THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



307 



^^iMJ^SMIOAlf^ 



THOMAS Q. NEWMAN, Editor. 



Mnill, May 18,1881. 1,20, 



— H iLUUDDDnjTT- 



Sanuy may Day, with whitest clouds. 



And twittering swallows high in air, 

 A timid zephyr from the South, 



And fragrance, fragrance everywhere. 

 Young grass, pink buds ; all bees astir ; 



With plow, afield the swain I spy. 

 And, in her door, the young, good wife 



To baby singing lullaby. 



— C. a. Blatiden. 



Fanny Field's " Practical Turkey Rais 

 lng"is a new book which tells all about 

 rearing turkeys from the egg to the mature 

 bird. If you want to make it profitable to 

 rear these birds, send 25 cents to this ofiBce 

 for the book. 



Kain came very opportunely last week 

 in this locality. Nature responded promptly 

 to the baptism, and appears in Its gayest 

 dress, flowers decking field, hillside and 

 valley, and the bees are apparently enjoying 

 the anticipation of a plentiful supply of the 

 nectar which they so much enjoy, gathering 

 ■and hoarding up, in their waxen cells of 

 ■\'irgin comb. 



Bees Roaring in Winter On page 



^97, Mr. Demaree proposes that those inter- 

 •ested in the settling of this question, should 

 write a postal card to the Bee Journal to 

 be tabulated and published, giving the re- 

 sult of their actual knowledge or experi- 

 ence on the subject. By an oversight, this 

 •was omitted last week. We now approve of 

 the method proposed, and will give the 

 letters space and attention. Send them in 

 ■at once. 



Royal Jflly.— A correspondent desires 

 us to explain the composition of royal jelly 

 and its uses and effects upon the larval- 

 ■queen. At the quarterly Conversazione of 

 the British Bee-Keepers' Association held 

 In London, on April 20, 1887, Mr. T. W. 

 Cowan, editor of the BriUsh Bee Journal, 

 gave a very interesting address on this sub- 

 ject, which will be found on page .'!10. It 

 •win be read with more than ordinary pleas- 

 ure by progressive apiarists. 



Be Patient !— How often do we find some 

 impetuous soul growling about the delay of 

 receiving goods ordered, when there has not 

 been euBlcient time allowed to transport 

 them from the dealer to the customer 1 

 Quite often, even bi-fore the complaint has 

 had time to get to the dealer, the purchaser 

 has received the goods, then he feels badly 

 (if he has any conscience) for having used 

 the unkind words, and has then to sit down 

 and write an apology. 



These things are aggravated, when in his 

 impatience he has also written a complaint 

 to the bee-paper where the dealer's adver- 

 tisement appeared, and leads to still greater 

 complications I 



We now have a case in point. A pur- 

 chaser wrote to us a long and bitter com- 

 plaint, using very uncomplimentary lan- 

 guage about the delay of receiving goods 

 from one of our advertisers. We wrote to 

 the advertiser and obtained a full statement 

 of the case— saying he had positive proof 

 that the goods were at the station as ordered 

 by the purchaser, and the railroad company 

 had notified the shipper as well as the con- 

 signee of the facts. 



We wrote several letters to both parties, 

 as there was also a financial dispute about 

 it, and the upshot of the whole is a letter 

 just received from the complainant, stating 

 that he withdraws all complaints against 

 the dealer, who has made a settlement in 

 full with him. 



Now, we protest against such Impetuous- 

 ness and carelessness ; as well as against 

 burdening us with complaints against our 

 advertisers, which are merely the result of 

 carelessness on the part of the customer, or 

 a want of exercising due patience for the 

 arrival of the goods ordered. We have 

 enough to do with our legitimate business, 

 and we have no relish for such unthankful 

 and unneccessary work. 



Then, again, many mistakes occur from 

 not writing names and addresses plainly. 

 We have a letter before us now, with the 

 name of the writer so indistinct that we 

 cannot read it at all. Another, with an 

 order for goods without any attempt to give 

 the name of the writer. Such carelessness 

 is Inexcusable, and is the cause of much 

 confusion. 



Small Iioss in Winter.— The Leader, of 

 Arcadia, N. Y., gives the following item 

 about its apiarist : 



On Nov. 19, 1886. E. D. Keeney put into 

 winter quarters 316 colonies of bees. On 

 May 2. 1887, after their confinement of 165 

 days, he took out :ill colonies, all in fine 

 condition, there being a loss of lees than 3 

 percent. We doubt very much if there has 

 been its equal in wintering in the State. 



The losses have been very light both in 

 winter and spring, and If the weather con- 

 tinues favorable, a good crop of honey may 

 be expected. 



Franit Leslie's Sunday magazine for 



June completes the twenty-first volume of 

 this much esteemed family visitor. The 

 number is lull of interesting contributions, 

 and is as usual, beautifully illustrated. 

 Among the important articles is one en- 

 titled : "A Visit to the Azores," which is 

 accompanied by ten Illustrations. Many 

 miscellaneous articles of merit help to make 

 up a number which ought to be welcomed 

 heartily everywhere. 



Xlie Century Plant.— From California 

 we learn that bees work on the flowers of 

 Agave Americana, commonly called the 

 century plant, and seem to be in great glee 

 while thus occupied. It is a misapprehen- 

 sion that this plant has to be a hundred 

 years old before it blooms. It is a common 

 occurrence to see them bloom in California 

 when they are from 10 to 15 years old. 

 When once the flower stalk or shaft puts 

 forth its asparagus-like head it shoots up 

 rapidly, so that in a few weeks it Is 25 or 30 

 feet high. To those who have not seen the 

 plant, we do not know how we could bettor 

 describe it than to say that it looks some- 

 thing like the Yucca mentioned in another 

 column, with this exception, however, there 

 are not so many leaves, and they are much 

 more fleshy ; the flowers are not borne in 

 whorls as in the Yucca, but the shoots 

 starts out like those of the Yucca, and from 

 them again starts out smaller shoots taking 

 about the same curve as the main one. On 

 the latter the flowers appear. The main 

 flower-stalk has the appearance of a huge 

 lamp-post, and the flower stems look like 

 chandeliers, and when in bloom the bees, 

 when humming about its flowers, reminds 

 one of moths flitting about the lights of a 

 chandelier. 



It is pretty certain that in California it 

 will never be considered as a honey-plant of 

 much Importance, but we suppose that In 

 Mexico, where they grow by the acre, it Is 

 valuable for the bees. In that country, we 

 learn that by tapping the plant. It yields 

 profusely of its sap, which the natives fer- 

 ment Into a beverage, and after partaking 

 thereof, become good-natured and Jolly to 

 an Inordinate degree. 



Bees were Declared a Nuisance by 



the City Council of Arkadelphia, Ark., on 

 May 5. This matter was referred to on page 

 279, where it was stated that some crank 

 had charged the bees with eating up his 

 young ducks, as well as eating up the 

 peaches 1 1 In the published report of the 

 City Council meeting, the following occurs : 



A resolution, introduced by Councilman 

 Spencer, was adopted, to the effect that the 

 rearing of bees within the city limits was a 

 nuisance, and an ordinance was accordingly 

 passed declaring the owning, keeping or 

 rearing of bees in the city limits to be un 

 lawful, and notifying all persons keeping oi 

 owning bees in the city to remove the samt. 

 within thirty days from the passage of the 

 ordinance, and fixing a fine of not less than 

 $5, nor more than ?2o, for each day of 

 refusal to so remove them, 



A resolution also passed, instructing the 

 City Marshal to notify all bee-keepers of 

 the passage of the foregoing ordinance, and 

 of their duty under It. 



Major J. L. Witherspoon, ex-Attorney 

 General of Arkansas (who stands at the 

 head of the Bar of the State), has been em- 

 ployed to attend to the matter on behalf of 

 the bees. He "enjoined" the City Council 

 on the 9th inst., and the trial probably came 

 up in " Chancery " on Monday, May 16. The 

 National Bee-Keepers' Union backs up Mr. 

 Z. A. Clark to fight the case on its merits. 

 More anon. 



The Kenton Bee-HiTe is the name of 

 a new monthly bee-paper of 12 pages pub- 

 lished by Smith & Smith, Kenton, O., at 50 

 cents a year. The first number is on our 

 desk, and makes a good appearance. 



