THE? ffiMERICaiN BEE JOWRNIEE,. 



215 



™os,]il|MVs«, 



EDITOR. 



VoiniV. April 4, 1888, MM 



False CIiars«'s The Farmer and 



Stackman published at Sioux City, Iowa, 

 indulges in this little bit of ridicule : 



What an array of tools the lioney-bee 

 would have to carry it the charges against 

 it by its enemies were true. According to 

 these enemies, the bee can "bite," "pierce," 

 "tear," "cut," and "drill" their way into 

 fruit and flowers, and "suck, draw, drain, 

 eat and devour" the juices and pulp of saul 

 flowers and fruit. The next thing we may 

 expect to happen, will be the grocers charg- 

 ing the bees with coming into their stores, 

 borina holes in the syrup barrels and carry- 

 ing (itf the contents. 



This is to refute a silly item going the 

 rounds of the press, which says : 



Instinct of the honey-bee is admirably set 

 forth in their practice of cutting into the 

 base of flowers of which the corolla is too 

 deep to be penetrated by the organs of feed- 

 ing. 



Their jaws are not formed for cutting into 

 the base of flowers or anything else ! What 

 nonsense ! 



BmRML MUEnEGS, 



It Pays to wear a smiling face. 



And laugh our troubles down. 

 For all our little trials wait 



Our laughter or our frown. 

 Beneath the magic of a smile. 



Our doubts will fade away. 

 As melts the frost in early spring 



Beneath the sunny ray. 



Xlii!< is Our Spocial SPRI^XS 

 ^'timber— the first in April— and contains 

 six more pages of reading matter than 

 usual ; the rest of the extra pages being 

 devoted to advertisements. The articles are 

 very interesting and valuable, and we hope 

 the advent of this large number of the 

 American Bee Journal will formally 

 usher in and give a general 



W«-lc«nif to Spring'. 



From Karly Spring iinlil llie 

 Hont-y-Flow, it pays well to feed every 

 colony a little daily, even if they have an 

 abundance of honey in the hive. It stimu- 

 lates brood-rearing, and it is only by such 

 judicious feeding that we can bring a colony 

 up to the highest condition. It is from such 

 that we reap the ricliest reward during the 

 honey season. Such colonies are usually 

 ready to swarm two weeks earlier than 

 others, and powerful swarms result, in- 

 stead of "hat-fulls." Whether bees are 

 wintered in cellars or in chatf hives, they 

 should remain in their winter quarters until 

 settled warm weather comes in, which may 

 be from the middle to the last of April, and 

 sometimes even later.— American Agricul- 

 tv/rist for April. 



It Slill liives.— In enumerating the 

 many bee-papers of the present day, Mr. C. 

 II. Dihbern, in the Plowman, remarks as 



follows : 



One of the most remarkable things con- 

 nected with bee-keeping is the great in- 

 crease of papers and magazines devoted ex- 

 clusively to the pursuit. About 2.5 years 

 aao the American Bee JoriiNAi. was 

 started at Washington by the late Samuel 

 Wagner. It was prophesied at the time 

 that it would be short lived, that a journal 

 devoted to one pursuit could not exist long. 

 It still lives, however, and to-day is the 

 largest and best bee-paper we have. 



Bro. Dihbern has our thanks for his ap- 

 preciative remark. Ye? ; the Ameiucan 

 Bee Joi'isNAL still lives, and instead of 

 being, as formerly, a monthly at S2.00 a 

 year, it now comes out weekly, and is pub- 

 lished at Sl.OO a year— only 3 cents a num- 

 ber—and it may also be stated that it never 

 was so strong and vigorous as it is to-day ! 

 That is what they all say, and just what we 

 all know is the plain and unvarnished 

 truth. May it long live to uphold the in- 

 terests of the pursuit, and be the beacon- 

 light of generations yet unborn ! 



I>o i^ol strike at a bee, jar the hive, nor 

 breathe on the bees. 



Uon'l M«-li«'V«' It !— If you should see 

 an advertisement agreeing for two stamps 

 to tell yon all about bee-keeping, and how 

 to make S'2.5 per colony out of your bees, 

 don't believe it. 



It i!« F«or Economy to use old and 



dirty sections for comb honey. It will pay 

 better to commit all such to the flames, and 

 buy new and clean sections for new and 

 delicious honey. New sections are so cheap 

 now that there can be no excuse for using 

 old ones. 



Hang tiie Adulterators. — The 



Clearwater, Calif., Ftccord advises the hang- 

 ing of the adulterators of the various kinds 

 of food for humanity, and adds : 



One of the city papers complains of the 

 adulteration of foods and drinks, so ex- 

 tensively practiced in this country and age. 

 This is a subject concerning which a great 

 deal of righteous indignation has been 

 poured out, through the press and other- 

 wise, but as yet no practicable laws or plans 

 have been adopted for stopping the almost 

 universal practice of adulterating tonds and 

 drinks, by reason of which human health 

 and life are being sacrificed at a fearful 

 rate. The man who deiiberately puts dele- 

 terious ingredients and health-destroving 

 poisons into food which he knows will be 

 sold to unsuspecting victims, is far worse 

 ttian the average murderer. 



And yet our National Chemist, who is 

 paid for defending us against the nefarious 

 schemes of adulterators, actually works in 

 their interests, and defends them in their 

 diabolical work. 



Be Snr«- to order your hives, fratnes, 

 sections, comb foundation in good time to 

 have them at hand when they are required. 

 It is poor policy to wait until such things 

 are needed before ordering them. 



Contraction, etc.— F. B. Reynolds, 



Rossburg, N. Y., asks as follows : 



Bees are doing nicely, only -3 colonies 

 being dead out of 3.5, and they were queen- 

 less. Please answer the following : 1. Is 

 it necessary to contract the brood-chamber 

 at this time of the year, to get good results ? 

 2 What is the cause of my foundation 

 cracking and breaking to pieces ? I made a 

 mold and got a perfect cast, but the founda- 

 tion cracked and broke to pieces. 1 fol- 

 lowed the directions as given on page ITS. 



1. Not absolutely and always— but it is 

 preferable to do so. 



3. Probably the trouble is in handling it in 

 cold weather ; but it may be caused by 

 something else. We have never used 

 " molds," and know nothing of the methods 

 to be employed, more than we have already 

 published. 



Fertilizing tlie Clover.— A pains- 

 taking person made some experiments rela- 

 tive to the fertilization of the clover heads 

 by bees, and this was the result : 



Of white clover, ten heads unprotected 

 save nearly ten tunes as many seeds as ten 

 heads covered with gauze; twenty heads 

 covered produced only one poor seed, and 

 twenty heads open gave 3,290 seeds. 



Of red clover, 100 heads covered gave 

 nothing, and 100 heads open produced 2,720 



Insects will abundantly cross-fertilize 

 plants growing }i to U mile apart. 



Reports on the Heddon hive are still 

 coming in. So far, 78 reports have been re- 

 ceived, covering the use of over 2,000 hives. 

 As to choice, 50 prefer tte new Heddon 

 hive, and 22 have not fully decided, ot pre- 

 fer some other kind. 



IJce-Iieeping in the Sontli.— Mr. 



James M. Lisenbey, at the late session of 

 the Florida Fruit Association, said : 



Everything should be in order about the 

 aniary bet evervthing be perfectly clean 

 about the hives, the grass and weeds cut 

 from about the entrances. The bee-keeper 

 should work with gentleness and care, 

 ivoiding jarring movements or anything 

 tliat will agitate the bees. Care sliould 

 always be taT^en that each hive contains a 

 Queeii If any are found to be queenless, 

 thev should be supplied with brood from 

 some strong colony, or doubled up with a 

 weak colony. 



