454 



THE AMERICA]!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



and the newspapers are teeming with 

 ridicule of the order to remove them. 

 The Union will stand by Mr. Clark 

 in this matter, and see it through, 

 for it would be very detrimental to 

 the pursuit to allow a decision against 

 bee-keeping to be put upon record on 

 the plea of its being a " nuisance." 



Proposed liegislation In Michigan 

 against Bee-Keeplng. 



The McCormick bill introduced into 

 the Legislature, intending to " wipe 

 apiculture out of Michigan," as Prof. 

 Cook stated it, raised such a buzzing 

 about his ears that it was tabled on 

 his own motion, and there died. The 

 President of the Union (Mr. Heddon), 

 as well as Vice-President Cook and 

 the General Manager all labored with 

 Mr. McCormick to bring about the 

 before-mentioned result. 



Here we have another result of the 

 benefits to be derived from organiza- 

 tion and combined eilort. The mem- 

 bers of the Bee Keepers' Union have 

 many triumphs to feel proud over, and 

 this adds another laurel. 



Amendments to tlie Constitution. 



Many amendments to the constitu- 

 tion have been suggested, and as I 

 approve of the following, I herewith 

 present them for the approval or dis- 

 approval of the members : 



The first is the provision that not 

 more than one assessment (of one 

 dollar) shall be called in any one fiscal 

 year without a majority vote of all 

 the members approving the same, 

 upon the presentation of the facts, in 

 the case that the extra dollar is asked 

 for. This was suggested at a conven- 

 tion, where it was stated that without 

 some such amendment, the assess- 

 ments might become burdensome. 



Another is, extending the time be- 

 fore a membership becomes delin- 

 C[uent from 30 days to 6 months. This 

 is to accommodate those who are 

 temporarily embarrassed by the 

 stringency of the times. 



Another is to make the annual Pee 

 only one dollar— to cover every ex- 

 pense, and constitute only one fund. 



These amendments will take effect 

 on Jan 1, 1888, if adopted by a ma- 

 iority vote of the members oh the 

 Blanks which accompany this Report. 



It is argued that these amendments 

 will simplify matters, take away ob- 

 jections, and add very largely to the 

 membership. 



I now submit my second annual 

 Report with the hope that it will meet 

 with the approbation of every mem- 

 ber. If I have failed in any particu- 

 lar to act for the general interest of 

 the pursuit of bee-keeping, it has 

 been unintentional— that having been 

 my only aim. 



Thomas G. Newman, 

 General Manager. 



[The rest of the Report gives the 

 Constitution as it will read if the pro- 

 posed amendments are adopted ; a 

 financial Report, showing $224.25 in 

 the Treasury, which will about cover 

 the expense of the several suits still 

 before the courts and in an unfinished 

 state ; Election of Officers, etc.— Ed.] 



For tue American Bee Journal. 



Tie Honey Crflp of 188]. 



JAMBS HEDDON. 



I need not tell any bee-keeper who 

 enjoys the many important advan- 

 tages gained by reading the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, that the Ameri- 

 can honey crop is a very short one, 

 and as supply and demand control 

 prices and readiness of sales, we may 

 look for a lively call, and at least fair 

 prices for our 1887 honey crop. 



I do not claim to know, but I do 

 most firmily believe that it will pay 

 us all this year to offer little or no 

 honey to the markets, till the advent 

 of cooler weather, when the natural 

 appetite for sweets begins to call for 

 our product. If we hold back until 

 the consumers have called loudly to 

 us, and even the second and third 

 time, prices will rule higher and 

 firmer from the beginning to the end 

 of the 1887 supply. 



The crop here is about one-fourth 

 the usual amount, so far in the sea- 

 son, which partembracesallthe white 

 honey yield from clover and bass- 

 wood, leaving the amber honey-flow 

 from autumn flowers yet before us, 

 and yet an unknown quantity, and 

 none too promising. My increase of 

 bees has been small, but nearly 600 

 colonies have stored several thousand 

 pounds of each, comb and extracted 

 honey. My home apiary is worked 

 for comb, and the out apiary for ex- 

 tracted honey ; both exclusively so. I 

 find this specialty conducive to 

 economy. 



PLEURIST-ROOT AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



This plant, which I have previously 

 written about, is still so rapidly in- 

 creasing that at this rate, in a year or 

 two more, we shall realize a good sur- 

 plus crop from it. I have never seen 

 so fine a honey-yielder and promising 

 a bee-plant. Again this season the 

 honey stands in drops in the blossoms. 

 Bees never fail to work on it in large 

 numbers right through the basswood 

 flow, as it begins to bloom at about 

 the beginning of basswood, and lasts 

 all through it, and on till buckwheat 

 and autumn flowers are in full bloom. 

 The plant is not only perennial, but 

 very tenacious, yet readily yielding to 

 destruction by cultivation. The more 

 I see of this plant the more I cherish 

 it, and I am now willing to go on 

 record as saying that I believe it is 

 the best, and the coming honey-plant. 



It is not only true that I would 

 plant pleurisy -root on valuable land, 

 and cultivate it sooner than sweet 

 clover or any other honey plant, but I 

 consider it most valuable because it is 

 the grandest of all plants to succeed 

 and rapidly increase when sown in 

 waste places. The two extreme 

 drouths which burned away three- 

 fourths of our ordinary clover and 

 basswood yield, seemed to have no 

 effect on the pleurisy-root, which is 

 to-day in full bloom, with white nec- 

 tar visible in the nectaries, and cov- 

 ered with busy workers. Four years 

 ago we could see biit rare specimens 

 of the plant, but now (through the aid 



of the bees, I think) they are to be 

 found almost any where, but hardly 

 plentiful enough as yet to yield a sur- 

 plus for 300 colonies. Robbing after 

 basswood flow is a thing of the past, 

 unless criminal carelessness is prac- 

 ticed. Mr. McLain has not said half 

 enough in its favor, in his praises of 

 it on page 424. 

 Dowagiac, 9 Mich., July 8, 1887. 



Semi-Tropical Planter. 



Tie Honey CroD of California. 



F. C. FOX. 



The seasonal prospects have grown 

 small by degrees, and beautifully less. 

 Only the most sanguine apiarists now 

 expect any surplus honey at all ; the 

 majority give it up, and some have 

 already abandoned their bees and 

 gone elsewhere for occupation. Yet 

 we are informed by a paragraph in a 

 San Diego paper that, " the honey 

 crop promises to be a good one !" 



Such heedless and mischievous non- 

 sense ought to be contradicted. The 

 bee-men know better, but dealers who 

 are still heavily stocked with last 

 year's crop, might be led to unload at 

 a sacrifice lest another (imaginary) 

 large one should begin to pour in on 

 top of the former. It makes little 

 difference to the apiarists ; they hold 

 nothing over ; their crop almost in- 

 variably goes to market as soon as 

 gathered. One remarked to me, 

 " What do we care for the state of 

 markets when we have no honey to 

 sell." I will suggest to those inter- 

 ested, that they need not depend upon 

 mere assertions, whether anonymous 

 or otherwise. There are omens from 

 which any one can form an independ- 

 ent opinion about the probable crop. 



Production tallies very closely with 

 the rainfall. Our heaviest yields fol- 

 lowed 40.2.5 inches of rain in 1884, and 

 24.84 inches in 1878, although 1886, 

 with 26.23 inches, gave somewhat less 

 than in 1878. 



It may be assumed as a rule that 

 less than 20 inches here never gives a 

 good crop ; and 12 inches or less, none 

 at all. 



■ Taking 1878 as a sample good sea- 

 son, I find (by record) that the bees 

 began to gather honey freely in Jan- 

 uary, and drones appeared in my 

 apiary on Feb. 5. The first swarm 

 issued on March 16, the hives being 

 then crowded with bees and heavy 

 with stores. Still it was not until 

 May that we began to take out honey 

 for market. Thus it is apparent that 

 for a good crop, there must be early 

 abundance to stimulate breeding, and 

 make colonies strong enough to 

 gather the surplus or marketable 

 honey of the late spring and summer 

 mouths ; few apiarists in this climate 

 try to stimulate colonies by feeding, 



Gtc. 



Now compare with the above the 

 aspect this season has presented 

 throughout. After almost a rainless 

 December and January there was, to 

 be sure^a heavy downpour in the first 

 part of February, but it was then too 

 late for a full crop. By the time the 

 growth from those rains could be 



