THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



3(33 



Briton either. Tlie proper use of this 

 word being for the natives prior to 

 the Saxoii conquest. ;uul at present 

 inchules the Cornish. Welsh and 

 Scotcli, but not tlie Saxon; thouj^li 

 the word •• liritisher" covers all who 

 fall under our flai;- ; and in addition to 

 our islands, includes Cyprus. Canada, 

 lions; KoHK, India, Jamaica, etc., in 

 fact people of all colors. 



Neither do we in England call the 

 inhabitants of the New World, indis- 

 criminately. '" Americans," though in 

 this particular we are wrong ; but re- 

 serve the appellation for those pro- 

 tected by the " stars and stripes" only ; 

 and if we wish to refer to others, they 

 are spoken of as Canadians, Mexicans, 

 IJrazilians, etc. 



Now Palestine, or Holy Land, never 

 has been understood to extend north 

 of the Lebanon mottntains and if north 

 of this barrier — in the land of the t(?i- 

 cient kingdom of Syria— a distinct race 

 of bees are fouiid, why call them 

 " Holy Lands V" or south' of it, " Syr- 

 ians V" The sooner everything is called 

 by its proper name, the better for all 

 progress ; but do not let us have the 

 same mess with these new races of 

 bees that has been made with Italians. 



.Just to illustrate what I mean by 

 this : These bees were at first thought 

 to be a distinct species and were named 

 Apis Ligustica, from the province of 

 Liguria, in which they were common ; 

 and it was thought that all yellow- 

 banded bees were of this species. As 

 such bees were found north and south 

 of the Alps, they were thought to be 

 identical, and were known and sent 

 out by the name.Ligurian bees. Then 

 I suppose, because Liguria is in Italy, 

 they were further dubbed "Italian" 

 bees, whether they came from Switz- 

 erland or Italy ; the Swiss is preferred 

 by most apiarists. 



If we go north or south, we find 

 black bees ; thus in Southern Italy the 

 natire bees are btacfc,- they are black 

 also in Sicily and Malta. How is such 

 a jumble to be unraveled V Are the 

 Swiss or Italian Alps' bees to be called 

 pure Italians, or the Southern, blacks V 



But while we may not get out of 

 this mess, we may avoid repeating it 

 with the new races ; so let us, by all 

 events call them by the names Mr. 

 Benton gives them. If there is any 

 distinction )ie will be sure to notice it, 

 and bee-keepers may rest satisfied on 

 his judgment ; for on your lines of rea- 

 soning, the Cvprian may just as well 

 be called a " British," the same as the 

 natives of Scotland ; or Italians, " Eu- 

 ropean," like you would call Canadians 

 and Mexicans, "Americans." I think 

 vou will, on reflection, see that a bet- 

 ter nomenclature is desirable. 



In conclusion let me prophesy that 

 in five years time, everybody will be 

 keeping tiiie Syrians, ancl smokers will 

 be handed round as curiosities of by- 

 gone days of barbarism. 



ShefBeld, England. 



[Our foot-note to Mr. Benton's arti- 

 cle, on page .39, is, we believe, correct, 

 notwithstanding this criticism. We 

 did not say that a Scotchman was a 

 " Briton," but we did say that he was 

 "British." Is not Scotland one of 

 the British Islands ? 



It is certainly wrong to say that the 

 word " American " is applicable only 

 to the people of the United States. 



We intended to speak of Syria as it 

 now exists, not what it was in ages 

 past. Mr. Hewitt's objections are not 

 valid. Let us " call things by their 

 right names." — Ed.] 



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■S</^'C£* 



Bees in Texas. 



Bees are doing very well at present. 

 There are lots of bees kept in this 

 part of the State, but only a few per- 

 sons know how to manage them so as 

 to obtain the best results. I have had 

 some experience in bee-keeping in 

 Missouri, and think some of trying it 

 here. Clauk S. Fuge. 



Moody, Texas, :\Iay 16, 1S84. 



Oil Cloth Cover for Frames. 



In reply to I). R. Rosebrough's re- 

 marks on this subject, on page 310, 

 let me quote from the twelfth thou- 

 sand of my Manual.page 1.3.5: "Cover 

 FOR Frames.— In summerlpreferoil- 

 cloth to cover the frames. This is 

 used with the glazed or enameled 

 side down, and should be just the 

 size of the hive. This is durable, is 

 not covered so quickly with propolis, 

 and is easily cleaned. Some keep this 

 on in winter, but I prefer a porous 

 cover. From the cold days of fall to 

 the warm days of spring, I replace the 

 enameled cloth covers with those 

 made of the best factorycloth." As I 

 do use and recommend such covers, 

 of course I need not explain why I do 

 not. A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich. 



Bees Gathering the Nectar. 



I put l(i colonies into the cellar last 

 fall. This spring I took out 3 strong 

 colonies and .5 with queens, and 

 enough bees to cover one-half of one 

 side of a Langstroth frame. Jly bees 

 gathered more honey during the last 

 week than they did during any month 

 last summer. We are having a cold 

 spell of weather now. 



Hugh Williams. 



Racine, Wis., May 27, 1884. 



A Good Report. 



My bees have wiiitered very well. 

 On Nov. 1.5 I put 82 colonies into the 

 cellar, and put them out on March 20. 

 All were alive, but 3 of them were 

 queenless. I had 2 queens on hand 

 yet, so I managed to save 2 of the 3 

 queenless ones; the other one I put 

 with another colony. Only one colony 

 showed signs of diarrhoea, I had my 

 first swarm for the season on yester- 

 day ; and it is the earliest one"! have 

 had since keeping bees. It issued 

 from a colony whicli has not been fed 

 any this spring. I think that I will 

 liave 5 or more if the warm spell of 



weather continues much longer. Bees 

 are working nicely on fruit bloom 

 now, and they are storing honey rap- 

 idly. The outlook for an abundant 

 liohey harvest is good. White clover 

 looks promising. At some future 

 time I will give my plan of preparing 

 bees t\)r wintering, on wliich, I think, 

 they will winter safely every time. 

 II. J. Smith. 

 Burlington, AVis., May 19, 1884. 



Light on the Subject. 



I have read the book, " Bees and 

 Honey," with interest. It has given 

 me much light upon the subject of 

 bee-culture and the habits of bees. 

 J. K. P. South, 



Jett, Ky.,May26, 1884. 



Bees Building up Fast. 



Bees in this section are storing sur- 

 plus honey slowly, owing to so much 

 damp and cloudy weather. The pres- 

 ent spring resembles very much that 

 of 1878 ; and that year was noted for 

 its large yield of honey. As it was 

 then, there will be but very little 

 honey extracted this year before June 

 1. In the mean time bees are build- 

 ing up strong, so that when the warm 

 and sunshiny weather comes, there 

 will be a tremendous large army of 

 workers to go into the field to gather 

 the harvest ; and there is scarcely a 

 doubt but what they will bring in the 

 nectar by the tons. 



J. E. Pleasants. 



Santa Ana, Cal., May 19, 1884. 



Almost Discouraged. 



I put 1-") colonies of bees that were 

 Italianized last summer, into the cel- 

 lar last November, and all died of 

 diarrhoea, I think, as they kept com- 

 ing out during the whole winter, and 

 daubed the hives and every thing 

 badly. The cellar was ventilated by 

 a chimney and a kitchen adjoining. 

 During the winter before last, I lost 

 20 colonies in Eclectic hives on the 

 summer stands. I shall stock up 

 once more, but I am almost discour 

 aged. I have a new hive for winter 

 ing bees on the summer stands. 



Oliver K. Pierce, 



Ayer, Mass., May 26, 1884. 



A Very Small Loss. 



One year ago I started with 28 col- 

 onies, and increased them by natural 

 swarming to 49. Last season I pro- 

 duced 1,000 pounds of comb honey in 

 the 1-pound sections, and .500 pounds 

 of extracted honey. In the fall I 

 bought 10 colonies more. My loss so 

 far has been one queen and one colony, 

 the latter having starved. I use the 

 Mitchell frame. J. M. Hoak. 



Shelby, O., May 27, 1884. 



(^ TbeKentuckyB^ee-Keepers'Con- 

 vention meets in Louisville, Ky., dur- 

 ing the opening of the Exposition (day 

 not fixed). N. P. Allen, !Sec. 



^° We can supply photographs of 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth, the Baron of 

 Berlepsch, orDzierzon, at 2.5 cts. each. 



