1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



125 



of warm climates. There are three 

 varieties native to the Southern States, 

 the best known of which is the so-call- 

 ed "Coral Bean" of Texas. S. Japoni- 

 (■;} is hardy as far north as Philadel- 

 phia and might live farther north, in 

 some favored localities. 



STEADILY AVE GROW. 



The American Bee-Keeper has never 

 had a boom, but for years its list of 

 subscribers has steadily increased 

 week by week and day by day, until 

 today we have a delightfully healthy 

 list that is still on the increase at the 

 same old pace. A low subscription 

 price and cheap advertising rates, with 

 genuine merit behind the proposition, 

 have achieved this result. Thofugh this 

 edition of The Bee-Keeper exceeds 

 four thousand copies, we earnestly de- 

 sire to quicken the jDace of incoming 

 snbscribers during the remaining 

 months of the year, in order that we 

 may be able to introduce many of the 



ontemplated improvements in tBe 

 paper. If you know of any bee- 

 ieepers who do not take The Bee- 

 Keeper, kindly assiiSt our efforts by 

 svriting to the Falconer, N. Y., office 



"or cards and samples to be sent them. 



ODORS. 

 Odor in its relation to bee life and 

 nanagement has been long overvalued. 

 Phere is much evidence pointing to the 

 )OSseSiSion by each colony of an odor 

 if its own, differing from that of any 

 >ther colony. That such odor has much 

 10 dio with the reception or rejection of 

 liens has not yet been proven. It is 

 rue that it has been dogmatically aij- 

 erted to be the case, but valid proof 

 still wanting. The writer recently 

 aw a striking example of the free- 

 om with which bees of different 

 olonies intermingle regardless of odor. 

 Next to the westerly end of a row of 

 6 colonies of black and dark hybrid 

 ees stood a colony of "golden" 

 talians, the queen of which had been 

 itroduced last August. There is a 

 Mck and high evergreen hedge north 

 f the row protecting it from all but 

 outherly winds and the pre- 

 ailing winds are from the south- 

 est. The western-most hive 



lacks) had about 20 or 30 

 the golden bees in it. The golden 

 lony which stood next, had perhaps 

 8 many black bees in it. The colony 



next east of the gotldens had a very 

 large number of goldens, while each 

 succeeding hive had a lesser number 

 until the last, which was over 100 feet 

 ea^st of the golden stock, had but abo«t 

 a dozen. 



If odor possesses the importance 

 ascribed to it, there should have been 

 few or no golden bees in the other col- 

 onies and also there should have been 

 many dead golden bees in front of 

 each, but there were none. 



Perhaps the bees of this apiary had 

 lost their smellers. 



TRUTH WILL PREVAIL. 



"But of all plagues, good Heaven, 

 thy wrath can send, Save, save, oih 

 save me from the candid friend" 

 which same the League may aptly 

 quote to the following which appeared 

 as a double-column heading to an in- 

 spired article in the Boston Globe of 

 May 4 last: 



"500,000 BEES ON A CITY ROOF." 



Mr. F. H. Farmer has an extensive 

 apiary on the top of his four-story 

 building on Friend St. He feeds them 

 on sugar served in the form of a sy- 

 rup." 



Let the Leaguers still their wrath and 

 rail not, for they have none but them- 

 selves to blame if it is not just as 

 they would have it. Theu* foremost 

 men have long proclaimed sugar feed- 

 ing as the sine qua non of successful 

 apiculture and now their candid friend, 

 the reporter of the public press, has 

 told the world tliereof. They asked 

 publicity and forsooth they are get- 

 ting it in good measure, well heaped 

 up, pressed down and running over. 

 Let the good work go on until the 

 accursed practice is stamped deep into 

 the nether regions. 



ORANGE BLOSSOM HONEY. 



Pro. Cook, in Gleanings, says they 

 have it in Southern California, that it 

 is white and of exquisite flavor. He 

 says, however, that orange blossom 

 honey "will never have any commer- 

 cial importance, any more than will 

 that from fruit in the East," and ex- 

 plains that it is not that the nectar 

 is not plentiful in the flower but that 

 the colonies are too weak thus early in 

 the spring to store much surplus. 



The professor's theory may be 

 thoroughly satisfactory to himself, and 

 to others who may not have observed 



