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DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PRODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., MARCH 12, 1884. 



No. 11. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Propbigtor, 



Wintering Bees in England. 



While in Nortli America we have 

 had one of the cokiest winters on re- 

 cord—with the mercury dancing 

 around the thirties below zero, in the 

 neighborhood of Chicago, it is refresh- 

 ing to have English papers record the 

 fact that they liave there had a 7nUd 

 winter for the bees. The London 

 Journal of Horticulture for Feb. 14 has 

 just come to hand, and in it we find 

 the following on the present winter 

 for bees in England, and the loss of 

 bees by destructive birds in the spring: 



This current winter has been, per- 

 haps, the most open for many years. 

 Bees have consequently been more or 

 less on the move in all parts of the 

 country ; not so much so in our own 

 apiary as with those whose hives stand 

 in warm sunny places. Where bees 

 have been luuisually active the mor- 

 tality must have been very great in 

 winter. Bee-keepers, as a rule, are 

 not careful enough to shade the en- 

 trances to hives, and do all they can 

 to keep the bees in. A flight now and 

 then during the winter "is most in- 

 duckve to health, and in most winters 

 opportunities for this occur after 

 some three or four weeks of captivity. 

 But this season has given by far too 

 many of such opportunities, and the 

 consequence is that during sunny 

 weather bees have taken longer flights 

 than usual, and many have been out 

 never to return. During the winter 

 months birds are much more ready to 

 snap up the wanderers ; less food of 

 other sort Is available. Tomtits are 

 especially voracious at this time of 

 the year, and we have watched them 

 keeping a good look-out before hives 

 for their prey. Sparrows do not seem 

 to seek for bees as food until nesting 

 time, when a pair of sparrows will, 

 according to a calculation we once 

 made, atter carefvdly watched how 

 often the old birds returned for a bee, 

 take a good-sized swarm during the 

 time they are feeding up a nest of 

 young ones. The sparrow, like the 



tomtit, carefully but very dexterously 

 flrst extracts the sting before giving 

 the insect to its young or eating it 

 itself. Thus the inild season which 

 furnishes food for the birds thins the 

 hive. Much food is also consumed 

 where bees get out often when they 

 should be clustering at rest. 



Bees Suffering by Fire and Flood. 



The Los Angeles, Cal., Herald re- 

 marks as follows on the recent disas- 

 ters to bees and bee-keepers in that 

 locality : 



During the recent rains, the bee 

 ranches m the canyons have suffered 

 severely. Bee hives and honej; houses 

 have been swept away down into the 

 valley and rendered nearly worthless. 

 Frorn the Coldwater Canyon,where Mr. 

 Levering reported a waterspout, we 

 learn that the water carried down all 

 the appliances of bee ranches and 

 strewed them over the plains below. 

 The torrent was so great that it 

 swept the soil, sand, boulders, houses 

 and corrals out of the canyons with 

 such force as to tear down board 

 fences miles away where no stream 

 was ever known to run before, and 

 may not run again for a century. The 

 loss of property is very large among 

 the bee ranchers, and although the 

 rain will make an abundance of 

 flowers for the use of the bees, the 

 rain has made havoc among the bees 

 for this year. Hereafter more care 

 must be exercised in our mountain 

 canyons in protecting bees from fire 

 and flood. Some of the large apicul- 

 turists were burned out last fall in 

 the mountain fires, and now others 

 are washed out. More caution is 

 needed hereafter in looking after this 

 great industry. 



ig^ The Grand Ledge Independent 

 gives the following as a sure cure for 

 croup : " One teaspoonful of blood- 

 root pulverized and steeped in two 

 ounces of sharp cider vinegar ; strain 

 and add three ounces of extracted 

 lioney. Dose, one-half teaspoonful as 

 often as the case may seem to require; 

 not to be used as a preventive. 



Catalogues for 1884.— The following 

 new Catalogues and Price Lists are 

 received : 



Purdy's Catalogue of small fruit, 

 Palmyra, N. Y. — 34 pages. 



Isaac F. Tillinghast, La Plume, Pa. 

 — 34 pages— Seed Catalogue. 



N. E. Doane, Pipestone, Mich.— 2 

 pages— hives, cases and frames. 



II. C. White, Madison, Ind.— 6 pages 

 — Palace bee hive and apiarian sup- 

 plies. 



McKallip, Margrave & Co., Hiawa- 

 tha, Kans. — 4 pages — apiarian sup- 

 plies. 



i^ The " Northeastern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association," of New York, have 

 sent a petition to the Legislature of 

 that State, signed by over 160 bee- 

 keepers, asking for the enactment of 

 a law to protect them against the 

 ravages of foul brood among bees. 

 The law provides for the total de- 

 struction of bees, hives, etc., where it 

 exists, under a penalty of $.50 for the 

 first offense, and SlOO for each addi- 

 tional offense. 



1^ A very large and beautifully 

 executed picture of Bartholdi's great 

 statue of " Liberty Enlightening the 

 AVorld," has been presented to us by 

 the Travelers' Ins. Co., of Hartford, 

 Conn., who have been among the most 

 liberal contributors to the Fund. The 

 picture, which is 26x36 inches in size, 

 gives an excellent idea of the superb 

 work of art which is to adorn the 

 harbor of New York. 



^' Tlie Keport of the Convention 

 at Davenport, Iowa, is exceedingly 

 "long, and we shall be obliged to ab- 

 breviate it, but cannot give it until 

 the next issue. 



i^° Several more letters have been 

 received during the past week, con- 

 taining money without giving the 

 writers' names. It is too bad to file 

 them away in a " pigeon hole '' to 

 avi'ait another letter, perhaps calling 

 us hard names — a "swindler" most 

 likely — for not filling the orders. 

 However, we cannot help it ; the only ' 

 remedy is to keep on advising every 

 one to be careful to give their names 

 and addresses on every letter they 

 write. 



