THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



75 



country. In my opinion, a lucrative 

 field awaits such liere. We have had 

 an exceedingly mild winter so far, and 

 ■our bees are in ])rinie condition. They 

 are now gathering pollen from the 

 American arba vilie. I see tluit Wm. 

 r. Clarke, in his article, in your last 

 issue, "goes for" Mr. Doolittle for 

 using " we " when speaking of him- 

 self. Will you allow me to ask Mr. 

 Clarke to say, in his ne.xt, whether it 

 is in good taste for Doctors and Di- 

 vines, when writing for bee papers, 

 or advertising bee productions, to 



sign themselves Rev. Dr. '? 



If so, would it be in good taste for a 



general to sign liimself Gen. or a 



lawyer to sign himself Lawyer i* 



John Fox. 

 Columbia, Tenn., Jan. 16, 1882. 



Keep the Ball Rolling.— I see that 

 Mr. G. W. Thompson has made the 

 motion for a Bee-Keepers' Society, 

 in New Jersey (see Bee Journal 

 Dec. 7), and it "has been seconded by 

 Mr. Chas. II. Rue (see Journal Jan. 

 3). Now, Mr. Editor, it only remains 

 for you to put the question, and in do- 

 ing so, be sure to record my vote in 

 the affirmative. Let some one ar- 

 range for the meeting to organize and 

 circulate the notice, and New Jersey 

 will no longer be counted out of Bee- 

 ing; but will take her stand with other 

 progressive bee-keeping States. 



J. II. B. Cook. 



Caldwell, N. J., Jan. 16, 1882. 



California Prospects.— It would please 



many of us Calitornia bee-keepers to 

 attend the National Conventions, but 

 the distance intervenes depriving us 

 of that pleasure, and this is the pen- 

 alty we pay for living in the land 

 which may truly be said to " flow with 

 milk and honey," although there are 

 years here when the flow of honey is 

 very light ; Imt the flow of milk con- 

 tinues, and such was the case last year. 

 Judging from present appearances, 

 the prospect for 1882 is not very en- 

 couraging, although this is something 

 which is beyond human wisdom, to 

 say wliat the future will bring, espe- 

 cially in the way of honey. But this 

 I can say, that even when there is a 

 deficiency in the honey crop here, the 

 mortality of the bees need not neces- 

 sarily follow. All of our good honey 

 is produced in the monntanis or foot 

 hills, but there are seasons, when from 

 different causes there is no secretion 

 of nectar in the mountain plants, con- 

 sequently, the bees can gather no 

 honey ; but they can be saved by mov- 

 ing them to the valleys where there is 

 a succession of bloom, especially on 

 lauds that are irrigated, and on such 

 lands you can grow whatever you wish 

 to plant, enabling their owners to sow 

 feed for them anv tijne of year. Rape 

 ami mustard will bloon'i the year 

 round. There are also in these 'low 

 lands hundreds of acres of different 

 varieties of the willow, whicli blooms 

 from December until May. The euca- 

 lyptus, acacia, and'pepper tree have 

 been extensively j)lanted here, and 

 thev afford both honey and pollen. I 

 could enumerate many other honey 

 plants wliich we could cultivate for 



the bees, but my letter is already too 

 long. You will ask, " Why, then, 

 does not California have a surplus of 

 honey every year V" It is because the 

 Californian "has had his palate so 

 pampered with good mountain honey 

 that he cannot descend to eat strong, 

 mixed, valley honey, which is much 

 darker, and of a very inferior quality. 

 I heartily approve of the action of the 

 National Convention in choosing Wm. 

 Muth-Rasmussen as their Vice Presi- 

 dent for California. I think the man- 

 tle could not well have fallen on more 

 worthy shoulders. 



J. E. Pleasants. 

 Anaheim, Cal., Jan. 13, 1882. 



A Missing Bee Man.— In the spring 

 of 1874, Abraham Krider, vifho claim- 

 ed to be from Bucyrus, O., was divid- 

 ing and transferring bees in our sec- 

 tion of country. He introduced a new 

 hive, wliich was simply a square box 

 with cross-sticks and slats one-inch 

 square, and one-inch apart, on top of 

 the hives, to give the bees free access 

 to the honey apartment. His mode 

 of dividing was as follows: Drum 

 one-half of the bees with the queen 

 out of the " gum," put them in the 

 new hive, which he put in the place of 

 the old gum, removing the latter to 

 one side to rear a new queen or die. 

 In transferring, he removed all of the 

 bees, and saved all tlie combs and 

 honey. In the spring of 1875, I was 

 employed by Mr. Krider to furnisli 

 conveyance and tools for manufactor- 

 ing hives. In the following Novem- 

 ber we went to Kosciusko and Wabash 

 counties, taking orders for dividing 

 and transferring bees the following 

 spring. Our orders amounted to 

 nearly $1,000. Mv. Krider, who was 

 about 32 years old, 6 feet tall, weight 

 180 lbs., wore a mustache generally 

 blacked, and spoke the German 

 language naturally, suddenly disap- 

 peared. He was a great cigar smoker, 

 and had a craving appetite for strong 

 drink. A postal giving his where- 

 abouts since that date, will be thank- 

 fully received. Being Ifeft in a dilem- 

 ma, I then employed Mr. I. R. Good 

 to assist me, since which time he has 

 devoted his time to the business of 

 bee-keeping and queen-rearing, and 

 has been quite successful. 



Amos P. Blosser. 



Goshen, Ind., Jan. 18, 1882. 



Can it BeJ— I think I have made a 

 discovery, withoiit the means to dem- 

 onstrate it, I, e., that the worker-bee 

 has an opening in the pollen baskets 

 on the posterier legs, through which 

 moisture can escape to hold the pollen 

 in place in the baskets. I obtained 

 this impression last spring when feed- 

 ing rye-meal. The bees would buzz 

 over it for a few moments, then I 

 could see pellets in the basket, and 

 they would not touch the meal, only 

 stir it with their wings, while others 

 would get in the meal and wallow like 

 pigs. I have no microscope to test the 

 matter, and request the scientific 

 readers of the Bee Journal to in- 

 vestigate the subject. Among other 

 things which convince me this is so, I 

 have seen bees laden with pollen come 

 from the fields, on some the pollen 



was comparatively dry, and on others, 

 apparently from the same source, it 

 was so wet that it would almost drop 

 off. Will some of the scientists give 

 their opinions y Bees are apparently 

 doing well, They had a good flight 

 on the 28th of December. 



Abb Hoke. 

 Union City, Ind., Jan. 23, 1882. 



Persimmon Bloom for Honey.— Bees 



done poorly here last season. I went 

 through the winter with 36 colonies, 

 but had no swarms, and only about 

 300 lbs. of honey. Bees seem to be 

 wintering well now. I wish to say to 

 those who are planting trees'for honey, 

 that the persimmon is one of the best. 

 It comes in bloom about tlie same 

 time that linden does, and bees work 

 upon it in a perfect swarm. What 

 kind of seed can I scatter upon a 

 tract of land that was once heavily 

 timbered, but is now cleared, and 

 used as commons, generally as a cat- 

 tle range y It is a heavy clay soil; 

 water stands upon it in winter, but 

 dries off in summer, making fine pas- 

 ture. There are still logs and stumps 

 on it. It would produce fine crops if 

 cleared. Is the Emerson Binder the 

 same kind that has the spring-steel 

 back, and is used for music ? 



John II. Christie. 

 Dyersburg, Tenn., Jan. 17, 1882. 



[Sweet clover is the best you can 

 plant, as it requires no cultivation 

 after being once covered; a light har- 

 rowing will be sufficient to cover it, 

 and it will hold its own against every- 

 thing else. The Emerson Binder has 

 cloth back, and no still springs. It is 

 much cheaper and quite as durable as 

 the music binders.— Ed]. 



LabelingTiii Cans of Honey.— I have 

 found out what is the reason labels 

 (no matter what kind of paste is used) 

 vi'ill not stick to tin. There is a thin 

 film of grease on all new tin ware, 

 which must be removed, washing the 

 place where the label goes on with a 

 solution of caustic soda or potash, and 

 drying with a cloth will obviate the 

 difflculty, and common flourpaste will 

 then stick. H. K. Beeciiam. 



Acme, Mich., Jan. 25, 1882. 



X Peculiar Case.— I have a colony 

 of bees in my honey house, up stairs, 

 with entrance on the outside, so they 

 can fly at leisure. We use the room 3 

 times a week for band purposes. 

 There are 15 members, and of course, 

 we make quite a noise with 13 horns 

 and 2 drums; the result is, the bees 

 are about Ji or % dead, and they have 

 eaten 25 or 30 lbs. of honey since Nov. 

 lO: I think from the smell, on open- 

 ing the hive, they have dysentery. 

 Well what I started to say is this, on 

 examination, the 21st lust., I find 

 drones in all stages, from eggs to fly- 

 ing drones, no worker larvte in the 

 hive. The mother hatched June 10, 

 1881. She was as prolific as any queen 

 I had up to the time of putting away 

 for winter. She is a well-marked 

 Italian queen, but her progeny is 

 rather dark, but pure, if three-banded 



