 

 during the whole season. We learned 

 years ago, through business transac- 

 tions with him, that this man Marshall 

 was dishonest, but we do not propose 

 to admit a, particepscriminis by assum- 

 ing any of his obligations, or refund- 

 ing moneys he has swindled patrons 

 out of. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Large Crop of Honey in Canada. —The 



Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, Sentinel, 

 gives the following account of Mr. J. 

 B. Hall's apiary and crop of honey for 

 this year : 



In a very recent conversation with 

 a gentleman who had been long and 

 intimately connected with bee-keep- 

 ing he declared that every township 

 in Canada was annually losing $10,000 

 by failing to keep as many bees as 

 would gather all its honey. Such a 

 waste of our productive wealth is really 

 startling, and it is satisfactory to know 

 that it does not occur in or arround 

 Woodstock. A visit to the apiary of 

 Mr. J. B. Hall on Drew St., will con- 

 vince anyone that Woodstock's honey 

 is all collected. Mr. Hall has now no 

 less than 250 thriving colonies of bees, 

 and has this year obtained over 6,000 

 pounds of honey. He reports the year 

 as a fairly good one, and seems highly 

 pleased with the signal success that 

 has attended him as a bee-keeper. A 

 visit to his apiary on Wednesday 

 proved both pleasant and instructive, 

 and we recommend all who are inter- 

 ested in bee-keeping to go there too. 



By the same paper we notice that 

 Mr. Hall has taken unto himself a 

 bride — Miss Mary Adams — and the 

 Bee Journal wishes that their honey- 

 moon may be their light and sweetness 

 all through life, and always be pro- 

 vided with a sufficient store of bee-bread 

 for their numerous brood. Mr. Hall is 

 to be congratulated upon the success- 

 ful re-queening of his chief hive, after 

 it had been queenless for two years. — 

 It would have been an impossibility 

 with bees. 



Biographical.— The following is an 

 extract of the biography of the late 

 editor of the Bienen Zeitung, found in 

 that paper of June 15th, for a transla- 

 tion of which Messrs. Greiner Bros, 

 have our thanks : 



Herr Andreas Schmid, editor of the 

 Bienen Zeitung, died in Eichstedt, May 

 2, after a long, suffering illness, in his 

 65th year. 



Not far from Regensburg, in the 

 small village of Grunthar, Andreas 

 Schmid was born, on Feb. 25, 1816. 

 His parents, Andreas and Ursula, 

 were in very moderate pecuniary cir- 

 cumstances, and the support of the 

 family, consisting of 2 more brothers 

 and 1 sister, caused them frequent de- 

 nials of many necessaries of life. The 

 fact, that a piece of wheat bread or an 

 apple was considered a rare " holiday " 

 treat, sufficiently illustrates their cir- 

 cumstances. 



When 6 years of age, he was sent to 

 Irlbach to school ; his chance for edu- 

 cational advantages was here any- 

 thing but encouraging, for the teacher 

 himself could neither read nor write. 

 He soon distinguished himself above 

 his schoolmates, which attracted the 

 attention of the village parson. He 

 was frequently invited to the parson- 

 age, where he found occasion to add 

 little by little to his education. He 

 also made himself useful about the 

 house and garden, wherever an oppor- 

 tunity was offered, but especially 

 when this parson, who was a lover 

 and keeper of bees, was engaged in 

 handling the bees. Having a natural 

 liking for these little insects, and be- 

 ing encouraged by the parson, he 

 probably formed here the love for the 

 calling he so faithfully pursued in af- 

 ter years. From his 13th year he 

 went to high school, at Regensburg ; 

 his untiring perseverance in his stud- 

 ies, soon distinguished him here also, 



and the Government sent him, in 1836, 

 for his final education to the capital, 

 Munchen. and 1 year thereafter to the 

 Teachers' Academy, in Eichstedt, as 

 assistant principal. His labors in this 

 position so occupied his time, that he 

 was engaged from 5 o'clock in the 

 morning until 10 at night, daily, leav- 

 ing him only the hours of the night, 

 Sundays and holidays to attend to his 

 private affairs. The Government sent 

 him again in 1853 to Munchen, to study 

 chemistry, and in 1867 back to Eich- 

 stedt, as principal. The agricultural 

 department of this institution, inclu- 

 ded apiculture in its studies, and An- 

 dreas Schmid found it necessary to lit 

 himself theoretically and practically 

 for its teachings. He purchased at 

 once bees, which he placed in the gar- 

 den of the Academy, and the students 

 received, under his management, 

 daily instructions in practical bee- 

 keeping. Many of these students, 

 possessing a natural taste for bee- 

 keeping, aided in the advance- 

 ment of the cause ; in later years, 

 when scattered as teachers over the 

 country, they became distinguished 

 bee-keepers, encouraged others in the 

 pursuit, founded Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciations, etc. His example found many 

 followers. His labors and zeal in ad- 

 vancing the cause are duly apprecia- 

 ted by all the German and Austrian 

 bee-keeping fraternity, and he always 

 lived as an unselfish, noble and con- 

 scientious friend and adviser in the 

 memory of all that knew him. 



Handling Bees without Smoke. — A 



correspondent in Gleanings remarks 

 as follows about handling bees with- 

 out smoke : 



" When we throw away fear entirely, 

 I think smoke is of little or no use. I 

 believe we can handle bees the year 

 round, and do it with more satisfaction 

 and better results by leaving smoke 

 entirely out of the apiary. If instead 

 of going to a hive, jerking the cap off, 

 tearing off the quilt, and blowing in 

 smoke to arouse the colony to a fight- 

 ing pitch, we would be cautious, rais- 

 ing the cap easily (a cap that will not 

 come off without jarring the hive has 

 no business in the apiary) raise the 

 quilt slowly, without jarring, avoid all 

 quick motions laying the quilt to one 

 side, and then pick up the frame, or, 

 rather, commence picking it up, draw 

 it out slowly. You will then have no 

 trouble, even with black bees, running 

 over their combs, scared to death. If 

 they fly in your face and alight on your 

 hands not one in twenty will sting you 

 if you just pay no attention to them. 

 I have discarded smoke almost 

 entirely." 



Why do you not discard the smoker 

 entirely, if its use is unnecessary ; 

 why say " almost entirely ?" With 

 strong colonies of bees, during a brisk 

 honey flow, the practical bee-keeper 

 would make but little headway in ma- 

 nipulating his hives without smoke, 

 unless provided with a skin as impen- 

 etrable as that ot a rhinoceros and per- 

 fectly reckless regarding the number 

 of bees killed. 



Both Sides of the Question.— Mr. T 



C. Hagaman,of Benton Harbor, Mich., 

 the great fruit region of the west, on 

 the subject of bees injuring grapes, 

 remarks as follows, in the Benton 

 Harbor Palladium : 



As I have an interest on both sides 

 of the question, I ought not to be 

 prejudiced either way. Bees, nodoubt 

 draw the juice from raspberries and 

 probably find the way through the 

 skin of them without any assistance, 

 as the juice will run from them as soon 

 as picked, if fully ripe. I don't know 

 that they injure the raspberry trade, 

 unless it is by a little sharp practice 

 upon the berry pickers occasionally. 

 I have been watching them for some 

 years to learn if they did injure fruit, 

 and I could only find that after a small 



gray bird had put its bill through the 

 grape the bee would then follow, as 

 they say of the grave-stone peddler, 

 after the doctor. I have frequently 

 seen the birds on the grapes and driven 

 them away, and found that where I 

 saw the birds most frequently they 

 were punctured upon the upper side 

 of the cluster — 2 or 3 holes, sometimes, 

 in one grape, over % of an inch across, 

 with the skin of the grape lapping 

 down inside, showing very plainly 

 that the bee could not make such an 

 incision with its small proboscis. The 

 grapes in the lower portion of the clus- 

 ter were almost invariably sound. 

 The bees will not wait for an invitation 

 to work upon fruit that has a broken 

 skin. That is a part of its economy 

 in providing for its future wants. Can 

 any one blame it for this V 1 do not, 

 and while I love good fruit I also love 

 good honey and enjoy taking care of 

 the bees, although they do play sharp 

 on me sometimes. From my obser- 

 vations I have no reason to believe 

 that the honey bee does in any way 

 injure fruit, and I believe that this 

 charge laid at the door of the honey 

 bee is entirely without foundation. 



Bees in Southern California.— We 



condense the following from an article 

 which recently appeared in the San 

 Francisco Examiner. Evidently the 

 estimate of the honey crop this year is 

 too large, as it will fall far below an 

 average : 



The extent to which honey-making 

 is carried on in the foothills of these 

 extreme southern countries is some- 

 thing remarkable. Careful estimates, 

 by responsible, well informed apiar- 

 ists, place the number of hives being 

 worked this season in the three coun- 

 ties of Los Angeles, San Diego and San 

 Bernardino at nearly 200.000. There 

 are at least 600 men wholly engaged 

 in saving honey this season, and an 

 average crop is assured. Last year 

 the honey crop of San Diego county 

 amounted to 1,291,800 pounds, and 

 this year it will be larger. The total 

 crop of "Ventura, Los Angeles, San 

 Diego and San Bernardino will not fall 

 short if it does not exceed 3,000,000 lbs. 

 this season — at least that is the opin- 

 ion of well informed apiapists. The 

 growth of this business has been very 

 rapid, and may now be said to be in 

 the zenith of prosperity ; for, as the 

 sage, sumac and other honey-produc- 

 ing flowers and shrubs decrease, so 

 also will the number of bee colonies, 

 now so numerous along the southern 



coast range In 1877 there were only 



22 bee ranches in this southern region ; 

 now there are not less than 500. Five 

 years ago the crop of honey was little 

 in excess of home consumption ; now 

 several large ships can be loaded with 

 the crop of a favorable year. 



The bee-keeper usually lives upon 

 government land, not because he is 

 unable to purchase what land he re- 

 quires (which is a small amount) but 

 because the wild sage, button sage, 

 sumac and other honey flowers and 

 shrubs are found growing luxuriantly 

 where land considered worthless for 

 grazing or cultivation is left unclaimed 

 and undisturbed. In almost every ac- 

 cessible gulch, gully and valley where 

 water can be had — and where the 

 white sage blossoms, a bee ranch may 

 be discovered. They are solitary 

 places, veritable hermitages, where in- 

 truders from the outside world never 

 find their way. Many of them are 

 very beautiful little rural gems, set 

 within a bower of roses and honey- 

 suckles ; some are merely a shed among 

 rocks and brush, devoid of taste or 

 comfort. These bee-raisers cultivate 

 a sort of freemasonry among them- 

 selves, and aid and advise each other 

 when called upon. They soon become 

 accustomed to their solitude, and 

 gradually accumulate a competence. 

 There are a few exceptional cases 

 where men have failed in bee-keeping 

 down here, but they are few and not 

 often found. No one should attempt 

 to keep a bee ranch but a lover of soli- 

 tude. It requires close care and atten- 

 tion, much patience, and little capital. 



