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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



it up for admiration as a model. The 

 General Term of the Supreme Court 

 should go to the bee, consider her ways 

 and be wise. 



All this is concerning the decision of 

 that six-cent lawsuit in Hobart, N. Y., a 

 year or two ago. "Funny, isn't it ?" 



Mr, Honey Bee's name and 

 address seems to be wanted by some 

 over-zealous legal gentlemen. The 

 Kansas City (Mo.) Journal recently 

 contained the following amusing item : 



The Supreme Court in Central New 

 York has decided that honey-bees who 

 go upon other clover fields than those of 

 their own are tresspassers, and subject 

 to the penalties of the law. This may 

 be a very learned decision, but how is it 

 to be enforced? To arrest a tresspassing 

 bee and ascertain its owner's name and 

 residence would be a delicate task. 



Then the New York Press took up the 

 refrain in this way : 



TRe recently-reported decision of the 

 General Term of the Supreme Court in 

 the central part, of the State, declaring 

 it trespass for honey-bees to go upon 

 lands not belonging to their keeper, is 

 enough to make the late Canute, King of 

 Britain, turn in his grave, with bones 

 green with envy. 



Is each bee to have a little tag fast- 

 ened around its waist by a delicate little 

 wire? or are bee-collars of brass to be a 

 staple article of Central New York 

 manufacture ? And will the statute 

 gravely enact that "any bee found 

 roaming at large, or caught trespassing 

 outside on the flowers of any person not 

 its owner, will be put in the pound until 

 redeemed by the payment of one dime ?" 



In default of the payment of the dime 

 by the owner, the owner being presum- 

 ably notified by the publication, through 

 advertisement in the local newspapers, 

 of the number found on the bee's tag or 

 collar, the bee will probably be put up 

 at auction and sold to the highest 

 bidder. This will require the creation 

 of several local offices, and a bee-pound 

 will be a necessary annex to the office of 

 every country Justice of the Peace. 



It is the solemn duty of the Press to 

 protest against this circumscription of 

 the liberties of the bee. Had the bees of 

 ancient Greece been numbered, regis- 

 tered and tagged, they would never have 

 tried to suck honey from Zeuxis' painted 

 flowers, or alighted on the lips of young 

 Xenephon. Had the bees of "Merrie 

 England" worn collars in the days of 

 good Dr. Watts, they never would have 

 inspired that classical lyric of our child- 

 hood, " How doth the liitle busy bee," 

 etc. For the Doctor would have seen 

 that the bee was a slave and a creature 

 of circumstances, busy only because it 

 had to be, and he would never have held 



Xlie Ontario Agricultural and 

 Experimental Union commenced to make 

 a series of experiments, and have issued 

 the following circular : 



You are hereby respectfully requested 

 to join in an experiment which we con- 

 sider of practical value in apiculture. 

 The experiment is as follows : Testing 

 to what extent, if any, the bees thin out 

 the septum, or base of comb-foundation, 

 before storing the honey in the comb, 

 and what effect various thicknesses of 

 foundation has upon the thickness of 

 base finally left by the bees. 



We propose to supply, free of charge, 

 until our funds are exhausted, three 

 thicknesses of comb-foundation, known 

 as medium brood, thin surplus, and 

 extra thin surplus, of each kind six 

 pieces sufficiently large to fill 4Xx4j^ 

 sections. 



One of each thickness is to b3 put in 

 sections, taking great care to keep each 

 kind separate, marking on the side of 

 section not exposed to the bees the kind 

 of foundation it contains. 



The sections (one of each kind) are to 

 be placed over the central part of the 

 brood-chamber, say, among the six 

 central sections in a half story, or if in 

 deep frames in the lower tier of sections, 

 and in the central frames ; no sections 

 next the outside of super. 



After the bees have stored honey in 

 the sections, the honey is to be extracted, 

 and the three empty sections sent by 

 mail to E. F. Holterraann, Brantford, 

 Ont., with the attached slip carefully 

 made out. 



Honey-Dei!V is the exudations of 

 insects which live upon the leaves of 

 certain trees ; this year the soft maples 

 were badly infested, and a crop of 

 honey-dew was the result. One season, 

 a few years since, these insects damaged 

 the maples very materially, the little 

 twigs looking as if wound with cotton. 

 The result was that the white clover 

 honey was damaged, as there were cells 

 of it scattered through what would have 

 been choice white sections.— ^xc?ia/Mge. 



