THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



707 



THOMAS a. NEWMAN, Editor. 





Yoinni. 



Not. 9, 1887, 



No. 45. 



Lessons from tUe Ivjr.— Mr, Eupene 

 Secor, of Forest City, Iowa, sends us the 

 following-, about the lessons to be learned 

 from the "Ivy :" 



An humble thinp is the Ivy-vine, 



For it seeks the shadow of tree or wall ; 



In silence grows. 



Nor envy shows 

 By vain attempt to outdo or out shine 

 The rugged support that prevents Its fall. 



A truthful thinp is the Ivy-vine, 



For It never loosens its falth-like hold. 



Mid storms it clings. 



Till sunshine brings 

 The brighter hope, the joy divine. 

 And turns itsdull leaves from brown to gold. 



A Inving thing is the Ivy-vine, 



Clinging by tendrils as with hooks of steel. 

 Constant and true 

 Its whole life through. 



Reaching its arms to grasp and entwine 



All that its tender fingers can feel. 



These lessons learn from the Ivyvine : 

 The help that we need is more than we give ; 



And needing much 



Of helpful touch 

 Should make us humble and benign. 

 And teach us In love and in faith to live. 



Bee-Keei>liig In Norw^ay.— The follow- 

 ing is an editorial in the Canadian Honey 

 Producer for November. When Mr. Young 

 was hero we were exceedingly busy, and 

 did not have an opportunity to ask as many 

 questions about beekeeping in Noi-way as 

 we desired, and as Mr. Young promised us 

 to call on his return, we expected to do so 

 then. We had a letter from him afterwards 

 saying that he could not arrange matters to 

 call again, and so we weredeprived of much 

 of his visit. The subjoined account will be 

 read with interest : 



We had a very pleasant and instructive 

 conversation with Mr. Toung. and of course 

 made all possible inquiries about the state 

 of bee keeping in Norway. 



Bees can be kept very well as far north as 

 Drontbeira. In Norway, as here in Canada, 

 there is no method hv which the number of 

 colonies can he ascertained, but the number 

 of colonies kept are estimated at about 

 40.000 : of these about 2,000 are kept in the 

 movable-frame hive, the balance in straw 

 skeps. 



The government of Norway realize the 

 importance of apiculture as an industry, 

 and have sent Mr. Young, at their expense, 

 to Canada and the United States, to promote 

 the interests of the bee keepers. 



Wintering is done very successfullv in 

 some of the old straw-skep hives. Many 

 think the bees in the movable-frame hive do 

 not winter as well, but such is not the case : 

 on the contrary, the honey taken by means 

 of the movable frame hive is mostlv ex- 

 tracted On account of so few frame hives, 

 and but little comb foundation being used, 

 the average yield per colony for the coun- 

 try is not "great, but he thinks if properlv 

 conducted it would be 70 pounds to 100 

 pounds t>er cf;lonv. 



The chief sources of honev are clover, 

 basswood and heather. The clover is mostly 

 Als'ke : there Is hut little white 



The Norwegian Bee-Keepers' Asso-iation 

 has some 1,.500 members, has been in ex- 

 istence three years, the bee-.iournal 2Vi 

 vears. Everv member gets this journal 

 free, and the journal is the property of the 

 association, and under their control : and 

 one having goods to advertise, can do so in 

 tlie advertising columns. Fifty cents en- 

 titles a beekeeper to membership and the 

 paper, which is monthly. Anv one not in 

 the country pays $1 : this extra charge 

 being made to cover the extra postage. Mr. 

 Young also very kindly presented us with 

 a cop of his book on bee-keeping. He may 

 justly be called the father of advanced 

 bee-keeping in Norway. 



Xlie Editor is still unable to attend to 

 business. His convalescence is very slow, 

 and ha« been retarded by a relapse. It is to 

 be hoped that he will be able to atttend the 

 Convention next week, but as yet it is quite 

 uncertain. 



Ronnd Trip Tirketis (that is, a single 

 ticket to Chicago and return to the place of 

 starting) can he purchased at any station. 

 OP any road leading to Chicago at one and 

 one-flfth fare for the round trip, and will 

 be good for six days. This is the arrange- 

 ment, as we understand it. for the Fat 

 Stock Show. These tickets can be bought at 

 your railroad station. It may be well to 

 ask your Station Agent about it in advance. 



Hon- Bees ITIako Cells.— In Murray's 

 Magazint we And the following explanation 

 of the geometrical forms which the cells of 

 a honey-comb assume : 



Recent measurements and observations 

 have tended to dissipate the cell nivth, and 

 to show not ouly that the honeycomb is far 

 from regular, but that such regularity as it 

 has is due merely to mechanical conditions. 

 Mr. Frank Cheshire tells us in his recent 

 volume, that careful measurements of the 

 finest pieces of comb, built with every ad- 

 vantage for securing regularity, show that, 

 so far from everv cell being geometrically 

 accurate, it is ditHcult to find a hexagon 

 presenting errors of less than three or four 

 degrees in its angles. On the other band, 

 there is a growing tendency to accept a 

 modiflcation of Buffon'8 explnnation of the 

 origin of cell structure. Buffon attributed 

 the regularity of tho cells to mutual pres- 

 sure : in illustration whereof he packed a 

 closed vessel with dried peas and filled up 

 the Interstices with water. The peas, which 

 were thus caused to swell, assumed, under 

 the pressure which resulted, the form of 

 more or less accurate geometrical flgures. 



Perhaps a still better illustration of this 

 principle of mutual inter-action is seen in 

 soap hubbies. It a little soapy water is 

 placed in the bottom of a tumbler and ait- be 

 blown into the water through a tube, until 

 the upper part of the glass is full of bubbles, 

 the hexagonal form which these bubbles 

 assume under mutual pressure, and the 

 trilateral pyramids at their bases, will be 

 readily seen. Not that these geometrical 

 flgures are the same as those which the wax 

 asBumea. hut they illustrate tho principle. 

 For, at the temperature of the hive, the wax, 

 pared thin by the smooth-edged jaws of the 

 workers, has all tho plasticity of a fluid 

 membrane. The bee has indeed to avoid 

 the danger of paring away too far. and thus 

 making a hole through the wall. But even 

 here it may be aided by mechanical condi- 

 tions. 



It we take a thin piece of soap and pare 

 away one face with the blade of a pocket- 

 knife, we shall soon form a transparent 

 patch where the soap is very thin. But If 

 we continue to pare we do not cut through 

 the soap at this point; but. for a time at 

 least, we merely enlarge the area of the 

 transparent patch. The thin film of soap 

 yields at this point, and the stress of the 

 blade falls on thicker and less-yielding 

 edges. Some such mechanical yielding of 

 the wax may guide the bee In its work. 



**IIowdo Vou pronounce s-t-i-n-g-y ?" 

 asked Prof. Comstock. The smart bad boy 

 nearest the foot of the class stood up and 

 said, " It depends a great deal whether the 

 word Is applied to a man or a bee : one is 

 8ting-y, and the other Is stln-gy. " Go to the 

 head, young fellow." 



The Bee-Keepers' ITnlon is urged to 

 take an appeal from the court presided over 

 by Judge Boardman in New York, in the 

 case of Mr. Rich, mentioned on pages 6.59 

 and 67.5. Mr. George E. Hilton, President of 

 the Michigan State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, writes as follows : 



No, sir : the bees must not be compared 

 with pigstys or slaughter-pens, and the case 

 must go to the higher courts. Shame on 

 .Tudge Boardman I Bee-Keeners of America 

 rally around the " Union." Give it your sup- 

 port, if you have not already done so. The 

 Manager may draw on me at any time for 

 $.1 in addition, if needed. 



XIio Illnstrated Iiondon Ken's for 



Oct. '29. contains a colored portrait of 

 Prince Bismarck, and pictures of Nizam of 

 Hyderbad, two pages devoted to illustra- 

 tions of the state of Ireland, another page 

 of troops in Burmah, one of border sketches 

 in Kelso, one of Bristol Cathedral, one of 

 the death of Ca-sar, and a most attractive 

 'picture of a little girl and a dog, entitled, 

 "Speak!" The reading matter is as inter- 

 esting and complete as ever, while the price 

 for all Is only 10 cents. All newsdealers 

 have it, and the New York ofHce is in the 

 Potter Building. 



Tlie Resnit of there being no bees to 

 fertilize the clover, is thus commented upon 

 in Science for All (English) for November ; 



Bees are necessary to the fertilization of 

 some kinds of clover. This fact the New 

 Zealand government have discovered to 

 their great dismay, for the Dutch clover in 

 that colony will not produce suffleient seed, 

 owing to the absence of the particular bee 

 to fertilize it. Again, it has been found that 

 twenty heads of Dutch clover yielded 2,290 

 seeds ; but twenty other heads, protected 

 from bees, yielded none. In like manner, a 

 hundred heads of red clover produced 2.700 

 seeds : but the same number protected from 

 the visits of insects were all sterile. Hence, 

 it may he logically inferred that fts no other 

 iusects visit the clover, were the bumble- 

 bee to become extinct in England, the plant 

 which is dependent upon it for existence, 

 would either become extinct or at least 

 comparatively rare. 



It is a nistalte to visit the bees too often 

 during the winter. It is apt to disturb them, 

 they become restless, and sometimes dis- 

 charge their feces, and by this means pro- 

 duce a stench that is enough to destroy 

 them. It is better to have their winter 

 quarters so constructed that their condition 

 can be ascertained without disturbing them. 

 —Exchange. 



The Clnb 1.1st for 1888, of E. H. Cook, 

 Andover, Conn., is on our de«k. 



