1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



39 



Scientific Names of Familiar Honey-Plants. 



Please give the scientific names of catnip, (Is it the same 

 as catmint?) horehound, milkweed and catclaw. All these 

 names I have met in the American Bee Journal, but not (at 

 least not explained) in my dictionary. Belgium. 



Answer.— Catnip and catmint are the same — nepeta cata- 

 Ha. Horehound — eupatorium rotundifoliimi. Horsemint — 

 m07ianla punclnta. Mesquite I don't know. I believe it's a 

 tree that grows in the Southern States. Heart's-case or smart- 

 weed — persicariamite. Milkweed — asclepias cormUi. Sour- 

 wood — oxydendni/m arboreum. Catclaw is one of the Southern 

 plants I don't know. 



T1r}C Sut)t)\j Souttjlarjd^ 



CONDUCTED BY 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY, HEEVILLE, TEX. 



Some Evidence in Favor of Single-Walled Hives. 



Mrs. Atchley: — The fact that you are a bee-keepercss 

 and a public woman (at least so far as the Amerijcan Bee 

 Journal is concerned) emboldens me to "drop you a line," as 

 "Jack" said to the mermaid. 



On page 813 of the Dec. 27th number you say you think 

 of trying double-walled hives, as a protection against heat. 

 Now I have given the matter a pretty good test, ever since 

 Mr. Root first advertised double-walls, and my experience is 

 that a board shade is equally as good as a double wall, 

 far cheaper, and must less strength laid out in lifting, so I say 

 to you, " don't." 



I am in Eastern Massachusetts. The temperature runs 

 from ISC'Fahr. below zero (it is 2^ Fahr. to-day) in winter 

 to 115'^ Fahr. in the summer. These are the extremes, but it 

 is common in the winter to have "spells" of a week at a time 

 when the mercury stands within 10'' above zero to 1^' or 2-^ 

 below, and in the summer from 95 to 105, or 115^ even in 

 the sun. I have found no trouble with heat ; combs never 

 melt down, with myself, and won't with anyone, I think, if a 

 little care is taken. I gave ample ventilation both winter and 

 summer. By ventilation 1 don't mean, as some do, a stream 

 of air through, but ventilation in its proper way as regards 

 effects. 1 look out of my chamber window every day and see 

 two single-walled "Root Simplicity hives" that are just roar- 

 ing with bees, and no protection save the back of a "lean-to" 

 shed, on the north side, with a half story "storage chamber" 

 over tops filled with forest leaves and entrance whole width of 

 hive; those same two hives having occupied the same position 

 with no other winter protection for the last 4 years. This is a 

 piece of evidence only. It proves nothing taken by Itself, but 

 combined with the fact that my bees are all in good condition, 

 the single walls Just as good as the double, tends strongly to 

 prove that for wintering the single walls are equally as good 

 as the double. And the fact that in summer, with myself, I 

 find no trouble with too much heat, convinces me that, taking 

 all in all, the single walls "bear the palm." 



Take this, please, for what it is worth. I have tested the 

 matter. You, however, may wish to test it also. Do so, and 

 give the results you find. Yours very truly. 



North Attleboro, Mass. Jos. E. Pond. 



Bro. Pond, I am very much obliged to you, indeed, as your 

 experience will save me considerable, as I was aiming to try 

 it this year and report for the benefit of our Southern bee- 

 keepers, so 1 take the liberty to give your letter to the pub- 

 lic and maybe it will help some one else. 



Jennie Atchley. 



Free Again — Is It Paralysis ? 



Mrs. Atchley: — My four years as prosecuting attorney 

 for the Sixth Judicial District of Texas, has just ended, and I 

 am once more a free man. I shall rest up six or eight months 

 before taking up my law practice. During all this time I 

 could only catch a chance occasionally to run out to 

 father's, at Box Elder, and my folks say when I made them a 

 visit that I would camp with the bees and had little to say 

 outside of my bee-keeping, which was very nearly correct. 

 When I settle down again 1 will certainly have bees. 



The American Bee Journal these days h more entertain- 



ing than Shakespeare or Dickens, and your department — "The 

 Sunny Southland" — always gets my first attention. The Bee 

 Journal I always read the first night it comes. I think I will 

 get Gleanings, too. 



My bees more than doubled last year. In the spring there 

 was no honey, but in the summer and fall we got some nice 

 hopey. The Linden did not give us any honey last spring, and 

 the drouth cut the sumach and huckleberry short. 



Since the frost I have some colonies that have quite a 

 number of dead bees in front of their hives. This occurred 

 from Dec. 1st to the 10th. Is it probable that my bees have 

 paralysis? From reading lately of this malady, I look upon it 

 as a terror. N. P. Doak. 



Box Elder, Tex., Jan. 3. 



Friend D., I am indeed glad that you find pleasure in 

 reading my department and the American Bee Journal, and I 

 shall try to make my department more and more interesting. 

 I am looking forward to the time soon when I shall have more 

 time to devote to this department. Such kind words of appre- 

 ciation is good tonic to stimulate one and help to strive 

 harder to please and instruct bee-keepers, and especially be- 

 ginners. 



I do not think your bees have paralysis, from your descrip- 

 tion. But I rather think they died from natural causes. Some- 

 times it turns cold very suddenly and catches the bees scat- 

 tered all over their combs, and some few, say a teacupful or 

 more, may think the spell will be over soon and cluster on an 

 outside comb of sealed honey and freeze to death; when it 

 turns warm the other bees carry them out and drop them at 

 the entrances. Then again some colonies go into winter with 

 more old bees than new ones and they die ofE as a natural con- 

 sequence. 



If your bees have paralysis, you can quickly determine it, 

 by watching the bees at the entrances any warm day. Some 

 of the bees will crawl out on the alighting-boards, and shake 

 and tremble and stagger about, as though they were intoxi- 

 cated, and finally turn on their backs and swell up and die. 

 Then some may not have the disease as bad as others, and may 

 continue to fly for a while and lose all the hair oS their backs 

 and look a shiny black, and this last seems the first stage of 

 the disease. The bees of the colony who are not diseased may 

 be seen trying to pull out these shiny bodies by the wings, even 

 when they can yet fly, seeming to know that they ought to be 

 out. Jennie Atchley. 



i?Ir. Wni. McEvoy and Family. 



Referring to the group shown on the first page of this number, 

 1 would say that Mr. McEvoy, as most of the readers of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal know, is the efficient Foul Brood Inspector for the 

 Province of Ontario, Canada. Following are the names and ages 

 of the interesting group of children found in the picture; Jennie, 

 who is standing, is the oldest, being 19. WiOlam John is also stand- 

 ing—age 13. Nettie is standing close to Mrs. McEvoy, and is 7 years 

 old. Ewart, sitting in front, is about 6. Little Gemmill is sitting 

 on the arm of the chair, and his age is 4. This latter young man 

 had the misfortune of falling down cellar the past fall, with the 

 result that his left arm was broken. I could symyathlze with him, 

 for 1 also had a broken left arm when I was 16. I hope little Gem- 

 mill's arm will recover as fully as did mine. — Editok. 



Mr. F. li. Xhoinpsoii's Objection. 



Tut, tut, my dear boy ! Don't go into conniptions orer that 

 trifle you quote on page 4. '■ia(?(cs and men " may sound a little 

 peculiar. The terms seem to convey more respect for our sex and 

 less for the blessed creatures to whom far greater consideration is 

 due. 1 suppose you would suggest that I had best have used the 

 term " women," and 1 quite agree with you, for to my mind no 

 word conveys so truly the noble nature of our God-given mothers, 

 wives and sisters. No title has ever been conferred more compre- 

 hensive, more expressive, more dignifying than the simple and 

 elegant one of woman. All that is worthy in human nature is com- 

 prised in that brief, trite noun. Of course you did not infer that 1 

 should have used the superfluous " gentlemen " instead of the more 

 simple "men." 1 give you credit for more discretion than that 

 you would ascribe to me such folly. All the embellishment the 

 name requires is the acUom that give character to the name. 



Trusting your Interpretation is corrected, and received in the 

 kind spirit intended, 1 am, Very gratefully yours, 



Dr. Feiro. 



