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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Hunting Bees in the Woods. 



Mr. C. Norris, of Traverse City, 

 Mich., writes as follows : 



Being a reader of your valuable 

 paper, the Weekly Bee Journal, I 

 am very anxious, and desire that 

 some of your readers who have had 

 successful experience in hunting wild 

 honey bees, would give their experi- 

 ence in detail ; what kind of feed to 

 bait them on, and take the bees from 

 their tree and bring them home suc- 

 scessfully, and the best bait te use 

 that bees will come to and carry off 

 when the flowers are giving a flow of 

 nectar, and oblige one wishing to learn 

 to capture wild honey bees. 



Mr. r. M. Johnson gives his experi- 

 ence in hunting bees as follows : 



You require a small box, which can 

 be made of any kind of wood. The 

 box is of a slanting shape, and should 

 be made according to the following 

 dimensions: Bottom 4x6 inches; 

 sides, 4 inches at one end beveled 

 down to 1% inches at the other ; end 

 pieces, one, 4x4 inches, the other IM 

 deep by 4 inches long. The top should 

 be a separate piece, and made as fol- 

 lows : Width, 4 inches, whole length 

 12 inches ; cutting down 4 inches on 

 end for handle, and inserting a glass 

 3x1 inches, flush with the underside 

 at the other end, as near the end as 

 convenient. 



The box should contam a piece of 

 honey comb about IM inches in 

 thickness, which should be scented 

 with bee bait (the directions for mak- 

 ing this are given below), covering 

 tlie bottom of the box. Taking the 

 box in the left hand, and the cover in 

 the right, and approaching the bee 

 while at work on the flower or shub, 

 you insert the box under the bee, and 

 quickly putting the cover on the top 

 (in such a manner that the light can 

 shine in), you have the bee secure in 

 the box ; then put the box on a stake 3 

 or 4 feet high, taking care not jar the 

 box more than necessary. Then 

 shove the cover down so as to shut 

 out the light from the glass, when the 

 bee will sco to work on tlie honey, 

 which can be ascertained by holding 

 the ear to the box, as it will cease its 

 " humming " as soon as it commences 

 on the comb. Then the cover can be 

 taken off and the bee will remain on 

 the honey. Then take a position 

 where you can have an unobstructed 

 view of tlie box and its surroundings, 

 and wait for the bee to come out, 

 which it will do in from one to three 

 minutes, and commence circling in 

 the air, gradually enlarging the circles 

 until it flnds its latitude, at which it 

 will immediately start in a direct line 

 for its home, and here care must be 

 taken to accurately mark the direc- 

 tion it goes. You must now wait for 

 a short time, wlien the bee will return 

 and re-enter the box, which it will 

 repeat as long as the box remains. If 

 the tree should be near by the other 

 bees will accompany it on its second 

 or third return ; if at a great distance 

 it will take a longer period for the 

 bees to " double up." 



If you have gotten 15 or 20 bees at 

 work on the line you can safely take 

 the box to a point as far distant, in 

 the course the bee has taken, as you 

 choose, being careful not to pass 

 where the bee is likely to tree, as they 

 will not follow the other way. Now, 

 open the box again, and if you are on 

 the line the bees will And it in a very 

 few minutes. If they do not you will 

 know that you are off the line, or have 

 passed the tree, and should move 

 your box to a point that you know is 

 on the line. This is to be repeated 

 until you run the bee to its tree. 



If you have but a few bees it will be 

 necessary to shut them in the box 

 and move them in this manner from 

 30 to 60 rods at a time, then open your 

 box and wait for them to go and re- 

 turn. This is to be repeated until 

 you have found the tree. 



Cross lining is important. If any- 

 thing should prevent you from follow- 

 ing the bee in adirect line from where 

 you first start it, you can move the 

 box a distance to the right or left and 

 start it again, by which means you 

 can center the bee on some prominent 

 object, whereby you can invariably 

 locate the tree within a radius of 5 or 

 6 rods. 



Half an ounce of tincture of annis 

 mixed with a half dozen drops of oil 

 of organum, to bskeptin an air-tight- 

 bottle. 



Instead of using honey in your box, 

 put a quantity of granulated sugar in 

 a bottle and dissolve it with cold 

 water until it becomes a thick syrup, 

 and fill the comb in the box with this 

 liquid, which is better than the real 

 honey. 



Ontario Convention. 



The third annual general meeting 

 of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion will meet in the City Hall, 

 Toronto, on Tuesday, the 20th day of 

 SeptenAer next, during the second 

 week of the Industrial Exhibition. 

 As the North American Bee-Keepers" 

 Covention meets at the same time and 

 place, it has been arranged that the 

 two bodies hold joint meetings in 

 discussing matters pertaining to our 

 common interests, as the leading bee- 

 keepers of America are to be present. 

 This will, undoubtedly, be the most 

 interesting meeting of apiarists ever 

 assembled in Canada. The venerable 

 Mr. Langstrotli and all the prominent 

 bee-men of the United States are ex- 

 pected to be present. A profitable 

 time is anticipated, and a good turn- 

 out requested. The convention will 

 last three days. A meeting for the 

 purely business work of our associa- 

 tion will be held sometime during tlie 

 convention, of which due notice will 

 be given. 



R. Mcknight, 

 Pres. Ontario Bee Association. 



The Curse of Adulteration. 



1^" The Cass County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, organized on the 1.5th of 

 August, will meet on the 10th of 

 October, 18S3, in Logansport, Ind. 

 All persons interested in bees and 

 honey are respectfully invited to 

 come. De Witt Brown, <Sec. 



The Prairie Farmer discusses the 

 subject of food adulteration in the 

 following strain, and indicates the 

 remedy : 



In Great Britain the laws are strin- 

 gent and more rigidly enforced than 

 elsewhere, but still it is admitted to 

 be a great evil even in the " United 

 Kingdom." In Germany the extent 

 to which adulteration of food, and 

 almost everything which enters into 

 commerce is carried, is appalling. 

 The most of the wines brought from 

 Germany are villainous imitations of 

 pure articles, loaded with drugs and 

 unfit to be taken into the stomach. 

 \Ve do not know what we drink, nor 

 hardly what we eat, nor can a physi- 

 cian predict with any certainty the 

 effect of his prescriptions on ac- 

 count of their adulteration. Com- 

 munity at large is in a measure to 

 blame in this matter; indifference on 

 the part of the public enables those 

 who engage in these nefarious opera- 

 tions to ply their vocations with im- 

 punity. The laws on the statute books 

 against the adulteration of articles of 

 food and drink are, therefore, almost 

 a dead letter. Unless complaint is 

 made, the public authorities take no 

 notice of these things, and no private 

 citizen cares to take it upon himself 

 to make complaints of the manufac- 

 ture or sale of such articles, and thus 

 the disreputable business goes on 

 in every direction. There is scarcely 

 an article of food, except fresh veget- 

 ables and fruits, that is free from 

 adulteration. Seemingly many per- 

 sons engaged in these pursuits have 

 deluded themselves into believing 

 that such tampering with food has 

 become legitimate, from the fact that 

 the great public permits itself to be 

 imposed upon with impunity. Never- 

 theless, the whole business is neither 

 legitimate nor honest. It is a species 

 of fraud that ought not to be toler- 

 ated. Articles are sold for what they 

 are not. and very often they contain 

 deleterious and poisonous substances 

 that should never enter the human 

 stomach. 



We might fill our columns with 

 analyses made by chemists in this 

 country and Europe, of adulterated 

 articles now sold as human food, em- 

 bracing nearly everything in use for 

 that purpose, but it is unnecessary. 

 Suffice it that flour, butter, lard, sugar, 

 coffee, tea, spices, canned fruits, and 

 other leading articles of diet are 

 especial objects of the adulterators' 

 arts. 



Who will point out the remedy for 

 this gigantic evil V We would call 

 the attention of the State Board of 

 Ileallh to it in Illinois. Perhaps 

 there are cases of the use of poisonous 

 ingredients in some of these fraudu- 

 lent imitations or adulterations of 

 food, which would bring those who 

 are producing them within the pur- 

 view of that body's authority, and 

 lead to a few wliolesome examples of 

 condign punisbiuent for infractions of 

 the law in such cases made and 

 provided. 



