THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



451 



injmim 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



mniL July 21, 1886, 1,29, 





We Have Received a photograph of 

 the apiary of Mr. John H. Thornton, of 

 Lima. Ills. It shows 140 colonies of bees, 

 but he says there are more oyer the hedge- 

 lence. That is pretty well for a young man 

 of 25 summers— and unmarried, too. He 

 says he has been making bee-keeping his 

 special business for si.ic years, and that the 

 prospect is good for this year's crop to 

 amount to eight or ten thousand pounds. 

 We have put It in our office album. 



Tbe Election of officers for the Union 

 resulted in an average majority of over 100 

 in favor of the officers of last year. All the 

 votes which were not for the re-election of 

 last year's officers were very scattering ; no 

 one receiving over a dozen votes, and it 

 would be quite uninteresting to publish the 

 list of names. There were several " blanks," 

 eitherwholly or inpart ; the only unanimous 

 vote being that for manager. This must be 

 Interpreted as a unanimous vote of con- 

 fidence in, and indorsement of all his 

 official acts during the past year. He accepts 

 it as such, and while he would have wel- 

 comed any good manager as his successor, 

 the unanimity exhibited by the vote nerves 

 him up to continue the battle and "flghtlt 

 out on that line," cost what it may. 



The Aii8tro-Gemiaii Bee-Keepers' 

 Association meets this year in Troppan, 

 Austria. We acknowledge the receipt of a 

 "very pressing invitation to be present, and 

 ■would be glad to avail ourselves of the 

 opportunity were it possible to do so— but 

 that is out of the question, we are sorry to 

 say. Mr. C. Ernst Muhlan, at Troppan, has 

 also very kindly urged us to accept an 

 invitation to make his residence our home 

 during the convention. We should enjoy 

 that very much, and it would be a great 

 pleasure for us to renew the acquaintances 

 made at the meeting of the Austro-German 

 and other European conventions of seven 

 years ago ; but we dare not entertain the 

 thought. We feel very sorry to decline, but 

 It must be so, and we bow submissively to 

 circumstances. 



The CalU'ornlii Fi-iiU-Uccn LawKUit 



in San Bernardiuo, has been again decided 

 against the bees. It was taken to the 

 Superior Court on an appeal, and Mr. Ilohn 

 writes us that his attorney says that the 

 decision really beats tbe respondent as well 

 as the appellant, and that it will probably 

 rest therd. We have advised Mr. Bohn to 

 make no move unless the fruit-meu make 

 such necessary. They expressed consider- 

 able surprise that the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Union had a hand in the suit, and we 

 imagine they will not be so anxious to fight 

 the whole fraternity as they were to annoy 

 one member of it. The expenses of the suit 

 and appeal have amounted to $384. .50 ; of 

 this the Union has paid one-half and Mr. 

 Bohn the other half. We shall now let the 

 matter rest, unless the fruit-men make a 

 stir. We have not yet received the judge's 

 decision. When it comes we will publish it. 

 Mr. Bohn remarks thus concerning some 

 of the advice that has been ottered by some 

 of our correspondents : 



As to Mr. Heddon's article, where he 

 speaks of compromise, I think I can stand 

 the test in this case. I have allowed these 

 very fruit-growers to run two large irrigat- 

 ing ditches through difi'erent parts of my 

 place, without charging them any damages. 

 As to Mr. Hutchinson's article about bees 

 troubling grapes but for a few days, it is a 

 mistake, as there are two crops to dry. In 

 from ten to twenty days of the first drying, 

 the second comes. The latter dries in from 

 fifteen to thirty days, if they dry at all, 

 which they do not always do. I have known 

 them to be stacked up ten trays high for a 

 week at a time on account of foggy and 

 rainy weather, until they resembled a grape 

 skin full of fermented juice and were 

 thrown away. 



So I, recognizing the impossibility of con- 

 fining ray bees to keep them from the fruit, 

 offered to remove my bees if they would 

 buy my place, asking them but one hundred 

 dollars more than I paid for it two years 

 before. They then offered me twenty-five 

 dollars less than my price, at the same time 

 making use of this bluff,' that I could not 

 keep bees on the place anyway, when I 

 told them that I thought I could, and that I 

 would keep them there as long as the law 

 allowed me to do so ; saying also that if I 

 could not keep them there I could not keep 

 them anywhere lawfully. 



Sending Qneens to Canada by mail is 

 a matter that may be arranged in the new 

 treaty soon to be made between the United 

 States and Canaila. On page 4.59 the Hon. 

 N. J. Hammond, Congressman from Georgia, 

 promises to aid us in getting the matter 

 straightened out. 



The Canadian Bee Journal, in its last issue, 

 promises to see that no obstructions are 

 made on the Canadian side. Mr. J. E. 

 Cuthbertson, of the Toronto postoffice, says 

 that he finds nothing to hinder bees from 

 being sent in the mails, when coming from 

 the United States. He also says that the 

 Inspectors of Customs there have not been 

 notified of any restrictions, etc. He has 

 also written to the Canadian Postal Depart- 

 ment about it, and has received this reply : 



Sir :— I have to inform you that the 

 Department does not object to the bringing 

 ot queen-bees into Canada by mail, provided 

 they are put up in such a way as to guard 

 against their causing any inconvenience or 

 damage in the handling of the mail. 



This shows that the trouble comes from 

 the over-otBciousness of the officials on this 

 side of the line, which we expect will soon 

 be over-ruled, by the influences already 

 brought to bear on them— the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union and its friends. 



Earthquakes In Ne»v Zealand.- On 



June 9, the luitivcs of Faranza, Auckland, 

 were awakened at 2 a.m. by repeated vivid 

 flashes of lightning, which continued at 

 rapid intervals up to 4 a.m., when a tremen- 

 dous oarthijuake occurred, followed quickly 

 by others. The earthquakes continued to 

 follow one another in quick succession up 

 to 7 a.m., when a leadon-colorcd cloud was 

 observed advancing from the south, spread- 

 ing out until it covered the sky. While still 

 moving it burst with the sound of thunder, 

 and shortly after showers of fine dust began 

 falling. An exchange says : 



The severity of the shocks led many of the 

 people to believe that the island would sink 

 into the sea. The sensation experienced is 

 said to have been fearful beyond descrip- 

 tion. Immediately after the flrst shock the 

 inhabitants rushed frantically in all direc- 

 tions. When the second shook came the 

 entire country for miles around was lit up 

 by the glare from a volcano which had 

 suddenly burst into activity. The scene 

 was as grand as it was awful. Huge volumes 

 of smoke, illuminated with flames, simul- 

 taneously burst forth from a range of 

 mountains over sixty miles in length, and 

 above the smoke could be seen huge masses 

 of fire resembling meteors rushing through 

 the sky. 



For the first time in tradition the extinct 

 volcano of Ruapeha was awakened into 

 activity. The entire country, over an extent 

 of 120 miles loug by 20 in breadth, was 

 nothing but a mass of flame and hot, 

 crumbling soil, which in places rose to the 

 height of 4,000 feet, capped at the highest 

 point by the Tekopha Geyser, said to have 

 been one of the grandest in the world. 



Numerous small villages were totally 

 destroyed. Wairoa was covered to a depth 

 of ten feet with dust and ashes. One 

 hundred and seventy persons are known to 

 have lost their lives. The loss of cattle 

 starved to death from the destruction ot 

 pastures by the dust is very heavy, and 

 great distress exists throughout all the 

 Auckland Lake district. In most cases 

 where bodies were found they were dead. 



Signor Agostlno mona, one of the 



most extensive queen-breeders of Italy, 

 died at Bellinzona, Tessin, Italy, on May 28, 

 1886, after a short illness. Signor Mona was 

 a distinguished apiarist, and a noted author. 

 He was a pains-taking student of apicultural 

 science, and a professor of languages — 

 speaking fluently French, German and 

 Italian. Signor Mona was known quite 

 extensively a quarter ot a century ago 

 among the apiarists of America, as the 

 breeder of many of the imported queens 

 which were then received ou this side of the 

 Atlantic Ocean. What a change— a quarter 

 of a century makes ! How many ot those 

 who were then prominent in the apicultural 

 world, have passed beyond the stage of 

 action 1 



"A inountaln of Strength" is what 

 the Canadian Bee Journal calls the "Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Union." In the last 

 issue of that paper, the editors remark 

 thus : 



That the Bee-Keepers' " Union " is in Itself 

 a mountain of strength to the bee-keepers 

 ot the United States, is a fact beyond dis- 

 pute. The postal laws were so construed 

 during the past month that a few bees were 

 not permitted to go with the queen by mail, 

 and this meant nothing more nor less than 

 that the traffic in "queens by mail " was put 

 an end to. Thanks to the " Union" and the 

 efforts of one or two influential gentlemen 

 outside, the barrier has now been removed, 

 and the necessary attendants allowed trans- 

 mission along with the queen. 



