THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



453 



ing from one place to another to suit 

 his convenience. — VanJore. 



l;i. Sliould any person receive in- 

 jury to himself or property by the 

 aforesaid moving or disphicement of 

 bees, he may claim and recover full 

 value of damage done.— C. N. 1382. 



14. Bees, of course, are movable, 

 but they become immovable when the 

 proprietor places them to tlie account 

 of the ground property.— C. X., 524. 



15. The part owner of a swarm of 

 bees, cannot force his partner to di- 

 vide it. He must dispose of his part 

 by auction.— Vandore. 



16. The "Code Rural," sections 1, 

 2, 3, has forbidden the seizure of the 

 hives and contents for any debts, 

 unless these debts are not contracted 

 toward the one who furnished them, 

 or toward the proprietor of the 

 grounds. Section 3 forbids tlie re- 

 moval of the hives even, if seized dur- 

 ing the months of December, January 

 and February, but this proliibitory 

 law is not mentioned in the " Code de 

 Procedure," which states different 

 seizable property, witliout including 

 bees. 



Koenigshopfen, Germany. 



After California Honey.— The Oak- 

 land, Oal., Tribune says Mr. Joseph 

 M. McCall,of Thurber & Co.'s New 

 York house, was recently in Califor- 

 nia to purchase all the honey that may 

 be offered him. That paper adds : 



Mr. McCaul, it is feared, will lind 

 California apiarists rather slow and 

 backward in disposing of this year's 

 crop, unless they are offered a good 

 price for it, as the yield has not been 

 great, but the quality, nevertheless, 

 is excellent. It is said that this year's 

 harvest will not be more than one- 

 fourth of a crop. Veiitura county 

 which produced 400 tons in 1S7S, will 

 produce hardly twenty tons this year. 

 Their agent will also purchase all the 

 California wax that he may be able 

 to lind. In the past few years the de- 

 mand for this product has more than 

 doubled, principally on account of 

 there being so mucli" of it used in the 

 manufacture of what is called comb 

 foundation. 



Harmless to Dairies. — Among the un- 

 settled points, Mr. A. Pettigrew men- 

 tions the following in a late number 

 of the London Journal of Horticulture : 



A parsimonious old farmer whose 

 clover (ields were visited by our bees 

 sorely felt that his fields would have 

 been"richer without them, and so con- 

 vinced was he that his butter was im- 

 poverished by our bees that he trod to 

 death all he possibly could, and 

 threatened to use the horse roller 

 when the bees were at work. On 

 mentioning this to Dr. Lindley, 40 

 years ago, he said, " the old farmer 

 was a blockliead,'' but that did not 

 settle the question. Had the farmer 

 just cause for complaint ? If the 20 

 or 40 lbs. of honey gathered by bees 

 from his clover (ields daily had been 

 left in the (lowers, would his cows 



have yielded more and richer milk ? 

 This is'a. question which I have not 

 been able to answer, and therefore, so 

 far as I am concerned, it will remain 

 unsettled. In hot weather flowers 

 that yield honey do so constantly ; 

 and if not gathered by bees it is car- 

 ried off by the atmosphere in odors. 

 All honey tlius carried off is lost to 

 bees and tlieir owners? as well as to 

 farmers and their cows. The question 

 now mooted is more easily under- 

 stood than answered satisfactorily. 

 Though dillicult of solution, it maybe 

 well to think about it. White clover 

 and trefoil (Lotuscorniculatus), are the 

 only pasture flowers that I can think 

 of that yield honey to bees. Bees are 

 of great service to farmers and others 

 in their orchards and gardens, and in 

 fertilizing field beans. 



Bees and Clover.— The QentlemerCs 

 Magazine gives the following on the 

 advantages of bees to clever : 



Bee culture has been powerfully ad- 

 vocated for the honey sake, and 

 would probably be more general if 

 sugar were not" so cheap. There is, 

 however, another advantage, which 

 Darwin's researches have proved — 

 viz. the action of the bees in fertiliza- 

 tion of (lowers. Every farmer who 

 grows red clover for the seed sake is 

 too familiar with the uncertainty of 

 this crop, the seeds of which ripen 

 with most vexatious inequality. Ilevr 

 Ilaberlaiidt, who has followed up and 

 confirmed the researches of Darwin 

 in reference to these particular flow- 

 ers, strongly recommends the rearing 

 of bees oii all clover farms for the 

 special purpose of fertilization, even 

 though their honey be disregarded, 

 for it api)ears that clover is entirely 

 dependent on insects for its fertiliza- 

 tion, and chiefly upon bees. The 

 form of the flowers and the manner 

 in which the maturity of the lower 

 florets precedes that of the upper 

 florets renders the success or failure 

 of a clover seed crop simply a result 

 of the employment or non-employ- 

 ment of these humble farm laborers. 



Keeping Bees ipi Texas.— Dr. J. E. 



Lay gives the following reasons why 

 he keeps bees, in a late number of the 

 I'exas Agricultural Journal : 



The following are some of the rea- 

 sons why I keep bees : Their habits 

 afford me quite an extensive field for 

 scientific research. Endless experi- 

 ments may be made with them that 

 will elicit much profitable knowledge. 

 The naturalist, the physiologist and 

 anatomist can find in their study 

 much that is useful and advantage- 

 ous in tlieir particular branches of 

 learning. Indeed it is a field that the 

 scientists may enter and find much 

 material that is wonderful as well as 

 most beautiful, to engage his highest 

 thoughts. lie looks upon new and 

 strange wonders that continually call 

 forth his admiration. It is a part of 

 the great domain of nature that the 

 most learned may not despise, but 

 enter with thereap-hookof his genius 

 and gather many golden sheaves. 



The bee is an insect of the highest 

 order, filled with nerves, blood-ves- 

 sels, lungs, glands, and a linely organ- 

 ized brain. It also possesses a sting 

 of great energy, by which it may de- 

 fend its home and young and repel 

 only intruders : and thus, in the pro- 

 tection of hrime. and in the defense of 

 its young, it displays an' instinct Of 

 the highest order that is rarely to be 

 found in such degree except in man. 

 Being thus wonderfully endowed by 

 the Creator, they present to our minds 

 a subject worthy of intelligent con- 

 sideration. 



Bee-keeping is looked upon as 

 rather a small business, that depends 

 largely ujiou the luck of the individual 

 engaged in it, and not worth "fuss- 

 ing " after by men of skill and educa- 

 tion. This accounts for the fact that 

 one of the most pleasant as well as 

 profitable industries of our great 

 State has remained in the back- 

 ground, entirely neglected so long, 

 simply because there has not been 

 given to it a rational and intelligent 

 investigation. Thattime is past, and 

 thousands throughout our great land 

 are engaged in scientific apiculture, 

 and are reaping rich harvests of 

 golden nectar each season, that is- 

 fast making them financially inde- 

 pendent. It has taken its place as 

 one of the great industries of our 

 country. The time is close at hand, 

 if not already upon us, when ex- 

 tracted honey will rank as one of the 

 staples of the world. I'es, as staple 

 as molasses or sugar— an article of 

 food at once the most wholesome and 

 pleasant to the palate of man that 

 ever was bestowed by the hand of an 

 indulgent Creator. 



We have been taught to look upon 

 honey as a rare luxury, exceedingly 

 difficult to obtain, and only in small 

 quantities, to be used on fete-days, or 

 to be carefully stowed away for sick- 

 ness. This is a grand mistake. The 

 giver of all good did not so intend it, 

 but He scattered the beautiful flow- 

 ers over our land, pleasant both to 

 our eyes and olfactory sense, and 

 filled them with this golden sweet. 

 "Zes, lavished it around us in thous- 

 ands of pounds, wai'ing, ready to be 

 gathered by this wonderful insect, 

 the bee, which is so easily made sub- 

 servient to the intelligence of man, 

 going forth as never tiring servants 

 at his bidding, gathering and pouring 

 into our stine-rooms, not as a mere 

 luxury, but as a rich, wholesome 

 necessary food to gladden the young, 

 the old, the rich, the poor, for indeed 

 all may enjoy this blessing that are 

 willing to labor for it only in an in- 

 telligent manner. 



This portion of Texas is eminently 

 adapted to apiculture. In this part, 

 bees will live through any winter 

 without any protection, if "left with 

 plenty of food. They will gather two 

 crops of honey every year— a light- 

 colored croi) iii the spring, that can- 

 not be suriiassed, and a wine-colored 

 crop in the fall, which possesses an 

 exquisite flavor, and in taste is pre- 

 ferred by some epicures to the light 

 spring honey. 



