Trim TSMERIC^N BEIE J^WmMMI^. 



437 



Another point raised by Mr. Evans is tlius 

 stated : 



One tiling more, in relation to tlie publi- 

 cation of Prof. Wiley's letter to me : I do 

 not know that he will care, yet Mr. Root 

 should not have published a private letter 

 without the consent of Prof. Wiley or 

 myself. 



Prof. Wiley never thought of asking per- 

 mission of the apiarists to publish his lying 

 fulmination, and anything that could ex- 

 plain his position on that subject belongs to 

 the public. The fact is, that he should have 

 written and lyuhlisheH a refutation of his 

 lying article years ago. 



Mr. Evans than concludes with the fol- 

 lowing : 



You say I am a " crank of the worst type." 

 because I take njore stock in the prayers of 

 action, which give our neighbor the needed 

 help or honest treatment, rather than by 

 wind praying. Well, I am glad to be a 

 "crank." I am a " crank" who does not 

 believe that Jesus ever made or drank fer- 

 mented hell-juice ; and I also believe that 

 we can do more for (iod in humanity, than 

 by running a wind-mill for His glory. 

 your "cranky " servant, 



W. M. Evans. 



Jt is not in order to discuss political or 

 religious topics in our columns, but when a 

 man calls sacraraental-wine "hell-juice," 

 we think he has justly earned the title of 

 crank. 



Thus is Mr. Evans driven from every 

 position he has taken. He said that the 

 Wiley lie was true, but its author admits 

 that it is a meie fabrication as a "scientific 

 pleasantry !" 



He positively denied that any responsi- 

 ble man ever made au offer of 81,000 for 

 proof of the manufacture of honey-comb, 

 filling it with bogus lioney and .sealing it 

 over by machinery— but we introduced him 

 to Mr. Uoot, who made the offer, who 

 proved his identity, and exhibited unchal- 

 lenged his responsibility for the amount 

 offered ! 



Recharges that the bees were being fed 

 with glucose to store it in the surplus combs 

 for the bee-keeper to put it upon the market 

 for the fraudulent profit to be derived there- 

 from— but we have shown that repeated 

 ti'ials of even feeding back pure honey to 

 be put by the bees into the combs to be 

 sold as comb-honey is unprofitable, and 

 can be done only at a loss ! No one would 

 think of adulterating any article, wlien it 

 could not be done at a financial profit ! 



We might go through his whole list' of 

 points with the same disastrous result to 

 him— but it is quite unnecessary ! He is 

 beaten at every turn, and now should 

 " crawl into his hole " and "pull the hole 

 in after him." 



Columbus, Ohio ; anil after quite a ^ood 

 deal i>f curresponilt'iice wilh souje ot the 

 meuibersof the .Siicinty, tlie Executive Com- 

 mittee decided to take a vote of the Society 

 in the matter. 



A circular was prepared- by the Commit- 

 tee a shmt time since, and a copy, with a 

 postal card directed to me, was sent to each 

 member of the Society by the Secretary, 

 stating tiie reasons for, and desirability of, 

 making the change, with the request that 

 each say on the postal what his or her wish 

 was ill the matter. When all but thirteen 

 had voted, X wrote to each of them asking 

 them to vote. All but six have responded, 

 and so far every vote but one has been for 

 the change ; so the m-xt meeting of the 

 Society will be held in Columbus, Ohio. 



1 have delayed giving this notice, so that 

 I might give the time ot meeting, but as yet 

 the Executive Committee has not been able 

 to a^ree on the time. 



Last week I sent the plan for the build- 

 ing tor the Bee and Honey Department of 

 the Ohio Centennial Exposition at Colum- 

 bus, to tlie architect. It is to be 36x80 feet 

 in size, and most of tlie space has been ap- 

 plied for. Applications for space and en- 

 tries close Aug. 6. 



A. B. Mason, 

 Pres. N. A. B. K. Society. 



I am told that there are many large api- 

 aries liere in Cuba, ot at least a thousand 

 eohmics each, all run on the same plan as 

 Is this small one 1 visited. I am afso told 

 that there are only three movable-comb 

 apiaries on the island. The first was started 

 by the Casanova Brothers, some five years 

 ago ; this one about two years ago, and one 

 now under way by Mr. A. J. King, near the 

 centre of the island. 



So far I am quite favorably impressed 

 with the honey resources of Cuba ; and 

 after 1 have been here at least a year, so as 

 to know from personal knowledge what 

 tliey really are, I will try to describe them. 



A C'iil>an Apiary is described by Mr. 

 O. O. Poppleton, late of Williamstown, 

 Iowa, but now in Havana, Cuba, in Olean- 

 inys for June 1.5, 1888. He described the 

 hives used, and tlie primitive method of 

 taking away the honey thus : 



Xlic IVortli American Conven- 

 tion is to be held at Columbus, 0„ but the 

 time is not yet decided upon. The follow- 

 ing from Dr. A. B. Mason on the subject 

 will explain itself : 



Several months since I suggested that the 

 place selected for the holding of the next 

 meeting of the North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Society be changed from Toledo to 



A few days as;o, Senor Pedro Perez, who 

 is as pleasant and friendly a neighbor as we 

 ever had anywhere, ottVred to take me to 

 see a native Cuban apiary, and J wiil de- 

 scribe tlie little 1 saw, so that your readers 

 will gi-t some idea how what is known to 

 commerce as "Cuban lioney" is obtained. 



Tlie apiary contained 80 colonies, which 

 is a very small one for Cuba. The hives 

 vari' d from to 12 inches square, inside 

 measure, the lari;e majority beiiig8and9, 

 and 3'j teet long, made by nailing four 

 boards, of the jiroper width and length, to- 

 gether, and a short piece of board over one 

 end. So far they were very similar, except 

 being longer, to tlie skeps, or gums, so many 

 of which are still in use in our own southern 

 States. They were not stood upon end, as 

 our people use them, but laid down on the 

 side, the same as are the earthen hives in 

 use in Cyprus and Syria. One entire end 

 of the hives wag left open, and this is the 

 only peculiar feature there is which is dif- 

 ferent from methods in use in other coun- 

 tries, and which have already been de- 

 scribed in the journals. The hives were 

 laid on poles, so they were about 2 feet 

 above the ground, the poles being supported 

 on crotches, old boxes, barrels, or anything 

 they could get. They were scattered 

 around among some large banana plants, to 

 protect from the sun. 



At least once a year during the honev-flow 

 in the winter,and sometimes also in August, 

 everything in the hives except the bees and 

 the small amount of comb that may contain 

 the brood, is taken away and mashed and 

 .strained by the old-fashioned processes. 

 The result is strained lioney containing all 

 the different grades ami flavors that may 

 have been gathered during the year. 



It was really interesting to walk around 

 among the hives and look directly intfi their 

 open ends, and see the bees clustered so 

 quietly on their combs ; but I could not help 

 thinking what au amount of fun there must 

 be should they once get thoroughly to rob- 

 bing. And, by the way, I find that bees do 

 not rob so persistently here in the South as 

 at the North, this being true, so far as I 

 have observed, both in Florida and here in 

 Cuba. 



Honey from tlie Poison-Ivy, etc. 



-John R. Sample, Elizaville, lud., on June 

 18, 1888, writes : 



Bees in this neighborhood are in good 

 condition for the honey crop, but the 

 weather is too dry for them to do much. 

 My bees are working on what I suppose is 

 poison-ivy. Is the honey poisonous ? We 

 are having a good rain now, and we hope to 

 have a good honey-flow yet. 



The American poison-ivy (Toxicoden- 

 dron) is closely related to the poison-oak, 

 of which there are two kinds very plenti- 

 ful in California, one being, poisonous, the 

 other not. Mr. Pryal speaks thus of it, and 

 the honey obtained from the one not poison- 

 ous : 



I have studied this plant, of which there 

 are two varieties in our vicinity— one pois- 

 iinous and the other not— and I have found 

 it to be a valuable honey-plant. In this I 

 am borne out by the testimony of others in 

 this State, who have watched bees working 

 upon it during its season of bloomings 

 which is in March and April— the two 

 varieties keeping up a large supply of 

 blossoms for almost two months. The 

 honey is quite clear and delicinus, and is in 

 fact for clearness and flavor equal to any 

 gathered in the vicinity of San Francisco. 



We would refer Mr. Sample to the article 

 on poisonous plants, page 435, first column, 

 of last issue of the Bee Journal, which 

 shows that nectar, being a secretion of the 

 plant cell, is charged with the active prin- 

 ciple ot the plant. 



From C H. lialce, of Catonsville, 

 Md., comes a sheet of Comb Foundation of 

 his " improved make." It has a parchment- 

 paper "mid-rib," the corrugations being 

 made in the usual way by passing the paper, 

 with a sheet of wax on either side, through 

 a Foundation Roller-Mill. -He calls it tlie 

 " indestructable," and we presume that it 

 is rightly named ; a sheet of the proper size 

 for a Langstroth frame weighs 7 ounces, 

 and costs about 20 cents. 



AI-»vays Mention your Post-Offlce, 

 County and State wlien writing to this 

 office. No matter where you may happen 

 to be for the hour when actually writing— 

 never mention anytliing but your perma- 

 nent address. To do otherwise leads to 

 confusion, unless you desire your address 

 changed. In that case state the old as well 

 as the new address. 



Scatter the L.eafletti. — Look at the 



list (with prices) on the second page. 



