THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



57 



"Mr. Heddon as a specialist," page 

 18 of the Bee Journal for 1883 ; this 

 is liable to misconstruction. The fact 

 of his getting such returns, as a nov- 

 ice, is full of encouragement for be- 

 ginners, and is a concise commentary 

 on his criticism of " Blessed Bees," in 

 the same issue. Mr. Heddon's incon- 

 gruous sentence, referring to "capac- 

 ity," on page 20, of the January num- 

 ber, illustrated capacity for cruelty ; 

 but when he went further and gave a 

 test by w'hich one could decide whether 

 he was "more experienced," etc., 

 he illustrated more. It may be clear 

 to him how one can write four times 

 and not think once; if so, he may 

 well say apiculture.lias progressed. 



I am very glad J. C. NewQian & Son 

 gave their practical experience in 

 half-pound sections ; their size, with 

 separators, and their sale when offered 

 in large quantities, settles at once all 

 theories. Goods of most kinds are 

 sold in "lines," differing in size and 

 quality, and if bee-keepers should fol- 

 low the same plan and use such sized 

 section as each one thought best, — the 

 market would soon determine whether 

 various sizes were most salable, — or 

 whether only one— and which one. 



Abronia, Mich., Jan. 15, 1883. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Bee and Honey Statistics. 



S. B. ATWATEK. 



During several months past, I have 

 read a great deal of what has been 

 said on the subject of collecting apia- 

 rian statistics, by correspondents of 

 the bee papers, and in the reports of 

 the discussion of the question by the 

 various bee-keepers' conventions. I 

 do not remember seeing anything 

 stating tliat any statistics on the 

 subject were being collected, any- 

 where in the Union, at State expense. 

 For some time I have looked for some 

 farmer in Illinois to write to the 

 American Bee Journal and volun- 

 teer the information that the Town 

 Assessor, hist spring, not only asked 

 him how many head of fat cattle and 

 hogs he marketed ; how many tons of 

 hay, bushels of wheat, corn, oats, rye, 

 apples, potatoes, etc., and how many 

 pounds of butter and cheese he pro- 

 duced ; but that, for the first time, he 

 asked him something about his bees. 



Can it be that all the farmers have 

 forgotten it V It is possible ; for in 

 fact I had forgotten just what was 

 asked. But I think only one or two 

 questions were asked, and perhaps 

 these are not the same the committee 

 on statistics are now asking through 

 the bee papers. ^ 



I send you herewith a copy of the 

 Illinois law to be found on page 3 and 

 4, " Laws of Illinois, 1877," and call 

 the attention of the committee on sta- 

 tistics to what is said in the second 

 section of this act about the power of 

 the Board of Agriculture to add to or 

 omit questions from the blanks fur- 

 nished the Assessors. If more ques- 

 tions are desired by the bee-keepers, 

 no time should now be lost in bringing 

 influences to bear in making a change 

 as the Secretary of the State Board of 



Agriculture delivers the list to the 

 State Auditor on or before the lirst 

 day of April of each year. 

 AN ACT to secure the Collection and 



Publication of Agricultural and 



Other Statistics. Approved and in 



force May 25, 1877. 



Section 1. be it enacted by the 

 the people of the State of Illinois, 

 represented in the General Assembly, 

 That it shall be the duty of the Secre- 

 tary of the State Board of Agriculture 

 to prepare and deliver to the Auditor, 

 on or before the the (irst day of April 

 in each year, forms and blankssimilar 

 to those used in the assessment and 

 return of property, one or more copies 

 of which forms the State Auditor shall 

 send by mail to the County Clerks of 

 the several counties on or before the 

 date aforesaid for their information 

 and guidance. 



Section 2. It shall be the duty of 

 the County Clerk of each of tlie several 

 counties to provide schedules and 

 blanks according to the forms provided 

 by the Auditor for the use of Assess- 

 ors and Deputy Assessors in the same 

 manner and at the same time as is or 

 may be provided bylaw for the assess- 

 ment of property, to cause such census 

 schedules to be filled by all persons 

 within their respective assessment 

 districts in possession of property, 

 concerning which, information is re- 

 quired by this act. Such schedule 

 shall truly and distinctly set forth the 

 number of acres he, or she, or they 

 may have had the preceding year in 

 fall wheat, spring wheat, corn, rye, 

 oats, barley, buckwheat, castor beans, 

 beans, peas, Irish potatoes, turnips, 

 and other root crops, and the number 

 of each produced the preceding year ; 

 the number of acres in timothy grass, 

 and the number of tons of hay and 

 bushels of seed produced therefrom 

 the preceding year; the number of 

 acres in clover, and the number of 

 tons of hay, and bushels of seed pro- 

 duced tlierefrom the preceding year ; 

 the number of acres in cotton, and the 

 number of pounds of lint, and the 

 number of bushels of seed produced 

 therefrom the preceding year ; the 

 number of acres sown in flax, the 

 number of pounds of fibre and the 

 bushels of seed obtained therefrom the 

 preceding year ; the number of acres 

 planted in tobacco, and the number of 

 pounds produced therefrom the pre- 

 ceding year. And the Secretary of 

 the State Board of Agriculture shall 

 have power, after the first year, to add 

 to or omit from the foregoing schedule 

 such items as the State Board of Agri- 

 culture shall designate. 



Section 3. It shall be the duty of 

 all persons owning or in possession of 

 property concerning which informa- 

 tion is required by this act, to make 

 out and deliver to the Assessor at the 

 time fixed for the listing of property 

 for taxation a schedule as aforesaid, 

 properly and correctly filled, and it 

 shall be the duty of said Assessors or 

 Deputy Assessors to properly fill and 

 add up the blanks and schedules afore- 

 said and to return the same correctly 

 footed up, to the County Clerk at the 

 same time and in the same manner as 

 is now or may be required for the re- 

 turn of assessments. 



Section 4. It shall be the duty of 

 the County Clerk to revise, correct, 

 tabulate, and foot up the statistical 

 returns made to him by the Assessors- 

 or Deputy Assessors of organized 

 townships in counties under township- 

 organization, and of congressional 

 townships in counties not under town- 

 ship organization, and to transmit to 

 the State Auditor with his return of 

 the assessment of the county, an ab- 

 stract of the agricultural statistics of 

 the county in the form required by the 

 schedule and blanks furnished by the- 

 Auditor; and it shall be the duty of 

 the Auditor to transfer without delay 

 such abstracts to the Secretary of the- • 

 State Board of Agriculture, who shall 

 revise, correct, and compile the same,, 

 and publish the results in the annual 

 report of the transactions of the State- 

 Board of Agriculture, for the year or 

 years in which the statistics wer& 

 collected. 



t 



I would further suggest to tl!e edi- 

 tor of the American Bee Journal. 

 that whatever information there may 

 have been collected by the thousands- 

 of Assessors in this State on this sub- 

 ject, last year, can probably be had by 

 addressing a line to the Secretary of 

 the State Board of Agriculture, Spring- 

 field, Illinois. If the statistics are 

 already published, a copy, perhaps, can 

 be obtained by addressing the member 

 of the legislature from your district. 



Viola, Mercer Co., 111., Jan. 8, 1883. 



[As suggested by Mr. Atwater, we 

 have made application for any statis- 

 tics that may be in the hands of the- 

 Secretary of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture,'and a Table furnished by hin» 

 may be found on page 51 of this issue 

 of the Bee Journal.— Ed.] 



For tlie American Bee JonmaL 



Are Separators a Nuisance? 



A. L. GOULD. 



I send my opinion, in compliance- 

 with Mr. Caldwell's request. 



The more I handle bees, the more I 

 am convinced that they have a good 

 deal of human nature about them ; or 

 more correctly, that they possess some 

 qualities in common with man ; and 

 that it is much easier, in dealing with 

 bees, as in dealing with men, to coax 

 them to do well, than it is to chive 

 them to do so. In compelling them to- 

 build uniform combs in small sections 

 by the use of separators, you disregard 

 their instincts, and they will spend 

 much time in pouting, sometimes 

 leaving whole sections untouched, and 

 hang out on the outside of the hive. 

 But coax them to do reasonably well, 

 by putting 4 sections, side by side, 

 with nothing between, with a starter- 

 of clean white comb in each (I have 

 not used a scrap of foundation during 

 the past season), and, finding room to 

 cluster, according to their instincts, 

 they will at once take hold of the four 

 conibs and build them down together, 

 and finish them straight enough tc» 

 pack. 



