T-HM mmmmi^.R.M mms jq^mmmi^. 



223 



run out to see what is the matter. 

 The.y will generally lind the lioney im- 

 mediately, and clean the combs up by 

 morning. The newly-made swarm will 

 scarcely come out at all, as the bees 

 will be engaged in secreting wax and 

 building comb. 



By tlie time the old combs are ren- 

 dered into wax, I think all will con- 

 clude that the method described above 

 is the quickest, neatest, easiest, safest, 

 cheapest and best way to transfer bees. 



Mechanicsburg, Ills. 



FREE LANCE. 



Had I Not Better Start Another 

 Bee Periodical i 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY EUGENE SECOR. 



I think I had better start a new bee- 

 paper. It has now been fully a month 

 since one was born. If I do, it will 

 not be a repetition of the old story in 

 the fable, where the mountain labored 

 and brought forth a mouse, either. It 

 will be a genuine " Vesuvius " belch- 

 ing forth streams of bee-lore, till all 

 the little craft are buried in obMvion. 



The fact is, we need more "intel- 

 lectual bee-bread." I am taking only 

 ten bee-periodicals, and there is not 

 ro<im enough in them to hold what we 

 do not know about bees and bee-keep- 

 ing. Then, is not the time ripe for 

 another ? And why not furnish the 

 necessai-y pabulum myself, according 

 to the protective idea that we should 

 buy nothing which we can produce at 

 home ? 



I have already selected the name 

 that the infant is to bear when the 

 maternal throes are over. It shall be 

 THE FREE LANCE. The title is sug- 

 gestive. Free, because I shall get 

 enough advertising — gratis — through 

 this notice to put it well on its feet. 

 Free, also, because I expect to out-do 

 all my rivals, and furnish the paper to 

 all subscribers for two goose eggs 

 (OO). Free Lance, because I expect 

 everybody to pitch into the editor to 

 his heart's content. Its columns will 

 be open to all manner of criticism on 

 all manner of subjects. Ever3'body 

 who wants to air his cerebellum shall 

 have the inestimable privilege. 



The editor's serene picture will oc- 

 cupy the centre of the top of the first 

 page. Above it will cross two Don 

 Quixote lances, and from either cardi- 

 nal point of the compass'will be the 

 cut of a Cyprian bee pointing for his 

 (the editor's) blossoming nose. His 

 composure will indicate with what 

 calm serenity he can withstand the 

 darts of adverse criticism. He will 

 take everything just as coollj' as he 



would if the four Cyprians, aforesaid, 

 should all have reached his rubicunil 

 proboscis at once. 



Its motto will be, "To be or not to 

 be." In the future conduct of the 

 paper that, sentiment will be strictly 

 adhered to. Its management will be 

 original. Its advertising columns will 

 be open to the world — and Canada — 

 at $2.50 per inch, brevier type, each 

 insertion, when the advertiser planks 

 down the " dollar of the daddies " in 

 advance. 



Every contributor to the reading 

 columns must deposit with the editor, 

 as a matter of good faith, at the rate 

 of five dollars per column for the space 

 he occupies. Then if he wants to tell 

 all about his patent reversible double- 

 action drone-trap, he can occupy just 

 as many columns as he chooses. If he 

 wishes to establisli his prioritj' claim 

 as the first one to furnish the bees 

 with timothy straws through which to 

 suck honey from red clover, the editor 

 will give him all the space he paj's for. 

 If any one is aching to disclose to the 

 world (and Canada) his recent inven- 

 tion for bringing a swarm of bees out 

 of the clouds (and jugging them as 

 Franklin did the lightning), by turn- 

 ing a crank, he shall have the sympa- 

 thy of the editor, and unlimited space 

 in the "Free Lance " (for a considera- 

 tion). 



If the foregoing plan will not cause 

 a shaking among the dry bones of bee- 

 dom — a revolution in the history of 

 ajoicultural progress — then this editor 

 is no profit. I give fair warning to all 

 bee-periodicals that are not backed bj- 

 a National Bank, or a lucky con- 

 catenation of favorable surroundings, 

 to clear the track or join my syndicate. 

 "Look out for the locomotive when 

 the bell rings." 



Forest City, Iowa. 



[The "Free Lance" may fight its 

 way to popularity — but the "goose- 

 eggs " will but poorly pay the expense 

 of printing, paper, postage, etc. It 

 will be a " free tight," and the editor 

 will soon have his hands full and purse 

 empty — for there are hundreds who 

 are spoiling to take part in a " free 

 fight." " To be or not to be ; that's 

 the question !" Like many others — it 

 will " be " awhile, and then " not be " 

 forever ! — Ed.] 



Pliotogpraplis nt Bee-Keepers.— 



The "medley" gotten up by E. O. Tuttle, 

 containing the faces of 131 representative 

 apiarists, and a printed sketcli of each one, 

 will be sent with the Bee Journai, for one 

 year for S1.75; or we will present it free, by 

 mail, to any one, for a club of three subscri- 

 bers and S3.00. 



THE HONEY-BEE. 



Ittii Anntoiiiy, Prodiictei, and Its 

 Relation to Plant Bloom. 



Written fur the American Bee Journal 

 BY KEV. E. T. ABBOTT. 



The story of bees reaches back be- 

 yond the pages of written history, and 

 can only be fully known by studying it 

 in the rocks of geological ages. As 

 this would not be of any practical 

 utility I will not attempt it, but will 

 call your attention to some of the spe- 

 cial features of its anatomy. 



The bee has some peculiarities of 

 structure worthy of our attention. But 

 first let me remark that a bee belongs 

 to the great class of animals known as 

 insects, so called from the Latin "insec- 

 tus " from •' in," into, and " seco," I cut, 

 because the bodies of many of them are 

 divided into parts— that is, cut in. 

 These parts in the bee are known as 



Queen-Bee. 



the head, thorax and abdomen. You 

 will notice that we do not call a man 

 who studies insects an insectolosist, 

 but we go to the Greek for a name and 

 call him an "entomologist," and the 

 science entomology from Greek " ento- 

 ma," and "logos,'' a discourse. Now, 

 this Greek word, " entoma," means the 

 same as the Latin word "insectus" — 

 " en," in, and " toma." to cut. 



But to return— our bee belongs to the 

 order of "hymenoptera," which means 

 that it has membranous wings, from 



Drone-Bee. 



Greek "hymen," a membrane, and a 

 word from the same language meaning 

 wing. It belongs to the family "api- 

 dije," or bee family, and to the Genus 

 known as "apis." 



Please note that "apis" is Latin for 

 bee, and that "apiary" is a place where 

 BEES and not "apes" are kept. An- 

 drews, in his Latin Lexicon, under the 

 word "apis," a bee, suggests that it is 

 derived probably from Greek "hapto." 

 to cling. "Apis," then, literally means 

 a clinging animal, which seems a very 

 appropriate name to one who knows 

 the habits of bees. To follow the bee 

 on down until we reach the individual, 

 it belongs to the species "apis mellili- 

 ca," so called because it gathers honey. 

 Of this species there are several races, 

 such as the German, or black, the Ital- 



