1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



301 



brought home. For many years he kept bees as a side-issue, 

 but during the last 14 years of his life he gave his attention 

 almost exclusively to bee-keeping. He was an enthusiast in 

 his chosen pursuit, and was never so happy as when at work 

 in the apiary. He was a great reader of bee-literature, and a 

 frequent attendant at conventions. For several years he was 

 President of the Northern Illinois Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 and was also a member of the Northwestern when it was in 

 existence. 



Mr. L. Highbarger, an extensive bee-keeper at Leaf 

 River, 111., who knew Mr. Whittlesey well, writes as follows : 



To know Bro. Whittlesey was to love him. I don't think 

 he had an enemy on earth. He was one of the oldest bee- 

 keepers in northern Illinois, and was one of the organizers of 

 the Northern Illinois Bee-Keepers' Association. When the 

 frame hive was invented by Langstroth he bought a shop 

 right, and to-day he has about (30 colonies of bees in as fine 

 condition as can be found In Illinois. L. Highbargek. 



Honey-Plant Named. — The following letter with 

 samples of plants were mailed to Prof. Cook, who kindly for- 

 warded the letter and his answer to this office : 



I have mailed samples or twigs of two honey-bearing 

 plants which grow here in dry washes. Will you please give 

 me the names of them, and say whether or not they are con- 

 sidered (lood honey-plants. No. 1 is blooming now, and seems 

 to have quite a good deal of nectar. No. 2 is just beginning 

 to put out foliage — it blooms in April and May. It has a very 

 small purple flower, and the bees work on it quite freely. 



Banning, Calif., March -t. D. 0. Bailiff. 



Prof. Cook replies to the above as follows : 



The plant mentioned by Mr. Bailiff as now in bloom is 

 Isomeris arborea nutt. It belongs to the caper family — cappa 

 ridacese — and so is a near relative of the famous Rocky Moun- 

 tain bee-plant and spider-plant. From its near relatives, we 

 do not wonder that it is a good honey-plant. The fact that it 

 blooms so early, is also in its favor. 



I find our bees are gathering honey each day, and so are 

 breeding up very fast. We have had another rain. We have 

 now had in all about 24 inches. The prospects are excellent 

 for a fine honey crop. A. J. Cook. 



Claremont, Calif., March 20. 



/Krr)Ot)Q ilr)c Bee-Papers 



Conducted /jv "GLEJIXER." 



DE. J. P. H. BROWN AND THE SOUTHERN DEPAKTMENT. 



Those who have had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Brown 

 at the conventions of the North American Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, which conventions he has attended a number of times, 

 will be glad to see his name at the head of the " Southern 

 Department" in the American Bee Journal. It's a good place 

 for him to fill, and he's a good man to fill the place. 



FEEDING IN SPRING FOR WINTER. 



H. R. Boardman advocates this in Gleanings, and uses an 

 entrance feeder of his own invention. It is an ordinary glass 

 fruit-can reversed, with a special cover having a flange stick- 

 ing up high enough so as to make what is known as an atmos- 

 pheric feeder on the Hains style. This is then inverted and 

 set right down over a hole in a box so constructed as to fit 

 closely to the entrance on one side. Not only does the box fit 

 close to the entrance, but two projecting points enter the 

 entrance, so that a robber to get at the feed must come clear 

 inside the hive. 



THAT "JOLLEY" VIEW. 



Amid the dismal forebodings as to the future of bee-keep- 

 ing, it's pleasant to get the views of those who look on the 

 brighter side. On page 245, Ed Jolley takes a bright view of 

 the case, and I don't know that we may not expect the good 

 as well as the bad. Certainly the bad seasons cannot be at- 

 tributed entirely to the cutting away honey-trees or the clear- 

 ing away of weeds that produce honey, although in some 

 places that may have contributed. And although cultivated 

 crops may take the place of some weeds dear to the bee- 



keeper's heart, yet who knows whether among the new things 

 introduced as forage plants there may not be some which 

 shall surpass in value as honey-plants thoss displaced? 



But is that a slip of the pen to take slips of basswood — 

 the idea of a poet calling the beautiful linden " basswood ;" or 

 is it poetic license, to suppose that such slips will grow wher- 

 ever they are planted ? But he's sound in his advice to put 

 sweet clover in the pasture. 



WHY DO BEES STAND MORE COLD OUTDOORS THAN IN CELLAR? 



Dr. Miller wrestles with this problem in Gleanings, but it 

 is pretty nearly an even thing which comes out on top. His 

 conclusion is : " Now I don't know that the impure air is the 

 whole reason why bees in the cellar must be kept warmer 

 than out-doors ; but I suspect it has much to do with it, and I 

 am ready for any light that comes." 



EQUALIZING COLONIES. 



On page 278, J. S. Scott says : "A good way to equalize 

 the strength of colonies of bees in the spring is to change the 

 hives around." I'm afraid that isn't the safest advice to be 

 flung before every beginner. If you make a strong and a 

 weak colony exchange places, the weak one will gain by it, 

 but in most cases it is doubtful if the gain will overbalance 

 the loss to the strong one. 



BROOD AND HONEY CROWDING. 



On page 262, H. D. Edwards speaks of honey crowding 

 out the queen in a large hive, and then of the brood crowding 

 out the honey in a small hive. This is somewhat confusing. 

 If in a small hive bees give brood the preference, will they do 

 just the opposite in a large hive, and have less brood in a. 

 larger brood-chamber ? Do the bees change their instincts- 

 according to the size of the hive ? 



DID THEY' FREEZE OR STARVE ? 



A difference of opinion not easily arbitrated is likely to 

 arise between Messrs. Abbott and Bearden — see pages 191 

 and 283. A cluster of bees died with plenty of stores within 

 easy reach if it had been warm enough for the bees to break 

 cluster. Mr. Abbott will say the bees lived till they used up 

 all the honey in the cluster, and if more honey had been in 

 the cluster they would have lived longer; so of course they 

 starved to death. And that seems all right. On the other 

 hand, Mr. Bearden will say the cold was the cause of the bees 

 not getting their stores, so the cold was the cause of their 

 death. Moreover, the bees, although weakened for lack of 

 sufficient food, would have lived for a time had it been warmer, 

 but weakened as they were, they succumbed to the cold and 

 froze to death. And that seems all righi, too. How would it 

 do to compromise the matter by saying the bees starved and 

 froze to death ? 



jSotes ^ Con)n)cr)is^ 



CONDUCTED BV 



Rev. Emerson T. Abbott, St. Josepij, Jlfo. 



A Bad Practice.— "A live, intelligent, enterprising 

 bee-keeper who is willing to get up at three o'clock in the 

 morning and work until eight in the evening." — B- Taylor, in 

 Bee-Keepers' Review. 



This is laid down as one of the elements of success in the 

 production of honey, and I want to here and now offer my 

 protest against any such teaching. If Friend Taylor thinks 

 he must get up at three a.m., let him do so, but I hope no one 

 engaged in the production of honey, or any other business, 

 for that matter, will indulge the thought for a monent that 

 such a course is one of the essentials of making the business a 

 success. I feel like saying that the man who begins work at 

 six and puts in his time faithfully until the hands on the dial 

 indicate that hour again, and by so laboring cannot make a 

 success of his business, would better quit it at once and try 

 something else. The bane of modern life is fret and worry 

 accompanied by exhausted nerves, and no man who makes a 

 practice of getting out of bed at three in the morning and 

 working until eight in the evening can stand the strain very 

 long. There is something more of life than mere money-get- 

 ting, and we owe something to the coming generations. Chil- 

 dren are at least entitled to be born into the world with sound 

 minds and healthy bodies, and they cannot be so born of 

 parents who thus encroach on the hours set apart for rest. 



My advice would be to spend at least two hours of that 



