AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



361 



Oolden-Rod, for the National 

 Flower, was the choice of the Lady- 

 Managers of the World's Fair, at their 

 meeting on the 9th inst., like the rose of 

 England, the lily of France, the sham- 

 rock of Ireland, the thistle of Scotland, 

 and the leek of Wales. 



The rich yellow bloom of the gorgeous 

 golden-rod, took precedence of the three 

 other flowers — the sunflower, the trailing 

 arbutus, and the clematis. The golden- 

 rod was the favorite of Mrs. Cantrill, 

 who maintained that it typified Ameri- 

 can citizens in several ways. " It makes 

 glad the waste places," she said, "and 

 blooms cheerily in rich and poor soil. 

 The golden-rod favors no particular 

 place, but rears its beautiful blossoms 

 in every State, in the dry atmosphere of 

 Arizona, and on the bleaker plains of 

 the extreme Northwest. It never wilts. 

 for its stem, loaded with glorious blos- 

 soms, is firm, and withstands the severest 

 storms. This is why it is indicative of 

 the nature of the American citizen. It 

 bends before the storm, and arises again 

 in all its beauty, and bids defiance to the 

 winds. It gives jts golden blossoms to 

 the arid plains, and extends its beauty 

 to places forgotten by the human race. 

 And wherever it rises above the soil, it 

 breathes its fragrance all around." 



This is also the choice of tee-keepers, 

 and they admire the good sense of the 

 Lady Managers in their appreciation of 

 the beautiful golden-rod. We hope the 

 Lady Managers, at their next meeting, 

 will decide to press its adoption as the 

 National Flower of the United States. 



Siam has decided to make an exhibit 

 at the World's Fair at Chicago, which 

 shall eclipse the one it made at the Paris 

 Exposition, where it carried ofif the 

 honors in the oriental section. 



Honey should not be sent by express 

 unless the distance is very short. It 

 costs 3 or 4 times as much for transpor- 

 tation, and is handled just as roughly as 

 if sent by freight, 



Xlie Detroit Hxposition was 



held as usual in the last week of 

 August. We expect soon to present a 

 description of the honey exhibit to our 

 readers. Meanwhile here is an amusing 

 item concerning one of the exhibitors, 

 which appeared in the Detroit Tribune 

 of Aug. 24, and has been copied into 

 many other papers since that. It reads 

 thus : 



A tall man, with bushy,black whiskers, 

 entered the Cadillac Hotel, and, while 

 he was" registering, placed a long, nar- 

 row valise on the counter. A spring in 

 the valise seemed to have given away, 

 and a little door at the side suddenly 

 flew open, disclosing to the eyes of the 

 bystanders thousands of bees on a 

 honey-comb. 



There was a small stampede among 

 those standing about the counter at first, 

 but all fears were allayed when the tall 

 stranger explained that "they couldn't 

 get out, and wouldn't do any harm if 

 they did." 



He then delivered a short lecture upon 

 the bee and its habits, that proved very 

 interesting, and drew quite a crowd for 

 a few minutes. 



He said that his name was J. F. 

 Michael, from German, Ohio, where he 

 has a large bee-farm. He is here 

 visiting the Exposition, and brought his 

 box of fine Italians that he might com- 

 pare notes with some of the exhibitors. 



When some one asked him to show the 

 queen, Mr. Michael dived into a capa- 

 cious pocket and produced a handful of 

 little boxes, each of which contained 

 half a dozen worker-bees and a queen. 



"Great guns! man," exclaimed a 

 traveling man, "are you a walking bee- 

 hive?" 



"Oh, no," he responded, "by no 

 means. These are just a few of my pets 

 that I carry around to show the people. 

 You see each one of these little boxes 

 has a queen in it. They are somewhat 

 particular as to their society, and I have 

 put these other fellows in to keep them 

 company." 



Polygfonuni, also called heart's- 

 ease, black-heart, or smart-weed, in 

 most localities of the latitude of Illinois 

 blooms by the middle of August. It is a 

 good honey-plant, " belonging to the 

 buckwheat family, and yields a white 

 honey of sharp flavor, disliked by some 

 persons. 



