THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



323 



THOMAS a. NEWMAN, Editor. 



Voinill. May 25, 1887. No. 21. 



may Snn la bright— the air is clear. 

 The darting swallows soar and sing, 



And from the stately elms I hear 

 Blue-birds and bees salute the spring. 



We Regret to learn that Mr. C. Schind- 

 ler, of Perryvllle, Mo., lost his wife and child 

 on the 6th ult. This leaves him with four 

 small, motherless children to care for. We 

 condole with him In his affliction. 



A Great Bee Show will be held at 

 Vienna, with the main object of establish- 

 ing a honey market for the convenience of 

 the inhabitants of the Austrian capital, and 

 a means of facilitating the sale of honey 

 now being produced in that country. 



A. O. Crawford, South Weymouth, 

 Mass., has sent us his new Carton case for 

 a one pound section of comb honey. It has 

 a piece of mica coverinpr a hole (nearly 2 

 Inchesi through which the honey can be 

 seen. It is a nice thing for grocers' shelves 

 to keep the honey clean, and yet show it to 

 customers. 



Apiculture at Cornell I'nlverslty.— 



A course in apiculture under Prof. Corn- 

 stock has Just been added to the regular 

 work. This course is intended to supple- 

 ment the Professor's lectures on the subject. 

 Each student is given a colony of bees, and is 

 expected to attend to it himself. The bees 

 given to the students are Italians, and are 

 the property of Prof. Comstock. The stu- 

 dents taking this course have just had some 

 practical work. A swarm of black bees had 

 taken possession of a tree near Fall Creek, 

 Just opposite the Professor's house, and had 

 to be taken care of to prevent them from 

 hybridizing the Italians. The tree was cut 

 down, the bees hived, their queen and 

 drones destroyed, and an Italian queen 

 given to them, making them now harmless 

 neighbors. 



Thusit will be seen that progressive and 

 scientific apiculture is now being taught as 

 11 practical pursuit In several of the colleges 

 of .\merica. 



Indiana now presents a case of antago- 

 nism to apiculture. Mr. F. C. Barrett writes 

 to us that the City Council of Fort Wayne, 

 Ind., has passed the following ordinance 

 against bee keeping : 



Bees —It shall be «nlawful for any per- 

 son to keep within the limits of the city, 

 more than two hives of bees upon any ono 

 lot at a time, and said hives must not be 

 nearer thau 50 leet to any street, or 20 feet 

 to any alley, or division line between lots or 

 parts of lots of another. Any person who 

 shall violate any or either of the provisions 

 of this chapter, or any section, clause or 

 provision of any section of this chapter, or 

 who shall neglect or fail to comply with any 

 or either of the requirements thereof, shall, 

 on conviction, forfeit and pay a fine of not 

 more than one hundred dollars. 



This ordinance practically wipes out the 

 pursuit of bee-keeping within the corporate 

 limits of Fort Wayne— if it is enforced. 



Of course a similar plan may be pursued 

 to the one in Arkansas, mentioned last week 

 on page 307. So far we are not advised as to 

 theresultof the trial, which was expected 

 to take place on the 16th inet. We await 

 that news almost impatiently. 



Later.— Since the above was put " in 

 type," we have another letter from Mr. 

 Barrett, stating that a bee-keeper being 

 arrested there, it was rumored that it was 

 under the provisions of the above ordinance ; 

 but, upon examination. It proved otherwise. 

 Such a pressure is being brought to bear 

 upon the City Council, that it is expected 

 that It will repeal the obnoxious ordinance 

 at the next meeting. 



Bee-Keeping In Russia.- Mr. G. Kan- 

 dratieff, has 500 colonies of bees, and has 

 Just visited Italy in order to study the api- 

 cultural methods of that country. One of 

 his apiaries containing 300 colonies is 

 located in the Caucasus, and the other of 

 200 colonies is located in St. Petersburg. 

 The Italian bee- periodical L'Apicoltore says: 



According to the 4p!coI(ore, Mr. G. Kan- 

 dratietf. Director of the Imperial Opera of 

 St. PetersburK. has availed himself of a 

 short visit in Italy In order to make an 

 inspection of the most important apiaries. 

 Mr.Kandratietf is the proprietor of two large 

 apiaries in Russia, one of about .'300 colonies 

 in the Caucasus, and another of about 200 

 In St. Petersburg. Notwithstanding the 

 great difference of climate between the 

 Caucasus, where winter is almost unknown, 

 and St. Petersburg, where It is both most 

 severe and long, Mr. Kandratieff obtains, it 

 appears, almost the same amount of profit 

 in proportion from the one as from the 

 other. It appears that Mr. Kandratieff is a 

 perfect master of the Italian language, and 

 a constant reader of the ^piciKore. which 

 has been his guide in his apicultural pur- 

 suits. 



More Rain Needed.— Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 Marengo, Ills., writes on May 17, 1887 : 

 " Bees are doing nicely, but unless we have 

 rain soon there must be a failure of the 

 clover crop here." 



Here in Chicago we have had several 

 good rains, and things are cousequently 

 looking prosperous, but in many parts of 

 the country rain has been much needed for 

 several weeks. Now, however, the scene 

 has changed; lor the pastthree days copious 

 showers all over the northwest have revived 

 vegetation, and good crops are now assured. 



F. H. Scatlcrs:ood»s price-list of Italian 

 queens is received on a postal card from 

 Winona, O. 



Foolish Warfare Against Bees seems 

 now the rage I The Idea that fruit suffers 

 because of the presence of bees is simply 

 ridiculous I The good they do in fertilizing 

 the fruit trees far outweighs any possible 

 evil that may follow from their presence. 



Some time ago we noted the fact that In 

 New England, so strong was the belief that 

 bees injured the fruit, that an ordinance 

 was passed obliging the bee-keepers to re- 

 move their bees to another locality. After 

 a year or two the fruit-growers decided to 

 have the bees brought back, as so little fruit 

 set upon the trees in proportion to the blos- 

 soms which appeared I 



While the " good " the bees are doing to 

 fruit is so apparent, and most fully demon- 

 strated, the Injury to fruit charged against 

 them Is the work of other insects and birds, 

 and is a senseless and Ignorant howl by 

 those who know nothing of the possibilities 

 of the bees' organism, and vehemently 

 charge the bees with puncturing fruit when 

 their jaws are too weak to puncture the 

 skin of the moat delicate grape. All the 

 bees do is to gather up the Juice after the 

 damage is done, and save what is going to 

 waste I AH bee keepers wish they would 

 even leave that Juice ungathered. 



Xbe Flavor of Honey.— Mr. G. W. 



Brodbeok writes as follows on this subject 

 in Oleanings : 



In all discussions in regard to ripening 

 honey, one essential fact has been entirely 

 Ignored, and yet the quality, if not entirely. 

 Is more dependent on it than on any other 

 That honey must be of aoertain consistency, 

 IS conceded by all ; so quality first, and 

 quantity ne.xt. is what we are all in pursuit 

 of ; and how to get the latter without failure 

 of the first, is yet an open question. Ad- 

 mitting proper consistency, quality, then, is 

 due to its peculiar flavor, which is derived 

 from the nectar of the flower. 



All flowers and plants possess a peculiar 

 and distinct odor, which is due to a volatile, 

 or essential oil, peculiar to itself, and tbie 

 same oil we find in the nectar of the flowers; 

 this It IS that gives honey its distinct flavor. 

 W hen flowers are macerated in water, then 

 distilled, the essential oil of the flower 

 passes off with the steam, and, if con- 

 densed, the oil is found In minute quantities 

 floating on the water ; and this, as its name 

 indicates, is very volatile, and, if exposed to 

 the atmospbere,intime all evaporates. Thus 

 the flavor of the honey is dependent on the 

 quantity of this oil present In it. Some 

 flowers possess more of It than others ; and, 

 as a natural result, we find some honey with 

 more of a distinct flavor. If the retention 

 of this oil is desirable, then that method by 

 which there is the least loss Is the one we 

 are In search of. That we have not yet 

 attained this, is evidently a fact ; but that it 

 is attainable is beyond question, and I doubt 

 not but that careful experimenting will yet 

 give us a standard to go by. 



We have Received the Illustrated 

 Catalogue of G. Stoddard, of Welwyn, Herts, 

 England. It contains 48 pages descriptive 

 of his stock of bee-keepers' supplies. 



Warm Days tell us of approaching sum- 

 mer, and an article that takes us to the 

 woods and mountains has an attractive 

 appearance. Mr. Charles Bacon allures us 

 all to follow him in his sketch. " Camp-Life 

 Among the White Hills," In Frank Leslie's 

 Popular Miinlhly for .Tune. Mies Lily Higgin 

 tells something about the "Jubilee of Queen 

 Victoria." The many articles are all well 

 illustrated, and the stories, six in number, 

 are very clever and worth reading. The 

 whole number is most attractive in matter 

 and picturesque effect. 



