THE AMERICAN BEE- JOURNAL. 



771 



ers and puncturing fruits is very tri- 

 fling, if any, and it may be safely 

 aHinned that no provision of a country 

 residence is more pleasant or more 

 profitable tlian a hive, or several lodg- 

 ings of bees, exhibiting a most splen- 

 did specimen of useful activity, and 

 with a most stril^ing portraiture of 

 Nature in the minute creations of her 

 plastic handiwork. If the scale be 

 minute, the grandeur appears in the 

 arrangement and detail, to be equally 

 admired with the Alps or the elephant. 

 Small objects excite wonder, as the 

 larger create admiration. 



1^ In this nuiiU)er we enclose a 

 blank, to be used in sending on sub- 

 scrii)tions for 1883. Very many run 

 out with the present year, and by re- 

 newing at once, it will save us much 

 labor in taking the names in type from 

 the subscription list, and then, that of 

 returning them a few days after. We 

 hope all, who can, will send on their 

 renewals immediately and save any 

 errors that might occur during tlie 

 rush at the end of this month, in the 

 holidays. May we ask you, reader, to 

 speak a good word for the Bee Jot;R- 

 NAL to neighbors who keep bees, and 

 send on at least one new subscription 

 with your own V Our premium, "Bees 

 and Honey," in cloth, will pay you for 

 your trouble, besides having the satis- 

 faction of knowing that you have 

 aided the Bee Journal to a new 

 subscriber, and progressive apiculture 

 to another devotee. 



^" When changing a postofBce ad- 

 dress, mention the old as well as the 

 new address. 



A Religious Newspaper.— We desire 

 to call the attention ot our readers to 

 one of the largest, ablest and most pop- 

 ular religious newspapers publislied— 

 one that secures the best writers in 

 this country and Europe, regardless 

 of expense ; has the best and fullest 

 book reviews of any paper in the 

 country ; has able articles upon finan- 

 cial and commercial subjects ; lias de- 

 paitments edited by specialists and 

 devoted to Fine Arts, Music, Science, 

 Religious Intelligence, Missions, 

 School and College, News of the Week, 

 Hymn Xotes.the Sunday-school, Legal 

 and Sanitary questions, Biblical Re- 

 search (something that cannot be 

 found in any other newspaper in tlie 

 United States). Farm and Garden, In- 

 surance, Weekly Market Reports, etc. 

 —in fact, a newspaper which, with its 

 twenty-two distinct departments, is 

 suited to the requirements of every 

 family, containing a fund of informa- 

 tion which cannot be had in any other 

 shape, and havinir a wide circulation 

 all over the country and in Europe. 

 We refer to The iNDEi'KNDENT, of 

 New York, now called " The largest, 

 the alilest. the best." See advertise- 

 ment, in another column, and send a 

 postal card for free soecimen copy. 



National Agricultural ConTeiition.— 



The National Agricultural Conven- 

 tion, to be held at the Grand Pacific 

 Hotel, Chicago, will begin Tuesday, 

 December 12, and continue four days. 

 The attendance promises to be large, 

 and representative of all sections of 

 the United States and all branches of 

 agriculture. We are assured that the 

 addresses, lectures and papers will be 

 by the highest authorities in agricult- 

 ure and practical affairs. There will 

 be discussions on stock breeding, en- 

 silage—the new system of preserving 

 green fodder, which is attracting so 

 much attention in the Eastern States, 

 the tariff and other questions. 



All interested in agriculture and its 

 advancement are cordially invited to 

 attend the convention and participate 

 in its proceedings. 



Joseph H. Reall is the Secretary, 

 and may be addressed at 142 Dearborn 

 street, Chicago, and World building, 

 New York, for railroad rates, etc. 



A Conundrum.- In the Bee-Keepers'' 

 Magazine for December, Mr. King 

 asked us to explain.why the quotation 

 he gives in the Magazine does not agree 

 with those we give in the Bee Jour- 

 nal. We " give it up — ask us some- 

 thing easier." We have no means of 

 knowing tlie methods employed by 

 Mr. King in the management of the 

 Magazine. We only know that we ob- 

 tain the printed " Prices Current " of 

 the New York market from Mr. Quin- 

 by every week, and quote from it ver- 

 batim. The Magazine only gives a 

 very brief summary, and may be im- 

 posed upon by by some clerk of the 

 house, who may not be informed as to 

 the correct quotations. 



CLUBBING LIST. 



We supply the Atnertcun Bee «Jonrnal and 



any of the fniiowine periodicals, one year, at the 

 prices quoted in the hist column of dsures. The 

 flrst column pives the regular price of both. All 

 poBtafte is prepaid by the publishers. 



P^ubHshtra' Price . Club 

 The Weekly Bee Journal *2 00.. 



andGle^ninKsinBee-CulturefA.I.Root) 3 00.. 2 75 

 Bee-Keepers' Magazine (A.J.King). 3 00. . 2 60 

 Bee-Keeper8'Exch'nKe(Houk&Puet)3 00.. 2 80 



Bee-Keepers' Guide (A.G.HUl) 2 50.. 2 35 



Kansas Bee-Keeper 260.. 2 40 



The above-named papers BOO.. 5 50 



The "Weekly Bee Journal one year and 



Prof. Cook's ManuaKbound in cloth) 3 25.. 3 00 

 Bees and Honey. (T.G.Newman) " 2 75.. 2 SO 



Binder for Weekly. 1881 2 85.. 2 T5 



Binder for Weeklv for 1882 2 75.. 2 50 



The Monthly Bee «IouriiaI and any of the 



above. $1 less than the flKures in the lust column. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



^i" New subscribers for the Weekly 

 Bee Jouunal for 1883, can obtain ail 

 the rest of the numbers for this year 

 by sending $2 to this office. 



Wliat Bees Accomplisli.— A writer 

 in Good Words, remarks as follows : 



By far the most serious difficulty in 

 the process of honey-collecting by bees 

 arises from the extremely minute 

 quantity of nectar which each llower 

 yields, and from its being dilute— in 

 some cases so poor in saccharine mat- 

 ter that its sweetness is not apprecia- 

 ble to the tongue. The strength of the 

 sugary lluid varies in different flowers, 

 and even in the flower at different 

 times. Consequently the most direct 

 way of estimating the yield of honey 

 is to ascertain the actual quantity of 

 sugar in each flower. This can be 

 easily be done by chemical methods. 

 If we take a large number of flowers, 

 wash out their nectar, and determine 

 the sugar in the solution, we can cal- 

 culate from the number of flowers 

 used the average amount of sugar in 

 each flower with the greatest precision. 



Experiments conducted in this wav 

 showed each flower of the fuchsia to 

 contain little tpore than the tentli part 

 of a grain of ^iigar. In monk's-hood 

 the amount was rather less than the 

 tenth of a grain, while in the ever- 

 lasting pea it was found to be three- 

 twentieths of a grain for each flower. 

 In smaller flowers the quantity is pro- 

 portionately less. Thus each flower 

 of the little naturalized American 

 water-blank only contains six-hun- 

 dredthsof a grain, and in those minute 

 flowers which grow together in com- 

 pact masses the amount was still 

 smaller. A raceme, consisting of 20 

 flowers of the vetch, only yielded five- 

 hundredths of a grain, or a little more 

 than one live-hundredth for each 

 floret. One head of common red 

 clover gave a little over one-tenth of 

 a grain (exactly .1224). Now each 

 head of clover contains about sixty 

 distinct flower tubes, each of which 

 must therefore have a portion of sugar 

 not exceeding the one five-hundredth 

 part of a graki. The proboscis of the 

 bee must consequently be inserted 

 into 500 clover tubes before one grain 

 of sugar can be obtained. There are 

 7,000 grains in a pound, so that for 

 every pound of sugar procured in this 

 way 3,.500,000 flower tubes must be 

 emptied. Honey, however, only con- 

 tains % of its weight of dry sugar ; so 

 that every pound of honey is equiva- 

 lent to more than 2,-500,000 clover tubes 

 sucked by bees ! 



This shows whatanamazingamount 

 of labor they must perform. Their 

 industry would appear to be indisi)en- 

 sable to their existence. These 

 amounts also revenl to what an ex- 

 tent the visitation of flowers must go 

 on in the insect world, and help us to 

 understand how it is that flowers are 

 so dependent on insects for fertiliza- 

 tion, so that we can well believe the 

 forms of flowers to have been deter- 

 mined in reference to the Insects fre- 



