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EDITOR. 



VoiniV, May 30, 1888. Ho. 22. 



Kv«r, I..variiiug; auil exploring the 

 fields of thought, speculation and invention 

 — still the best apiarists have yet much to 

 learn about bee-lieeping, and the manipu- 

 lation of bees, and the marketing of the 

 honey product. Much yet remains to be 

 learned, much to unlearn, and still more to 

 be developed from that which has not yet 

 evolved from the human brain. 



flailing; Queen-Bees to Canada. 



—Last week we published a letter from the 

 Superintendent of Foreign Mails, announc- 

 ing that though queen-bees could not now 

 be mailed to Canada, that a modification of 

 the treaty was expected so as to admit them. 

 Dr. S. W. Morrison, of Oxford, Pa., wrote 

 to us on the 34th inst., the following con- 

 cerning the matter : 



I am requested to address a cage with 

 bees to the Superintendent of Foreign Mails 

 for transmission to the Canadian authori- 

 ties for examination. Permission to send 

 queens by mail to Canada will be surely 

 arranged for within the next week. 



Holy I^aud Bees.— A correspondent 

 writes the following queries for answer in 

 the Ajierican Bee Jouknal : 



What do you know about " Holy Land 

 bees ?" Are they better than the Italians ? 

 If so, I want queens. Who rears them for 

 sale ? I see none advertised, and why not ? 



The Holy Land bees are good workers, 

 and are favorites with many bee-keepers. 

 If our memory serves us right, we have 

 advertised them for some breeders. They 

 ought to know enough about , business to 

 "keep these matters before the people," 

 especially at the proper season for selling 

 queens. The American Bee Journal is 

 unsurpassed as an advertising medium, and 

 offers advantages possessed by no others. 



Cremation.— Mr. L. C. Wemple, of 

 Rogers' Park, Ills., is now traveling in 

 California, and has sent us the following 

 cut from the Los Angeles, Calif., Tribune 

 of April 33, 1888. It seems that Mr. Hinde, 

 who was very far behind the spirit of the 

 times, has cremated .500 colonies of bees, 

 sacrificed them to ignorance and supersti- 

 tion. The Tribune says : 



Mr. Hinde, of Anaheim, who burned up 

 500 colonies of bees, possessed by himself, 

 because the alleged Ijusy little workers had 

 been engaged \n pillaging his neighbor's 

 orchards and vineyards, must be a man 

 made of the same stern stuff as that which 

 went to the mental and physical composi- 

 tion of our Pilgrim fathers. He is honest, 

 certainly, to a fault— for he destroys his 

 own property to save the property of others 

 —but after all I cannot find it in me to com- 

 mend his act. 



He did not think of the bees, you see, wlio 

 were to suffer a fiery martyrdom for obey- 

 ing their natural instincts ; and yet the bees 

 had rights. They had the right to live out 

 their little span of life, to gather sweets, and 

 to alight upon the flowers, and to flash their 

 wings in baths of sunshine. 



Mr. Hinde's bees were probably not con- 

 senting parties to their burning, either, and 

 it they had not been so blinded by smoke as 

 to forget all about their possession of a 

 business end, I have no doubt that they 

 would have endeavored to bring the gentle- 

 man to a realizing sense of that fact. But 

 it is very doubtful whether they would have 

 been successful even under the most favor- 

 able circumstances. 



A man of his stony heart and adamantine 

 conscience must be the possessor of an 

 epidermis totally impervious to so small a 

 thing as the sting of a bee. And it he was 

 not, a thousand stings would not turn him 

 from what he conceived to be his duty. 



Superstition has brought untold woe upon 

 the world, and men of Mr. Hinde's stamp 

 have long been a curse to the world. He is 

 a slave to an erroneous idea. The bees were 

 busily engaged in fertilizing the flowers, 

 increasing the fruit, and proving a blessing 

 to the orchard and its owner, and yet in his 

 blindness, the owner of the bees cremated 

 them, and thus repaid them for their gener- 

 ous labors by instant death. 



This is the same piece of superstitious 

 stupidity as that of the bee-keeper who 

 closed the entrances to his bee-hives on 

 Saturday night to prevent them from work- 

 ing on Sunday ! Such ignorance is inex- 

 cusable in the full blaze of the light of the 

 closing years of the nineteenth century ! 

 The fiat of the Almighty is: "Let there 

 be light," and it behooves men and women 

 of the present day to help scatter the light, 

 and banish darkness and superstition from 

 the earth. 



Tvro-Onnce Sections. — We have 

 received a frame containing 20 " two-ounce" 

 sections for honey (that is to hold two- 

 ounces of honey when filled) from Mr. W. 

 Harmer, of Manistee, Mich. The frame 

 came safely by mail, with pieces of foun- 

 dation in each, and when put on our desk, 

 attracted considerable attention for several 

 days. It now occupies a place in our 

 Museum. These two-ounce honey sections 

 were fully described on page 393. If they 

 can popularize honey by putting it up in .5- 

 cent packages, all will bid them welcome. 



'riiat Xreiiil»ling^ Misease.— Salt 

 as a cure for the trembling disease in bees 

 has been recommended by several in these 

 columns, and now comes Mr. C. H. Dibbem 

 with the result of a trial in his apiary. He 

 remarks, under date of Milan, Ills., May 33, 

 1888, as follows : 



It seems that some bee-keepers are seri- 

 ously troubled with what is usually called 

 the trembling disease. I had a colony last 

 fall that was badly affected, and had dwind- 

 led away to a mere quart. I had heard salt 

 recommended, and I gave them a sprink- 

 ling with salt water on top of the frames, 

 but had little faith in it. The disease has, 

 however, entirely disappeared, and the 

 colony is strong again and hard at work. 



A Riddle.- S. M. Keeler, of Chenango 

 Bridge, N. T., propounds this riddle for ex- 

 planation : 



Concerning the Chapman honey plant, I 

 read in the American Bee Joitiujal, page 

 308, the committee appointed at the Detroit 

 Convention, report that the seed may be 

 scattered in waste places ; that it seems to 

 root out all other vegetation and take pos- 

 session, etc., to commence with, and then 

 closes with this remark : " It does not 

 spread in seeding." Can you, Mr. Editor, 

 solve this riddle ? 



Oh ! " riddle me, riddle me right "—that 

 is easy to solve I 



That committee was well-" rooted." In 

 fact it consisted of tivo Roots (L. C. Root 

 and A. I. Root), and N. W. McLain. They 

 commenced at "the root of the matter," 

 and at first stated that it was " character- 

 istic " of the plant to " root " out all other 

 vegetation, and take possession of the soil. 

 That is done by the roots— not the seed ! ! 



Now at the end of the report they speak 

 of the seed, and declare that " as it does not 

 spread in seeding," that the winds do not 

 carry the seed, because it is not provided 

 with baloons for that purpose, and there- 

 fore it is not like the Canada thistle, " a 

 pest or noxious weed," and its extirpation 

 is therefore easily accomplished ! ! 



When the "roots" and the "seed" are 

 kept separate, the " riddle" vanishes out of 

 sight ! ! 



Xlie Votes on the location of the next 

 meeting of the North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Society are coming in. Dr. Mason re- 

 ports that 63 of the 81 votes so far received 

 from the members, are all but one (which 

 is not against it) in favor of the change to 

 Columbus. We felt sure that there was no 

 question but that the vote would show that 

 the members desired the change, under the 

 circumstances. 



Now, it should be borne in mind that, as 

 this is a migratory convention, it is not best 

 to decide upon a location a year in advance. 

 It should adjourn subject to the call of the 

 executive committee, who, during the in- 

 trim, can canvas the claims of the different 

 localities and decide upon the best, all 

 things considered. This would save trouble 

 and annoyance, and would often be of great 

 advantage to the Society, and save members 

 much of the cost of railway transportation. 

 This matter should be thought of when an 

 adjournment is taken at the next meeting. 



