THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



VOL. XVIII.— 18S2.— No. 1. 



TSISTiiTBr-ilO 



'•sir-',%^-0^^mA:^^9^^ 



Published every Wedn(.'sday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Propuietou, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



T£R>IS OF SUBSCKIPTIOJVi 



WEEKLY— (5^ numbers) SSS a year, in advance. 

 Three or Six Months at the same rate. 



6EMI-M0NTIILY~Thp first and third numbers ot 

 each month, at atil.OO a year, in advance. 



MONTHLY— The first number of each month, at 

 50 cents a year, in advance. 



jy Any person sending a chib of six is entitled 

 to an extra copy i like the club) aent to any address 

 desired. Sample copies furnished free. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY ;!. 



"Hallelujah; 'Tis Done!" 



This well-known and oft-repeated 

 sentence expressed our feelings as we 

 saw tlie last wagon load of Bee Jour- 

 nals go to the post office, for the year 

 1881. It was a long and trying pull to 

 get through with the first year of the 

 Weekly ; it involved the expenditure 

 of considerable money, much labor of 

 brains and hands, and, in the face of 

 the ail-but universal depletion of bees 

 last winter, and its consequent depres- 

 sion on bee-keepers in the spring, it 

 required a steady hand and daunt- 

 less courage to maintain the Weekly 

 in these very trying circumstances. 



" It is Hnished ; " the first year of the 

 Weekly Bee Journal is complete, 

 and we view it with satisfaction— be- 

 lieving that, as a Volume, it is second 

 to none of its predecessors. The en- 

 couragement and general endorsement 

 it has received is even more than our 

 most sanguine expectations. ' The 

 subscribers of last year are nearly all 

 renewing tlieir subscriptions for 1882, 

 and, witli tlieir renewals, express their 

 unbounded approbation. Many who 

 have heretofore only taken one or two 

 numbers a month, now desire it every 

 week, and hundreds of new readers are 

 already enrolled for 1882. 



It is liardly necessary to say that, 

 for the coming year, we shall devote 

 all our energy, determined to make 

 the Journal even more interesting 

 and instructive tlian it has heretofore 

 been, if that is within the range of 

 possibilities. Its record, character, 

 power and usefulness, in the past, 

 will be its guarantee for the future, 

 ever keeping in view the one grand 

 object of its existence, that of further- 



ing the interests of honey producers, 

 by losing no opportunity to create a 

 demand for this God-given product, 

 opening up new avenues for its use, 

 creating new demands and eager pur- 

 chasers, both at home and abroad — 

 thus benefiting every honey producer. 



With encouraged heart, we, to-day, 

 commence anew the battle for progress 

 —with the motto of " Onward "in- 

 sci'ibed on our banner — fully aware 

 that patient and persevering work 

 will conquer all difficulties. 



Neither financial depression, loss of 

 bees, failure of tlie honey crop in some 

 localities, nor the foolish jealousies 

 and merciless abuse, lieaped upon us 

 by evil-disposed persons, lias been able 

 to materially hinder the usefulness of 

 the Bee Journal, nor, in the least, 

 to retard its onward inarch. From 

 year to year it has increased in size 

 and frequency of issue, in order to give 

 its thousands of readers and corres- 

 pondents an opportunity to participate 

 in an interchange of thought, and ful- 

 ly discuss the various topics of interest 

 that are ever and anon presenting 

 themselves to the apicultural world 

 for investigation and decision. 



In short, the Weekly Bee Journal 

 will continue to be the medium of the 

 best thoughts of the most advanced 

 apiarists of this age. It will keep 

 abreast of the highest progress, favor 

 the freest discussion, and, by every 

 means in its power, advance progres- 

 sive bee-culture. 



Scotch Heather. 



The true Scotch heather, Caluna 

 vtdyaris, the great honey producer of 

 Scotland, has been found in America. 

 As shown by botanical records, it ex- 

 ists at Tewksbury, Mass., on Cape 

 Elizabeth, Maine, and in Cape Breton, 

 Nova Scotia and New Foundland. 

 Vick's Magazine contains the follow- 

 ing historical record of the Scotch 

 heather in America : 



The existence of this plant in this 

 country was a matter of great interest 

 in botanical circles in the year 1861, 

 and tor some time afterwards. In 

 that year Mr. Jackson Uawson, a gar- 

 dener of Boston, made it known that 

 tlie plants were growing in a wild 

 state at Tewksbury. At first it was 

 deemed incredible that it could be a 

 native of this country. Dr. Gray took 

 a great interest in the subject, visit- 

 ing the locality and exaniining the 

 plants. All the facts being elicited 

 from those living longest on the farm 

 where it grows showed a knowledge 

 of the existence of the plants in that 

 field as early as 1810, and the condi- 

 tion of some of the plants at that 



tiifle to be such as to warrant the be- 

 lief tliat they were at least a hundred 

 years old, thus placing their origin 

 near the year 1700. That part of the 

 country is sparsely settled, and at 

 that early date was still more so, and 

 the spot where the heather grows is 

 quite an unlikely one to attempt its 

 cultivation. After considering all 

 the circumstances. Dr. Gray, writing 

 in the American Joiirnol of Science, 

 said : " It may have been introduced, 

 unlikely as it seems, or we may have 

 to rank this heath with Scolopendrium 

 officinarum, Subularia aquatica, and 

 Marsilea quadrifolia as species of the 

 old world so sparingly represented in 

 the new that they are known only at 

 single stations — perhaps late lingerers 

 rather than new comers.'' 



Later, in 1864, wlieii it was fully 

 confirmed, as had previously been 

 stated, that this heath grew in New 



The Scotch Heather. 



Foundland, its indigenous character 

 was quite accepted. Still later in the ' 

 same year, it was announced that Cal- 

 luna vulgaris was growing at St. Annis, 

 on Cape Breton Island. And in 1865 

 the re-discovery of it in New Found- 

 land occurred, near Ferryland, on the 

 east coast, where there is a small patch 

 of it. Since then, as already stated, 

 it has been found in Maine and Nova 

 Scotia. 



The plant being found in all these 

 places, under conditions so unlikely 

 for its introduction, little doubt re- 

 vains that it is indigenous, and the 

 probability that it is so is strengthened 

 when it is considered, as has been 

 noticed, that it exists at tlie extreme 

 western limits of Europe, Ireland, 

 Iceland, and the Azore Islands. New 

 Foundland. Nova Scotia, Maine and 

 Massachusetts are where it might 

 naturally be expected, if found at all 



( 



