AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL- 



BIG 



from this ; equal in quality to that of 

 white clover. 



Blackberry— May, June. 



Sweet Clover — July to October. Honey 

 secured from this plant is of a superior 

 quality. 



Bittersweet — July to August. 



Wild Plum — May. Fruit blossoms 

 afford a tine harvest for bees. 



Scarlet Salvia — July to October. 



Garden Sage — July, August. 



Ground Ivy — May, August. 



Blue Curls— May to September. The 

 large labiate family are all fine honey 

 yielders. — Exchange. 



Modern Bee VocaMlary, Etc. 



G. W. DEMAREE. 



I have been interested and somewhat 

 amused at the discussion in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, of late, concerning 

 the word colony, stock, etc., as applied 

 by modern writers to bees in the organ- 

 ized state. 



It has occurred to me that if the dif- 

 ference is to be settled by appealing to 

 the Dictionaries, or by going back of 

 the Dictionaries to the fountain head — 

 the manner in which the words in ques- 

 tion were used by the old writers — I am 

 quite sure that no very satisfactory 

 conclusion will be arrived at. I hold 

 that modern bee-culture must neces- 

 sarily have a vocabulary peculiar to 

 itself, because modern bee-culture is 

 essentially a new thing, and either new 

 words must be coined, or old words must 

 take on new meanings to fittingly de- 

 scribe it. In all such cases the latter is 

 generally done. 



Bee-culture in the ages of the past 

 was so fettered with superstition that 

 no uniformity of expression is found in 

 any of the old works on bees, as far as I 

 have examined them. 



An accurate old English writer of a 

 hundred years ago, in a long essay on 

 bees, bee-hives, etc., found in an old 

 work in my library, uses the word 

 "stock "in the sense of "hive of bees" 

 but one time, and there in connection 

 with increase by swarms. 'Thus: "Set 



aside stocks for swarms." The word 



"stocked" is frequently used. Thus, 

 "unite hives that are thinly stocked." 

 The word bees after hives is dropped, 

 being gramatically understood. 



When this accurate old English writer 

 of a hundred years ago quotes Pliny, 

 Erasmus Darwin, Calumella, etc., he uses 

 the terms "hive of bees," or "hives of 



bees." He never uses the terms " stock 

 of bees," or " stocks of bees." But he 

 speaks of hives being strongly "stocked," 

 or thinly "stocked with bees," in the 

 sense of being well or poorly filled with 

 bees. 



I was pleased to see that he used the 

 terms "prime swarm" for the first 

 swarm that takes the old queen with it, 

 and " after swarms " when speaking of 

 the swarms that follow with virgin 

 queens. I can see no more impropriety 

 in saying a "hive of bees," or even a 

 "hive," dropping the word bees after 

 hive, than in saying, "Thou shalt be 

 saved and thy house." The inmates of 

 the house being gramatically under- 

 stood. 



The word " colony" is not used by this 

 old writer in connection with bees. In 

 fact, I do not remember of seeing the 

 word colony in any old work on bees 

 used in the sense of a hive populated 

 with bees. I think it is safe to admit 

 that it is a modern term when used in 

 that sense. But to my mind this is no 

 objection to the word as a nomenclature. 

 In fact, it seems to me that it fills a 

 long want, whether the want was felt 

 or not. 



It must be patent to any observing 

 reader of ancient bee-literature, that no 

 uniformity of expression is found therein. 

 It is painfully defective of uniform 

 nomenclature. Hence, the necessity of 

 some word to be used as a uniform 

 nomenclature, and I know of no better 

 word than the word "colony," or "col- 

 ony of bees." 



The word "colony" is a desirable ac- 

 quisition to our bee-literature," because 

 it is used in no other sense than as a 

 nomenclature. The word "stock," or 

 "stock of bees," will never be adopted 

 by American bee-keepers. It is an in- 

 appropriate term when used as a nomen- 

 clature, because few words have a 

 broader meaning than this word. I may 

 colonize a hive with bees, and thereby 

 form a "colony of bees." But when I 

 " stock a hive with bees," I do not make 

 it a " stock of bees." 



My apiary is "stocked" with more 

 than one race of bees. I have the Ital- 

 ian stock, the Carniolan stock, and the 

 Punic stock. I keep now but the best 

 " stock " of bees, and if I discover that 

 my "stock " is deteriorating, by reason 

 of in-breecling, I introduce fresh "stock" 

 from abroad, and thereby improve my 

 " stock." I sometimes breed from im- 

 ported "stock," and sometimes from 

 improved home-bred "stock." At some 

 seasons of the year ray hives are strongly 

 " stocked " with bees, and at other sea- 



