THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



133 



my clothes and hands, and receiving 

 about one-half dozen stinss. I al- 

 lowed two or three to stiiij; my hands 

 while I watched them. Some of them 

 would bite a half dozen times before 

 tliey woulil stin^. Others would bite 

 several times, singing angry notes all 

 the while, when tliey would tly off 

 two or three feet and then dart back 

 again to sting me the moment they 

 struck my hands. I then found some 

 of them had crawled into my clothes, 

 when presently " several points " 

 made me heat a" hasty retreat for the 

 shop. Once in there I killed all that 

 still sang in my pockets and elsewhere. 



When I went out I determined to try 

 the smoke for all it was worth. I 

 placed the nozzle of the smoker under 

 the quilt and puffed furiously until 

 the smoke rolled out the entrance, 

 when I stripped off the quilt with one 

 jerk, keeping the smoke pouring on 

 them all the' while. AVith one hand I 

 smoked, a'ld managed to get out the 

 frames with the other. Next I moved 

 back one frame and placed in the full 

 combs in such a position that the 

 honey was in easy reach of the bees ; 

 then I closed the hive. The smoke 

 helped some, but in spite of it I re- 

 ceived over 25 stings, and killed fully 

 that number of bees which had 

 crawled into my clothes while I was 

 at work, after I returned to the shop 

 the second time. I give the above as 

 an example of some of my trials dur- 

 ing the past summer, in trying to see 

 what these new races of" bees are 

 worth. In one instance I received 16 

 stings on my right liand and arm, 

 while at the top oif a ladder trying to 

 get a second svi-arm of these bees 

 which had outwitted me in preventing 

 after swarms. As I could not get out 

 these stings till I reached the ground, 

 I had the most painful and swelled 

 arm I have had for the past ten years. 



One more point and I will bring this 

 already lengthy article to a close. It 

 will be remembered that at the North- 

 western Convention in Chicago, last 

 fall, Mr. J. A. Green reported the 

 Syrian bees as gentle, while all the 

 rest had found them cross. It now 

 appears that the bees kept by Mr. 

 Green were a cross between the Syrians 

 and Italians, as will be found by read- 

 ing page 81 of Gleanings. Now my 

 experience agrees with Mr. Green's, 

 that a cross between the Cyprian or 

 Syrian bees and Italians, will give us 

 gentle bees and good workers. I also 

 find that any direct cross gives new 

 vigor to our bees, but I fail to find 

 that the crossing of these yellow bees 

 give any better results than does a 

 cross between the blacks and the 

 Italians. The races of yellow bees 

 are so near alike as to color that it is 

 almost impossible to distinguish the 

 hybrid from the pure as to their mark- 

 ings ; hence, in a few generations it 

 would be impossible to know in what 

 direction we are breeding. As a cross 

 with the blacks give just as good re- 

 sults, and still allows us the knowl- 

 edge necessary for knowing the direc- 

 tion we are going, through the mark- 

 ings of the bees I cannot see any rea- 

 son for mixing these yellow races of 

 stinging, biting, laying workers, out- 

 of-season brood - producing race of 



bees with our already superior strains 

 of Italians. 



If Mr. J5enton sees any good reasons 

 why we should do so except the pur- 

 chasing of iiueens of him, will he 

 please' give them to us through the 

 columns of the Bee Journal. 



Borodino. N. Y. 



For the American Bee .Tourn:il. 



Pollen or Farina. 



JOHN riiiN. 



Mr. Clarke, in his note, doubts the 

 soundness of mv criticism on the 

 words, " Pollen and Farina." Allow 

 me to say that the criticism was made 

 only after careful study of not only 

 Webster, but Worcester, Agilvie, 

 Richardson, and also of Balfour's 

 Botanical Lexicon, together with much 

 more that I need not name. 



Pollen signilied originally tine flour, 

 and is so given by Bailey in his old 

 Etymological Dictionary. In this sense 

 it still survives in the word pollard, 

 which signilies a mixture of bran and 

 meal. Originally (in the West), it 

 signilied fine dust, and the botanists 

 adopted it to signify the fecundating 

 dust of flowers. At present, the use 

 of pollen in the sense of flour or meal 

 is obsolete, and is so noted In all our 

 great dictionaries. And on the ground 

 that it is always imfortunate when a 

 word has two meanings, I trust that 

 no one will try to revive the old mean- 

 ing ; let pollen mean the fecundating 

 dusti of flowers and nothing else. 



As regards farina : about the same 

 history belongs to this word, except 

 that it now means flour or meal, and 

 by an adoption from the French on the 

 part of chemists. It also signifies pure 

 starch. Craig, in his dictionary, gives 

 the meaning pollen^ but it has been 

 rarely used in this sense, which may 

 be considered obsolete. 



I have as great an abhorence as any 

 one of hyper-criticism, but surely it 

 is worth "while to seek to attain that 

 accuracy and precision which will en- 

 able us to say what we mean without 

 circumlocution. I believe with Ilorne 

 Tooke, that no word should have more 

 than one meaning ; and although we 

 cannot always attain this, yet, as my 

 good friend Prof. A. Cook says in a 

 note just received from him, by avoid- 

 ing these double-meanings, " we can 

 hasten the expurgation of our litera- 

 ture." 



Patterson, N. J. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



An "Improved" Heddon Case. 



C. H. DIBBERN. 



After making up 80 cases after a 

 pattern from Mr. Ileddon, I came to 

 the conclusion that a cheaper and bet- 

 ter case could be made. After making 

 several cases that were not entirely 

 satisfactory, I hit upon the following, 

 which I think even Jlr. Ileddon will 

 regard as an improvement. 



I make the outer rim just like the 

 Ileddon, allowing % inch bee space 

 over the sections. It glass Is wanted, 



so as to see wliat is going on inside, I 

 use 1}^ inch strips on top and bottom 

 of sides, rabbitted for a strip of glass 

 to come just even inside (a board like 

 Ileddon 's will do just as well), (ilass, 

 of cinirse, requires an outer ca|) for 

 the hive. Now tack on strips of tin 

 on the bottom edge on all four sides, 

 so It will project Jg inches inside for 

 sections and section supports to rest 

 on. These supports are made by taking 

 1}4 wide, and as long as your case is 

 wide inside. Have a square corner 

 made lengthwise, so that two of these 

 pieces will make a T when soldered 

 togetlier. These are for the sections 

 to rest on, and are simply laid in the 

 bottom of case, the ends' resting on 

 the projecting tin strips. The sizesof 

 cases must be gaged, by the size of 

 your sections and hives. 



The advantages I claim are, that it 

 saves the lumlier for partitions. It is 

 easily adjusted to a slight variation in 

 size of sections. If separators are to 

 be used, the T support makes an ad- 

 mirable rest for separators. The sup- 

 ports allow ^he sections to come so 

 close together, that the two thick- 

 nesses of tin between them cannot be 

 noticed. That, of course, economises 

 the room occupied by the wooden par- 

 titions, and also the heat of tlie bees. 

 When the sections are tilled, the cases 

 are easily emptied by turning them 

 up-side-down, and pushing out the 

 sections, T supports and all. 



I shall have this case on exhibition 

 at the coming Davenport convention ; 

 also an entirely new shipping case, 

 which I will describe in the Bee 

 .Journal hereafter. 



Milan, 111. 



For she American Bee Jourr'\l. 



Some Important Suggestions. 



AMI CROSS. 



Though you may not all have heard 

 of me, I have dealt in supplies for 

 years, and had a large correspondence 

 of all sorts in the bee-keeping line. I 

 have experienced many trials with 

 this correspondence, and take this 

 opportunity of trying to correct some 

 of the mistakes of bee-keepers in the 

 line of correspondence, etc. 



I am thinking that it woidd save a 

 good deal of trouble, loss, and nervous 

 exhaustion if a few little details were 

 properly attended to, and a few little 

 alterations made in apicultural diplo- 

 macy and etiquette. 



Do write your name plainly. Al- 

 ways mention your county. In writ- 

 ing to a business firm, or any person 

 of large correspondence, never take it 

 for granted that they know you, or 

 where you live, or your shipping ad- 

 dress, even if you have written to 

 them fifty times before. Always 

 make everything clear and plain. 



While your signature looks to you 

 the plainest of any word you write, 

 remember to others of all words it is 

 the most obscure. In making an or- 

 der for goods, nevj;k write anything 

 on the sheet except the order and 

 shipping directions. Use another 

 sheet upon which to tell your dealer 

 all about what kind of bees you like 



