756 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Bees in Chiua.— Mr. O. W. Willits, 

 ■writes a letter from Pekin, China, to 

 the Juvenile Oleuninqs, concerniiio; the 

 only colony of bees he had seen during 

 a residence of three years in China, 

 and the bee pasturage he found there. 

 He thus describes the bees and the 

 place where he found them, etc.: 



I have hurried out to examine more 

 closely the only hive of bees it has 

 been my fortune to see in China dur- 

 ing a residence of tliree summers. 

 This is in a hollow tree in the rear of 

 the pagoda of a large Buddhist temple. 

 The bees are not so large as our com- 

 mon bees, nor do they seem as much 

 inclined to sting, though some Cliina- 

 men were stung the other day by a 

 fev? who had been disturbed in their 

 work of building a new liome. The 

 entrance to this tree is just above the 

 ground. The bees are so thick about 

 it that I cannot determine where the 

 hole begins, though it ends about four- 

 teen inches above the earth. I should 

 think there were bees enough for sev- 

 eral ordinary hives ; in places they are 

 five or six layers deep. I wonder if 

 they are going to swarm. They are of 

 a general brownish hue, but have 

 three broad bright-yellow bands. I 

 wish I had more courage, and I would 

 go up and get one. How I should like 

 10 get into that old tree ! 



While I have been writing, my little 



firl, with two playmates, has been 

 een wading in a lotus pond. I won- 

 der if I can describe the lotus flower 

 so that your boys and girls will get a 

 correct idea of how it looks. It grows 

 out of the water much like the water- 

 lily, but doesn't stop growing so soon ; 

 for the stalk, which becomes half an 

 inch or more in diameter, stretches up 

 from three to five feet above the water. 

 One solitary leaf forms at the top. 

 The leaf, in front of me, and there are 

 larger ones in the , pond, measures 

 eighteen inches in diameter. It is of 

 coarse texture, almost round, and has 

 some twenty or twenty-one strongly 

 marked veins radiating" from the cen- 

 ter. It resembles a green umbrella 

 which the wind has turned inside out. 

 On a similar stalk, but not on one 

 bearing a leaf, there forms the largest 

 and most beautiful flower I ever saw. 

 It reminds one much of the peony, 

 though it has not so many petals, and 

 is on a much grander scale. These 

 before me are pink, though there are 

 also red and white ones. Within these 

 beautiful petals stands up the seed- 

 pod. It is shaped somewhat like a 

 cucumber cut crosswise. The seeds 

 are arranged in a circular form, and 

 set in like cartridges in a repeating 

 rifle, which they also resemble in oth- 

 er respects. These seeds, when ripe, 

 are eaten with a relish. The root, 

 also, is a salable article of diet, much 



desired, and bringing a good price. A 

 slice of it looks like a slice of raw po- 

 tato after a boy has filled his pop-gun 

 as many time as possible without 

 breaking tlie partitions. It has a 

 pleasant, sweetish taste, and is pre- 

 mred for food in many ways. The 

 Emperor has a lake of lotus-flowers. 

 After not many days, hundreds of men 

 will find employment in gathering the 

 succulent roots. 



Reversible. — The Scientific American 

 in a late issue, mentions the following : 



An improved honey extractor has 

 been patented, consisting of a series 

 of comb holders resting on a plate or 

 frame loosely mounted on a vertical 

 shaft in a vessel, the comb holders 

 having pivots or pintles projecting 

 from the bottoms, on which pintles 

 pinions are mounted, which engage 

 with a cog wheel rigidly mounted on 

 tlie shaft below the loosely mounted 

 plate, this cog wheel being provided 

 on its upper surface with a series of 

 notches, and the plate or frame being 

 provided on its under side with a pawl 

 strip adapted to catch on the notches, 

 so that tlie honey will be thrown from 

 the combs by the centrifugal force 

 when the shaft is rotated, and when 

 the motion of the shaft is slackened 

 the comb holders will be reversed. 

 The comb holders can thus be reversed 

 very rapidly and easily by simply re- 

 tarding the motion of the cog wheel 

 liy holding back on the crank. 



Effects of Conventions and Honey 

 Shows. — The American Agriculturist 

 for December is received, and under 

 the heading of " Bee Notes for Decem- 

 ber," we find the following, on the 

 beneficial effect of Conventions and 

 Bee and Honey Shows, which the Bee 

 Journal has persistently advocated 

 for many years : 



A leading cause for the recent rapid 

 progress in Apiculture, is to be found 

 in our numerous Conventions. These 

 County, District, State, Inter-state, and 

 National meetings, to consider, and 

 discuss important questions, are now 

 numbered by hundreds, and are lend- 

 ing a powerful influence to develop 

 practical apiculture. The most influ- 

 ential of all these societies is the North 

 American Association. This gathers 

 the " meat" from all the lesser associ- 

 ations and freely distributes it to the 

 whole country. " Reports were made at 

 the recent Cincinnati meeting from 

 nearly all the States of the honey yield 

 for the past season. The records for 

 the South and West were encouraging. 

 The Soutli especially lias had a won- 

 derful yield of the best honey. In the 

 East, and north from Ohio, the yield 

 has been unprecedentedly light. In 

 Southern Ohio, and portions of New 

 York and Canada, the report is of an 

 entire failure. In California and the 

 East the crop is poor. From these re- 

 ports we gatlier three important facts . 

 first, cold, no less than excessive drouth 

 or wet, will dry up tlie nectar glands, 

 and blast the bee-keeper's liopes. Sec- 

 ondly, the Gulf States, especially Tex- 



as, bid fair to rival Californiaas honey 

 producing regions. The winters are 

 as safe, the honey season as long, and 

 the seasons more sure. Thirdly, the 

 South can furnish as fine honey as any 

 section of the United States. Honey 

 exhibited from Florida, Mississippi, 

 and Texas, was greatly admired. 

 From these reports, we also learn an 

 important lesson : that to secure a 

 certain harvest, bee-keepers must 

 grow special honey plants. Then, if 

 the white clover, or the basswood fail, 

 we still have hope. 



If rightly managed, it is impossible 

 to clog the market even with extracted 

 honey. Pure honey in everv sales- 

 room and factory, put up in the best 

 style, will sell in almost unlimited 

 quantity. Overstocking the market 

 need no longer be feared. 



Whence Cometh Many Diseases J— 



The Grange Bulletin remarks as follows 

 on the danger of adulteration : 



Remember that pure honey has no 

 equal as a medical sweet and far ex- 

 ceeds that of ordinary or common 

 sugar syrup (or glucose), which should 

 at all times be used in preference to 

 either of the two last named articles. 

 Besides, let us ask, would it not be 

 wise in us, as a people, to reflect and 

 study from whence comes many of the 

 ailments the human family seem to be 

 heir to of late years, when we see so 

 many cases of cancer that fasten upon 

 the vitals of the human system. 



A $20.00 Biblical Reward.— The 



publishers of Butledge's Monthly offer 

 twelve valuable rewards in their 

 Monthly for December, among which 

 is the following : 



We will give $20.00 in gold to the 

 person telling us how many verses 

 there are in the New Testament Scrip- 

 tures (not the New Revision) by De- 

 cember 10th, 1SS2. Should two or 

 more correct answers be received, the 

 reward will be divided. The money 

 will be forwarded to the winner De- 

 cember 15th, 1882. Persons trying for 

 the reward must send 20 cents in sil- 

 ver (no postage stamps taken) with 

 their answer, for which they will re- 

 ceive the Christmas Monthly, in which 

 the name and address of the winner 

 of the reward and the correct answer 

 will be published. This may be worth 

 S20.00 to you ; cut it out. Address 

 RUTLEDGE Publishing Company, 

 Easton, Penna. 



Very Crooked. —The crookedest of 

 crooked work, and yet that which has 

 grace and elegance in every crook, may 

 be seen in the Noyes Dictionary Hold- 

 ers and Noyes Handy Tables. In 

 them the fact is clearly demonstrated 

 that if the inventor has not made the 

 crooked straight, he has made the 

 straight crooked, and thereby increased 

 its beauty and utility. People in 

 search of holiday presents will appre- 

 ciate his success. A fine illustrated 

 circular may be liad free by addressing 

 L.W.Noyes, 99\V.Monroe-st.,Chicago. 

 The prices have been greatly reduced. 



