THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



515 



THOUAS a. ITEWUAN, Editor. 



yoinill. Ang. 17,1887. No. 33. 



Mr. and Sirs. T. W. Cowan are spend- 

 ing a few days in the White Mountains, on 

 account of the extreme heat. Leaving- there 

 they will visit Montreal, and thence Journey 

 westward. They return to England in Octo- 

 ber, from New York, by the Umbrla. Mr. 

 Cowan writes us that he has been much 

 pleased with his visit so far, and adds : " I 

 was glad to see the apiaries of Capt. Hether- 

 ington and Mr. Elwood." 



Mr. B. F. IS^oodcock, of Pleasantvllle, 

 Iowa, died on Aug. 4, 1887. He was an ex- 

 tensive apiarist, and had a large circle of 

 beekeeping friends. He died quite sud- 

 denly of a bowel trouble, brought on by the 

 extremely " hot " weather of the past few 

 weeks. 



We have heard of quite a number of others 

 who were overcome by the heat, but so far 

 this is the only fatality reported from it. 



Tbe ininneapoUs Industrial Expo- 

 sition will open at Minneapolis, Minn., on 

 Aug. 31, and close Oct. 15, 1887. We have 

 received a nice chromatic poster, making 

 this announcement. 



Qnite I7nnece88ar7 Now.— Mr. C. H. 



Dibbern, in the Plowman, asks the following 

 very pertinent questions : 



How about the honey trade this fall ? Will 

 it be necessary to form a combination to 

 control prices ? Will not rather the cry be, 

 " Where can we get some of that beautiful 

 white clover honey that has become such a 

 necessity In the family ?" The supply will 

 be short Indeed, and I hope that those bee- 

 keepers so fortunate as to produce any crop, 

 will ask a reasonable price for it, for they 

 can surely get it. 



Yes, by all means, get good prices for the 

 very little honey which can be sold from 

 this year's crop. 



It will be well to talk the matter over at 

 the Chicago Convention this fall, and, per- 

 haps, arrange for the future ; but no " com- 

 bination" will be needed to obtain full 

 value for every pound of honey produced 

 during the present season. The " future " 

 demands our attention and resources in 

 making plans, just as much as the present. 



The Head of tlie Bee-FauiHj'.— In an 



address on bees before a Now York horti- 

 cultural society, by Mr. A. B. Williams, the 



following passaseB occur : 



The queen, or mother-bee, is the most re- 

 markable amotitr all the bees of a colony. 

 The early bee-lathers held her to be a male. 

 Virgil always calls her "rex" (king). The 

 German name also, "weiser" (guide or 

 leader) proves that she was thought to be a 

 male, and was erroneously believed to lead 

 off the swarm, showing the way. Though 

 this error was long ago abandoned, there 

 are those still who assert that there is a 

 king. Yet any one in observing a colony 

 can see at once that she is superior to all 

 others. The queeo is of greater length by 

 about one-half of the body, provided with 

 longer and yellow feet, the only one of its 

 kind in a colony. If each of the workers, 

 furnished as it is, with a sting, cheerfully 

 risks its life for its queen, this is from love 

 only, as the queen neither governs, com- 

 mands, gives orders, nor advises. All she 

 does is to lay an astonishing number of 

 eggs, from 1.000 to 3,000 in a day, and fix 

 each of them accurately by one end of its 

 oval figure to the upper back wall of the 

 cell. It is a remarkable fact, too, that the 

 queen, though able to eat without the aid of 

 others, does not usually do so, but is fed all 

 her life by the workers. It is probable that 

 this food, being excellent in quality and 

 easy of digestion, is prepared by the work- 

 ers for the queen herself. 



Rain has come at last, but not until 

 nearly everything In the Northwest was 

 burned up by the extreme heat of the past 

 two months. Never before within the 

 memory of the oldest inhabitant has there 

 been so much hot weather, and extending 

 for so long a time. The rains of last week 

 were general, and came just in time to save 

 a great calamity. The wells and other water 

 sources were nearly all dried up, the 

 prairies were on Are in nearly all directions, 

 thousands of families were deprived of 

 homes by this devouring element, many of 

 the crops not already burned up by the 

 rays of Old Sol. were consumed by the 

 flames extending from the prairie ilres. Just 

 then black clouds appeared, and Mother 

 Earth was drenched with water from the 

 heavens. Let us hope that we may never 

 experience another such a summer as the 

 present— calamitous alike to all crops, as 

 well as to the bees and bee-keepers. 



Au^ast, anciently considered a " lucky" 

 month, has not brought prosperity to the 

 bees this year. June, July and August of 

 this year will long- be remembered as the 

 hottest and driest forages. August, before 

 the time of Julius Caesar, was called Sextilis 

 —the Sixth— and it had but 29 days. In re- 

 forming the calendar, Julius added one day 

 to Sextilis, making it 30 days in length. His 

 successor, Augustus, finding Sextilis a 

 remarkably " lucky " month in his career, 

 added another day to it, shortening Feb- 

 ruary correspondingly, and changed the 

 name Sextilis to August. 



Let us hope that the next time August 

 comes around, the weather will be more 

 propitious for honey as well as all other 

 crops. 



Recently a man down in Kennebunk- 

 port, Maine, says an exchange, captured 

 800 bees while they were swarming in the 

 woods. He daubed himself with honey, the 

 bees alighted thereupon, and in this way he 

 transported them home without receiving a 

 sting. 



Seasonable Hints.— Mr. C. H. Dibbern, 

 in the Plnwman, gives the following hints 

 for this month : 



Robbing may now be expected, and 

 should be guarded against. If you have 

 weak or queenless colonies, break them up 

 and remove the hives to a safe place. Do 

 not expose honey where the bees can get at 

 it or it will demoralize your whole apiary. 

 It is wonderful how soon bees discover that 

 honey can be had, and how persistent they 

 are. 



From all quarters comes the same story, 

 few swarms and no honey. From all I can 

 learn about the honey crop, there is a gen- 

 eral failure all over the Western States. 

 Even California reports indicate about one- 

 fourth of a crop. Canada and the Eastern 

 States show up better, and will likely pro- 

 duce a fair crop of nice white honey. 



I had anticipated some surplus from the 

 linden, but although it bloomed profusely, 

 and the bees worked on it from daylight to 

 dark, they entirely failed to put any honey 

 in the sections. Indeed, so small was the 

 quantity gathered from the linden, that I 

 had a strong colony actually starve during 

 Its bloom. 



Now the only resource for the next few 

 weeks, is the sweet clover I have planted 

 for the bees. It is now in full bloom, and 

 any time of the day it is covered by myriads 

 of bees. 



Poor, Poorer, Poorest!- The general 

 verdict is that the present season has been 

 the poorest, for honey-production, of any for 

 many years. The wholesale and commission 

 men are already looking out for supplies of 

 honey, and we advise all having any to sell 

 to put a good round price on it, and "stick 

 to it." There will be no trouble in selling 

 all the honey on hand at good figures. Do 

 Tiot gacHfice it ! 



■Who Can Tell tlie Value of a Smile 1 



asks an exchange.— It costs the giver noth- 

 ing, but is beyond price to the erring and 

 relenting, the sad and cheerless, the lost 

 and forsaken. It disarms malice, subdues 

 temper, turns hatred to love, revenge to 

 kindness, and paves the darkest paths with 

 gems of sunlight. 



Tbese Shows will he held at Chicago 

 from Nov. 8 to 18, 1887, viz: American 

 Horse Show, American Dairy Show, Ameri- 

 can Pat Stock Show, and American Poultry 

 Show. During these shows the Union Con- 

 vention has been appointed to be held. See 

 notice In another column. 



The September number of Prank 

 Leslie's Sunday Magazine brings together a 

 large number of pleasant articles combining 

 instruction and entertainment, and all 

 breathing forth a high moral spirit, though 

 carefully avoiding the teaching of any 

 special religious doctrines. Among the im- 

 portant articles may be found one by Walter 

 Edgar McCann, on "The Rise and Growth 

 of our National Capital," which is fully 

 illustrated with portraits and views of the 

 City of Washington, and those who have 

 made it famous. The two serial stories both 

 keep up and Indeed increase their interest, 

 and the short articles and poems are very 

 good and entertaining. 



Our New Book Ust on the second page 

 is the place from which to select the book 

 you want. We have a large stock of every 

 book there named, and can fill all orders on 

 the day they are received. 



