csjy- 



u Journal 



DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PRODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 10, 1884. 



No. 37. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



EDITOP. AND Proprietor. 



Bees in the Mails. 



Mr. T. A. Hougas, of Henderson, 

 Iowa, makes the following inquiry : 

 "'ttlien did the 'act' permitting 

 queen bees to be shipped by mail take 

 effect y" There was no "Law" or 

 Act of Congress in reference to " bees 

 in the mails." At the National Con- 

 vention of bee-keepers held in Chi- 

 cago in 1.S79, Prof. Cook was appointed 

 a committee to visit the Postmaster 

 General at Washington, and endeavor 

 to have his " Ruling" reversed which 

 " prohibited the carrying of bees in 

 the mails." The Editor of the Bee 

 Journal prepared a cage having 

 double wire-cloth over the aperture, 

 with y of an inch of space between 

 the two pieces of wire-cloth, affording 

 snre protection to the Postal em- 

 ployes, which Prof. Cook took to 

 Washington, with other sample cages 

 for shipping queens. By the kind 

 assistance of the Hon. Edwin Willits, 

 of Michigan, the Professor obtained 

 an interview with the Postmaster 

 General on .Jan. 14, 1880, and after 

 hearing the case, and examining the 

 cage, the order was reversed, taking 

 effect immediately. 



The National Convention. 



^° The Xorthwestern Convention 

 will be held at Owsley's Hall, corner 

 of Robey and West Madison streets, 

 Chicago, 111., on Oct. 1.5 and 16, 1884. 

 The official notice will be published 

 next week. 



^ The Hiawatha, Kan., Fair will 

 be held from .Sept. 16 to 19, 1884. The 

 Premiums in the Apiary Department 

 amount to S4.5.00. Mr. J. W. Margrave 

 is the Superintendent. 



Respecting the holding of the meet- 

 ing of the iSfational Society at New 

 Orleans, ;Mrs. L. Harrison (who was 

 probably re elected Vice-President 

 for Illinois, at the last meeting), 

 writes thus : 



" I second the motion to have the 

 next National Convention at New 

 Orleans. The Rochester friends could 

 have it another year. We have had a 

 poor crop of honey, and the railroad 

 and boat fares will be low to New 

 Orleans." 



According to the Constitution, the 

 next meeting cannot be changed. An 

 adjourned meeting might be held 

 there, early next season ; or a special 

 meeting could be called on the requi- 

 sition of five Vice-Presidents, but as 

 no one can tell who the Vice-Presi- 

 dents are (through the bungling work 

 at the last meeting), official action 

 seems to be impossible. Let us hope 

 that the next Convention will redeem 

 itself. A "love feast " may be well 

 enough in its way, but matters of 

 " business " should be promptly at- 

 tended to, officially recorded and duly 

 published. 



Making Honey-Vinegar. 



Under this heading in the American 

 Agriculturist Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson 

 gives the following : 



The "cappings" shaved off in the 

 preparation of honey for extracting, 

 are always allowed to drain. But 

 even when thoroughly drained, con- 

 siderable honey still adheres to them, 

 and it is an excellent plan to have a 

 keg or barrel of water in which to 

 wash them, and to allow the water to 

 ferment and become vinegar. Water 

 which has been used to rinse out any 

 utensil that has contained honey, can 

 be thrown into the barrel. The scum 

 that arises upon the surface of the 

 sweetened water should be skimmed 

 off. 



^" " The bees are swarming, and 

 there's no end to them," said Jones, 

 coming into the house. His little boy 

 George came in and said there was an 

 end to one of 'era, any how, and it 

 was red-hot too. 



Bee-Keeping in Russia. 



Mr. Robert Eldridge, of Cincinnati, 

 who has returned from Russia, where 

 he has been largely engaged in the 

 rearing of go;fts and camels, says in 

 reply to the question of a reporter of 

 the New York Sun, who asked What 

 do you know of bee-culture in Russia ? 



In Little Russia and Lithuania the 

 great linden forests render bee-keep- 

 ing very profitable. The finest honey 

 that I ever saw, is produced in Kovno. 

 Kaluga produces annually about 1,760 

 poods of honey and 3,.500 poods of 

 wax. A pood contains about thirty- 

 six pounds. The annual production 

 in the Don Cossack country amounts 

 to $.50,000, in round numbers. In 

 Volhynia and Bessarabia the com- 

 bined yield of honey reaches a value 

 of nearly $200,000 a year. The annual 

 yield of the whole empire is not far 

 from $4,000,000, or about 18,000 tons. 

 To this must be added nearly .5,000 

 tons of wax, worth $2,000,000. This 

 is about all consumed in Russia, the 

 exports being very small. 



Stings and Bites. 



An old woodsman of Australia, who 

 used to catch snakes for pastime, says 

 that a raw onion bruised and applied 

 as soon as possible to the wound is a 

 certain cure for the bite of all the 

 venomous serpents of that country, 

 except the death adder, which he 

 admits is so poisonous, and its poison 

 is so quick in acting, that there is no 

 known remedy for it. That the onion 

 is a specific for the sting of poisonous 

 insects of all kinds, has long been 

 known to the writer of this paragraph, 

 who, when a boy, invariably carried 

 one on expeditions with companions 

 against hornets' nests, etc. It was 

 found that the application of onion 

 juice would instantly allay the pain 

 caused by the stinging of hornets, 

 yellow-jackets, wasps, bees, etc. , etc.— 

 Washington Star. 



Trial Sub.scribers.— The Weekly 

 Bee Journal will be sent to any 

 address in North America from now 

 until the end of 1884 for 30 cents. 

 This offer is intended to aid those who 

 are getting up clubs at Fairs, Conven- 

 tions, etc., and should add several 

 thousand to our readers during the 

 next month. 



