THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



467 



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THOMAS G. NEWMAN, Editor. 



yoLIIIII, July 21, 1881. No. 30. 



Mr. Joliii Barcta, who commenced the 

 spring with 93 colonies of bees, died on 

 April 13, 1887, of spinal fever, at the age of 

 26 years. His wife keeps the bees now. 



Tbe Indiana State Fair will be held at 

 Indianapolis on Sept. 19 to 24, 1887, We 

 acknowledge the receipt of a beautiful 

 Uthogrntb of " Kuth gleaning in the fields 

 of Boaz," issued by the State Agricultural 

 Society, announcing the date of the Fair. 



Tlie Bee-KeeperH' magazine for July 

 contains the following relative to our edi- 

 torial on " kissing boes," on page 371 : 



The American Bee Joubn^vl, as might be 

 expected, takes us to task for our comment 

 on one of its editorials of recent issue, 

 relating to Mrs. Thomas. We, perhaps, over- 

 stepped our bounds in assigning a motive 

 for editor Newman's remarks relative to 

 Mrs. Thomas, and wn here beg his pardon 

 if we have misjudsred him, and can assure 

 him that no jealousy actuated us in making 

 the remarks. But we reiterate that Mrs. 

 Thomas' statements can be relied upon as 

 the truth ; editor Newman to the contrary, 

 notwithstanding. Mr. Newman has done a 

 good work In exposlngthe" Wiley " lies, but 

 he " overreached " in the case of Mrs. 

 Thomas. 



The apology is cheerfully accepted, and as 

 to the statements of the lady in question, 

 we are quite willing to leave it to our read- 

 ers to decide for themselves as to the " over- 

 reaching." We fully believe the point we 

 made is invulnerable, but it makes no differ- 

 ence as between the American Bee Jour- 

 nal and the Bee-Keepers' Magazine— they 

 will work together for the good of the 

 pursuit. 



" The Book or Life ; or the Nature and 

 Destiny of Man," by Dr. Slvartha, 420 pages, 

 profusely illustrated, is on our desk. During 

 August it will be given away to every sub- 

 scriber to Health and Some, a monthly 

 periodical published at $1 a year. 



Todd's Famous Honey-Ice-Creamis 



what they call it down in Philadelphia. Why 

 not have such a Honey Depot in every city 

 of America ? The only reason that can be 

 given is that our honey-men are "sleeping 

 while on duty 1" Mr. Todd is one of the 

 wide-awake men of the period. He believes 

 in honey ; he sells honey ; he uses honey in 

 making ice-cream ; he creates a demand for 

 it by advertising it as "Todd's Famous 

 Honey-Ioe-Cream. " Strong men huy it ; 

 delicate ladles sigh for it ; the children cry 

 for it ; and all say "Oh I my 1 what a deli- 

 clous morsel it is 1" Would that we had an 

 Arthur Todd in every city of America I 



Mr. C. C. Richardson, ot Tipton, Ind., 

 who was sued for maintaining an alleged 

 nuisance on his lot, in having an apiary 

 there, died on June 11, 1887. The suit was 

 defended by the Union, and he was allowed 

 to keep his bees in peace since the trial last 

 November— but alas for human ambition 

 and human life, he did not live long enough 

 to enjoy much of the results of their in- 

 dustry. The pursuit was defended, and its 

 enemies defeated in that case just the same. 

 He rests in peace, having gone to the place— 



" Where the wicked cease from troubling. 

 And the weary are at rest." 



The History of Bees in America is 

 thus stated by Mr. T. P. Johnson, in the 

 Ohio Poultry Journal : 



When the continent of America was dis- 

 covered there were no honey-bees here. 

 The countr.v being covered with bloom of 

 all kinds, and no bees to gather the nectar, 

 it was thought that this would be a good 

 country for honey-bees. So a German con- 

 ceived the idea of importing a colony of 

 bees from Germany. In 1628 he started 

 across the ocean with 2 colonies of bees, but 

 lost both of them on the way. 



The next year he started three more 

 colonies, and succeeded in getting two ot 

 them across alive. They appeared to do 

 well, and soon began to swarm ; and a great 

 many swarms went to the woods and settled 

 in hollow trees. 



The 25th Annual Report of the 



Michigan State Board of Agriculture is on 

 our desk. It contains 318 pages, and makes 

 a good showing for the work accomplished 

 at the Agricultural College. Prof. Cook, in 

 his report, makes this statement : 



We have made no experiments in the 

 apiary the past season, except to try the 

 "New Heddon Hive," and the solar wax- 

 extractor, with both ot which' we are well 

 pleased. We have increased our bees from 

 12 to .39 colonies, and have sold quite an 

 amount of honey. The season has proven 

 that drouth alone does not surely prevent 

 the secretion of nectar by the flowers. We 

 have now so large an apiary that it is utterly 

 impossible to manage it well with no other 

 than student labor. Several colonies of bees 

 have been sold during the year. 



Is the Bee-StlDg Used tor any other 

 purpose than as a weapon of defense ? M. 

 H. Tweed, ot Allegheny City, Pa., sends us 

 the following, clipped from the Pittsburg 

 Chronicle ot June 7 : 



At a meeting of the Physiological Society 

 of Berlin, it was given out as a fact, that, 

 when the bee has filled his cell, and has com- 

 pleted the lid, a drop of formic acid, ob- 

 tained from the poison-bag connected with 

 the sting, is added to the honey by perforat- 

 ing the lid with the sting. This formic acid 

 preserves honey and every other sugar 

 solution from fermentation. Most of the 

 insects that have a stinging apparatus 

 similar to that of bees, are collectors and 

 storers of honey, so that the sting has a 

 double function— it is aweapon and a pickle. 



We are not much acquainted with the 

 Physiological Society of Berlin, but it seems 

 to me they had better be sure their facts are 

 tacts before they give them out. The item 

 above will probably have some such a run 

 as did Prof. Wiley's "scientific pleasantry ;" 

 but until somebody can give us some posi- 

 tive facts, gleaned from direct observation, 

 we shall refuse to believe that honey needs 

 to be pickled, and that the bees use their 

 stings to pickle it before it will keep without 

 fermentation in the hive.— Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture. 



In Reference to the meeting of the con- 

 vention this fall in Chicago, Prof. Cook 

 writes thus : 



I fear I cannot attend a meeting in Sep- 

 tember or October. I could in November, 

 on the second week nf the Fat Stock Show. 

 I think November the best month of all. 

 Work is done then. Does it not strike you so ? 



Yes : we certainly do think it the best 

 time to hold a convention, for the railroads 

 will all run excursion trains during the sec- 

 ond week ot the Fat Stock Show. As bee- 

 keepers have but little honey to sell, they 

 will all feel like "saving the pennies," and 

 this will give them a good chance. The 

 work in the apiary can easily be arranged 

 accordingly. 



Died, on July 8, 1887, at Napa, Calif., 

 aged .54 years, Mr. Joseph Enas, who was a 

 correspondent of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, and well-known to many of our readers 

 as a progressive and successful apiarist. 



Mr. Asplnwall, editor of the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Magazine, has had serious afflictions in 

 his family for a few months, which we are 

 sorry to be apprised of. The Magazine for 

 July says : 



For three months his wife has been very 

 ill, and as he has personally nursed her by 

 night as well as day, it has unfitted him for 

 the arduous duties ot the busy season, and 

 caused delays which we much regret, but 

 which, under the circumstances, were hard 

 to prevent. Absence from home, with his 

 wife during the past month particularly, 

 will cause this number of tbe Magazine to 

 appear very late. We expect that, through 

 the kind providence of God, she will shortly 

 be well again, and the August number 

 appear on time. 



The Bee Journal condoles with Bro. 

 Aspinwall in his affliction, and hopes for the 

 speedy recovery of his wife, and the restora- 

 tion of punctuality in the Magazine. 



John D. Van Gorden, 69 years of age, 

 in Pike County, Pa., was recently killed by 

 a bee-sting on the wrist. A few minutes 

 after he was stung the pain became so in- 

 tense that he started for the house. As he 

 entered the door he groaned, " Oh, I am 

 going to die," and Immediately expired. Of 

 course his system was very much" out ot 

 order," and the machinery was in the right 

 condition to stop from the least provocation. 



Union Convention at Chicago.— The 



North American Bee-Keepers' Society and 

 the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Society will 

 meet in joint convention in Chicago, Ills., on 

 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Novem- 

 ber 16, 17 and 18, 1887. This date will 

 occur during the second week of the Fat 

 Stock Show, when excursion rates will be 

 very low. 



