THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



339 



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THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Vol. nil. June 2, 1886. No.22. 





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Mr. Georgre Grimm, of Jefferson, Wis., 

 was married to Miss Marietta Bullock, on 

 May 20. They took a wedding trip to St. 

 Paul, Minn., and will be ** at home " on the 

 10th of June. The Bee Journal extends 

 its best compliments. 



Jordan's "White Sulphur Springs," near 

 Stephenson Depot, Fred Co., Va., opened on 

 June 1, and will continue until Oct. 1, 1886. 

 The 20-page circular is on our desk. Mr. E. 

 €. Jordan, one of Virginia's most prominent 

 bee-keepers, is the proprietor. Honey is one 

 of the delicacies provided without stint to 

 his guests. 



In England tke spring is said to be fully 

 a month later than usual : while in the 

 central part of the United States it is quite 

 a month earlier than usual. A correspond- 

 ent in England remarks that up to May 1, 

 there had " not been more than six days free 

 from frost this year, and on three days only 

 have the bees carried natural pollen 

 briskly." This is a strange report for that 

 "garden spot of the earth." Usually the 

 month of May is delightful there, and the 

 fragrance from the universal bloom fills the 

 air with the loveliest of perfume. 



The Oleomargarine Lobby at Wash- 

 ington has issued a pamphlet for circulation 

 to Congress, entitled "Honest Words to 

 Honest Men." The idea of the makers of 

 that fraud— imitation butter—claiming to be 

 honest, is too absurd for anything ! Is it 

 honest to call their product butter, sell it 

 for butter, and get the pri' e of butter for a 

 fraudulent imitation? Congress has now 

 spent a week over the consideration of a 

 law to tax it out of existence, but so far 

 but littlehasbeenaccomplished towards that 

 desired end. Can we ever hope for that 

 body to pass a law against the adulteration 

 of honey and other food products? Our 

 faith in its accomplishment is very weak— 

 we cannot expect it. 



N. E. Cottrell, Burdick.Tnd.— Circular of 

 Bees and Queens is received. 



Another Salt Against Bee-Keeping. 



—Mr. Marshall J. Darling, of Waterbury, 

 Conn., has been sued by his neighbor. Geo. 

 Stanley, in the District Court for $500 

 datnages. The trial comes off on June 7, 

 1886, and good lawyers have been engaged 

 to try the case. Mr. Darling gives the 

 following facts concerning it : 



T am a mechanic, and work in the shop. I 

 have for 4 or 5 years kept a few bees both 

 for pleasure and profit. Last year they 

 increased from 8 to 19 colonies. The plain- 

 tiff, George Stanley, owns an adjoining lot ; 

 five families live there, in two houses. In 

 March Mr. Stanley told me that his tenant 

 would move if T continued to keep bees, for 

 they came in at the windows and stung the 

 family; and also spotted clothing around 

 the house. I told him that if he would put 

 screens on his windows I would pay for 

 them, but he refused to do that. He says I 

 must get rid of them. I told him that I never 

 have had any trouble with my neighbors, 

 and did not want any. and I would sell ail 

 that I could of them. I sold 8 colonies, 

 leaving 11. Now they have commenced to 

 swarm, and 1 have had two swarms this 

 week. A few days before Mr. Stanley 

 brought this suit, I "had arranged to move 

 my bees .into the country, where I could 

 keep more of them, but my lawyer tells me 

 not to move them now. 



It seems that this is to be a test case, to 

 ascertain whether it is lawful to keep bees 

 in the suburbs of a city or not, and will 

 affect many who now are engaged in the 

 pursuit in that State. 



It appears that Judge Cole has issued an 

 injunction, restraining Mr. Darling from 

 keeping bees on his premises on Cossette 

 Street. 



The New Haven iVeti'S of May 22 contains 

 the following concerning the suit : 



It is thought that the vexed question, 

 which has long troubled legal minds in this 

 locality, will be settled in this case, namely, 

 whether bees are '* fer^ naturje." 



This question was encountered in a pleas- 

 ant controversy out of com-t some years 

 asro between Judge John W. Webstf^r and 

 Farmer Plumli. of Prospect. Judge Webster 

 was excessively pleased at discovering bees 

 in their wild state, an autumn pastime in 

 which he is an acknowledged expert. The 

 mode of spying out the home and honey of 

 the wild bee requires unusual sagacity and 

 patience. A number of bees must be 

 captured in their tiowery haunts about the 

 fields, confined in a small box, taken to high 

 ground, and one by one allowed to escape 

 from different points. They always fly in a 

 bee line for their primitive hive, usually hid 

 in a hollow tree. It may be a mile or more 

 from the place where they are captured, but 

 the point whither the different lines con- 

 verge is a sure indication of their home. On 

 one occasion the judge had found a hive in 

 a very large oak tree, one of the finest in a 

 lai-ge forest owned bv Farmer Plumb, of 

 Prospect. A neighborina: chopper was 

 secured and S(^t to work. While he was thus 

 engasred. Farmer Plumb came down to the 

 bee-tree with an old Queen Ann musket on 

 his shoulder, and opened conversation with 

 the iudu-e by exchn'ming : 



" What are you doing- here ?" 



"Exercising the inalienable rights of an 

 American citizen." replied the judge. 



" Haven't I any rights here?" asked the 

 farmer. "I bought this wood land forty 

 years ago. and paid hard-earned money for 

 it. There is no mortsa^e on it, and I -sup- 

 posed T had some rights in it." 



"True," replied the judge, "you have 

 some few rishts. but! want you to under- 

 stand that inv rights to this particular tree 

 are paramount to yourri«-hts The ancient 

 custom of acquiring possession of a bee- 

 tree and its products ought to be well known 

 to vou." 



The question was argued at length pro and 

 cnn. and during the controversy the farmer 

 threatened and made demonstrations of 

 violence with his musket. The judge, 

 undaunted, walked towards him and assured 

 him that during a lonar acquaintance with 

 the law he had become familiar with its 

 principles in regard to bees. 



"These bees," said the judge, •* are *f era? 

 naturfe,' and no law is better settled than 

 that where a man finds bees ' ferae naturse,* 

 he is entitled to the bees and the means of 

 securing the honey." 



The judge then ordered the tree cut down. 

 This version of "ferae naturae" was too 

 much for the old farmer to grasp. His 

 musket fell from his hand, and he staggered 

 back, bewildered, against the fence. 



The judge secured a large quantity of 

 honey without further interference, and 

 although the Issue was never tried, it seems 

 that to this day the common law of the land 

 declares some bees to be " ferae naturae." 



Dividing for Increase.— A correspond- 

 ent who is a beginner, desires to learn how 

 he may with safety avoid watching for 

 natural swarms, in order to hive them. He 

 should either use a swarm-catcher or divide 

 for increase, instead of letting the bees 

 swarm. Mr. F. L.Dougherty, in the Indiana 

 Farmer, gives the following instructions ; 



The proper time to make a division is just 

 about the time the bees have begun prep- 

 arations to cast a natural swart^. This can 

 only be determined of course by examina- 

 tion of the frames. If, on opening the hive, 

 you find queen-cells are being built, you 

 know, of course, what to expect ; although 

 cells may be started and afterwards aband- 

 oned, but if on examination you find eggs 

 or young larva in the queen-cell, it is hardly 

 necessary to wait longer, but make the 

 division at once. In natural swarming, the 

 old bees, with the old queen, constitute the 

 cluster, consequently the division should be 

 made to follow this rule as near as practi- 

 cable. To do this open the hive near the 

 middle of the day, take out one frame of 

 bees, brood, honey, and the old queen, place 

 this in the new hive, remove the old hive 

 to a new location, setting the new hive 

 where the old one formerly stood. Bees 

 know little of the hive, but are governed by 

 the location. The bees that are in the fields 

 and all the old bees in the hive removed, as 

 they goout will return to the old location 

 and enter the new hive ; thus throwing the 

 working bees into the new hive where the 

 work is to be Identical with that of natural 

 swarming. 



Rlcli, Blooming and Variegated as 



the roses of June, comes the American 

 Agriculturist for this month, with its one 

 hundred original illustrations and original 

 articles, by forty-four well-known writers 

 in various parts of the Union, from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific. The second paper, 

 in the series of the Homes of our Farmer 

 Presidents, will be written by Donald G. 

 Mitchell (Ike Marvel) ; subject, George 

 Washington. The accompanying engraving 

 will probably bo as large as that of Jeffer- 

 son's Home, which was the first of the 

 series, to-wit : 27 inches long and 17 inches 

 wide. The engravings of Our Farmer 

 Presidents are to be presented to all sub- 

 scribers of the Americati Agriculturist as 

 they appear. Price of the Am^.rican Agri- 

 culturist, Enclish or German, $1..50 per year. 

 We will club it with the American Bee 

 Journal for $2. 2."j a year, each subscriber 

 to receive both papers and the special 

 engravings and descriptions by American 

 authors as they appear. 



Honey in Coflfee^ says a correspondent 



in the B<if'- Keepers' Record, is better than 

 sugar ; this is a most excellent wav to use it 

 when candied, especially by those who 

 have a prejudice against eating it. He then 

 adds, " Try it also in tea." 



F. J. Crowley, of Batavia, N. Y.. has 

 sent us his reduced price-list for this spring'. 



