AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



491 



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Some Flower Messages to All. 



ADA M. MELVILLE. 



Snowy-fringed daisy-buds, clover and fern ! 

 See how the hearts of the buttercups burn 

 With sunbeams that hide in their bright yel- 

 low cups, 

 Brimmed o'er with the nectar old Honey-bee 



sups. 

 See, how the meadows stretch greenly away 

 To kiss the blue heavens where birds are at 



play, 

 Sunshine and flowers, meadow and sky- 

 Dear child, art forgetting how suffering ones 



lie 

 On couches of pain, shut in from the world, 

 While you are a-hunting the cool mosses 



curled 

 At the foot of the oak-trees, while thickly 



around 

 Brown acorn-cups dainty are strewing the 



ground ? 

 Snowy-fringed daisy-buds, clover and fern. 

 See how the hearts of the buttercups burn. 

 Ah, child at your play, and maidens so fair, 

 Your lives all untouched by the shadows cf 



care, 

 Go, carry a breath of the sweet summer day 

 To the sick and the dying who moan life away ; 

 Go, scatter the buttercup's sunshine abroad — 

 E'en a flower may carry a message from God. 

 Chicago, Ills. — Bpworth Herald. 



Cure for Laying Workers. 



I think I have tried about all the dif- 

 ferent cures reported, and I am not sure 

 that I would use any of them that con- 

 template the continuance of the colony, 

 unless it be to get the bees to rear an- 

 other queen. Taken early enough, the 

 bees will respect a queen-cell ; in fact, 

 they are trying to rear a queen with their 

 own useless brood; and if you give them 

 a frame of good brood you may have a 

 queen reared. But they may not rear 

 a very good queen thus, and in any case 

 it will take some time, and it is better to 

 give them a sealed cell as near hatching 

 as possible. 1 have succeeded by giving 

 them a young queen just hatched. But 

 after the affair gets to be chronic, and 

 the rounded cappings are seen on the 

 worker-cells, more heroic treatment is 

 needed. 



On the whole, I am not sure but it is 

 best in all cases to resort to the heroic 



treatment of breaking up the colony. 

 Just distribute the contents of the hive, 

 giving one or two frames, bees and all, 

 to each of several other hives : and if 

 you wish anything more continued on 

 the same stand, just put another hive on 

 stand, having in that hive at least two 

 frames of brood with adhering bees, and 

 a sealed queen-cell. After you have ex- 

 perimented long enough at trying to 

 save a colony with laying workers, I feel 

 pretty sure that you will agree with me 

 that the most profitable thing is to break 

 up the whole business, and that it will 

 be cheaper to start a new colony than to 

 continue the old. — Dr. C. C. Miller, in 

 Gleanings. 



Bee-Keeping and Horticulture. 



Bee-keeping has reached such an exact 

 stage now that considerable scientific 

 knowledge of bees and plants must be 

 had before success can be assured. The 

 apiarist must not only know the natural 

 history of the bees, but he must be a pa- 

 tient observer, watching his pets care- 

 fully, and ready at a moment's notice to 

 improve upon their condition. 



A point that has not yet been fully set- 

 tled is the relation between the bee- 

 keeper and the fruit-grower. The value 

 of the bees in fertilizing flowers and 

 fruits is not disputed, and it is a ques- 

 tion if pomology could advance with such 

 rapid strides as it does if it were not for 

 the bees. Apiculture is the handmaid 

 to horticulture, and the question re- 

 mains whether the two ought not to be 

 conducted together. 



The fruits and flowers must be culti- 

 vated for profit, and when they are sup- 

 plied the richer nectar is prepared for 

 many colonies of bees. The fruit-grower 

 now loses all this nectar or allows his 

 neighbor's bees to carry it away. By 

 having several colonies of bees near his 

 orchard he would not only gather the 

 fruit, but the nectar in their flowers also. 

 Little additional labor would be required 

 for this, as the bees demand very little 

 attention in the fruit season. ' 



Bee Journal Posters, printed 

 in two colors, will be mailed free upon 

 application. They may be used to ad- 

 vantage at Fairs over Bee and Honey 

 Exhibits. We will send sample copies 

 of the Bee Journal to be used in con- 

 nection with the Posters in securing 

 subscribers. Write a week before the 

 Fair, telling us where to send them. We 

 would like to have a good agent at every 

 Fair. 



