1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



621 



German bee-writings which described a hive and system of 

 manasement quite unlinown to English-spealiing American 

 bee-keepers, and which he thought promised to revoluionize 

 the bee-industry in this country. But Father Langstroth was 

 working, too. He had just begun to write his matchless work 

 — " Langstroth on the Honey-Bee." He sent some of his 

 manuscript to Mr. Wagner, and when he read it he was so 

 captivated and pleased with it that he suppressed his beauti- 

 ful translation of the German work, and wrote Father Lang- 

 stroth that his (Father L.'s) hive and system were far in ad- 

 vance of the German invention. Mr. Wagner was ever a true 

 friend and brother to Father Langstroth, and aided him in 

 every way within his power. Such was Samuel Wagner the 

 tireless scholar, the peerless translator, the thorough bee- 

 master — yes, the great first editor of the old American Bee 

 .Journal. 



I must say a few words about Father Langstroth's wid- 

 owed daughter — Mrs. Anna L. Cowan. She accompanied her 

 father to Toronto to care for him. What a pleasure it was to 

 meet her. She it is who has for years looked after Father 

 Langstroth. All through his long suffering from head- 

 trouble, she has cared for him, though she herself had seven 

 children to " mother." Such tender, unselfish devotion I feel 

 merits more than I can here express. I am glad to have this 

 opportunity to thus speak of her to the thousands who love 

 to honor her esteemed father — the apiarian world's greatest 

 benefactor. 



Among the many whom I had never had the pleasure of 

 meeting, was Mr. Doolittle, of New York. I had pictured 

 him as a rather dry sort of man, and not possessing a joking 

 or fun-!oving spirit My, but wasn't I mistaken ? Why, he's 

 simply bubbling over all the time, and has such a jolly nature 

 that one feels good all the time when with him. His address 

 before the convention was simply immense. He had no manu- 

 script, but spoke " off hand," as it were. I would like to tell 

 some of the good things he said. I wish he'd transfer to paper 

 the best parts of his address. It surely ought to be published. 

 It was sound advice, I can assure you — just like he always 

 writes in his bee-articles. 



Quite a number of the Canadian bee-women were present 

 — wives of prominent bee-men, mostly, though I imagine a 

 good many of them are expert in handling bees. I know Mrs. 

 E. H. Stewart, of Niagara Falls South, Out., is such an one. 

 She doesn't say anything publicly, but she has an "experi- 

 ence." I wish she'd tell it. It might encourage others of our 

 bee-sisters. Mrs. Stewart was one of the very few Canadian 

 bee-women who attended the World's Fair convention. 



Hon. Eugene Secor and Dr. Miller got their heads together 

 again before the Toronto meeting, and " concocted" just the 

 finest " Convention Song" I ever heard. It wasn't issued in 

 time to be learned before the convention, but after the after- 

 noon session on Thursday Bro. Calvert and I worked up an 

 amateur quartet at the Palmer House, and learned the song 

 so that we (or I) could at least " sing at it," and the evening 

 session of that day was opened with it. After we finished the 

 last stanza the whole audience clapped their hands a whole 

 lot. I wonder if they were glad we had finished it ! It's a 

 fine song, any way, and all should learn it before the next 

 meeting. Oh, I almost forgot to say that the new bee-keepers' 

 quartet was composed of the following : Tenor, Mr. J. T. 

 Cavert ; alto. Miss Carrie Root; bass, Thomas G. Newman; 

 and the would-be soprano— your humble servant. The first 

 three did well, I know, for the Hon. John Dryden, in his elo- 

 quent address of welcome, referred to the song several times. 



Did you know that Dr. Mason is " a close second " to Hon. 

 Chauncey Depew, the noted after-dinner speaker, of New 

 York ? Well, you'd have thought so if you had heard his im- 

 promptu response to Mr. Dryden'* welcome address. To me, 

 it was one of the pleasant surprises of the convention. Dr. 



Mason could almost have a convention alone. He does like to 

 " talk in meetin'." But as he always says something," he's a 

 handy kind of man in a convention.' 



I might go on almost indefinitely with these " notes," but 

 possibly the foregoing, with those of last week, will suffice. 

 There are others that no doubt deserve special mention, but 

 they will likely be heard from in Secretary Hutchinson's re- 

 port of the proceedings now being published in these columns. 



In conclusion I may say that I had a very pleasant 17 



hours' return journey, with Mr. Newman as my traveling 



companion, arriving at this office about 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 



7 — just in time to help get out the next week's Bee Journal 



" on time." 



•*~»-^ 



Cause of Honey Crop Failure.— In the Farm, 

 Stock and Home, for Aug. 15, Mr. B. Taylor, of Forestville, 

 Minn., explains the cause of continued failures of the honey 

 crop, and his unceasing faith in the future, in these para- 

 graphs : 



How is the continued failure of the honey crop to be ac- 

 counted for? Has Nature permanently set her face against 

 the " little busy bee " and her owner ? No, our faith is not in 

 the least shaken ; that those that hold out faithfully will yet 

 reap the reward of those that " hold out to the end." 



The cause of this continued failure in the surplus honey 

 crop is, to our understanding, plainly due to the one cause — 

 drouth. Mother Nature is not always going to withhold the 

 timely rains. We have now had at least four seasons in which 

 there has been a dearth of rain in the growing season. Clover 

 and other honey-yielding plants have not only been badly 

 killed out, but where not killed have been so weakened in 

 vitality that they failed to secrete nectar. The same is true 

 here of basswood, for, in this section at least, the basswood 

 trees are scant in foliage, and the few trees that bloomed did 

 not yield honey as of old. 



But we believe the rule of timely rains has come again, 

 and the big springs, of lormer years, that had nearly ceased 

 to flow (in fact, had ceased in many cases) show an increased 

 flow. The brown pastures and roadsides are being clothed 

 with green again, and this hopeful condition is having its 

 effect upon the bees, and swarming, which has been suspended 

 for some time, is being renewed again, as a big prime swarm, 

 that came while we were writing this, proves. This indicates 

 that the bees are gathering honey, and others will no doubt 

 swarm. We are not pleased to have these late swarms, but 

 yet are pleased with conditions that cause them, for they 

 would not swarm unless honey was being gathered freely. 



^rr)or)^ i\)c Bee-Papers 



Gleaned by Or. Miller. 



LAYING WOKKERS. 



Laying workers sometimes make just as nice and smooth 

 work as queens, filling worker-cells regularly with one egg in 

 a cell, with no difference that I could detect. But I think it 

 is generally, if not always, in cases where no drone-cells are 

 present, and generally a queen-ceil with two or more eggs 

 will tell the story.— Stray Straws. 



UNITING COLONIES OF BEES. 



Doolittle, in Gleanings, gives the following as one plan of 

 uniting when the colonies are not very small, and it is not late 

 in the season : 



Having decided that certain colonies are to be united, the 

 first tting to know is, which of the two or three, as the case 

 may be, has the most valuable queen. Having ascertained 

 this, I hunt out the poorest one and kill her, then leave them 

 from two to six or eight days, according to the weather and 

 pressure of business. 



When they are to be united, I take the hive or hives, from 

 which the queen has been killed, to the stand of the one they 

 are to be united with. I now select from each hive the frames 

 having the most honey in them, to the number I wish to win- 

 ter them on, and set them in one of the hives, alternating 

 them as they are set in the hive. In moving the bees they are 

 first smoked thoroughly from the entrance, when they are 



