DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PRODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., FEBRUAEY 20, 1884. 



No. 8. 



rubliahed every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 



The Honey Bird of Africa. 



In the Kaleidoscope of February, we 

 notice the following concerning birds 

 and honey in Africa : 



In the flower grown forests of Af- 

 rica, there lives a curious little bird 

 called by the natives, the honey bird— 

 not because it gathers honey, but be- 

 cause it is so fond of eating it. This 

 bird is gifted with a peculiar instinct 

 that enables it to find the nests of 

 wild bees that are hidden in hollow 

 trees and little caves in the rock, and 

 many a battle it has with the enraged 

 bees before it can enjoy the banquet 

 of honey. When it sceiits a nest of 

 honey it utters a peculiar cry, which 

 the natives have learned to know ; 

 and the honey hunters (men who 

 make a profession of hunting wild 

 honey) find in the birds an invaluable 

 guide to the well hidden hives. All 

 the man has to do is to follow the cry 

 of the honey bird, and he is sure to 

 find a nest of clear, sweet honey. A 

 pretty little poem written about these 

 honey birds contains this beautiful 

 moral : 



"We cannot aU make honey. 

 But some can find it out 

 And show the hive to others— 

 A gracious thing, no doubt, 

 And in the world of thieliets 

 And brambles, if you please. 

 One likes to know the birds 

 Who are neighbors to the bees." 



(^ Mr. II. Scovell, editor of the 

 Kansas Bee-Keeper, Columbus, Kans., 

 was married on Jan. 20 to Mrs. S. E. 

 Murphy, of Galena, Kans. The Bee 

 Journal extends congratulations. 

 May the union be happy and pro- 

 longed. 



^° We can supply all new subscrib 

 ers and renewals with the numbers 

 from the beginning of the year, and 

 shall do so unless otherwise ordered — 

 presuming that it is so desired. 



Old & New Methods of Bee-Keeping. 



At the Farmers' Institute of Brown 

 County, Kansas, held last January, 

 }ilr. J. W. Margrave, of Hiawatha, 

 Kans., made the following remarks 

 as we notice in an exchange : 



Mr. J. W. Margrave, to open the 

 subject, spoke of the old time methods 

 of obtaining surplus honey, viz : from 

 a few log '• gums "' kept around under 

 the apple trees and among the weeds 

 in harvest time to get a little honey. 

 The bee-keepers would.with a hatchet, 

 break off the cover, tearing the honey 

 to pieces, cut out a plate full to set on 

 the table, thus drowning many of the 

 industrious workers and leaving the 

 hive in a very deplorable plight for 

 the bees to fix up as best they could— 

 which the little industrious workers 

 would at once proceed to do. Then, 

 in the fall season, the bee-keeper 

 would select a few " gums " to be 

 " brimstoned to death " by making a 

 hole in the earth large enough to set 

 a small pot in with burning sulphur ; 

 then snatching up one of the doomed 

 colonies, he would set' it over the pit, 

 and in two or three minutes all was 

 still ; not a living bee within to try to 

 sting its merciless keeper. He then 

 spoke of the sickening mess of stulf 

 squeezed out, bee bread, young bees, 

 etc.. and called strained honey. This 

 was contrasted with the clear, clean 

 extracted honey of to-day, free from 

 all impurities, nothing but pure 

 honey. 



He spoke of the magnitude of the 

 industry ; that the statistics for 1882 

 showed the honey and beeswax trade 

 reached §32,000,000. 



That Mrs. Sarah J. W. Axtell, of 

 Rosehill, 111., marketed that same 

 year from her apiaries 39,000 pounds 

 of honey in the Chicago market. That 

 Jerome Twitchell, of Kansas City, sold 

 in that market, last year, 7.5,000 pounds 

 of honey, and reports that he is not 

 able to supply his trade this year. 



He stated that the annual product 

 under old-time management did not 

 average more than 10 pounds per col- 

 onj^ and under the improved methods 

 it was not uncommon to get from 50 

 to 100 pounds. 



He then spoke of the diseases to 

 which the honey bee is liable ; he also 

 spoke of the most prolific honey plants 

 of this region of country 



1^ Quite a number of our readers, 

 when they see articles in the Bee 

 .JouiiSAL from prominent bee-men, 

 feel at liberty to write them, asking 

 lots of questions. Perhaps this is all 

 right, if they feel like giving their 

 time to the common cause ; but those 

 who write thus, should invariably 

 enclose a stamp, if they desire a reply. 

 Two or three stamps are nothing, of 

 course, but where a person has ten or 

 a dozen a day to answer, it amounts 

 to considerable in the course of a 

 month. One of our correspondents 

 lately said, " I have taken 40 letters 

 from the mail this morning," and 

 many of them expected replies, but 

 generally did not contain a stamp to 

 pay the postage on it. Therefore, we 

 would say to all, when you ask ques- 

 tions of wiiters for the Bee JoukN"al, 

 be sure to enclose a stamp for reply. 

 This is but fair and just. 



^" Letters for publication must be 

 written on a separate piece of paper 

 from items of business. 



Catalogues for 1884.— The following 

 new Catalogues and Price Lists are 

 received : 



J. y. Caldwell, Cambridge, Ills., 4 

 pages— Apiarian Supplies. 



Jos. D. Enas, Xapa, Cal., 6 pages — 

 Queens and Bee-Keepers' Supphes. 



Flanagan & Illinski, Belleville, Ills., 

 16 pages — Queens and Apiarian Im- 

 plements. 



Miller Brothers, Nappanee, Ind., 8 

 pages— Bee Hives and Bee Supplies. 



M. C. Von Dorn, Omaha, Neb., 4 

 pages— Bee-Keepers Supplies. 



G. B. Jones, Brantford, Ont. (now 

 called •• Ontario Bee- Keepers' Supply 

 Co.,)'' 44 pages— Supplies. 



R. L. Shoemaker, Xewcomerstown, 

 O., 12 pages— Bee Hives and Supplies. 



W. C. R. Kemp, Orleans, Ind., 4 

 pages — Bee-Keepers' Supplies. 



E. P. Fassett & Bros., Ashtabula, 

 Ohio — Plant Catalogue, accompanied 

 by a bunch of nice plants, put up so as 

 to be safely sent by mail. 



Edward Gillett's Perennial Plants, 

 etc., Southwick, Mass. — 16 pages. 



J. C. Vaughan's Corn and Potato 

 Manual, Chicago, III.— 64 pages. 



