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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



November 17, 



I have been at the coDventloo, and that I ought to be able to 

 teach them. But I have nothing to say to you beyond thank- 

 ing you for being here, and for giving me an opportunity of 

 making your acquaintance, as I hope 1 shall do with some of 

 you vfho are in this line of business, which I know is honor- 

 able, and which dates back thousands of years, when they tell 

 us that honey was good, and when the comb was as sweet as 

 It is now, I suppose. It is a business which is probably as 

 long in the hands of the people as any other business on earth ; 

 so we feel now that we have got nothing new — that we are 

 not experimenting with something that is entirely new, and 

 belonging to this century, but something that is old, and that 

 has been brought down to us from antiquity. And this busi- 

 ness seems as much the women's business as it is the men's. 

 I think the women do more to cultivate and help it along than 

 the men do, and therefore I say it is a woman's business 

 rather more than a man's. I say to our people, " It is your 

 business, not mine. I will take the honey, but taking care of 

 the bees is your business." [Laughter.] 



Well, I must say again that I am gratified to be here, and 

 gratified to see so many of you here at this convention. I 

 hope you will enjoy yourselves while you are here. We have 

 some good men connected with this business in our own State, 

 and I hope you have made their acquaintance, too. You can 

 rely upon it that they will do all they can to make your visit 

 pleasant, and the rest of us will try to do the same thing. 

 [Applause.] 



Pres. York — I am sure we all appreciate the bind words 

 of Gov. Saunders. He is the only war governor of Nebraska 

 now living, and a man whom it does us good to meet and to 

 have speak to us. 



[Continued next week.l 



Fertilizatlou of Flowers — Should Bee- Keepers 

 Pay for It? 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A short time ago, when at our country store purchasing 

 supplies for household use, a somewhat miserly farmer ab- 

 ruptly stept up to me and said : ,,, 



" Mr. Doolittle, I want you to bring me up 10 boxes of 

 honey to pay for what your bees got from my buckwheat field 

 when It was in blossom. There were_ thousands of your bees 

 there at work on that field, and I think it no more than right 

 that you bring me 10 boxes, and 100 would be more nearly 

 the amount it would take to make me good." 



While he was thus saying, the reply I should make was 

 telegrapht to my brain like a flash, so as soon as he had done 

 speaking I said : 



" See here, Mr. P., I have charged to you on my book ac- 

 count $25.00 for the use of my bees in fertilizing the flowers 

 upon that buckwheat field, and when you come down to pay 

 me what you rightfully owe me, I will make you a present of 

 10 boxes of buckwheat honey." 



It would have done any apiarist good to have seen him 

 open his eyes and mouth at the same time, and after his as- 

 tonishment had somewhat subsided, he askt, " Do you really 

 think that your bees helpt my buckwheat field any ?" 



" Most assuredly I do," was my reply ; " and I wish to tell 

 you that there Is not a particle of doubt that the great and 

 first purpose for which bees were created was for aiding in the 

 fertilization of flowers of different kinds ; the honey part as a 

 food and as a delicacy for man, coming in as secondary, altho 

 but few think of the matter in this way. 



I saw at once that I had created an Impression on his 

 mind which would be twice as lasting as would have been the 

 10 boxes of honey had I given them to him ; arid I advise 

 every bee-keeper, when they see some one who appears to be 

 a little jealous regarding bees working on the flowers on their 

 land, to preach this truthful doctrine to them. Yea, preach it 

 every time you get a chance, as I did a few years ago while 

 riding on a crowded stage-coach some distance from home. 



One of the passengers began a tirade against the bees of a 

 certain bee-keeper who lived in his vicinity, telling how they 

 were injuring the fruit in his section, and how the farmers 

 about him could not secure a large yield of buckwheat, very 

 often, on account of the bees kept by this man sucking out all 



of the honey nature provided for the maturing of this grain 

 while the berry was in the embryo form in the blossom. 



When he had finisht speaking he showed by his counte- 

 nance that he thought his wisdom along these lines much 

 superior to that of the other passengers ; and from different 

 remarks It appeared that the most of those about him endorst 

 what he said. There was no one in the stage whom I knew or 

 who knew me, so I saw that I had a chance to correct a wrong 

 Impression without being accused of selfishness on my part; 

 consequently, in substance, I said that I did not consider the 

 ideas advanced by the gentleman as sound ; that I believed 

 the honey was placed in flowers for the express purpose of en- 

 ticing them to plants whose flowers needed the bees for ferti- 

 lization purposes. To this end, I continued, we find honey, or 

 nectar, secreted only in such flowers as are incapable of self- 

 fertilization ; while those capable of being fertilized through 

 the agency of the wind, etc., secrete no nectar to entice 

 the bees. 



As an example, we see wheat, oats, barley, corn, and cer- 

 tain grasses, all capable of being fertilized by the rustling of 

 their stalks by the gentle breeze, and none of these secrete 

 honey, as all of you know, altho there are a few who claim 

 that bees secure honey from corn. Then there are all of the 

 clovers, all of the squash and other vine family, buckwheat, 

 and nearly all fruit-bloom, none of which are capable of being 

 fertilized through the process applicable to the first. All these 

 last named, secrete honey for the sole purpose of enticing bees, 

 flies, etc., for their fertilization, so that they may mature seed 

 that the species may be perpetuated. And the same thing 

 holds good with the trees of the forest, hence the claim put 

 forth by some, that the bees injure fruit by taking nectar out 

 of the blossoms, is a false one. 



I then told them of the law a few jealous persons suc- 

 ceeded in getting past in a township in Massachusetts, banish- 

 ing bees from that town ; how the result was that little or no 

 fruit developt in the interior of that township, while all along 

 the boundary fruit was as plentiful as ever; and that, after 

 this experience regarding their folly, they were glad to wel- 

 come the bees back again, when they again had fruit as 

 formerly. 



I also told them of the importation of bumble-bees into 

 Australia so that the seed of red clover might be raised there 

 — a thing which was Impossible to do till after these bees were 

 Imported; of the noted squash culturist, Gregory's experi- 

 ments, by tying netting over the blossoms, when not a squash 

 would mature, unless hand-fertilization was resorted to. I 

 also gave other illustrations, when I had all (except the man 

 who hated his neighbor so badly, and through him his bees) 

 converted to my side of the question, and him looking very 

 sheepish in the matter, without even a word of reply to what 

 I had said. 



When men plead that bees injure fruit and grain by taking 

 away the saccharine matter secreted for and needed by the 

 fruit and grain in its development, they show their ignorance, 

 and it Is the duty, as well as privilege, of every bee-keeper to 

 dispel this mist of ignorance which Is generally begotten of 

 jealousy. And unless we look well to this matter and educate 

 In every place, and as often as we can, the day may yet dawn 

 when we may be obliged to pay in honey for the part our bees 

 play in the fertilization of flowers, as was demanded of me by 

 the farmer. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Preparing Bees for Winter— Sunflower Smoke. 



BY J. A. GOLDEN. 



Our fall honey-flow has just closed, and all hived bees are 

 well provided with winter stores, but it requires vigilance to 

 keep the wood's bees from cleaning out whole apiaries. There 

 are quite a number of trees within a few hundred yards from 

 us, containing bees, which cannot be secured, tho a number 

 have been cut by our sports. 



1 am now preparing my bees for winter, and will give the 

 method I use, and If there is any better wintering method I 

 would like to read it through the American Bee Journal. 



At the close of the fall flow all supers and flxtures are re- 

 moved and stored away, and each colony examined to see that 

 it has a queen. Then I properly equalize the stores by ex- 

 changing frames, or a quick feed of thick syrup of white A cof- 

 fee sugar, after cleaning the bottom-board and placing a IH- 

 iuch high rim on the bottom-board wide enough to close the 

 side-entrances of the hive, when the hive is set on, giving a 

 dead-air space. 



I scatter a teacupf ul of slackt lime on the bottom-board, 

 which absorbs all dampness of the hive and bees during the 

 cold season. This item alone is worth many dollars to the 

 apiarist, if observed. Bees and combs are well sprayed with 



