THE^ SMERIC^tN MMM J©^RffMI<, 



179 



voiniv, 



"We «lo ISot hesitS to st8, 



That 1888 



Will doubtless be quite choice and grS, 



For bees to hurry up their g8 ; 



And when ttiev'e found some honey-frS, 



I'm sure we don't exaggerS, 



When boldly we asseverS, 



That not a worker will be 18 



In sipping up the tempting b8. 



Xlie 4]rreatest Ulizzard of modern 

 times raged last week all over the Eastern 

 States, suspending business for four days, 

 and working untold miseries to man and 

 beast. Mails have been delayed by the 

 abandonment of trains, and telegraph and 

 telephone communications nearly all sus- 

 pended. The blockade was raised last Fri- 

 day, and the large cities were then restored 

 to the world of commerce. 



TUe Conslitntion and By-Laws of 

 the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association is on 

 our desk. It contains 12 pages, if we may 

 count the last page which is occupied with 

 an advertisement of the Canadian Bee 

 Journal, where it was printed. It displays 

 poor taste to have the latter there, but as it 

 is inditferently printed, perhaps the blunder 

 of putting it there will be overlooked, as 

 well as the advertisement itself. 



Bees have ^Viiitered Well.— 



That is the general verdict. The following 

 are samples of the reports of all, and voice 

 the universal hope for a good season. 



P. C. Dowler, New Paris, O., on March 

 10, 1888, writes : "My bees have wintered 

 finely on the summer stands. The prospects 

 for the future are flattering." 



K. F. Holtermann, of Brantford, Ont., 

 March 10, 1SS.8, wrote : " Our bees had a 

 splendid flight yesterday, and reports so far 

 go to show that bees are in very good con- 

 dition generally. We can all stand a pretty 

 good season, and we all hope for the best." 



Xlie Uritiiiih Itee JTournal has 



copied our article relative to its editorial 

 averring that an English clergyman has 

 been to the United States, and had per- 

 sonally visited some " adulterating bee- 

 farms" said to exist here. We branded 

 the article of our cotemporary thus : 



It is a base slander — a nefarious lie ; 

 neither the clergyman in question, nor "any 

 other man " ever visited any such " adul- 

 terating bee-farms !" They do not exist ! ! 



It is nothing more nor less than a scancia- 

 toMs/alschood— the production of a sensa- 

 tional reporter's brain, written for spice, 

 but lacking even the flimsiest " thread " of 

 truth ! 



Its only possible excuse is the infamous 

 " scientific pleasantry " written " tor the 

 funoi the thing," by Prof. Wiley— who is 

 so unprincipled as to let it " fly " on electric 

 wires to "the uttermost parts of the Earth," 

 without a word of regret, or denial ! 



The British Bee Journal states that it 

 has instituted " an inquiry into the truth of 

 the information supplied" by the clergy- 

 man. That is just what it should do, and 

 our confidence in the integrity of Mr. 

 Cowan is such that we have no doubt of its 

 being done. He was in Switzerland when 

 the article was published, and we expect he 

 was as much surprised and disgusted at its 

 contents as we were. 



Our friend, the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, 

 wrote us on the 10th inst. the following 

 scriptural quotation which is very applica- 

 ble to the situation : 



I see that your severe but just condemna- 

 tion of the Wiley "pleasantry " very prop- 

 erly finds place in the British Bee Journal. 

 Proverbs xxvi. 18, 19 reads thus : " As a 

 madman who casteth firebrands, arrows,and 

 death, so is the man that deceiveth his 

 neighbor, and saitli. Am I not in sport ?" 

 Does not that just describe the Wiley 

 pleasantry ? 



Statistics.— We have received a large 

 number of replies from bee-men consenting 

 to become correspondents to supply statis- 

 tics to the Agricultural Department on bees 

 and honey. One remarks thus : 



If there are two or more from one county, 

 would it not be necessary for each to know 

 who the others are, so that they may make 

 arrangements to divide the territory, and 

 make no duplicate reports ? 



We expect when the number is full, that 

 it will be thought necessary to print the 

 names and addresses, and arrange the ter- 

 ritory assigned to each person. But we are 

 not yet informed about the details. 



IJIr. Aaron Singei-, of Wabash, Ind., 

 has sent us one of the Statistical Blanks 

 which have been used in that State since 

 1881. It is a very indefinite and antiquated 

 affair. It has only these three inquiries : 



Number of stands of bees. 



Number of atandB of bees killed by moth or other 

 causes past twelve months. 



Number of pounds of honey taken past twelve 

 months. 



The blank is headed : FOR STATISTI- 

 CAL PURPOSES ONLY, and properly- 

 put questions answered correctly would be 

 all that could be desired. It is evident that 

 the blank was made out by some one who 

 knew nothing of bee-keeping. 



BIi-.s. Ulleii S. Xupper, who was 



well-known in apicultural circles some 30 

 years ago, is said to have died at El Paso, 

 Texas, on March 13, 1888, where she was 

 temporarily visiting her daughter. Since 

 her arrest and trial for " forgery " in 1875- 

 76, she resided in Dakota, where, we under- 

 stand, her husband died. 



Something like a dozen years ago, she ob- 

 tained between .330,000 and -540,000 from 

 banks in the West, upon " forged notes," 

 endorsed in some instances by her friends, 

 leaving the latter to settle with the banks 

 after the notes had gone to "protest," and the 

 purported signers had been proved to be 

 mythical— among these,, the editor of this 

 paper may be enumerated for $3,000, besides 

 several hundreds of dollars for " expenses " 

 and "other crookedness " on her part. 



On her trial she pleaded " insanity," and 

 to prove this, her lawyers exhibited several 

 " bank notes " made payable to her, bearing 

 the signature (or rather mark) of "Jesus 

 Christ." On this plea she was acquitted, 

 for the testimony against her was over- 

 wlielming ! She was a " strong-minded 

 woman"— but many have cause to regret 

 that they ever saw her ! ! " Oh ! Frailty I 

 thy name is woman." But " peace to her 

 dust!" Let it rest in peace. 



Apiarist.— A correspondent asks the 

 following questions : 



Will you be kind enough to explain why 

 " apiarian " cannot be used as a noun as 

 well as "apiarist?" The suffixes "an" 

 and " ist" both mean the same thing, and I 

 confess I can see no reason why we should 

 not say " apiarian." If not, why not ? 



Why is " queen-rearing " to be preferred 

 to " queen-raising ?" Please give us some 

 more "light" on these words. 



We reply, the standard authorities such 

 as Webster, Worcester, Kirby and Zell, all 

 agree that apiarist is the noun, and apiarian 

 the adjective. The choice of the suffixes 

 having already been made,it is unnecessary 

 for us to explain why— -we simply use the 

 words as they are defined by lexicographers. 



Queen-rearing is a more elegant expres- 

 sion than queen-raising— we therefore pre- 

 fer to use it. t- 



A Wliite Clover Itlossoni is re- 

 ceived from Mr. J. W. Winder,of Louisiana. 

 While the Eastern States were taken pos- 

 session of by a blizzard, and all the North- 

 ern States are experiencing " the chilling 

 blasts " of winter. It is refreshing to know 

 that somewhere the flowers are blooming, 

 the birds are warbling their sweetest notes, 

 and all Nature is smiling under sunny 

 skies. Welcome, little blo.ssom, as the 

 harbinger of coming spring ! 



Mr. C. C. I»ailey, of Chicago, has 

 placed one of his tin feeders in our Museum. 

 It has a projecting trough which may be 

 put into the entrance of the hive, and under 

 the frames which connects with the outside 

 reservoir. We brought a similar one from 

 Europe in 1879. This has more surface 

 on which the bees can get the food. 



