THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



185 



of it, you would be surprised ; and it is 

 made in Chicago." 



" Tliat is not so ; for no one can 

 malse comb lioney." 



'• Tliey do make it, comb and all, for 

 the man that liad it on exhibition told 

 me so, and I afterwards saw the place 

 where they make it. I saw an im- 

 mense pile in their show window." 



But lie had forgotten the street and 

 number, so I could not trace the mat- 

 ter up. 



Another reason why I am convinced 

 of the above fact, is that while I have 

 sold my honey from house to house, 

 many people would look at the sec- 

 tions, tarn them over and over, again 

 and again, in the most surprising 

 manner, and then ask : " Is this tlie 

 way you put up comb honey V I told 

 them no; that the bees made it tluit 

 way ; that the bees gathered the honey 

 always. Some seemed doubtful. 



One more strong evidence : My 

 friend who ate the artificial comb 

 honey at his sister's table in Chicago, 

 promised to send me a sample of it 

 when he got back to the city, but tlie 

 sample has not come to hand, and I 

 have no doubt but that he found the 

 honey he had eaten for artihcial lioney 

 was the pure article, for it is two 

 months since he was here. 



Honey taken from bee-trees, log 

 gums, box hives, and proniiscously 

 thrown into tubs and carried to mar- 

 ket, is so different from our nice clean 

 sections of to-day, people can hardly 

 realize the fact that our nice honey in 

 sections is pure. 



Section honey in country places is 

 something new. Many people have 

 never seen any. Producers always 

 ship their best honey to the city mar- 

 kets, and the above statement ex- 

 plains the mistaken idea among eity 

 consuuiers. This false idea is detri- 

 mental to honey producing, but how 

 can we remedy it y 

 Peru, 111. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



"Do Bees PiinetHre Grapes?" 



A. F. MOON. 



The members of the Northeastern 

 Convention, which recently held its 

 annual session, very wisely discussed 

 this question; much credit is due 

 them, for a just and " wise decision." 



For thousands of years the honey 

 bee has been a coinpiinion of man, in 

 the way of supplying him with the 

 grandest luxury ever placed before 

 an epicure. Bees have greatly aided 

 in the fructifying of fruit in carrying 

 pollen from " tlower to (lower ;'" "it is 

 needless to give the manner in wliicli 

 they were cultivated, and managed in 

 olden times, but we will say that 

 within the last thirty years, " came 

 the promise of deliverance— the fore- 

 shadowing of the beginning of great 

 things"— and that foresliadowing was 

 the introduction of movable frame 

 hives. Up to that period but little 

 niterest. comparatively, had been 

 manifested. -'except by a few, know- 

 ing the worth of this noble insect." 

 Latterly came more important inven- 

 tions, such as the honey and wax ex- 



tractors, comb foundation machines 

 and other valuable inventions, which 

 gave this rural branch an impetus 

 never beforo excelled in any country. 

 All this has had the effect to place 

 this commodity in proper shape to 

 meet the approval of other nations 

 who are striving to compete with 

 America. Wliile tliis great revolu- 

 tion has been going on, the little busy 

 bees has, like tlie gigantic railroad 

 system, spread far and wide, notwith- 

 standing their great enemy, which is 

 the worst of all, "the ignorance of 

 man ; " they have contriveil to in- 

 crease and emigrate to the far west. 

 They have cmssed the Mississippi, 

 making their way westward until the 

 Rocky Mountains are no longer their 

 boundaries. Yes, this wonderful in- 

 sect has pushed its way onward over 

 the mountains and the plains, passing 

 Dakoto. Nebraska, Colorado, Wyo- 

 ming, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, 

 Oregon, and the far Washington Ter- 

 ritory; their march has been west- 

 ward, and mostly in advance of the 

 human family. 



The wonderful growth in apiculture 

 during the last 30 years has far ex- 

 celled any thing in the world's history. 

 The revenue derived from the bee 

 excels any other branch of industry 

 for the caiiital invested, aiut their 

 nature and iiabits have become famil- 

 iar to almost every school boy. Not- 

 withstanding their long existence 

 upon the earth, we have a class of men 

 who are trying to banish them from the 

 land by accusing them of" puncturing 

 grapes, peaches and other fruit." How 

 strange it is that the honey bee has 

 been cultivated for so long a period 

 and never learned until a few years 

 how to open and suck the juice of 

 fruit! 



When this complaint was first made 

 we had the curiosity to test it, al- 

 thougli we had kept a large lot of both 

 bees and grapes, yet never knew of 

 any injury done to grapes, peaches or 

 any fruit by them. 



We selected from the Delaware, 

 which, by the way, is one of the most 

 tender of all varieties, placing tlieni 

 in an empty hive, and putting a colony 

 of bees in the hive, but not a grape 

 was punctured, but the bees died. 1 

 have frequently placed a bunch of 

 grapes in front of a hive of bees when 

 but little or no honey could be gatli- 

 ered, and have covered them with 

 syrup; they would lick up the syrup 

 but did not destroy the gra|)es, neither 

 do we believe they can. If tliey pos- 

 sessed the power they would amioubt- 

 edly use it long ago, for they have 

 been raised together, and we do not 

 think the bees possess any more 

 knowledge to-day than they did when 

 first known to man. They liave not 

 changed — they work by the same rule, 

 and are governed by the same law 

 now, that they were 2,000 years ago. 



It is somewhat astonishing to look 

 upon the most refined and intelligent 

 communities of modern times and be- 

 hold the igiKuance that still exists, 

 and where knowledge should prevail, 

 the ig'iorance of merely fashionable 

 training are twins— Gog and Ma-gog. 

 If the question is to be settled 

 whether bees puncture grapes, we , 



hope that practical disinterested men 

 will be chosen ; some great blunders 

 have been made by those who claim 

 to be practical scientists, which has 

 caused the little bee to lose much of 

 its character. A few years ago a man 

 in New York tried to expel bees from 

 the place because the bees sucked 

 honey from his buckwheat. 

 Rome, Ga. 



sikSm^^MMM 



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rErntW^trx^ 



Honey from Cotton. — My bees are 

 doing well. gatheringsomelioney,and 

 are breeding up very fast. Maple, 

 peach and plum trees are in full 

 bloom ; the weather is warm, and the 

 little fellows are busy all day. I have- 

 32 colonies, all in good condition. I 

 have them all in movable frame hives ; 

 I would have no other. I use full 

 sheets of Dunham foundation, and 

 find the bees work on it readily. 

 There is no other person in this local- 

 ity using the frame hive, nor is there 

 any Italian bees except my own. It 

 is thought bees will not pay in this 

 country, but I am going to give them 

 a fair trial this year. I saw drones 

 flying on March 12. I shall begin 

 queen-rearing soon, and expect to 

 breed some fine queens for my own 

 use. I took last season as high as SO 

 lbs. of honey from one hive, made 

 from cotton bloom. I send you a 

 sample. I want to know how it will 

 compare with white clover honey. 

 The sample is not a fair one, as it was- 

 not extracted. It was strained from 

 the comb. H. M. Williams, M. D. 

 Bowden, Ga., March 13, 18S2. 



[The sample came duly ; but it is 

 not as light, nor as pleasant to- the 

 taste as white clover. — Ed.] 



Foundation Fastener.— Is Goodrich's 



machine, intended to fasten founda- 

 tion in frames not wired ? If so, will 

 the sheets of foundation have to be 

 but the whole sizeof franie'i' I should 

 like to buy a machiue that would 

 fasten whole sheets of foundation in 

 frames, that will not war^or stretch, 

 when the bees commence to work on 

 it. Henry Filley. 



Castle Hill, Me. 



[The foundation should be full size 

 of frame— and may be wired or not. — 

 Ed.] 



Coral Berry Bush. — The coral berry 

 bush grows wild here on hundreds of 

 acres. It commences to bloom in 

 August, and blossoms till late frost. 

 Dnuith does not effect it, and it is 

 better than white clover. I have been 

 observing it for 4 years, and find it 

 grows anywhere, either on high or low 

 land. It can be easily plowed out 

 with agood team. J.E. Sample. 



Beman, Kan. 



[We have several specimens, which 

 have been sent from otliers.— Ed.] 



