THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



435 



Exceptionally Bad Honey Prospects. 



New York generally, some portions 

 of Kentucky, and districts in Califor- 

 nia seem especially unpromising for a 

 large honey yield this season. Mr. J. 

 r. Moore, Bingliamton, X. Y., .writes 

 under date of July 4th : 



The silver lining of the clouds you 

 speak about in tlie Bee Journal, 

 has not been discernible to the naked 

 eve of anv bee-keeper of this State I 

 think. Or if any of them had a 

 glimpse of it, it has all fallen out by 

 this time, as we are not going to get 

 any surplus from clover, nor from 

 anything else this season, unless we 

 liave a radical change in the weather. 

 What we are afraid of now is that we 

 shall not get honey enough to winter 

 our bees. 



Portions, or, perhaps, tlie whole of 

 New York, and districts in other 

 States, may be exceptions ; but even 

 yet, with favorable weather from this 

 on, the honoy yield will be good. Cer- 

 tainly tliere never was a more abund- 

 ant white clover bloom in the United 

 States than this season, and linden 

 promises everything that could be de- 

 sired from it. In illustration of our 

 vastness as a country, the New York 

 Tribune gives the following : 



If the sun shines through the 24 

 hours on British territory it may also 

 be said that the reaper runs all sum- 

 mer in the United States. The har- 

 vester liglits it out on his line from 

 middle spring to early autumn. At 

 Americns, Ga., on the 19th of April, 

 a ripe field of wheat was cut, and 

 others in Texas and elsewhere not 

 much later. Texas will finish in May, 

 Tennessee in June, Illinois and Ohio 

 in July, Iowa in August, and Minne- 

 sota may gather some late fields in 

 September. 



Undoubtedly summer and fall bloom 

 will be equally good. Sweet clover is 

 ■coming on rapidly, and though late, 

 is thrifty and will be very productive 

 of nectar. Fortunately, the districts 

 spoken of form the exception — not the 

 rule. 



ing in severity. My theory of "wea- 

 tlier relationships" is working just 

 now in a telling manner all over tlie 

 Northern hemispliere, and I feel much 

 greater confidence in predicting the 

 periods of the more marked disturb- 

 ances. Hence, I herewith reiterate 

 ray previous statements respecting '-a 

 very cold and stormy autumn," and 

 early setting in of extreme severity, 

 with heavy snowfalls, this reaching to 

 remote southerly points. We are 

 likely to exiierieiice one of the coldest 

 periods in along term of years during 

 the early part of the winter of 1S82-S3, 

 but the "cold will come in a lump, and 

 the latter half of the winter is likely 

 to be mild and open, with an advanced 

 spring. 



Annals of Fort Mackinac— We have 

 received from Lieut. D. 11. Keltou, 

 U. S. A., a copy of <an interesting book 

 bearing the above title. The history 

 and legends of the book are inter- 

 spersed with several scenic engrav- 

 ings of ancient and modern times. 

 We have had a personal acquaintance 

 with Lieut. Kelton, of several years' 

 standing, and this is just such a work 

 as we would anticipate from a man of 

 his accomplished education and dis- 

 criminating judgment. In the pre- 

 face to the work he says : 



Besides information derived from 

 official sources, including the records 

 on file in the Fort, the old books of 

 the American Fur Company, the re- 

 cords of the village and county of 

 Mackinac, and of the churches of 

 Mackinac and St. Ignace ; old docu- 

 ments in the hands of private indi- 

 viduals have also been examined, and 

 much matter obtained which it is be- 

 lieved has never before been in print. 



Bee-Keeping' in Ceylon. — Mr. J. 



Matthew Jones, Waterville, N. S., 

 sends us the following interesting ex- 

 tract from a recent work entitled 

 " Hoffmeister's Ceylon and Continen- 

 tal India," illustrating the primitive 

 methods pursued in those countries: 



The ground iloorof a native's house 

 at Mookha, in the Himalayas, con- 

 tained tlie stalls for cattle, and the 

 bee house. Tlie latter occupied one 

 wliole side of the house in which the 

 window slits were walled up, leaving 

 only fly-holes for the bees on the 

 lower edges ; all the rest being closed 

 with cow dung. The entrance to this 

 apiary was on the opposite side from 

 that to the dwelling houses, and it 

 was with the greatest difficulty that I 

 obtained permission to cross the 

 threshhold, as the people were afraid 

 that I might take possession of their 

 honey. I found within a perfectly 

 dark chamber, three feet high, in 

 which, resting on a low wooden stand, 

 were the bee hives, a sort of square 

 tubes formed of four planks, connected 

 in front with the fly-holes, and open 

 behind toward the dark room. When 

 tlie honey had to be t;iken out, which 

 w^as done in July or August, a fire of 

 cow dung was made in this little 

 chamber, the smoke of which drove 

 the bees out by the fly-holes. They 

 soon return, however, and build 

 anew. 



Vennor's Forecast of the Weather.— 



He predicts a " cold and stormy 

 autumn," and a very " severe win- 

 ter." It will be well for bee-keepers 

 to make preparations for such, and if 

 it comes as this •' weather prophet " 

 intimates, they will not be " caught 

 napping." He says : 



The general outlook for the weather 

 of the summer season in Southern and 

 Southwestern sections is improving, 

 owing to the continuance of very 

 wimly weather in Northern and West- 

 ern sections of Canada and the L'nited 

 .States. But a " windy spring makes 

 a severe autumn ;" therefore the out- 

 ,look for the autumn of 18S2 is iucreas- 



Xegroes as Bee-Keepers.— The In 



diana Farmer republishes our item 

 with the above caption, on page 378, 

 with the following remarks : 



To the superiority of Indiana's edu- 

 cational system then, belongs this 

 credit, for "we are pleased to inform 

 our esteemed contemporary and its 

 worthy correspondent, that we have 

 several in this part of the country. 

 One, a colored lady, living a few miles 

 nortii of this city, has charge of 

 thirty odd colonies and is fully up to 

 the times. She gets a fancy price for 

 all her honey, and grumbled not a 

 little because some of the sections 

 which we sent her were not all pearly 

 white. 



Our remarks were based upon our 

 observations in the South, where 

 ignorance and superstition prevail 

 largely among the colored people. 

 We suppose in Indiana they have had 

 facilities and inducements for im- 

 proving their knowledge regarding 

 bees, as well as in everything else 

 tending to elevate and enlighten the 

 race. 



A Swarm of Bees on a Telegraph 



Pole.— The Philadelphia Eecord pub- 

 lishes the following item among its 

 local news : 



For nearly a week past a swarm of 

 bees has been domiciled on a chimney- 

 top over the buildings at the north- 

 west corner of Third and Chestnut 

 streets. Yesterday morning they 

 migrated to the top of a telegraph 

 pole on Third street, above Chestnut, 

 and from the street the pinnacle 

 looked as though it had been dipped 

 in a pot of tar. Great crowds collected 

 at the corner to view the curiosity. 

 The interest heightened when at mid- 

 day a telegraph lineman mounted the 

 pole with a hive improvised from a 

 soap-box and attempted to capture 

 the bees. He preferred to coax the 

 insects rather than drive tliem, but 

 after a patient but unsuccessful effort 

 he left the box in inviting proximity 

 that the bees might hive themselves 

 at leisure. There was no apparent 

 diminution in the size of the swarm 

 on the pole until just before 7 o'clock, 

 when, reinforced by an assistant, the 

 lineman swept them into a larger box 

 and departed with his prize. He was 

 inspired by a promise of $12.50 if the 

 swarm should be secured. 



