THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



235 



cramp in the stomach, eructations, 

 sourness, vomiting and diarrhcea. 

 Pure honey should always be freely 

 used in every family. Honey eaten 

 upon vfheat bread is very beneficial 

 to health. 



The use of honey instead of sugar 

 for almost every kind of cooking, is 

 as pleasant for the palate as it is 

 healthy for the stomach. In prepar- 

 ing blackberry, raspberry or straw- 

 berry short-cake, it is intinitely su- 

 perior. 



It is a common expression that 

 honey is a luxury, having nothing to 

 do with the life-giving principle. This 

 is an error — honey is food in one of its 

 most concentrated forms. True, it 

 does not add so much to the growth 

 of muscle as does beef-steak, but it 

 does impart other properties, no less 

 necessary to hecdthand vigorous physi- 

 cal and intellectual action ! It gives 

 warmth to the system, arouses nerv- 

 ous energy, and gives vigor to all the 

 vital functions. To the laborer, it 

 gives strength — to the business man, 

 mental force. Its effects are not like 

 ordinary stimulants, such as spirits, 

 etc., but it produces a healthy action, 

 the results of which are pleasing and 

 permanent — a sweet disposition and a 

 bright intellect. 



How astonishingly appropriate is 

 even its name— honey ! Derived from 

 the Hebrew word ghoney, literally it 

 means delight. Humanity may, 

 therefore, delight itself with honey, 

 as long as the sun endureth ! 



To Our Exchanges.— We have pre- 

 pared the first article in this paper 

 with especial reference to its adapta- 

 bility for general reading, and respect- 

 fully invite the editors of our Ex- 

 changes and others to copy it into 

 their papers. It contains information 

 of value to the general public, and 

 should be read by every one interested 

 in providing a pure sweet for the 

 young, middle-aged and old,— both 

 food and medicine. Bee-keepers who 

 desire to increase honey consumption, 

 should send to us for an extra copy, 

 and personally take it to the editors of 

 the local papers of tlie county, and ask 

 them to copy it. We print a large 

 edition this week, and will supply it 

 tree for this purpose, while any are left. 



The Partridge Pea. —Prof. A. J. 



Cook, in the Rural New Yorker, gives 

 the following concerning this honey 

 plant : 



Among the many plants which I re- 

 ceive each year from the bee-keepers 

 throughout the United States, as 

 turnishiiig aliundant nectar for the 

 bees, no one comes more frequently, 

 or from a wider range of territory, 

 than the partridge pea— cassia chamre- 

 cnsta. Like the clovers, this is a 

 leguminous plant, and like its near 

 relative, the cow pea, it not only 

 furnishes nectar from the flowers, but 

 even more abundantly from extra- 

 floral glands situated on the pedun- 

 cles. Gray speaks of this as more 

 abundant southwards; but I have re- 

 ceived it very frequently from Iowa, 

 Northern Illinois and Wisconsin. 

 The flower is bright yellow, and the 

 habit of the whole plant is quite at- 

 tractive. The Pulse family is very 

 rich in bee-plants, as will be seen by 

 the following list : White and alsike 

 clover, melilot, or sweet clover, locust, 

 wistaria, Judas tree, honey locust, and 

 the cow and partridge peas. We thus 

 see that the Pulse family, like the 

 Mint and Compositie families, are of 

 great importance to the apiarist. 



^° By the Eeview, Butler, Ind., we 

 team that Mr. L. J. Diehl has lost 

 only 4 colonies out of 160, during the 

 past winter. Generally the losses have 

 been very light, and the prospect for 

 a good honey crop is excellent. 



Queen Rearing.— Mrs. L. Harrison, 

 in the'^Prairie Farmer, gives her views 

 on her inodus operandi of queen-rear- 

 ing, thus : 



We like all kinds of bees, yet Ital- 

 ians have our preference ; they are 

 proof against moths, cling to the 

 combs better, and are more enterpris- 

 ing than tlie common bees of the 

 country. Italians are so common that 

 we doubt if there are many pure Ger- 

 man bees now in this country. 



Persons who have kept bees for any 

 length of time have noticed that some 

 colonies, whose conditions are the 

 same as the remainder of the apiary, 

 produce more honey than others. 

 These colonies are the ones to breed 

 from, if honey is the object in view. 

 If a colony is deprived of its queen, in 

 six hours the bees will be construct- 

 ing cells to raise another. Worker 

 eggs, or larvffi not over three days old, 

 are used for rearing queens. Some 

 breeders claim that the best results 

 follow when the bees have access to 

 eggs only. Bees seem to prefer to 

 raise queens on new white combs ; 

 such an one should be given to the 

 breeding colony, and placed in the 

 centre of the hive ; holes might be cut 

 in it, making convenient edges for the 

 bees to attach their queen-cells, so 

 that they can be easily removed, if 

 desirable to do so. On the third day 

 this comb should be given to queen- 

 less bees, and they will immediately 

 commence enlarging cells. On the 

 twelfth day, if it is desirable to pre- 

 serve the queens, all cells should be 

 removed but one, as the first one that 

 emerges will destroy all rivals. Those 

 wlio make a specialty of rearing 

 queens, remove the frame to an in- 

 cubator and examine it, often remov- 

 ing the queens to a nucleus, as fast as 

 liatehed. Those who have not a con- 



venience of this kind, can cut out the 

 cells, and give them to nuclei, pre- 

 viously formed long enough to have 

 cells of their own. We have had 

 many cells destroyed by giving them 

 to newly formed nuclei, but never 

 lose them if they have cells of their 

 own. To save the time of inserting 

 cells, we often wait until the bees 

 have eaten off the outside covering, 

 showing that the queen will soon be 

 out, and then remove the cell with ad- 

 hering comb, so that it will fit be- 

 tween the frames of honey, placing 

 point downwards, and in a short time 

 the queen is out. We preserve cells 

 with variations; sometimes we place 

 them over cages, similar to a cover of 

 a tin pepper-box, only the tops are of 

 wire cloth ; and again cut out cells 

 and pht them into cages (made of 

 wire cloth by rolling around the broom 

 handle, with stoppers in each end), 

 and place them in the cluster. If 

 young queens are introduced, when 

 they are only a few years old, they 

 are generally well received. 



System in the Apiary. — Mr. A. E. 



Foster, in the Practical Farmer, gives 

 this very timely advice on systematic 

 work in the apiary : 



"A place for everything, and every- 

 tliing in its place.'' I know of no 

 place (unless it is in the family) where 

 this rule should be followed more 

 closely than in the apiary. The pros- 

 perous bee-keeper is always in a 

 hurry, needing different supplies as 

 he examines different hives, and it is 

 very necessary that he should know 

 just where to find things as he needs 

 them. If you have not this faculty 

 well developed, cultivate it, by as- 

 signing everything in your apiary a 

 place, and keep everything in its 

 place. The time lost in hunting here, 

 there and everywhere, for what you 

 need, will amount to a great deal, 

 more than any one would suppose; 

 and it will not only save time, but 

 keep you from getting in a bad humor, 

 which generally follows one of those 

 long searches. The mother who 

 teaches her child to put things where 

 it gels them, does the child good, and 

 saves herself much trouble, in picking 

 things up after it. 



^" Mr. O. O. Poppleton has re- 

 turned from Florida, where he has 

 spent the winter, accompanied by his 

 wife. They have had an excellent 

 time, and look well. They brought 

 us a sample of mangrove honey from 

 the apiary of Mr. W. S. Hart, of New 

 Smyrna, Florida. In the article, on 

 page 213, entitled Bee-Keeping in 

 Florida, Mr. P. points out two errors, 

 wliich we correct with pleasure. They 

 were, doubtless, inadvertantly made 

 by Mr. Lake in copying. The " bee 

 belt " is 25 miles (not 12-5) ; and the 

 red mangrove grows below the head of 

 Indian river— not " above," as it is 

 there stated. 



