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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



tempt to escape by headlong flight, a 

 useless endeavor when pursued by in- 

 sects so swift of wing. But human 

 beings, either by lying down and 

 feigning to be inanimate, or else by 

 rushing into the nearest water and 

 defending the head till sundown, 

 make their escape, though not always, 

 as the memorial cross on the banks of 

 the Nerbudea, at the Marble Rock, 

 testities only too well. 



From the" above, then, it is evident 

 that India possesses an abundance of 

 laees. and offers also a prodigious 

 market for lioney, but that hitherto, 

 owing to local causes, the industry 

 has never been systematically de- 

 veloped. Whether it can be, except 

 in purely European hands, is very 

 doubtful, for the native in India has 

 little taste for new enterprises. At 

 present the honey takers belong only 

 to the lowest castes of the people, 

 chiefly the poor jungle tribes who 

 literally pick a substance under the 

 trees and ofi the rocks of the wildest 

 parts of tlie interior of the country ; 

 and to enter deliberately upon a sys- 

 tem of bee-rearing would seem to the 

 conservative Oriental like descending 

 to a lower sphere of work to take the 

 bread from the moutlis of inferiors. 



As it is he only recognizes their ex- 

 istence with a lofty indifference, and 

 to compete with them in the bazaars 

 in the vend of honey would present 

 itself to him as an intolerable social 

 degradation. So that to induce the 

 Hindoo to turn to apiculture, it would 

 be first of all necessary to persuade 

 him to revolutionize both his apparel 

 and his ideas of caste occupations. 

 But in the hills, wliere the thrifty 

 mountaineers have no compunction 

 as to the kind of work they will do so 

 long as it helps them to make both 

 ends meet, the experiment could be 

 made under far more favorable cir- 

 cumstances ; while the numerous mis- 

 sion stations— where the profession of 

 Christianity levels all distinctions of 

 caste, and requires a more liberal dis- 

 tribution of clothing over the body — 

 ■would seem to afford excellent luiclei 

 for bee-cultivation. In the meantime, 

 however, an exceptional market would 

 seem to be fairly open to the Euro- 

 pean producer. Not only has every 

 one in the country a sweet tooth, but 

 offerings, if made in honey, are 

 specially acceptable to the divinities. 



Sweet Clover as a Honey Plant. 



Mr. J. ^y. Walker gives his opinion 

 of nielilotus alba as follows in the 

 Highland, N. C, Enterimse: 



While I am led to infer that the 

 abun(Uint and varied flora of this 

 " land of the sky," is perhaps amply 

 sufficient to supply the honey bees, 

 yet it is suggested to me tliat you 

 may have some sections where the 

 material for bees to work upon may 

 be somewhat lacking, and if such 

 should be the case, there is nothing 

 easier than to supply the deficiency 

 by having the vielilotus alba, which, as 

 ahoney plant, stands second to none. 

 It is beautiful when it dons its in- 

 florescent paraphernalia, and fills the 



surrounding space with a most pleas- 

 ant and multiflorous aroma, attract- 

 ing the honey gatherers from every 

 direction. The bee never made its 

 dreamy flight around the classic Hybla 

 or Ilymettus more persistently than 

 they do in countless myriads about 

 this plant, which for quantity, quality, 

 and flavor of honey, stands unrivaled. 

 It is not only good for bees, but 

 furnishes good grazing, and makes 

 excellent hay, it cut when from one 

 to two feet high, as it is then tender. 

 It frequently grows to the height of 

 12 feet, even on poor places. It is 

 thought that its fragrant odor, green 

 or cured, is one reason why all kinds 

 of farm stock are so fond of it. This 

 plant possesses only a tap root, which 

 penetrates deeply into the soil, there- 

 by causing it not to be affected by our 

 dryest summers. It should be re- 

 planted about once in three years, and 

 to start it in a new place sow in April 

 or August. Early in the fall it may 

 be seen putting in its appearance for 

 the winter, attaiuing several inches 

 in height by JanuHry, and is the only 

 green plant to act as food for stock 

 during our very often rigorous win- 

 ters. So to sum up, this plant has ad- 

 vantages more varied than perhaps 

 any other plant known to this coun- 

 try, as it is unequaled for honey, 

 furnishes good grazing for cattle, 

 horses, sheep and swine, makes good 

 hay, and fills the air with a most de- 

 lightful, pleasant and fragrant aroma. 



Honey Cakes. 



Mrs. L. Harrison, in Gleanings for 

 June 15, writes as follows on the sub- 

 ject of using honey for making cakes 

 and in cooking and preserving fruit : 



I have just been eating some of 

 Lydia R. Smith's cakes ; that is, made 

 after her recipe, and her papa is a 

 judge of what is "good." These 

 cakes have set me to thinking, and it 

 woidd be well if it has the same effect 

 on other bee-keepers, " How silly I've 

 been to spend time selling honey to 

 buy sugar when honey is better, and 

 the purest sweet known !'' 



I lately read in a paper an account 

 of ho\v" many bushels of corn are 

 daily manufactured into grape sugar, 

 to be used, it said, " for the adultera- 

 tion of sugar, honey, etc." That is 

 one reason why sugar is sold so 

 cheaply ; for every pound of sugar has 

 more or less glucose. If I buy glu- 

 cose, I would prefer to purchase it 

 pure, not mixed with sugar. 



I am glad children write, for they 

 are wide-awake, and will set us to 

 thinking, and I hope they will tell us 

 every way they know, how honey is 

 used. If that little girl away oft' in 

 Washington Territory had not written 

 her recipe, I should have had the 

 cakes made of sugar. If am not mis- 

 taken it was a little girl who asked 

 her papa, when she saw him boring a 

 hole with a gimlet, to put in a screw, 

 why the screws were not made with 

 points like gimlets, and .so the idea 

 was born, of making screws with 

 points, so that they did not need gim- 

 lets to bore holes first. 



I have eaten gooseberries preserved 

 in honey, and peaches canned with a 

 teacup of extracted lioney to a two- 

 quart can of fruit, and they were ex- 

 cellent. Who will help to introduce 

 honey V Take it to grange suppers, 

 church festivals, old settlers' gather- 

 ings, picnics, etc. Use it in making 

 layer cakes, and tell the people the 

 cakes are made of lioney, and many 

 cakes of other kinds, of honey. 



Will not some little girl work this 

 motto and hang it in the hall of a 

 neighboring grange—" My son, eat 

 thou honey, because it is good ?" 



Mr. Root gives the following as his 

 comments on the above : "I am very 

 glad indeed to see the tendency to 

 use honey in place of sugar, for cook- 

 ing. Friend Newman publishes a 

 very nice little book, entitled Honey 

 as Food and Medicine, which every 

 beekeeper ought to have, if he has 

 not got it already." 



Expose Hives to the Morning Sun. 



A correspondent has sent us the 

 following from the North American 

 Quarterly Review for December, 1882, 

 with a request for its publication in 

 the Bee Journal : 



" A story is told that in a village in 

 Germany where the number of colo- 

 nies kept was regulated by law, a bad 

 season had nevertheless proved that 

 the place was overstocked, from the 

 great weakness of all the colonies in 

 the neighborhood. There was but 

 one exception, that of an old man 

 who was generally set down as being 

 no wiser than his neighbors ; and this, 

 perhaps, all the more because he was 

 very observant of the habits of his 

 little friends, as well as careful in 

 harvesting as much honey as he could. 

 But how came his colonies to prosper 

 when all the rest were falling oft' V 

 His cottage was no nearer the pas- 

 ture. He certainly must have be- 

 witched his neighbors' hives, or made 

 ' no canny ' bargain for his own. 

 Many were the whisperings, and 

 great the suspicions that no good 

 would come of the gaffer's honey thus 

 mysteriously obtained. The old man 

 bore all these surmises patiently ; the 

 honey harvest came round, and when 

 he had stored away just double the 

 quantity that any of the rest had 

 saved, he called his friends and neigh- 

 bors together, took them into his gar- 

 den and said : • If you had been 

 more charitable in your opinions, I 

 would have told you my secret before. 

 This is the only witchcraft I have 

 used,' and he pointed to the inclina- 

 tion of his hives— one degree more to 

 the east than was generally adopted. 



The conjuration was soon cleared 

 up ; the sun came upon his hives an 

 hour or two sooner by this move- 

 ment, and his bees were up and stir- 

 ring, and had secured a large share of 

 the morning's honey before his neigh- 

 bors bees had roused themselves for 

 the day." 



