THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



499 



^^^mm.iCAn,-^^ 



iiijteiiu 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



EIDITOrt. 



Vol. nil. AU£,11,1886, 1,32, 



.llEM-u^- 



Tlie Illinois state Fair will lie held at 

 Chicago, Sept. G-IO, ISSi). The Preniium 

 List can be obtained of Chas. F. Mills, the 

 Secretary, at Sprinj^tield, Ills., or at this 

 office. The premiums on bees and honey 

 amount to $39 an.l a diploma. The Editor 

 of the Bee Journal has been appointed to 

 award the prizes in that department. We 

 hope that there will be a good display— a 

 thin^ unknown for many years past. 



Tlie Guide Bool< for Bee-Keepers, by 

 Mr. Thos. W. Cowan, F. G. S., F. R. M. S., etc., 

 editor of the Britislt Bee Journal, h&s been 

 ti-anslated into the French language, by Mr. 

 Ed. BertniDd, of Nyon, Switzerland. We 

 have received a copy, with the compliments 

 of the author, and also the translator. It is 

 u book of 180 passes, nicely printed and 

 illustrated. It will g-reatly help French- 

 speaking bee-keepers, as it is fully up witii 

 the times. 



Monsieur Haniet, editor of the Api^ul- 

 tcur, whose serious illness was recently 

 mentioned in our columns, was so far re- 

 covered a little while ago, that he had 

 decided to resume his classes at his practical 

 school in the Luxemburg Gardens. On his 

 way thither, however, and while still near 

 his residence, he wasrun overby a carriage, 

 a wheel of which passed over his left leg, 

 without, however, breaking any bones. He 

 had to be taken home in a cab and compelled 

 to keep quiet for about eighteen days. He 

 has now been able, although with evident 

 difliculty, to resume his school duties, and 

 there is every hope of an early recovery.— 

 niiiiah Bee Journal. 



Tlie American Aplcultnrist has again 

 changed hands, this time Mr. Henry Alley is 

 the possessor. The August number was out 

 <m time, and is full of excellent matter. As 

 Mr. Alley has been editor of it for months, 

 practically there is no change. TheA.MERi- 

 CA.v Bee Journal wishes it success, as it 

 does every periodical that harmoniously 

 works for the good of the pursuit. 



Join tlie Bee-Keepers' Union.— The 



BreKecpen' Mntinziiie for August contains 

 the full ■' Heportof the General Manager," 

 and also the following editorial remarks 

 concerning it : 



In another column will be found the 

 report of the General Manager of the Bee- 

 Keepers' Union. We commend it as a good, 

 sound document, showing Thomas G. New- 

 uian. Esq., ti> he a person eminently fit to 

 hold the position he does. Join the Unitni, 



Messrs. Aspinwall & Treadwell, the editors 

 of the Manaziue, are each members of the 

 Union, and have given it their very cordial 

 endorsement. The only thing that causes 

 us surprise is the fact that the Union has not 

 now at least five or six thousand members. 

 It is to the interest of every bee-keeper to 

 do as the Magazine suggests, viz : " Join the 

 Union." It is no personal advantage to the 

 Manager ; the energies he has devoted to the 

 Union have been purely gratuitous, and 

 have been cheerfully rendered for the wel- 

 fare of the pursuit. 



Now, reader, a word to you. From ten to 

 twenty thousand bee-keepers will read this, 

 and every one of you ought to become 

 members at once. It is to your interest to 

 do so. It is your duty to do so 1 How many 

 of you will send on $1.2.t for yearly dues 

 and one assessment for the defense fund ? 

 Let us nee .' 



Several have written to us for names 

 and addresses of good, responsible commis- 

 sion houses that handle honey. We must, 

 however, be excused from doing so, for this 

 reason : About seven years ago a bee- 

 keeper made a similar request, and we 

 referred him to a commission firm, the 

 senior member of which we had known for 

 many years. We stated this fact, and ;said 

 we believed him to be honest and reliable. 

 The honey was shipped to that drni, and just 

 at that time the senior member was taken 

 sick, and for months could not leave his 

 residence. Meanwhile the other members 

 of the firm became disgusted, sold outjthe 

 goods on hand (including the honey), and 

 left for parts unknown. 



Our correspondent claimed that he should 

 not have shipped the honey to that house 

 but for our endorsement, and as he could 

 get no returns from the house, he {should 

 look to us forthe pay— that we were morally, 

 and perhaps legally resi^onsible for it. 



After considerable correspondence, and 

 thinking that the commission-man would 

 soon arrange matters and start in business 

 again, we paid for the honey. But though 

 seven years have elapsed, not a cent of it 

 have we ever received— the eoramisson-man 

 claiming that he was ruined by the stealing 

 of his partner while he was sick. 



Therefore, excuse us I And at the same 

 time take our advice, and do not ship the 

 honey at all. Create a home market for it. 

 It will bring nearly double the prices now 

 ruling in the large commercial centres. You 

 will save the freight charges and breakages, 

 and it will be better for many other reasons. 

 Sell it at home. 



Bees have for some time held undisputed 

 possession of the Christian church at Har- 

 mony, Ills. The citizens gathered on Wed- 

 nesday, Aug. 4, 1886, and tore off the siding 

 from the foundation to the roof, disclosing 

 a mass of honey 16 feet in height. 



Still Another Lawsuit.— Mr. C. C. 



Kichardson, of Tipton, Ind., has been sued 

 for maintaining iin apiary on his land, 

 which is declared liy the complainant to be 

 a nuisance. Mr. Hiehurdson gives the fol. 

 lowing infornuitioM concerning it : 



I find nijself involved In an action for 

 maintaining a public nuisance on account 

 ot my bees. The facts in thecase are these: 

 For the last two seasons I have kept my 

 bees on an adjoining lot to the complaining 

 witness. Last season my apiary consisted 

 of some 40 colonies ; this season some 60 

 odd. However, I have built up my apiary 

 in the same block they occupv now.' .\ pub- 

 lic street continually traveled is on the west 

 and an alley on the south, much used. I 

 have had no complaint from teamsters, 

 |iassers-by, or the neighborhood, except by 

 the complainant. But on the contrary my 

 apiary is much admired by the public, and 

 passers by frequently stop to watch me 

 manipulate the bees. 



The lot that I occupy has no shade trees 

 or shrubs on which the bees can cluster 

 while the complainant's lot has many trees 

 on which the bees will cluster when they go 

 in that direction ; otherwise they cluster on 

 the shade trees along the street. Last sea- 

 son the complainant objected to the bees 

 clustering on his trees, claiming that it 

 would injure them, though I removed them 

 very carefully. I tried the sweetening pro- 

 cess : it worked charmingly, so much so that 

 at the close of the season he came to the 

 conclusion that he must have a colony 

 provided he could spare the money to pay 

 lor them. This season, however war was 

 inaugurated long before the time for the 

 sweetening process to commence. 



Since then we have heard nothing but 

 exclamations about •' horrid bees " from 

 that quarter, and an effort on their part to 

 stir up the neighborhood against my bees 

 About the middle of June the complainant 

 ga\e me orders to move the liees, or he 

 would prosecute me. I could not move 

 them then, and do not feel disposed to do so 

 now, unless there was a general complaint. 



I should have stated that a number of 

 parties are keeping bees in our town • one 

 apiarist, with his liees. being located within 

 half a square of the complaining witness. 



My house is surrounded on three sides 

 with bees. We keep our doors and windows 

 open continually during the hot weather 

 The bees do not bother us, and I cannot 

 believe that they bother the complainant 

 only as stated above. Bees have always 

 been kept in our thriving little city, durino- 

 my residence of 21 years, though without 

 success as apiarists. As far as I know, I am 

 the only successful bee-keeper in the 

 county. I am proud to say that I have made 

 a success the last Ave years in the bee- 

 business, though I have not resorted to 

 selling either bees or supplies. 



In connection with my bees I follow 

 sprouting plants for the trade and garden- 

 ing. During the season for bees to fly there 

 is almost a continual string of callers for 

 plants and honey. At least two thousand 

 callers during the season for the last five 

 years, I think would be a low estimate and 

 but one has been stung out of that number. 



Mr. Richardson desired to know what the 

 Union would do to help him to defend the 

 suit, as he was one of the first to join the 

 Union. The Manager has made arrange- 

 ments to have a good attorney defend the 

 suit, and hopes to prevent malice from 

 gaining a victory over right and old age. 



Wlien marketing Extracted Honey, " 



it is a sad hlunder to use barrels holding 

 from .'iOO to 500 pounds— they are too large 

 to be desirable for the trade, too bulky to be 

 handled with care in transportation, and too 

 dear to be lucrative to the producer, for 

 honey put up in such large barrels is subject 

 to a discount of one cent per pound, because 

 of the difficulty in disposing of it without 

 repacking and dividing into smaller lots. 



