THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



435 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Vol. nil, July R 1886, No, 28, 



A Siiiiiiiier Picture is thus given by a 

 correspondent iu the l'o^l,th's Companion : 



A cloudless sky, and a stretch of meadow 



Dotted with daisy and clover blooms ; 

 A farm-house old, in the white trees nestled. 



And hum of bees in the lilac plumes ; 

 Tassels ot alder so tenderly swaying?. 



And Hower-bells swinging: in every breeze ; 

 A song of bird from the wood hind shadow, 



And carol of joy in the buddinj^ trees : 

 A lake's dark calm in the distance lying, 



With cliif's graj' turrets reflected deep. 

 And tlag'-fringed shores where the trees are 

 bending 



O'er stilly shades where the lilies sleep. 



Bees are of great benefit to the fruit- 

 growers and horticulturists, but they seem 

 not to realize it— or at least many of them 

 pretend not to know it. 



Ill New York there is to be an apicultu- 

 ralstation. The Bee-Keepers' Magazine says : 

 " We are glad to note that the Empire State 

 is about to have an apieultural station of its 

 own. Prof. J. Henry Comstock, Professor 

 of Entomology, at Cornell University, is 

 making an effort, we understand, to estab- 

 lish a department of apiculture in that in- 

 stitution. We hope he will be successful in 

 his endeavor, and we shall be most happy to 

 do everything in our power to help him iu 

 his work." 



"Bee-Culture is to be distinguished 

 from bee-keeping ;" says the Rev. O. Law- 

 son, " because the latter, if it implies merely 

 the careless and neglectful possession of 

 one or more colonies of unfortunate bees, 

 will invariably be found both uninteresting 

 and unprofitable ; for in this, as in all agri- 

 cultural pursuits, want of care and of that 

 degree of skill which is to result from c4re, 

 will lead to disappointment and failure. 

 But on the other hand, it is claimed that 

 bees, with good management and timely at- 

 tention, need but little of either, but what 

 they do need they need imperatively— at the 

 right season, and can be made a source of 

 both pleasure and profit."— Indiana Farmer. 



All Old Bee-Guiii.— The following is a 

 fine specimen ot ignorance about bees, and 

 we print it ad Uteratum ; 



Letcher Co Ky June 20, 1880 .lents— as to 

 how Longe will Dies Liv in hives befor they 

 die out I will say to you I owne a bie hive 

 that is a bout 30 years scena Seenco I put 

 them in agum and they ar Still a live and 

 working it is the oldes hive of Dies I ever 

 new I want to now if any has any older bic- 

 liives pleas publish it in your paper. 



Yors truly J. B. Clay. 



Mr. Clay's old " bee-gum " reminds us of 

 the boy's old jack-knife; it was very old; 

 had seen a good deal of service; had worn 

 out several blades; and the old handle had 

 been replaced with a new one,— but it was 

 the same old jack-knife! I Just so it is with 

 Mr. Clay's old bee-gum— it Is 30 years since 

 he put the bees into it! From fifty to one 

 one hundred generations of bees have occu- 

 pied that gum; and twenty or thirty queens 

 have succeeded one another— but it is "the 

 same old gum ;" and the bees he put there 30 

 years ago " are still alive and working!" It 

 is "the oldest hive of bees he ever knewl" 



Mr. Clay stands upon the pinnacle of fame 

 —he has the most wonderful hive ot bees in 

 the world— he looks over the timber and 

 prairie, and congratulates himself upon hav- 

 ing the oldest bee-gum iu e-xistence. He 

 proudly asks, does any one know of any older 

 bees ? Ordinary bees live only a few weeks, 

 or a month at most, but his bees which he 

 put in that gum 30 years ago " are still alive 

 and working," and " don't you forget it." 

 Extraordinary old bees I Wonderful old 

 bee-gum I ! Happy old Clay I ! I 



Xlie Tf u<'fa Brush is employed for re- 

 moving bees from the combs. Mr. W. W. 

 Bliss, of Duarte, Calif., speaks thus con- 

 cerning them : 



Ever since the invention of the movable 

 comb hive, has there been a demand for 

 something suitable for brushing the bees ott 

 the combs. Quite a number of articles have 

 been brought into use for this purpose, from 

 a goose-quiil to a bunch of grass. The latest 

 as well as the most eH'ective article for this 

 purpose is the yucca brush. The species of 

 yucca {yucca liatata) from which these 

 brushes are made, are a native of Southern 

 California. They grow in vast numbers 

 along the foot-hills and mountain sides : 

 when iu bloom, their towering shafts of 

 white flowers cau be seen for several miles. 

 Their growth somewhat resembles the cen- 

 tury plant, but having a greater number of 

 leaves, which are about one inch broad and 

 two feet in length, tapering to a point, where 

 they are armed with a sharp thorn like a 

 century plant. For this reason they are 

 cometimcs called Spanish Bayonets. The 

 yucca, like the century plant, dies when it 

 blooms; just how old they are before they 

 bloom, is not known, Atterthe plant blooms 

 and has clied, the leaves are gathered and 

 made into brushes as here shown. 



They are a soft, vegetable fiber and do not 

 irritate the bees. As each separate fiber ex- 

 tends the whole length ot the handle as well 

 as the brush, they are almost indestructable. 

 When they become sticky with honey, they 

 can be washed, and when dry, are as good as 

 ever. 



The low price at which they are sold, en- 

 ables any bee-keeper to have six or more of 

 them, so as to always have one handy with- 

 out having to hunt for one. We can supplj' 

 them at 5 cents each, or 50 cents a dozen. 



Bees 111 Cyprus during February are 

 thus described by Mr. I'Yunk Benton In his 

 Larnaca Circular : 



The winter seems to have been severe all 

 over Europe and in all Mediterranean coun- 

 tries, but while in more northern climates 

 my bee-keeping friends write they were 

 buried in snows, I was away off where the 

 wmds blow from Africa's Great Desert and 

 at the beginning ot February was hiving 

 swarms and extracting beautiful rosemary 

 honey. Colonies that had not gotten short 

 of stores during the months ot December 

 and January, and were protected from rains 

 so then- liives' were dry inside, were quite 

 populous, some of them occupying twenty- 

 four frames, twelve to fifteen of them fairly 

 filled with brood. February 1.5th, I counted 

 eighteen frames ot brood in one hive, each 

 frame having 120 square inches; 350 queen- 

 cells formed by a single colony preparing to 

 swarm, were counted on twelve frames. 

 Here m Cyprus the colonies are less ad- 

 vanced, for even Cyprians cannot get honey 

 out of bare rocks and barren sand. 



Over $250.00 in Preiiilums are offered 

 at the St. Joseph, Mo., Inter-State Exposition 

 which opens August 30, 1886. A bee-con- 

 vention will he held on the Monday follow- 

 ing. Send to the superintendent, J. G. Gra- 

 ham, Agency, Mo., for a premium list. 



Bees at tlie Zooloiu:i('al Gardens iu 

 Fliiladelphia, Pa — Mr. Arthur Todd, on 

 July 5th '■ opened up " a bee-exhibit at the 

 "Zoo,"with a lecture upon"the habits of 

 the bees." A similar lecture will be given 

 every Wednesday at the same place. The 

 Public Ledger of June 'JOth, contained the 

 following notice concerning it : 



Preparations are now being made at the 

 Zoological Garden to add to the interesting 

 teaturesot that place a permanent collec- 

 tion of bees, so that the visitors may be 

 shown something about bee-keeping and 

 given an opportunity to study the habits of 

 the insects in question. It is expected that 

 the collection, which will probably comprise 

 about Id hives, will be taken to the Garden 

 very shortly by Mr. Arthur Todd of this city. 

 Superintendent Brown savs that Mr. Todd 

 will have a supervision over the exhibition, 

 and it IS proposed to make an arrangement 

 with him whereby he will deliver lectures at 

 the "Zoo" from time to time about bee- 

 keeping, so that those who are interested iu 

 bees can obtain practical information about 

 the way of caring for them, etc. A one- 

 story frame building opposite the monkey- 

 house, which was formerly used as a photo- 

 graph stand, and contains two rooms, will be 

 converted into an apiary. In the back room 

 three glass cases have already been placed 

 in position on small stands, it being intend- 

 ed to utilize the cases for bee-hives. These 

 cases are put close to the back wall of the 

 apiary in such a mannerthat the bees will be 

 able to escape out into the garden by means 

 of holes cut in the wall. 



A plot of ground, about 20 feet square, 

 situated near the bear-pits, is also being en- 

 closed with a wire fencing in order that an 

 ordinary colony of bees may be placed with- 

 in it, thus forming another interesting fea- 

 ture of the bee-exhibit. Superintendent 

 Brown says that a fear is sometimes ex- 

 pressed on the part of persons visiting bee- 

 hives that they may be stung, but considers 

 that, with the methods now employed in the 

 systematic care of bees, there is but little 

 danger of any one being so injured. 



Oldest Apieultural Publislier.— In L' 



Apiculteur M. Hametsays he is the oldest 

 member of publishers of bee-literature. 



The Apiculteur is in its thirtieth year, and 

 besides this he has issued several other pub- 

 licatious. By the end of 1SS6 he will have 

 issued t0,000 volumes and pamphlets, nz., 

 40,000 vols of L' Apiculteur. 18,000 vols, of 

 Cours d' Apiculteur, 8,000 Calendiers apicoles, 

 4,000 ^nesWicsies, and several others jointly 

 with other authors. 



