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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Wavelets of News. 



Cloth Instead of Tin for Hive Covers. 



Some styles of bee hives are so large 

 that the covers must be made of more 

 than one piece. To prevent leakage, 

 they have been covered with tin. This 

 is expensive, and some bee-keepers have 

 been trying heavy cotton cloth instead of 

 tin. The cover is first painted, then the 

 cloth laid on, and another coat of paint 

 put on over the cloth. — Review. 



Plants, Trees, and Honey. 



The old Scotchman said to his son, 

 " Plant a tree. Jack, for it will be grow- 

 ing while you are slaping." This is 

 good advice for all to follow who own an 

 acre of land. I know that tree planting 

 has been discouraging of late years, but 

 try again. Our Early Richmond cherries 

 bore about fifteen years after planting, 

 and the bees fertilized and enjoyed the 

 bloom, and we the fruit, and the delight 

 of seeing them bud and blossom, and 

 hanging with beautiful fruit. A German 

 passing by, stopped his horse, and rais- 

 ing his hands, said, "O, mine Got, how 

 purty !" Cherry trees are valuable for 

 bees, as they bloom early, before the 

 apple, and stimulate bees to brood-rear- 

 ing for the clover harvest. 



For the past two seasons our bees 

 have enjoyed the luxury af peach honey, 

 and we the fruit. Our trees are seed- 

 lings, and cost nothing but the planting. 

 A friend inquired, "How did you come 

 to have peach trees ?" I replied, " We 

 trusted in God and planted the stones." 

 O, the luxury of shaking down the lus- 

 cious peaches ripened upon the trees. 

 Plant peach trees and place in their 

 shade a colony of bees to gather the 

 honey, fertilize the bloom, and protect 

 the fruit, when ripe, from thieves. 

 Peach buds are all right so far in this 

 locality. 



We can do without all other fruit bet- 

 ter than the apple, and when the tree is 

 good for nothing else, it will be excellent 

 fuel to burn in the smoker to tame the 

 bees. Eternal vigilance is the price of 

 a good apple, and we must study its 

 habits, friends and enemies. The honey 

 bee must produce fine fertilizations in 

 order that an apple may grow to perfec- 

 tion. The bee is the apple's best friend, 

 and should not be destroyed along with 

 its enemies by spraying with poison 

 while in bloom. The spraying is lost, 



too, for the enemy has not arrived. Wait 

 until the bloom has fallen, then spray 

 your trees, and you will kill your ene- 

 mies, and not your friends. 



If there was any plant that I would 

 recommend for honey alone, it would be 

 the raspberry ; it continues in bloom for 

 three weeks, and a peculiarity about it 

 is, that bees will be working upon it 

 immediately after a hard shower. The 

 heads hang down, and the rain does not 

 wash the honey out, and it apparently 

 secretes honey while it is raining. All 

 of the small fruits produce honey more 

 or less, and need the assitance of the 

 bees to insure a crop. — Mrs. L. Harei- 

 soN, in the Prairie Farmer. 



Bees, Not Honey, in the Spring. 



It is bees, instead of honey, that we 

 need in the hives in the fore part of the 

 season. Too many stores in May and 

 June will just as surely spoil a colony 

 for section honey, as it will to keep the 

 bees so short of stores that they keep 

 their brood in check all the Spring. 

 There is no such thing as having the 

 combs full of honey during the forepart 

 of the season, and then having the sec- 

 tions filled with clover honey. — G. M. 

 DooLiTTLE, in American Bee-Keeper. 



Educate the Children Correctly. 



In the Third Reader of the Indiana 

 Educational Series, on page 134, are 

 some statements that should be cor- 

 rected. It says, " We commonly speak 

 of bees as gathering honey. This is not 

 exactly correct. They make honey out 

 of what they gather from the flowers." 



Now, I believe it is generally admitted 

 that bees do gather honey from the blos- 

 soms, and that they cannot be said to 

 make honey, any more than a man can 

 be said to make corn, when he goes into 

 the field to gather it for the crib. 

 Further on it says : "But the bee can- 

 not always find such nice food, and then 

 he flies off to the fields, or perhaps helps 

 himself to the drainings of some molasses, 

 or to the dregs of some sugar cask. 

 Honey made from these things does well 

 enough for the bees' Winter store, but it 

 does not suit our taste." 



It does not suit our taste, because it is 

 simply molasses, or sugar syrup, and all 

 the bees have done was to carry it to 

 their empty combs. As for its doing 

 well enough for the bees' Winter stores, 

 that might be true if it was a good grade 

 of sugar, but if molasses or a cheap grade 



