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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Foreign and Domestic Crop Prospects. 



Beports of a most encouraging 

 character come from all sections of 

 the United States. Wheat, although 

 a trifle less in acreage, is far above 

 the average in quality and yield, and 

 corn, oats, potatoes, etc., never prom- 

 ised better. A dispatch from Sedg- 

 wick county, Kans., dated June 26, 

 says : " Two-thirds of the 100,000 

 acres of wheat in this county has been 

 cut and is now in shock. The average 

 yield will be unprecedently large, and 

 of the finest quality. Farmers declare 

 they never saw such fine grain. Many 

 fields will yield thirty to forty bushels to 

 the acre. The acreage of corn, nearly 

 130,000 acres, is growing rapidly and 

 is very promising. Such other crops 

 as potatoes, oats and barley all jnom- 

 ise more than the ordinary yield." 

 And not only is this true of most of 

 the grain-producing districts, but in 

 the river valleys, where floods and 

 overflows pre vailed so disastrously ear- 

 lier in the season, a most bountiful 

 yield of cotton, corn, etc., is probable. 

 As we stated last week, there is now 

 every prospect of a fully satisfactory 

 honey yield from nearly all portions of 

 our country. Despite the unusually 

 late frosts, fruit will not be such an 

 utter failure as many predicted. It is 

 really too bad that the '"croakers" — 

 the human ogres who are always 

 harping of hard times and ruin to 

 come — those who are not content 

 with feeling gloomy themselves, but 

 must persuade others to view only the 

 darkest side of everything— should be 

 disappointed in their predictions. We 

 have for several weeks counseled our 

 readers to look on the brighter side ; 

 that the gloom was only the precursor 

 of better things coming, and we know 

 all will join in rejoicing over the 

 fruition of our hopes. With the com- 

 paratively few disappointed ones we 

 sincerely sympathize, as well as with 

 those who have been ruined in the 

 tornado's path. It will be a melan- 

 choly satisfaction to them that they 

 are exceptions. 



Mr. A. Pettigrew, in the London, 

 Eng., Journal of Horticulture, of June 

 15, gives the following gloomy picture 

 of bee-keeping there this season : 



If all the districts of England are as 

 unfavorable for bees at present as 

 that of Cheshire, feeding— vigorous 

 feeding— should be considered the 

 most important duty of the apiarist. 

 Hives are very full of bees, and large 

 hives well filled with bees require 

 much food— at least a winebottle full 

 of syrup each every day. Indeed, 



that is hardly enough to keep a hive 

 containing forty thousand bees in 

 health and prosperity if no field pick- 

 ings are obtained. The season here 

 has been so unfavorable that drones 

 have been killed as soon as born in 

 hives not vigorously fed. All young 

 bee-keepers should know that colo- 

 nies on the point of swarming require 

 a great amount of food, and that if 

 the pinch of starvation is felt the bees 

 are much discouraged, lose their bal- 

 ance, and for the time being abandon 

 the idea of swarming. 



It is also reported from England 

 that their crop prospects are of a 

 gloomy nature. There lias been 

 neither sun nor warmth, and in many 

 districts torrents of rain have fallen. 

 It seems likely, therefore, that the 

 demand from England this year, for 

 American food supplies, will be very 

 great. The outlook everywhere for 

 American farmers and bee-keepers is 

 very good, both as regards yield and 

 prices, and continued prosperity is al- 

 most guaranteed. 



"Almost Persuaded."— We devote 

 much space this week to the discus- 

 sion of Mr. Blow's interesting paper, 

 "■ A Bee-Keeper's Experience in the 

 East," read before the British Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, on May 10th. 

 Mr. Cowan, it will be observed, was 

 very grateful to Mr. Blow, for his 

 pluck in going to Cyprus, to divide 

 with America (for the credit of Eng- 

 land and English bee-keepers) the 

 honor of having seen Cyprian bees 

 in their native haunts, and studying 

 their habits and disposition at home, 

 and to satisfy Mr. Cowan that there 

 was really an American in the Island 

 of Cyprus in charge of and success- 

 fully manipulating a Cyprian apiary. 

 While Americans will go down in 

 sackcloth and ashes because the gen- 

 tleman " does not think it is right for 

 tliem to have everything their own 

 way," the world will rejoice that Mr. 

 Cowan is at last " almost persuaded" 

 that all of Messrs. Jones' and Ben- 

 ton's letters about their Cyprian 

 apiary is not mere bombast ; and what 

 a consolation it will be to those gen- 

 tlemen that he at last is convinced ! 

 Gloria in excelsis. We are, however, 

 pleased to observe that Mr Blow 

 neither assumed tlKit it required much 

 pluck nor great self-sacrifice, to visit 

 Cyprus after Mr. Benton had been a 

 two years' resident there, and had 

 surmounted all the obstacles, so that 

 a quiet study of the Cyprian and 

 Syrian bees, in Americanized frame 

 hivee, was a comparative pastime and 

 luxury. 



The Cultivation of Honey Locust. 



The Nebraska Farmer gives the fol- 

 lowing valuable instructions regard- 

 ing the planting and treatment of 

 honey locust for hedges : 



The secret in hedge-growing of any 

 kind, is well directed care and atten- 

 tion during the first three or four 

 years, ana if this be given to honey 

 locust it will make a hedge every 

 time. The plants must be good ones, 

 vigorous and thrifty— and should be 

 about the same size together, and not 

 plant small and large ones promiscu- 

 ously. Before setting, make the 

 ground along the line rich and mel- 

 low. After setting out the row must 

 be cultivated and kept clean until the 

 hedge is matured or finished. Let 

 the plants grow the first year undis- 

 turbed, and then cut them down with- 

 in three inches of the ground ; the 

 second year, seven inches from the 

 ground ; third year, twelve inches ; 

 fourth year, twenty-five inches ; sixth 

 year, thirty-three inches ; and the 

 seventh year, height desired for fence. 

 This takes seven years, but the fence 

 is good after the fourth year. 



In view of the increasing destruc- 

 tion of our forests, and the great cost 

 of fencing material, any substitute 

 for good fences will be eagerly sought 

 after by the thoughtful farmer. Osage 

 orange has been extensively tried 

 and experimented with, but it fails to 

 fill the bill, there being many very 

 objectionable features about it, chief 

 among which are its inability to stand 

 excessive cold winters ; but the honey 

 locust is free from this objection. As 

 an attractive hedging nothing can ex- 

 cel it in appearance, and certainly 

 nothing is easier of cultivation. When 

 allowed to grow in tree form it be- 

 comes a beautiful shade tree, and the 

 timber is among the most valuable. 

 For honey-producing it stands among 

 tlie best, and bee-keepers will do well 

 to alternate the honey locust with 

 linden and tulip tree or poplar, as it 

 comes into bloom before the linden, 

 and is a more certain producer, though 

 not so bountiful. Bee-keepers should 

 liberally ornament their grounds with 

 it, and try its virtues for hedging. 



^ Our new location. No. 935 West 

 Madison St., is only a few doors from 

 the new branch postoffice. We have 

 a telephone and any one in the city 

 wishing to talk to us through it will 

 please call for No. 7087— that bsing 

 our telephone number. 



1^" Binders cannot be sent to Can- 

 ada by mail— the International law 

 will not permit anything but samples 

 of merchandise weighing less than 8 oz. 



