486 



THE AMERICAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



various queens, workers, and drones 

 are preserved and thrown together 

 with the varieties of comb, queen- 

 cells, etc. The depredators of the 

 hive are shown in the sliape of the 

 wax moth and its grubs, and the dam- 

 age done by these loathsome maggots 

 is shown by a piece of comb tunnelled 

 by the moth grubs and covered with 

 their spider-like web. Much of the 

 natural economy of the bee-hive can 

 Tae gathered by a careful inspection of 

 this case. With this class of instruc- 

 tive exhibits must be connected the 

 magic lantern slides shown by Mr. A. 

 Watkins, of Wilcroft, Hereford. 

 These are most instructive, and some 

 of them as amusing as they are inter- 

 esting. The queen, worker, and drone 

 are capital photographic slides, and 

 vivid recollections of various cottage 

 apiaries come to the mind when look- 

 ing at the amusing picture of "All 

 Dead but One.'' By the use of such 

 slides, a lecture on bee-keeping is 

 made donbly interesting, and such 

 Illustrations enlarged on the sheet 

 are highly appreciated. 



We have ourselves, when lecturing 

 on bee-keeping, used such slides, 

 copied from the appearances imder 

 the microscope, but these photo- 

 graphic slides are a great improve- 

 ment on pen-and-ink sketches. We 

 must not neglect to give the due 

 meed of praise to those who, at much 

 expenditure of time and trouble, have 

 placed such good collections of bee- 

 furniture on the stages. Messrs. 

 Neighbour, Abbott, Overton, Bald- 

 win, and others have such good ex- 

 hibits, that the various schools of 

 bee-keepers must Hnd sufficient to 

 appease any amount of longing for 

 what is good and substantial. 

 Smokers, feeders, extractors, hives, 

 supers, and a host of other necessaries 

 and luxuries are all there represented. 



How the "ftueen " was Captured. 



We allude to the Queen of England, 

 and not the queen bee. The follow- 

 ing from the New York Sun is sent to 

 us by a correspondent, who desires to 

 have it in the Bke Journal. As it 

 gives some facts about the way in 

 which American honey was intro- 

 duced into England, it will, no doubt, 

 be read with interest. Some of the 

 items mentioned, we know are true ; 

 but some of the assertions we have 

 not so much confidence in. While all 

 of the items may represent very nearly 

 the facts in the case, as we do not 

 know, we cannot fully indorse them, 

 but give the article for what it is 

 worth : 



" WhUe California is the greatest 

 bee-ranching or honey region in 

 the world, owing to the excellence of 

 its climate, and the endless variety of 

 of its honey-yielding flowers, the 

 quality of its honey does not excel, 

 even if it equals, that of the honey 

 produced in New York State," said a 

 large wholesale dealer. 



" One of the most extensive bee- 

 culturists in this or any other coun- 

 try," he continued, " is Capt. Hether- 

 ington, whose apiaries along the 

 Cherry Valley Creek, in Schoharie 

 county, annually turn out over 100,(100 

 pounds of the choicest honey. It 

 takes nine men and two steam saw 

 mills ttve weeks to prepare the lumber 

 for the boxes in which the honey is 

 made by his bees. Nearly 150,000 

 panes of glass, about six inches 

 square, are used in these boxes. Capt. 

 Hetherington has at work, this sea- 

 son, nearly 2,r)00 colonies of bees. 

 These are hot all on his own premises, 

 but are scattered among the orchards 

 and fields of farmers along the creek, 

 to whom he pays a rent for the privi- 

 lege of his bees working in the clover, 

 buckwheat, or whatever blossoms are 

 in season on the farm. The care of 

 these bees does not fall upon the 

 owner of the land. Capt. Hethering- 

 ton keeps men and teams constantly 

 employed looking out for them. He 

 has received as much as §26,000 for 

 one season's crop. 



" Another large York State bee- 

 keeper is C. B. Isham, of Peoria. Up 

 to 1879 there was no market in Eng- 

 land for American honey. The En- 

 glish dealers would not handle it, and 

 the periodicals devoted to the bee- 

 keepers in that country, cried it down 

 in every possible way. The reason 

 for this was that they knew the 

 superiority of American honey, both 

 in flavor and appearance, over the 

 British article, and were aware that 

 if it was once introduced in London, 

 it would be a great blow to the trade 

 in the home supply. There was a 

 smart Yankee named Hoge working 

 for a grocery in this city, and he as- 

 sured his employers that, if they 

 would give him the commission, he 

 would manage to place American 

 honey on the English market. A 

 large lot of Isham's honey, which the 

 Arm was then handling, was packed, 

 just as it came from the hives, and 

 Hoge was sent to London with it. 

 He found he needed all his Yankee 

 ingenuity and accuteness, for he met 

 with universal opposition among the 

 dealers. He labored with them for 

 weeks to no purpose. In conversation 

 one day with the proprietor of the 

 hotel at which he stopped, the latter 

 told Hoge that if he could manage to 

 have his honey introduced upon the 

 table of Queen Victoria, it would 

 solve the problem at once, for if she 

 was pleased with it, she would com- 

 municate to Hoge through the Lord 

 Steward. This communication once 

 made public, would make American 

 honey the fashion in England. 



"A former Lord Steward was a 

 friend of the hotel keeper, and was at 

 that time engaged largely in the man- 

 ufacture and sale of pickles. This 

 man the landlord introduced to Hoge. 

 They dined together. Hoge gave the 

 pickle man an immense order for his 

 goods, to be sent to the American 

 grocer. More wine followed, and be- 

 fore the ex-Lord Steward went away, 

 he promised to use his influence to 

 have the American's honey introduced 

 on the royal table. He succeeded in 

 inducing the then Lord Steward, Sir 



John Cowell, to accept a box of honey 

 for the Queen, and to serve it on her 

 table. The Queen was so delighted 

 with the honey that she directed the 

 Lord Steward to present her thanks 

 to the donor, to order a supply of ten 

 cases at once, and to keep American 

 honey constantly on the royal table. 



" Hoge lost no time in making this 

 communication public. The conse- 

 quence was. that the jopinion of 

 American honey changed at once, and 

 Hoge came back to New York secretly 

 laughing at the Britishers, but rejoic- 

 ing over an order for 500,000 pounds 

 of American honey for the English 

 markets, which he carried in his 

 pocket. The demand for it has in- 

 creased ever since, and the trade that 

 was started in New York State honey 

 is now largely shared in by the" Cali- 

 fornia product. 



The Use of Comb Foundation. 



A correspondent of the Farmers^ 

 Gazette, Dublin, upon the question of 

 comb foimdation for storing honey 

 and for brood says : 



The Germans, for the past twenty 

 years, have used impressed sheets of 

 wax as a foundation for comb. The 

 bees thin out the so-called foundation 

 to the natural thickness, and use up 

 the shavings to form the walls or cells 

 in which the queen deposits eggs and 

 the workers store pollen and honey. 

 The bees thin it so accurately that 

 epicureans cannot tell comb honey 

 with such foundation from that wholly 

 made by the bees. The most promis- 

 ing use of comb foundation is in the 

 brood chamber. It is astonishing how 

 rapidly the bees will extend the cells 

 and the queen fill them with eggs, 

 exactly five cells to the lineal inch, or 

 twenty Ave to the square inch, when 

 used "for worker brood solely. The 

 real advantage is to ensure worker 

 brood, and to furnish wax, that the 

 bees may be free to gather honey and 

 store it, instead of elaborating wax. 



If we wish to test the actual value 

 of foimdation, we select two strong 

 colonies of bees ; we supply one with 

 comb foundation and withhold it from 

 the other ; we find this last sends 

 fewer bees to the field, as the majority 

 are engaged in the art of wax selec- 

 tion. The other colony, furnished 

 with the so-called foundation, gains 

 much more rapidly in honey, with less 

 food co\isumed. Foundation is be- 

 coming so popular and is made of 

 better substance than formerly, whole 

 sheets can now be used ; and when we 

 bear in mind that it takes twenty 

 pounds of honey to produce one 

 Ijound of wax, it will be seen that the 

 laee-keeper who uses comb foundation 

 largely, has an immense advantage 

 over one who does not. This founda- 

 tion was originally imported from 

 America, but now it is made in 

 Ireland. 



Advertisenients intended for the Bee 

 JouRNAX. must reach this office by 

 Saturday of the previous week. 



