THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



505 



and how proud I was of my first 

 colony. But now, how changed I 

 •Since tlie advpiit of the movable- 

 franoe hives bee-lteeping has taken a 

 wonderful step forward, and is to-day 

 one of the most promising industries 

 mankind has yet discovered. 



1 think that any one of Mr. Doolit- 

 tle's articles is worth many times 

 the price of the Bee Journal. I 

 wish that he would give his plan of 

 wintering bees. 



I notice on page 474, Mr. M. L. 

 Spencer's reference to my query con- 

 cerning ants in the hives (Query, No. 

 279). He says : " Our common kero- 

 sene oil, the kind burned in lamps, 

 will kill them, eggs and all." Yes, I 

 do not doubt it at all, and I should 

 think it would kill the bees too. I 

 find Mr. G. VV. Demaree's remedy 

 quite effective, viz : wet salt. 1 tried 

 it the day I received the paper, and 

 to-day there is not an ant to be seen. 

 I was surprised at Prof. Cook's an- 

 swer, i. e., " I And it easy to dislodge 

 them by simply brushing them off." 

 I had tried that several times before 

 sending my query, but somehow they 

 would always be there when I after- 

 wards examined the hives. 



Angelica, p N. Y. 



Read at the Maine Convention. 



Laliel all yonr Honey, 



X.TMAN F. ABBOTT. 



There are important points of con- 

 sideration constantly arising in prac- 

 tical apiculture. The question of 

 honey-production in Maine or New 

 England, is no longer one of doubt, 

 and that to a profitable degree. As 

 the business has become better un- 

 derstood, and bee-keepers have been 

 willing to devote the study, time and 

 care that this somewhat peculiar 

 business demands, to make it a suc- 

 cess, honey-production has been fairly 

 remunerative. The highest success 

 in any branch of industry as measured 

 by the present standard, is only at- 

 tained by the application of strictly 

 business principles and thorough 

 knowledge of all the facts and rela- 

 tions bearing upon that particular 

 branch of productive industry. 



In the matter of honey-production 

 the Maine bee-keepers, as well, in 

 fact, as the producers of honey in any 

 part of the country, have some ad- 

 verse influences to contend with. 

 Before the management of bees and 

 the adaptation of implements suited 

 to the best manner of manipulating 

 the hive and the production of honey 

 were so well known as now, what 

 honey was produced found ready sales 

 at good prices, and the supply was 

 never half adequate to the demand. 

 Those days, however, have passed. 

 In common with all branches of in- 

 dustry, apiculture has made wonder- 

 ful strides in the way of improvements 

 in all features connected with the 

 business. 



While good progress has been made 

 in the matter of producing the pro- 

 ducts of the hive, there have been 

 influences at work, modifying to some 

 extent the relation of production of 



hive products to the market. We have 

 fallen upon an age of adulteration. It 

 is surprising and alarming to contem- 

 plate the extent the adulteration of 

 foods has assumed. Not only that, 

 but in the case of honey the most 

 absurd statements have been invent- 

 ed, and these circulated from one end 

 of the country to the other. Tliis has 

 created a prejudice and mistrust in 

 the minds of the reading public re- 

 garding the purity and genuineness 

 even of comb honey. 



We have reasons for saying that 

 Maine honey, like most of her pro- 

 ductions, excels in the market. The 

 only trouble is that we do not produce 

 enough of it. It is safe to say that 

 the past season where we produced 

 one ton of honey, two tons could as 

 well have been harvested, had the 

 requisite number of colonies of bees 

 been on hand to gather it. 



This matter of selling pure honey 

 will soon stand on a Urm foundation, 

 if bee-keepers take the right course. 

 The time is not far away when the 

 man who will not label his goods so 

 as to equivocally declare their honest 

 contents, will beg for a market. 



Honey, like butter, must be sold on 

 its merits. We are educating the pub- 

 lic up to nice distinctions in the mat- 

 ter of domestic articles. It is but a 

 few years, comparatively, since one 

 man's butter discriminated in the 

 matter of price over another's dairy. 

 The same was true with honey, and 

 largely that is the case now. But the 

 educated bee-keeper knows, and a 

 discriminating public is beginning to 

 find it out, that all honey is not the 

 same in taste, color, texture and 

 purity. It is sate to say each apiary 

 in Maine may, as a general rule, make 

 at least three qualities of extracted 

 honey during the season. 



As I have intimated, bee-keepers 

 should put their names upon every 

 package of honey sent to the retailer, 

 in a plain, conspicuous manner, so as 

 to carry conviction that the contents 

 of the package are just what it prom- 

 ises to be — a pure product of the bee- 

 hive. In this way prejudice will be 

 overcome, and faith in the honest 

 bee-keeper be established. 



Lewiston, p Maine. 



OUR CLUBBING LIST. 



We supply the American Bee Journal 



one year, and any of the following publica- 

 tions, at the prices quoted in the last column 

 of figures. The first column ^ves the regu- 

 lar price of both. All postage pi-epaid. 



Price of both. Club 

 The American Bee Journal 1 00 . . 



and Gleanings in Bee-Culture 2 CO.. 1 75 



Bee-Keepers' Magazine 2 00 . . 1 75 



Bee-Keepers' Guide 150.. 140 



The Apiculturist 2 00.. 1 75 



Canadian Bee Journal 2 00,. 1 75 



Texas Bee Journal 2 00.. 175 



The 7 above-named papers 6 50.. 5 50 



and Cook's Manual 2 25.. 2 00 



Bees and Honey (Newman)... 2 00.. 175 

 Binder for Am. Bee Journal.. 1 75.. 1 60 

 Dzierzon's Bee-Book (cloth).. ..3 00.. 2 00 

 Root's A B C of Bee-Culture. .2 25. . 2 10 



Farmer's Account Book 4 00.. 3 00 



Guide and Hand-Book 150.. 1 30 



Heddou's book, ''Success,".. 1 50 1 40 



Local Convention Directory. 



188«. Time and place of Meeting. 



Aufj. 31.— Stark Cnunty. at ranton, O. 



Mark 'I'horaMim, Sec, Canton, O. 



Sept 4.— Sheboygan (■<.. itt Sheboytfnn Falls. Wis. 

 Mattie B, ThonJiis Sec, Shebo>tiJin Fails. Wis. 



Oct. 7.— Wis. Lake Shore Center, at Kiel. Wis, 



Ferd Zastrow, See.. Milihnine, Wis, 



Oct. 12-14.— North American, at Indlanapolls.lnd. 

 F. L. DouKherty, Sec, Indianapolis, Ind. 



Oct, 1», au.— Illinois Central, at Mt. SterlinK, Ilia, 

 J, M. Hambaunh. Sec, Sprlnn. Ills. 



Deo. 1, 2.— Michienn state, at YpsilantI, Mich. 



H. D. CuttinK, Sec, Clinton, Mich. 



^~ In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 larles are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetinKs.— ED, 



Bee-Killers.— Wm. H. Smith, Cen- 

 treville,o+ Ind., writes : 



I send some insects that kill bee.s 

 by the hundreds when they gather 

 honey from my sweet clover. I have 

 not seen them any place else. They 

 catch them and suck the honey out of 

 the bees. What are they "i* 



[These insects are Asilus Missou- 

 riensis, commonly called bee-killers. 

 They are very destructive enemies of 

 the bees, quick on the wing, and not 

 easily captured. We have a collec- 

 tion of over 100 different kinds of 

 these bee-killers in our Museum. — 

 Ed.1 



No Swarms and No Honey.— M.W. 



Shepherd, Rochester, 5 O., on July 29, 



1886, says : 



I can record a total failure in bee- 

 keeping here this season. We have 

 had no swarms and have obtained no 

 honey. Basswood and white clover 

 never looked more prosperous, but 

 failed to secrete nectar. Some colo- 

 nies have not as much honey in the 

 hives as they had the last of May. 

 Nuclei have to be fed to keep them 

 from starving. 



Cause of Paralyzed Bees.— F. J. 



McConoughey, Ililliard, p Mich., on 

 July 30, 1886, writes : 



Seeing in the Bee Journal, of 

 July 14 a query in regard to paralyzed 

 bees, I thought that perhaps I might 

 throw a little light on the subject. 

 The description of those bees' actions 

 exactly tallies with the actions of 

 bees posioned by working on Digitalis 

 —the " foxglove " of our flower- 

 gardens. Some years ago I saw some 

 beautiful specimens of foxglove a 

 few miles away from here, and of 

 course must have some in my flower- 

 garden. We got them, and in due 

 time they blossomed, but they never 

 got the chance to do so again, in our 

 yard. The bees do not always get 

 home to die, some of them dying 



