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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 19, 



CONDUCTED BY 



Rev. Emerson T. Abbott, St. CToseph, Afo. 



Ducks and Bees. — "White clover sod does not 

 make a good pasture for ducklings, and consequently the 

 three get badly mixed up. The bee stings as she goes down the 

 duckling's throat on a clover head, and the career of the bee 

 and duckling both come to a sudden termination." — Biggie 

 Poultry Book. 



It seems strange that men of more than ordinary intelli- 

 gence will continue to write such squibs. I am sure that the 

 yearly average would not be one duck in a thousand, which 

 would be killed in the way suggested above, if the clover 

 patch was full of ducks and bees at the same time. It 

 seems to me like making " much ado about nothing," to 

 write such a paragraph. It can do the duck-raiser no good, 

 and may create a useless and unjust prejudice against the 

 bees. The duck-raiser, I think, need not bother his head 

 about the quantity of ducks he will lose in this way, and 

 surely the apiary will not be depopulated by the bees being 

 consumed by the ducklings ! 



The House Beautiful. — This is the title of a little 

 booklet published by James H. West, Boston, Mass., which is 

 such a perfect gem that I feel I will do the readers of the Bee 

 Journal a lasting benefit by calling attention to it. It costs 

 only 15 cents, and is worth its weight in gold to every home- 

 builder who will read it and heed its suggestions. It can be 

 read through in an hour, but there is meat enough in it to 

 make a book of a thousand pages. Every youug married 

 couple should have a copy and read it through once a day 

 until all its wholesome and inspiring suggestions have become 

 as familiar as the furniture of the home. 



This is not an advertisement, nor an ordinary review, as I 

 paid the cash for the copy I read, and have to-day mailed it to 

 a friend ; for I felt, as soon as I read it, that I wished that 

 everybody I knew had a copy. Send and get one, and see if 

 you do not feel the same way. Mention the Bee Journal. — 

 [Yes, I, too, have read this booklet, and it is superfine. — Ed.] 



Notes from 'Virgil.— Some years ago there came 

 into my hands a copy of a translation, with notes, of Virgil's 

 works, made in 16.53, by one John Ogilby. His notes' on the 

 Fourth Georgic cannot fail to be of interest to bee-keepers, as 

 showing what was known about this industry over 20U years 

 ago. I give the notes as they appear, spelling and all, with 

 some few remarks. 



The annotation on the Argument is suggestive. It reads 

 as follows : 



"The fourth Book comprehends the choicest rules of the 

 ancients concerning Bees, which suit so well with ours that I 

 have heard an honorable Lady of Great Judgement (the late 

 Countess of Kent) profess that she made an incredible in- 

 crease of Bees, confining her servants who attended them 

 precisely to observance of this Book." 



On the line, 



" Next to Aetherla,l Honey I'll proceed," 



the translator remarks : 



" The poet (saith LaCerda) excellent in Natural Philoso- 

 phy, subverts the common opinion implying that the bees do 

 not make Honey, but only gather it together and compact it, 

 and therefore calls it Aerial and Celestial. To this assents 

 Aristotle. That Bees make not Honey but carry only away 

 the falling Dew, may be argued from hence, that in one or 

 two days a Hive may be found full ; Besides, if you take 

 away their Honey in Autumn, they cannot recruit it, notwith- 

 standing i here are flowers at that time of year. And Pliny, 

 ' Whether it be the Sweat of Heaven, or Spittle of the Stars, 

 or Moisture of the Air purging itself, I wish it were as pure 

 and natural as it first descends ; Whereas now falling from 

 so great height, it contracts much of impurity by the way, yet 

 retains much of the pleasantness of its Celestial nature.' " 



This was before the days of glucose. Pliny seems to have 

 had some idea of the adulteration craze, even in his time ; but 

 he does not tell us whether he thought it done by men or the 

 gods. 



(To be continued.) 



CONDOCTED BY 



UR. C. C. JUILLER. ALARENGO, ILK. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.! 



Moving Bees — Peculiar Sweet Clover Honey. 



1. I can buy cheap, 8 colonies of bees that stand about 

 half a mile from my apiary. If I should move them now 

 (Nov. 28) to my cellar, and leave them there until they can 

 be given a good cleansing flight — say in February or March — 

 will they stay at their new place, or will they fly back to their 

 old stand '? 



2. September l-i I extracted five large pots of well cap- 

 ped (sweet clover) honey. All of this honey has as nice a 

 flavor and taste as you can wish sweet clover honey to have. 

 But, strange to me, the honey in three of these pots will foam 

 every time it is stirred or poured into another vessel, and 

 after it has been left alone for about 10 to 12 hours, it has 

 settled again, is clear as before, and has lost nothing of its 

 fine flavor or taste. What is the matter with that honey ? 



SuCliER. 



Answers. — 1. I think they'd stay all right. But every- 

 thing is frozen up as I write this, and there is some danger in 

 hauling them a half mile now and putting them immediately 

 in the cellar. Whether put into the cellar or left out, I should 

 want them to have a flight pretty soon after being hauled. If 

 you haul them home now and set them out-doors, and they 

 have a flight within a week or so, and are then put into the 

 cellar, they would be all right ; but if there's no flight from 

 DOW till spring, I'm afraid they'd be all wrong. I don't think 

 there would be much trouble about their going back now, 

 even if they should fly right away after being moved, es- 

 pecially if no colonies at all are left in their old home. It's a 

 different thing now, with everything frozen up, from what it 

 would be with flowers yielding, and their flying far away 

 every day. 



2. The only thing I can think of is that pollen in the 

 honey causes fermentation, but usually the honey is not quite 

 so nice after this fermentation. I wish you would tell us all 

 you can about this sweet clover. How do you know the honey 

 is all from sweet clover? How much did you get per colony ? 

 When was it mainly gathered ? How late in the fall did the 

 bees work on it ? Was the sweet clover allowed to grow un- 

 molested, or was it cut down or pastured by stock '.' If cut, 

 when ? Please tell us all about it. 



Honey-Barrels Painted Inside — Two-Story Hives for 

 'Wintering. 



1. Will a barrel painted on the inside to prevent leaking 

 injure the flavor of extracted honey ? 



2. Also, what do you think of wintering bees in 2-story 

 8-frame hives '? 1 have all of my bees (I have only 1 O colo- 

 nies) in 2-story hives, with the upper story full of honey, with 

 the cover sealed down tight, and on the summer stands. Do 

 you think there is too much space to keep warm '? Or, as bees 

 work upward in cold weather in the center of the hive, they 

 will be right under the sealed honey of the upper story, which 

 I think would be just the thing. 



3. Will the bees be safe in the %pace between the bottom 

 and top bars of the hives on passing from the lower story to 

 the top story, which I think is a cool place on account of the 

 tendency of a draft of cold air which would prevent thorn 

 going up ? H. E. L. 



East St. Louis, 111. 



Answers. — 1. I shouldn't want to risk any kind of paint 

 on the inside of the barrel. If the object of the paint is to 

 prevent leakage, you can do better with paraffin. I think 

 some one told about that lately, but I'll repeat : Have your 

 barrel headed up and thoroughly dry. Hoops driven up tight. 

 Now pour into the bunghole 5 or 10 pounds of paraflin well 

 heated, and drive in the bung. Move lively now and roll the 

 barrel over and turn on each end so that all parts are waxed, 

 then quickly knock out the bung and empty the paraffin. 

 Look out that the bung don't hit you when it comes out, for 

 the heated air makes it come as if shot out of a gun. 



2. No, I don't think there's too much room to keep warm. 

 As long as the empty space is at the bottom and not at the 

 side, they can climb up where it is warmer. I think you might 

 have made it a little warmer by adding a third story above 



