478 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the Society, Rev. W. F. Clarke was 

 urged to take the enterprise in hand, 

 and encouraged by the pledged co- 

 operation of leading members of the 

 Society, did so. The Journal was 

 removed from Washington, D. C, its 

 former place of publication, to Chi- 

 cago, and the foundation laid of its 

 subsequent prosperity. Mr. Clarke 

 gave it his personal supervision for a 

 year, when it passed into the hands of 

 Mr. Thomas G. Newman, who has 

 guided its destinies ever since, and 

 under whose able management it has 

 become the most potent literary 

 agency for the promotion of bee-keep- 

 ing at present in existence. If the 

 Society had accomplished nothing 

 more for apiculture than the preser- 

 vation of this invaluable periodical, it 

 would deserve to live and prosper. 



The great lights of North American 

 bee-keeping are expected at the ap- 

 proaching aimual meeting. It is con- 

 ceded that this Continent now leads 

 the world in apicultural progress. 

 The apiarists of all other countries 

 dip their flags to North America, and 

 Canada enjoys the proud boast of 

 having produced the foremost of en- 

 terprising and successful bee-keepers 

 in the person of Mr. D. A. Junes. 



Among other distinguished apicul- 

 turists who intend to be present on 

 the approaching occasion, special 

 mention may very properly be made 

 of Prof. A. J. Cook, whose " Manual 

 of the Apiary" is now generally ac- 

 cepted as the standard work on bee- 

 keeping. Mr. Cook is an accomplished 

 entomologist, of which science lie is 

 professor in the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College, and in the course of his 

 teaching makes a specialty of scien- 

 tific and practical bee-keeping. He 

 manages an experimental apiary at 

 the college, and in this branch of 

 study has a class of 40 students the 

 present year. Did space permit other 

 high authorities in bee-keeping might 

 be named, whose presence will give 

 interest and importance to the meet- 

 ing about to be held. 



It is to be hoped that all Canadian 

 bee-keepers wlio can possibly attend 

 the expected apicultural parliament 

 will make a point of being there. 

 Such a gathering cannot fail to give 

 a great impetus to a large and rapidly 

 growing rural industry. As a busi- 

 ness bee-keeping is only in its infancy. 

 There are vast possibilities about it 

 yet to be developed. Without exag- 

 geration or figure of speech— " there 

 are millions in it." Our own Mr. 

 Jones and other Canadian bee-keep- 

 ers have shown us what can be done 

 in this line of things. Bee-keeping 

 offers an inviting field as a business, 

 and as an adjunct to general farming 

 is well worthy of receiving far wider 

 attention. When it is considered that 

 the income of every farm throughout 

 the country might easily be augmented 

 at least a hundred dollars a year, by 

 keeping a few hives of bees, it will at 

 once be seen what an immense in- 

 crease of national wealth might be 

 obtained were the flowers that now 

 "waste their sweetness" duly util- 

 ized by a force of honey- gatherers 

 large enough to collect the revenue 

 they are so willing to yield, when 



swift-winged foragers " present their 

 little bills " for liquidation. 



Bonner, the Seottisli Bee-Master. 



Mr. Wm. Raitt, of Blairgowrie, 

 Scotland, gives the following in the 

 London Journal of Horticulture, con- 

 cerning his fellow countryman, the 

 noted Caledonian bee-master : 



Bonner's name is so much more 

 widely known than his works on bee- 

 keeping, that I doubt not many read- 

 ers of our Journal will be glad of a 

 few notes culled from his rare book. 



Bonner was the twelfth child of a 

 handloom weaver, of Coldingham, in 

 Berwickshire, and seems to have re- 

 ceived a fair education. He followed 

 his father's occupation, and became 

 the author of a work called '• Practi- 

 cal Warping Made Easy." His father 

 was an enthusiastic bee-keeper, own- 

 ing as many as a dozen colonies at a 

 time, and in good seasons made as 

 much money by his bees, as nearly 

 purchased oatmeal sufficient to serve 

 his numerous family for a whole year. 

 He purchased with a single season's 

 wax a large q_uarto Bible {an expen- 

 sive article in those days), " which 

 served as a family book ever after," 

 and Ills home was always supplied 

 with honey and mead. The old man 

 worked at his loom till within a few 

 days of his death, in the 86th year of 

 his age. 



James, our author, was thus a born 

 bee-master, and so great was his in- 

 terest in bees that he, about the year 

 1765, travelled all the way to London 

 to get a chance of conversing with the 

 famous Wildman. The latter hap- 

 pened at the time to be in France, so 

 Bonner had to return without seeing 

 him, but he solaced himself by the 

 possession of a rich haul of bee books, 

 picked up on London bookstalls. He 

 tells us he bought every book on bees 

 that he could find. After this, and 

 under the impulse of fresh discoveries 

 day by day, he became so absorbed in 

 his studies and experiments, that 

 during the honey season he hardly 

 took any sleep for whole weeks to- 

 gether. At last, in 1789, he published 

 his first book, a "Treatise on the Man- 

 agement of Bees," which was well 

 received. In succeeding years he made 

 so many discoveries and improve- 

 ments, that he resolved to embody all 

 he knew in the larger work by which 

 he is better known, " A New Plan for 

 Speedily Increasing the Number of 

 Hives in Scotland," etc. This work 

 was issued by subscription in 179'i, 

 and was directly under the patronage 

 of the " lords and gentlemen " of the 

 Highland Society, the then represen- 

 tative of the great Agricultural Soci- 

 ety of the present day, at whose shows 

 the bee tent is a regular attraction. 



As affording a fair contrast between 

 the best principles of beekeeping in 

 the last century and those of the 

 present day, I note a few of the more 

 prominent of Bonner's ideas : 



Honeydew. — He speaks of it as an 

 exudation of the saccharine juices of 

 plants, which, in some cases it un- 



doubtedly is, but he seems to have no 

 idea that the bulk of it is the excretion 

 of aphides. 



Crude and Perfect Honey. — He de- 

 cidedly differs from Mr. Pettigrew in 

 this matter, having satisfied himself 

 that the nectar as gathered from the 

 flowers is true honey, afterwards 

 thickening only from tne evaporation 

 of its watery particles. I had an illus- 

 tration only yesterday of one way in 

 which bees get rid of the superfluous 

 water in the sweets they gather. 

 Over a large feeding trough where I 

 was supplying my bees with sweet- 

 ened water, I could see in the sun- 

 light that almost every bee that rose 

 with its load, ejected a spray of water. 

 So rapidly did the water find its way 

 from the honey sac to the excretory 

 organs of the bee, that the moment it 

 rose it was enabled to get rid, I should 

 suppose, of half the weight of its bur- 

 den in the form of water. I have also 

 noticed this in the case of bees re- 

 turning from the fields during the 

 honey season. 



Pollen and Wax. — Although humor- 

 ing the prevailing notion that the bees 

 gathered wax and carried it home on 

 their legs, by culling loads of pollen 

 and loads of wax. Bonner argues very 

 sensibly his opinion, that wax is an 

 exudation from the body of the bee, 

 as milk from the cow, silk from the 

 spider and silkworm, or wax from the 

 human ear. 



" Smotheratinn " by Brimstone. — This 

 he utterly condemns as " a barbarous 

 practice" to be ever deprecated. 

 Who would have supposed that such a 

 practice could have continued to the 

 present day ? 



Northwestern Convention. 



The Northwestern Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its fourth annual 

 convention at Owsley's Hall, N. W. 

 corner Roby and West Madison Sts., 

 Chicago, 111., on Wednesday and 

 Thursday, October 17 and IS, 1883, 

 commencing at 10 a. ra. on Wednes- 

 day and holding five sessions. 



The Rev. L. L. Langstroth (the 

 father of American apicluture) has 

 promised to be present, and many of 

 the most prominent apiarists of the 

 Northwest will be there and aid in 

 the deliberations and discussions. 



This meeting will be held during 

 the last week of the Inter-State In- 

 dustrial Exposition, and reduced 

 railroad fares may be had on nearly 

 all the railroads. A cordial invitation 

 is extended to bee-keepers every 

 where to attend this annual reunion. 



Meals may be obtained at the Res- 

 taurant near the Hall at 2.5 cts. each. 



Beds may be secured at the Gault 

 House for $1, or at other Hotels at 

 regular rates. 



Thos. G. Newman, Sec. 



C. C. MiLLEK, Pres. 



