AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



789 



in the towns, but as the long whiter 

 evenings come on, they can meet around 

 for neighborhood visits, and by syste- 

 matic efforts can have select readings 

 from standard authors on all subjects 

 interesting to farmers, followed by the 

 personal practice of those present. 



One line of work may be taken up one 

 evening, and another the next time, 

 which would prove instructive to all 

 attending. Try it. — Nebraska Bee- 

 Keeper. 



Wet Earth a Bee-Sting Cure. 



Although wet earth has long been 

 known as a cure for bee and wasp stings, 

 very few persons seem to be aware of 

 its value as such. The following ex- 

 ample may interest some of the readers : 



Four summers ago, at a picnic in the 

 country, one of my boys found a wasp's 

 nest, ani must needs amuse himself 

 pelting it with stones, resulting in his 

 getting very badly stung in the face. 

 Fortunately, I remembered of having 

 read of the wet-earth cure, and at once 

 daubed his face with some mud from 

 the road, with the happy result that in 

 about 15 or 20 minutes all the painful 

 effects had ceased, and very little swell- 

 ing remained. 



I have since then used this remedy 

 when stung whilst manipulating my 

 bees, and find it infinitely better than 

 spirits of ammonia or other popular 

 remedies, and the best of it is that it is 

 alwaysready at hand. — J. F. R. Aylen, 

 in British Bee Journal. 



Changing Nectar into Ripe Honey. 



Our experiments have led us to the 

 conclusion that all honey brought in 

 from the fields by the outside laborers is 

 given to the young bees, taken into their 

 honey-sacs, and if more is gathered than 

 their sacs can contain, it is deposited in 

 the cells until night, and then evapor- 

 ated down ; although the evaporation is 

 going on to some extent during the day- 

 time. At night all hands join, from the 

 outside laborers with jagged wings down 

 to the bees but a day or so old, and the 

 honey or thin sweet is taken into the 

 honey-sac, thrown out on the proboscis, 

 drawn back in again, and so on until by 

 the heat of the hive these small particles 

 of honey are brought to the right consis- 

 tency, when it is deposited in the cell. 

 In order to do this the bees hang loosely 

 so that when the proboscis is thrown out 

 it shall not hit another bee, or the combs 

 or hive. Many a night have we watched 



their operations, and by the light of a 

 lamp you can see the little drops of nec- 

 tar sparkle as it is thrown on the pro- 

 boscis and drawn in again. When honey 

 is coming in slowly, you will not be 

 likely to see this process. All, doubt- 

 less have observed that when bees are 

 getting honey plentifully, it shake* 

 readily from the combs at night, while 

 in the morning before the bees go into 

 the fields, not a particle can be shaken 

 from the combs.— G. M. Doolittle, in 

 Gleanings. 



Bees and Red Clover. 



It is an established fact that bees do 

 not get much honey, not enough " to 

 count," from red clover. If a red clover 

 blossom be examined, it will be found 

 often that some of the flowers on the 

 edge of the tuft are shorter than the 

 others. It is possible that the bee occa- 

 sionally gets an atom of honey from 

 these dwarfed or imperfect blossoms, be- 

 cause the flower-cup is shallow enough 

 to allow the bees to reach the honey 

 secretion in the bottom. 



Some one has said that the bees are 

 seen on red clover late in the season. 

 Of course. When hofley is scarce, the 

 bees are looking everywhere for it. If a 

 cast-iron imitation of a clover blossom 

 was set up, probably a bee might be seen 

 on it. " Late in the season" bees may 

 be seen on a great many things that do 

 not yield honey. They may be seen, 

 however, on red clover at all seasons of 

 the year, trying, perhaps, to find some 

 honey in the shallow cups described, 

 but late in the year, more of them may 

 be found on red clover. — Julia Allyn. 



The Nebraska Bee-Keeper 



finishes its third volume this month. Its 

 publishers say that on the whole the 

 year has been a prosperous ono with 

 them. We are glad to hear this, for we 

 do like to see worthy firms succeed. 

 They expect to add a horticultural de- 

 partment to their paper hereafter. That 

 will open up a large and beautiful field 

 to them, for it is all about 



"Flowers, flowers, beautiful flowers, 

 Emblems of heaven, our bright home above" 



Why Not send us one new name, 

 with $1.00, and get Doolittle's book on 

 "Scientific Queen-Rearing" as a premi- 

 um ? Bead the offer on page 711. 



