1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



601 



generous-hearted bee-keepers responded, and doubtless Mr. 

 McDonald was enabled to get started again with bees. 



This time the unfortunate one lives in Florida, and he 

 wrote thus to Editor Hill, of the American Bee-Keeper : 



Stuart, Dade Co., Fla., Aug. 4, 1898. 

 Friend Hill : — Our home, which is no more, was the 

 scene of a sad event on July 31. My 10-year-old boy was 

 burned to death ; my house, with all its contents, was de- 

 stroyed by fire. My wife, myself, and one small child barely 

 escaped with our lives, and as a result of my burns and ex- 

 haustion I am now in bed. We had not -time to save a thing 

 but ourselves from the flames. The neighbors have kindly 

 given us some things in the way of bedding, dishes and provi- 

 sions. But I must close, as I cannot write more at present. 

 Yours, J. P. Lees. 



Editor Hill says that Mr. Lees is a bee-keeper who but 

 recently settled at Stuart, " with naught but a large family 

 of small children and a determination to carve out a home in 

 the wilds of Dade county, with but one hand, having lost the 

 fingers of his left hand by accidental contact with a saw. In 

 addition to the loss of a honey crop as a result of forest fires 

 in this locality this year, the above pathetic note tells of 

 greater trouble.'' 



Now, it would be a nice thing if each of our readers who 

 can afford to do so, would just mail Mr. Lees a dollar or so to 

 help him " get on his feet " again. You would never miss the 

 amount, and all together it would be such a help to him. Let 

 all who feel like it, send at once, so that Mr. L. may the 

 sooner recover from his sore loss. 



An Owner of a thousand colony bee-ranch in Los Angeles 

 county is said to be about to purchase a home for himself and 

 family near Oakland, Calif. We have not learned the gentle- 

 man's name. 



Mr. M. F. Reeve, in the American Bee-Keeper, writes 

 thus : 



" The eagle and the bee figure prominently among the 

 decorative emblems of the Napoleonic period. Golden bees 

 decorated the imperial mantle and the throne." 



W. S. Hart, of Volusia Co., Fla., wrote us recently : 



"Friend York: — The Moore articles on marketing 

 honey are valuable. Don't give up the reform in spelling. 

 People will get used to it after awhile, and there are but few 

 who will not value the time and space saved, and the getting 

 of more matter to the page." 



Tommy, aged -t, had discarded his shoes and stockings 

 one warm afternoon, and while playing encountered a bee. He 

 ran into the house crying, and his mother askt what the 

 trouble was. " I j-just kickt a f-fly," sobbed the little fel- 

 low. " Well, that's nothing to cry for," said his mother. "But 

 t-this one had a ss-splinter In its tail," was the rejoinder. — 

 Newspaper. 



Mr. Harry S. Howe, of New York State, gives this sage 

 advice in the September American Bee-Keeper : 



"Go slow and take a few years to consider before you 

 change the style of your hives. I am working yards having 

 six entirely different hives, and can't see much difference in 

 the results. Of course, only one kind is allowed in a yard. It 

 is confusion worse confounded to have two styles of hives in 

 one yard." 



The Apiary on the Levering estate in Siskiyou county, 

 in the extreme northern end of California, will yield about 

 four tons of honey this year. It contains some 250 colonies 

 in Harbison hives. The season did not begin until July 1. 

 This is not bad for a dry year. Under favorable conditions it 



is said it should yield 10 tons. The same number of colonies 

 in the southern portion of the State, in a good year, would far 

 exceed this last amount. There nectar verily flows from the 

 flowers in some years. 



Mr. Walter C. Lyman is a bee-keeper having some 80 

 colonies in Dupage county. III., about 20 miles west of Chi- 

 cago. In the spring he had about 60 colonies. The editor of 

 the Bee Journal, with his wife, spent the larger part of the 

 day Saturday, Sept. 10, at Mr. Lyman's. His mother, who 

 will be 77 years old in December, is still well and as lively as 

 a girl of 20. We had a most delightful time. Mr. Lyman's 

 crop will be only about 900 pounds of comb honey this 

 year, and many of his colonies will need feeding to carry them 

 through the winter. 



The Hive Statistics of the A. I. Root Co., for the season 

 just past are interesting. They were publisht in Gleanings 

 for Sept. 1, as follows : 



"We find, on footing up our tally-books, where we keep 

 a record of the different styles of hives packt for shipment, on 

 orders we have sent out this past season, nearly 3,000 Dan- 

 zenbaker hives ; about 3,000 dovetailed chaff hives; about 

 7,000 10-frame dovetailed hives, and over 50,000 S-frame 

 dovetailed hives, besides a great many of other styles for other 

 people, so that, all together, we have disposed of at least 

 70,000 hives the past season, or about double the record of 

 any previous year. It is also safe to say that we could have 

 disposed of from 10,000 to 30,000 more if we could have 

 supplied them promptly. We do not anticipate such a record 

 next year, as there are, without doubt, a large number of the 

 hives sold this year in the hands of bee-keepers, unused. In 

 view of the outlook we have decided not to build the large 

 addition to our factory, for which we had plans prepared two 

 months ago. We do intend, however, to put in the larger en- 

 gine, and extend our factory building 20 feet, adding some 

 new machines, and changing others, so as to increase our 

 capacity when needed." 



The popularity of different hives may be judged to some 

 extent by those sent out as noted above. Out of 70.000, 1 

 out of every 23 was a Danzenbaker ; 1 out of 23 a chaff 

 hive ; 1 out of 10 ?, 10 frame dovetail ; and 5 out of every 7 

 an 8-frame dovetail. The 8-frame seems to be far in the 

 lead. 



Mr. a. I. Root, who recently visited the famous Yellow- 

 stone Park, sent a letter to his Sunday-school class of boys, in 

 which he gave the following " bearstory," which may interest 

 some of the boys who read the American Bee Journal : 



"The United States government protects the bears and 

 all other animals here, so they are very tame. Well, a few 

 days ago a large, fine bear climbed into the meat-man's wagon 

 and pickt a large piece of beef out of one of the barrels while 

 the man had gone Into the hotel. The piece was so large the 

 bear had to hold it with his forepaws while he walkt off on his 

 hind feet. The man came out and caught him at it, and 

 pounded him over the head with a club; but he wouldn't let 

 go his meat, and got away ; but he grunted and growled a 

 good deal at the pounding he got. 



"Well, when I heard them telling aboutit I wanted to see 

 the bear, and a party of us went about half a mile and found 

 him just about sundown, up in a big pine tree. I rather 

 think somebody chased him up the tree. Well, we wanted to 

 see him get down, and so a man climbed a slender pine-tree 

 near him and began punching him with a pole. As soon as 

 he saw the man coming up he prlckt up his ears and began to 

 growl and show his teeth. I tell you, he is a great beauty. 

 His fur is soft and shiny, and he is just as soft and handsome 

 as any kitten you ever saw. 



" Well, the bear climbed as high as he dared on the slen- 

 der top ; but as the man kept poking him he kept growling at 

 a fearful rate, and got awfully mad ; but he went slowly still 

 higher; Anally, the slender limbs broke beneath his great 

 weight, and down he slid with a great crash to the larger 

 limbs, and then he began climbing down with a rush, for he 

 was mad. At the same time the man began to get down 

 lively, for he feared the bear might try to climb his tree after 

 he got down. By this time a crowd of people had collected ; 

 and just for fun, while we were all laughing and yelling, some 

 called out, ' Three to one on the bear 1' others, ' I put my 

 money on the man.' The man got down first, however, and 

 then the bear wouldn't come down any more. 



"A bear can go up a tree very fast, but he is awkward 

 and slow in coming down, for he has to prick up his soft 

 velvety ears that look so cute and cunning, and see where to 

 put his great feet.''— Gleanings. 



