24 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and indeed, as will be seen by the j 

 above quotations, cannot write good 

 grammar unless they do. I am par- 

 ticularly pleased witli that part of 

 Doolittle's circular which relates to 

 the culture of small fruits. Being an 

 enthusiast in that line myself, I 

 cordially .second the advice" to bee- 

 keepers that they combine apiculture 

 and small fruit culture. 



ARE THERE TOO 3IANY BEE PAPERS V 



I am inclined to tliink so. Doolittle's 

 club list enumerates " nine in the 

 United States for 1882." I didn't 

 know there were so many, and I am 

 sure I cannot lind time to read them 

 all. It's a delicate matter to touch 

 upon, and reminds me of a question 

 once put to a graduating theological 

 student, '• which are the minor 

 prophets?" lie replied that "he 

 didn't like to say,as the answer might 

 seem invidious." Mrs. Partington, 

 says, " comparisons are odorous," but 

 really, some of the bee publications 

 in quality of paper, typographical ex- 

 ecution, and editorial ability, are no 

 credit to us. They are like weak 

 colonies of bees, — haven't honey 

 enough to winter well, and ought to be 

 nnited to stronger colonies. Whether 

 we can be overstocked with bees or 

 not is a question much discussed. I 

 raise the inquiry, whether it is not 

 possible to be over-stocked with bee 

 papers. I think it is. 



BEE STINGS. 



There have been a number of refer- 

 ences to the above subject in the bee 

 publications during the past few 

 months. Professor Cook, very high 

 authority, maintains that by success- 

 ive inocuhitions with bee ])oison, it 

 becomes a matter of indifference 

 whether you get stung or not. Mrs. 

 IIarrison,"our cjueen bee-keeper, eulo- 

 gizes bee-stinguig as a cure for rheu- 

 matism and the dropsy. I am sorry to 

 be obliged to take issue with such 

 eminent persons, but my experience 

 contradicts them both. The older I 

 get.theworsel suffer from a bee-sting. 

 It has never done my rheumatism 

 a mite of good, but on the contrary, 

 gives me the worst kind of rheuma- 

 tism, and as for dropsy, it always 

 makes me very dropsical, especially 

 about the eyes. In the September, 

 1873, Bee JouiiNAr,, I gave an ac- 

 count of •' a curious and painful ex- 

 perience," with a bee-sting in the 

 center of the upperlip. Well, strange 

 to say, during the pastsunimer, every- 

 thing I got in any part of the body, 

 centered both as to pain and swelling 

 in the upper liii. A liard lump, the 

 size of a marble, invariably formed 

 in the center of that upper lip, and 

 from it the pain and inflammation rad- 

 iated all over my body, and specially 

 affected the head. Mentioning these 

 facts to the editor of the Bee .Iour- 

 NAL in October last, all the comfort I 

 got was that I ought to let bees alone. 

 That is morally impossible. 



BEE GLOVES. 



I had great satisfaction last sum- 

 mer in the use of a pair of bee gloves, 

 which I cannot claim to have inven- 

 ted, for they grew out of some sug- 



gestions I read in one of the Bee 

 Journals. They were made of can- 

 ton flannal, or rather a species of soft 

 crash towelling, covered with a very 

 line quality of brown linen. Gaunt- 

 lets would be a more proper name 

 for them than gloves, as tliey are long 

 enough to lap over the coat cuff, 

 which they grasp with a bit of elastic. 

 After puttnig tliem on, I soaked them 

 with cold water, which rendered 

 them cool and pleasant to the hands, 

 and made the bees, even when some- 

 what excited, indisposed to settle on 

 them, for they are dainty little crea- 

 tures, and don't like to damp their 

 feet. They couldn't sting through 

 them, and being wet, didn't want to. 

 After trying rubber gloves, woolen 

 mits with a forelinger in them, and 

 sheepskin thistle mits of the same 

 shape, I give these the decided pref- 

 erence. They were nicely made at 

 our glove factory here, and only cost, 

 material and workmanship, about T.^ic. 



L. C. root * BRO.'S REPORT. 



This is a very interesting docnment, 

 and should be carefully studied by all 

 bee-keepers. I do not remember to 

 have seen it in the Bee .Iournal,* 

 but it is well worthy of a place there^ 

 and indeed, in all the bee papers. 



BEE-KEBPERS' SUPPLIES. 



We, here in Canada, labor under 

 serious disadvantages Iti regard to 

 the above. Duty and express charges 

 come so high as practically to banish 

 us from the United States market, 

 and this may explain to dealers why 

 they get so few orders from this side 

 of the lines. Many of our bee-keep- 

 ers worry along with rude appliances, 

 because they cannot afford to import 

 better. Our people are not so ingen- 

 ious and enterprising as the Ameri- 

 cans, nor is there a brisk enough 

 competition heie to give us a choice 

 of the best articles. D. A. Jones is 

 doing something to supply this lack, 

 and I just received a nice sample 

 section-box from M. Ramer, of Cedar 

 Grove. We shall doubtless get over 

 this ditiiculty in time, but there are 

 many things we should order if it 

 were not for custom-house dues, post- 

 otiice regulations, and express charges. 

 I hope our brother and sister bee- 

 keepers, will " to a man" use their 

 influence to bring about Reciprocity 

 between Canada and the United 

 States. The bars and restrictions 

 that now exist, are too oppressive to 

 be tolerated much longer. Nor will 

 dry jokes about annexation help the 

 matter, for the more that is said on 

 that subject, the less will our Govern- 

 ment be disposed to relax. We want 

 free commercial and social inter- 

 course and interchange, let our polit- 

 ical relations be what they may. 

 Listowel, Dec. 1.5, 1880. 

 [•Published Dec. 17, p. 3S8,Bee Jochnal.-Ku.] 



Tnmslated by .V. U. Kohnke. 



Peccadillos of Bee-Keepers. 



The following is an abstract of a 

 lecture delivered by Mr. Kaestner, 

 as found in the Dcutsclwr Bienenfreund. 

 Peccadillos of the bee-keeper. What 



a terrible word. But let us classify 

 them according to the degree of 

 knowledge a man may have of the 

 science of bee-keeping, as peccadillos 

 of the apprentice, of the journey- 

 man and of the master. 



Enthusiasm in apiculture may in 

 certain cases be considered as a very 

 contagious desease, Let any person 

 wholly unacquainted with bees and 

 their care, get into the company of 

 enthusiastic bee-keepers, and he will 

 be most likely to catcli it. For the sake 

 of brevity we will assume Mr. Roe 

 is the infected person. He forthwith 

 concludes to become a bee-keeper, — 

 no, not that, but an — apiculturist, who 

 will manage his bee on the most ap- 

 proved plans, because honey tastes 

 pleasant, and he has an imaginary 

 sight ofa bursting pocketbook, stuffed 

 with the proceeds of honey sold. 

 Hives are cheap and easy to be had, 

 but whether they are of thebeststyle, 

 face toward a proper direction on the 

 surrounding country, is especially 

 favorable to liee-keeping, are minor 

 considerations. This would-be bee- 

 keeper thinks the bee must get the 

 honey. The advice of an experienced 

 bee-master would be very valuable to 

 him and save trouble and expense. 

 But never mind the expense; our 

 friend Roe knows how to hold a saw 

 and handle a plane. His cleverness 

 and economy will produce a hive ex- 

 celling every other, except probably 

 in accuracy. 



The bees must be bought, but 

 "cheap" is the watchword. In spring 

 one or more colonies are bought; they 

 will, they miist, swarm; if not, he can 

 " divide " them. Sure enough, spring 

 favors his expectations; his bees 

 swarm; some are large, some rather 

 small swarms, but he accepts them all, 

 hiving each one by itself; other colon- 

 ies he divides; for his apiary must be 

 stocked; his hives must be lilted. 



If the season is not a very favorable 

 one, what will be the consequences of 

 such thoughtless work tov increase':* 

 Colonies will be weak and light in 

 stores in the fall, starve during the 

 winter and next spring finds Mr. Roe 

 minus bees, who blames the "new 

 tangled notion " of frame hives and 

 " other traps;" his grandfather had 

 bees, too, as he remembers, but had 

 them in gums and old nail kegs, and 

 he had always plenty of honey. 



He linally comforts himself with 

 the idea that "everybody must pay 

 his apprentice " and lie begins anew. 

 This time he is a little more careful. 

 But a visit to his apiary, to observe 

 how he handles his bees, how he wants 

 to induce swarming bees to settle by 

 gun-shots and the drumming of tin 

 pans, will prove that he always will 

 remain an apprentice; his faults and 

 peccadillos are on the increase. To 

 inform himself of the subject of api- 

 culture by reading standard authors 

 or the Bee Journal, he considers 

 time and money thrown away. And, 

 after a year or two, his hives areas 

 empty as before, and mice and spiders 

 have taken their abode in them. 



But supposing it is not quite so bad; 

 if Mr. Roe manages to avoid many 

 mistakes, he wants to become a 

 journeyman bee-keeper; he is a mem- 



