AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



567 



cover over with a foot of saw^dust, or its 

 equivalent in straw or prairie hay. 



Put your ice 16 inches away from the 

 wall^and fill between the ice and wall 

 with sawdust or its equivalent in straw 

 or prairie hay, as you fill with ice. 

 Break joints over each course of ice 

 when filling. 



When filled, cover with 6 or 7 inches 

 of sawdust or its equivalent. You do 

 not want 10 or 12 inches of sawdust on 

 top of the ice. There is a latent heat 

 in ice, and if there is too much covering 

 on the top, the heat will not be able to 

 pass up through it and will turn back 

 and honeycomb the ice. With a covering 

 of 12 inches of sawdust, in every case an 

 examination will show heat during the 

 hot months by digging down a few inches. 



Never put water on your ice as you fill 

 your ice house, if you expect to remove 

 the cakes of ice as put in. In cold- 

 storage houses it is often the case that 

 water is used to solidify the mass. In 

 such cases use hot water with a sprinkler, 

 as the moment the hot water comes in 

 contact with the ice it congeals. Use 

 cold water and it will run and spread, 

 and if the ice is put in contact with the 

 walls the chances are that in freezing it 

 will spread the building. 



The roof may also be covered with 

 culls. Suppose it does leak, the dripping 

 will not extend down into the sawdust 

 to any appreciable extent. A ventilator 

 in the roof is not necessary, with both 

 gables open. — Chas. P. Jackson, in the 

 American Creamery. 



Sexes of Trees. 



As a general rule the sexes of both 

 our forest and cultivated trees are only 

 to be determined when the trees are in 

 bloom for the pistillate and staminate 

 flowers are produced either in the same 

 cluster, raceme, bunch, or only separate 

 on the same twig or branch, while in the 

 wild cherries, apples, papaw and similar 

 fruit the organs of both sexes are to be 

 found in each individual flower. 



The long catkins of the chestnut, oak, 

 hickory and butternut are the staminatci 

 (male) flowers, while the pistillate are 

 small and quite inconspicuous, always 

 situated at the apex of the embryo nut. 



Inthe common red, white and sugar 

 maples, both sexes are in the same 

 crowded umbel-like cluster, inconspicu- 

 ous at first, but soon the pistillate 

 flowers enlarge and become a two-winged 

 fruit or seed. 



But in the box-elder ornegundo maple 

 we have a very different arrangement, 



for the two sexes are not only in sepa- 

 rate flowers, but on different trees, and 

 for this reason the species is said to be 

 dioecious — that is, stamens and pistils in 

 separate flowers on different plants. 



In the negundo maple the staminate 

 flowers are in small clustered pedicels, 

 while the pistillate are in long drooping 

 racemes, and the two sexes on different 

 trees. Those bearing seeds are of course 

 pistillate (female), but there is no way 

 of distinguishing the sexes of the trees 

 except when in bloom, or bearing feeed. 

 —A. S. Fuller, in the N. Y. Tribune. 



Native Bees in India. 



As to the tiny bee of Australia, re- 

 ferred to as Trlgona carboriarla, I met 

 that bee, or one very like it, in the Cen- 

 tral Provinces in India. The manner 

 of our meeting was in this wise : I was 

 leaving my bungalow for a time, and 

 went around to see that its doors and 

 shuttered windows were properly secured 

 before starting. Finding a window with 

 its shutters left open — glass was not 

 used — I hastily slammed it, and a small 

 swarm of Trkjona carhonaria, or a near 

 relative, flew in my face. 



I have never had a shovelful of hot 

 ashes thrown in my face, but the sensa- 

 tion suggested it; and the stings tingled 

 and smarted for a long time. I was 

 much struck by the minute proportions 

 of my assailants, which were, as you 

 say, a little smaller than a house-fly, 

 and their Liliputian comb was elegance 

 itself. — Amanishah, Bideford, in British 

 Bee Journal. 





Just What You Need ! 



Xhc Convention Hand = Book; 



is very convenient at Bee-Conventions. It 

 contains a simple Manual of Parliamentary 

 Law and Rules of Order for Local Bee- 

 Conventions; Constitution and By Laws 

 for a Local Society ; Programme for a Con- 

 vention, with Subjects for Discussion. In 

 addition to this, there are about 50 blank 

 pages, to make notes upon, or to write out 

 questions, as they may come to mind. 

 They are nicely bound in cloth, and are of 

 the right size for the pocket. We will 

 present a copy for one new subscription to 

 the Bee Journal (with $1.00 to pay for the 

 same), or 2 subscribers to the Home Journai, 

 may be sent instead of one for the Bee 

 Journal. 



