THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



517 



For the American Bee Journal. 



That Long, Long Day with Mr. Clarke. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



I always read tlie coirespondence 

 department ot the Bee Journal 

 with great care. The first column, 

 wiiile not always containiiisi the best 

 matter, seklom or never contains any- 

 ttiins but lirst class. The same we 

 know is true of any column nnder the 

 name of W'm. F. Clarke. When I see 

 this name and this column both to- 

 gether, and my name tlirown in for 

 the subject, I am terribly interested. 

 Then, when I come to a place I " must 

 not read," I cannot read it quick 

 enough, of course. 



I am very glad to have been able to 

 dei)ort myself in such a manner as to 

 win the esteem of a man of liis ability, 

 and feel compelled to thank him for his 

 eulogistic words. I only regret that I 

 fall so short of the ability he gives me 

 credit for. 



Regarding our religious controversy 

 which he touched upon with so much 

 feeling, I sought to be as honest with 

 him upon that subject as npon the 

 topic of apiculture, or as I would be 

 in the discharge of a pecuniary obli- 

 gation. If I am indebted to you I will 

 not deny it ; if I am asked how to suc- 

 cessfully winter bees every time, I 

 will frankly say, " I do not know how;" 

 if you ask me, " what of another life, 

 where we may extend our pleasant 

 controversies V" I must be honest and 

 say, I do not know. If I have not had 

 evidence that was sufficient to ground 

 any belief either way in my mind, I 

 must be honest and say so. If there 

 is another life, and I lind I was in that 

 regard mistaken, I will not have to 

 add dishonesty to ray error. Whether 

 there is or is not, it is so by a law in 

 nature, and your opinion or mine will 

 not change it. I have no doubt but 

 that the lionest will be as well fitted 

 to enter such an e.\istence as any one, 

 and while here our whole attention 

 and energies are needed in this one, as 

 long as we are so surrounded with 

 mistakes and crime. Right here, 

 wliile upon this partially out-of-place 

 subject, allow me to say tliat Mr. 

 Clarke is an exemplary Christian min- 

 ister, for while lie recognizes in others 

 opinionsthat differ from hisown, even 

 npon religious subjects, he fully re- 

 spects and esteems the honest holder 

 of sucli opinions. Belonging to the 

 class who teach " Love your enemies," 

 he does not hate his friends, nor those 

 who have not in any way maltreated 

 him. Mr. Clarke has a broad and 

 generous feeling, and, as is usually 

 the case, /h'n Creator is equally broad 

 and generous. These facts make Mr. 

 Clarke a friend to those who honestly 

 differ with Inra. 



But. as ex-editor of the American 

 Bee Journal, experimental apicul- 

 turist, and correspondent to all the 

 bee papers, I need not say one word in 



praise of Mr. Clarke's lively vigor as a 

 contributor. His contributions are 

 those we seize Ih'st of all, as the hun- 

 gry child seizes the cake-plate first at 

 the table. As I have often said, I 

 look ujion Mr. Clarke as our poetical 

 contributor — thi- man whose pen por- 

 trays in jiictures. 



I must confess that I have never be- 

 fore been " looked over" by one who 

 so closely scanned every detail of the 

 apiary. I was not a little surprised at 

 Mr. Clarke's accurate descriptions, 

 and how few the errors made in detail- 

 ing the same, even to his correct guess 

 that in observing the new-born colony 

 settle down in tlieir new home, I rec- 

 ognized the f ullillment of natural law. 

 T was glad of the opportunity to 

 convince so candid and intelligent an 

 apiarist as Mr. Clarke, that our crosses 

 between the dark Italians and brown 

 German bees were as gentle as any 

 bees lie ever saw ; also that they 

 brought in the nectar in a manner ex- 

 celled by none. 



I wish" Mr. Clarke, and many other 

 apicultural celebrities, could have 

 been here to see the " long, leather- 

 colored, brown German bees" bring 

 in, the basswood honey. They had 

 some reason to be cross when Mr. 

 Clarke was here, though they were 

 not. Basswood is now closed for 

 1882, and now is the finest opportunity 

 to see these crossed (though not cross) 

 bees dart for the large heads of red 

 clover. O, for 4U acres of sweet clover 

 (inelilot) now, to fill up the gap be- 

 tween basswood and the autumn flow- 

 ers that come in August and Septem- 

 ber. The acre we have tells us the 

 true story of what we ought to have. 



Long will I remember the long day's 

 visit with Mr. Clarke, and the differ- 

 ent opinion I formed of the reverend 

 gentleman from that I had formerly 

 held. 



Dowagiac, Mich., July 29, 1882. 



For the American E,ie JournaL 



Sending Queens by Mail to Canada. 



S. CORNEIL. 



because queens have been repeated- 

 ly received here without, being so 

 stamped, and have been delivered by 

 the postmaster directly to the con- 

 signees. Possibly the packages of 

 queens sent out by A. I. Root may 

 more readily show their contents than 

 those sent "out by the Messrs. Cary, 

 which might account for their differ- 

 ent treatment at the outports. 



If the packages were marked thus, 

 "Bees for Improvement of Stock," 

 probably they would be allowed to 

 pass througli without further trouble. 

 .\ safer way would be for the importer 

 to order his queens to be sent to the 

 postoffice where the nearest Custom 

 House is situated, but bee-keepers are 

 not always posted as to the regulations 

 of Her Majesty's Customs. 



If other shippers have sustained loss 

 in this way, it might be well to rejiort 

 the fact to the Hon. L. Wallbridge, 

 Bellville, Out., who, as President ot 

 the Ontario Bee-Keepers Association, 

 would, I am sure, most willingly rep- 

 resent the matter to the Minister of 

 Customs, and ask him to instruct the 

 officers at the outports to allow queens 

 to pass through tiie mails w'ithout be- 

 ing stamped for examination as to 

 duty. 



Lindsay, Out., Aug. 7, 1882. 



According to our revenue laws, ani- 

 mals imported for Improvement of 

 stock are admitted free of duty, but 

 all parcels sent by mail are stamped 

 at the Custom House at the inter- 

 national line (called the outport), di- 

 recting the ixistuiaster not to deliver 

 the parcels till tliey are examined by 

 the Collector of Customs as to duty. 

 \V. \V. Cary & Son recently sent a 

 batch of queens to a Mr. Webster in 

 this county. No doubt they reached 

 his postotlice safely, but the postmas- 

 ter was obliged to send them to the 

 Custom House at Lindsay for exami- 

 nation, where they remained till they 

 died. If I niistnke not, this was the 

 second shipment to the same party 

 lost in the same way, making alto- 

 gether a loss to Messrs. Cary & Son, 

 of nearly S2n, besides the loss and dis- 

 appointment to .Mr. Webster. 



It seems the ollieials at some of the 

 outports acting on their own better 

 judgment, permit jiarcels containing 

 queens to pass through the mails with- 

 out being stamped for examination, 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Notes on Honey Plants. 



DR. G. L. TINKER. 



The first flowers on the golden honey 

 plant appeared July 29th, but it will 

 not reacli full bloom before tlie middle 

 of August. The plants grown from 

 the seeds sown last fall are nearly 

 ready to bloom, but the flower buds 

 on that sown the first of April have 

 not yet appeared, although the plants 

 are nearly as large. The tallest are 

 about 5 feet, so that it seems the plant 

 does not reach its full height the first 

 year. The growth along the river 

 from old roots is now (Aug. 1st) from 

 5 to 9 feet high ; that from the seed 

 being only 2 or 3 feet. 



The best time to sow the seed is in 

 the fall or late winter, before the 

 ground ceases to freeze. Only a small 

 portion of the seed sown in May or 

 June will germinate. A quantity of 

 seed was sown on the 2nd of June, 16 

 days after a few plants came up, which 

 will bloom about Sept. 1st. The seed 

 planted about the 1st of April came 

 up in about a week, not one apparent- 

 ly failing to grow. The plants from 

 seed sent to me by Mr. E. M. Coombs, 

 of Indiana, prove to be identical with 

 those growing here. 



I have growing in my garden several 

 kinds of honey plants, the most of 

 them new, including six new kinds, 

 the seed of which I received last fall 

 through the kindness of Mr. J. S. Wood, 

 the Vice-President of the Danish Bee 

 Association. Four out of the six are 

 varieties of the Scrophularia, vis : 

 iS. vernalu. S. hUeriJlorii. ,b'. dnysantlia, 

 and S.lnucinkUa. The two latter have 

 already blossoms. Both secrete nectar 

 freely, but the last is a small plant 

 with i>rocumbent stems, and diflicult 

 to cultivate. The i>'. c/nv/sfoi'/i't is a 



