THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



211 



THOMAS 0. XEWMAN, 



Vol. mi. April, 6, 1887. No. 14. 



j)\T^4^ 



Tbe Best Honey Weather I3 when it Is 

 warm and moist, when tbe air is full of 

 electricity aod a storm approacbloi?. 



The Apiary of Wm. Couse, in Ontario, 

 was destroyed by Are on March 15. It con- 

 sisted of 130 colonies of bees, with the nec- 

 essary Implements for the apiary. 



An Apiarist In France claims that he 

 has made experiments which prove that 

 only from 8 to 8 pounds of honey are used 

 by the bees to produce a pound of comb. 



George E. Hilton, President of the 

 Michigan State Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 has been nominated for Supervisor of Day- 

 ton Township, Newaygo County, Mich. 



It Is Poor Economy to use old and dirty 

 flections for comb honey. It will pay better 

 to commit alt such to the flames, and buy 

 new and clean sections for new and delicious 

 honey. 



During the year 1886, 11,000 pounds of 

 beeswax were shipped from California by 

 sea to Europe ; 41,000 pounds overland by 

 rail, mostly to New York, and .3,000 pounds 

 via Panama to New York. 



While there has been great pains 

 taken in breeding queens, it is plain that too 

 little attention has been given to the prop- 

 agation of good drones to make beekeep- 

 Ing more profitable.— Indiana Farmer. 



Two Ijlttle Boys wore discussing the 

 strength of a bee. "He can pull more'n a 

 fly," said one of them. "Well," said the 

 other, " 1 dunno how much he calls pull; 

 but when he backs up to you and pushes, I 

 guess you'll fall back every time." 



Dr. mUer'a Book, " A Year Among 

 the Bees," and the Bee Journal for one 

 year, we will club for $1.50. 



Honey-Candy.— It is praiseworthy to 

 place good, wholesome, and health-giving 

 "candy" within reach of the children, 

 instead of the poisonous «tujf that now 

 tempts their appetite to the e-vpense of their 

 health. This would make another outlet for 

 the consumption of the large crops of honey 

 now being produced. We know of some 

 persons who would gladly manufacture It 

 for the market, but are3 not " posted " as to 

 how to do so. 



Now, we invite every person who knows 

 how to make candy, jumbles, or anything of 

 a similar nature from honey, to write out 

 the recipe and send it to us for publication 

 at once. Please do not lay this copy of the 

 Bee Journal away and forget it, but sit 

 down now and send it, so as to be in time for 

 next week's Journal. It is in the general 

 Interest of.bee-keeping to do so. 



Alslke CloTcr is but sparingly grown In 

 the Northwest at present, but It is a " prime 

 favorite" with those who know its good 

 qualities. In order to answer many queries 

 that are being received, we quote the follow- 

 ing from the Farm, Stock and Home : 



When once seeded it Is always seeded. 

 While the crop does not interfere with cul- 

 tivated crops. Is in no sense a pest, yet when 

 cultivation ceases a good crop of Alslke will 

 soon follow. It makes an excellent fall feed, 

 good until snow covers the ground, and as 

 soon as snow Is off In the early spring cattle 

 will leave hay and other fodder to eat 

 Alslke. if they can have access to it. A case 

 of hoven has never been known to follow 

 tbe freest indulgence in Alslke by very 

 hungry animals. 



The stalk is finer than red clover, so that 

 while it makes an excellent pasture. It is no 

 Ifss superior for hay. For low lands it is the 

 best of all clovers, while on uplands it has 

 proven to be second to none. During last 

 summer's drouth, while all other pastures 

 were dried up, the Alslke was fresh, luxuri- 

 ant, and keeping stock In splendid condition. 



Seed with prain, wiieat preferred, and sow 

 in connection with timothy, eight quarts of 

 the latter to two of Alslke. 



Lizzie Cotton.— Mrs. L. Harrison, in the 

 Prairie Farmer, remarks thus about this 

 "queen of humbugs ;" 



In an Ohio paper she says : " I have in- 

 vented a hive and new system of bee man- 

 agement, which render the business pleasant 

 and profitable. I have received one hundred 

 dollars from a sale of boxhoney from one 

 hive of bees in one year." It is strange that 

 people will be taken in by such advertise- 

 ments. 



A pleasant, old white haired grandfather 

 was here last week. He said : "I had been 

 reading this woman's advertisement for 

 several years, and I sent to her for a hive ; 1 

 paid $1*2 in Maine for It. and $2 expressfcge ; 

 she wanted me to pay her $14 moie for a 

 pencil drawing of the hive, but I did not do 

 it. I have had some hives made like hers, 

 and they cost mc $1.25 apiece." 



Several of her late circulars have been 

 sent to this office by apiarists to whom she 

 had sent them, but had been warned in ad- 

 vance, and did not send her any money. Our 

 advice is : Do not send money to any one 

 unless you know they are reliable, and are 

 doing business on the " square." 



Dandelions, willows, and skunk cabbage 

 are the first to yield honey to the bees in the 

 spring. Then comes the blossoms of fruit, 

 hard maple, white clover, small fruits, bass- 

 wood, sumach, winding up with goldenrod, 

 aster, Spanish-needle and smart-weed. 



Opinions Differ.- How very silly it Is to 

 condemn another because of an honest dif- 

 ference in opinion. We cannot all see alike, 

 and it is well that we cannot, else there 

 would be no advance made in the pursuit. 

 We are forcibly reminded of these diftor- 

 ences by some remarks made by Mr. C. H. 

 Dibbern, in thePioioman. Ho says : 



Beekeeping has made great progress dur- 

 ing the last twenty years ; but I am inclined 

 to think that even greater progress will be 

 made during the next decade or two. Sing- 

 ularly enough, some good btekeepers see 

 no advantages in some of our best improve- 

 ments. Doolittledoes not believe in comb 

 foundation, but would not do without sep- 

 arators. Heddon likes foundation, but con- 

 demns tbe separators. Dadant makes very 

 nice foundation, but prefers to extract all 

 his honey. Hutchinson and Clarke, and 

 others aro enthusiastic over Invertlble hives, 

 while Pond and Demaree say they are no 

 good. Now were we to discard all the things 

 that even good bee-keepers condemn. I fear 

 we would have but little left besides the old 

 "gums" of former days. I find nearly all 

 the great improvements that are generally 

 recognized a good thing. The extractor, 

 comb foundation, honey sections, cases for 

 hives, shipping-eases, separators, and many 

 other things are grand improvements. I 

 have made some valuable experiments with 

 invertlble hives this season, and firmly be- 

 lieve they are the hive of the future. 



Counteracting Fermentation.— That 

 the " sting " and poison apparatus of bees 

 have another object than that of a weapon 

 of defense. Is shown by the following' from 

 a German source : 



At a meeting of the Physiological Society 

 of Berlin, it was stated that when the bee 

 has filled the cell either with pure honey or 

 a mixture of pollen-dough and honey, and 

 has completed tbe lid, a drop of formic acid 

 obtained from the poison bag connected 

 with the sting is added to the honey by per- 

 forating the lid with the sting. Numerous 

 experiments have shown that this formic- 

 acid preserves honey and every other solu- 

 tion from fermentation. 



The Globe, of Flint, Mich., thus men- 

 tions Mr. Hutchinson's new book on "The 

 Production of Comb Honey :" 



The cover of the book is particularly at- 

 tractive, being of board exactly the color of 

 fine beeswax, and crumpled to imitate comb 

 foundation. The OUibe Printtng House 

 issued the work, and feels no backwardness 

 in lathering the Job, as it is the finest piece 

 of typographical execution ever turned out 

 of the office. 



The printing is a credit to the craft, and 

 we congratulate the GioBe upon the Job of 

 work. 



Tiew Catalogues and Prlce-I,lst8 are 



on our desk. Those desiring to obtain any 

 of them should send to the addresses given 

 —not to us. The following have arrived 

 during the past week : 



Earle Clickenger. Columbus, O.— 1 page— 

 Bee-Keepers' Supplies. 



W. W. Bliss. Duarte, Calif .—14 pages— Bee- 

 Keepers' Supplies. 



S. Valentine & Sons, Hagerstown, Md.— 36 

 pages— Albino and Italian Queens and Bees, 

 and Apiarian Supplies. 



Jos. W. Newlove. Columbus. O.— 13 pages 

 —Apiarian Supplies, Small Fruit, Piants.eto. 



Simon P. Koddy, Meohanlcstonn, Md.— 2 

 pages— Bees and Queens. 



M. W. Shepherd, Rochester, O.— 6 pages- 

 Bees, Ferrets, etc. 



Charles Stewart. Sammonsville, N. Y.— 1 

 page— Apiarian Supplies. This is on the 

 back of one of M '(rtin's " Chromo " cards. 



