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Honey Prospects. — A correspondent 

 writes us in the following very disconsolate 

 manner : 



Not a swarm from ray apiary consisting 

 of 100 colonies, and not a tea-spoonfnl of 

 surplus honey this year. At least 50 of the 

 hives are ruuning over with bees ready tor 

 the harvest, but clover is gone, basswood is 

 fast passing away, and the only hope now 

 tor honey is from buckwheat and fall 

 flowers. 



Apropos to this doleful account is the fol- 

 lowing from the Bee-Keepers' Record, con- 

 cerning the season in England : 



Our anticipations of an early yield of 

 honey have not been fulfilled, and we have 

 to record an exceptionally backward state 

 of things in all that pertains to surplus 

 storage. Colonies which had made splendid 

 progress all through the month of May, 

 have some of them perceptibly fallen off in 

 strength, while others have barely kept up 

 their condition of a month ago, and the 

 complete dearth of nectar, coupled with cold 

 nights and dull, cheerless days, have caused 

 bees to desert surplus chambers previously 

 being well pushed forward. It is a long 

 time since we can call to mind a more irri- 

 tating state of things from a bee-keeper's 

 view than has been experienced during the 



§ast three weeks, in fact all through June, 

 ometimes we have had several bright, 

 sunny days in succession completely lost to 

 the bees through a steady, cold northeast 

 wind blowing the whole time. 



A forcible illustration of the way in 

 which adverse weather militates at;ainst 

 bee-keepers has just occurred to ourselves 

 in this way : Witliina minute's beetliaht 

 of our apiary, was an eight or ten acre lield 

 of what should have been oats, but which, 

 owing to the thick undergrowth of Char- 

 lock, or wild mustard, has for many days 

 been a perfect sheet of beautiful yellow 

 bloom, so dense that the unfortunate farmer 

 gave up as hopeless all idea of clearing it. 

 He was gazing at it sorrowfully one day as 

 we parsed, and could not heln observing, 

 with just a liltle bitterness, " this will suit 

 you bee-keeping aentlemen, won't it." 

 " (S>me, come now John," we replied, " you 

 know M)C didn't plant it, but it just shows 

 that 'it's an ill-wind that blows nobody 

 good,' that's all." Of course we fancied 

 tliat a very marked lnerea>e to our crop 

 would result fiom the close proximity of 

 such a magnificent bee-garden, but the " ill- 

 wind'' (northeast) blew so persistently 

 while the bloom lasted, that all this sweet- 

 Dess was wasted, and only on two days did 

 the bees work ou it at all. 



Of the season in Scotland, the same paper 

 remarks as follows : 



The month of June has hitherto been ex- 

 ceptionally cold. The second week opened 

 with unprecedented snow-storms— in some 

 parts (5 inches of snow was reported. Since 

 then we have scarcely had a night free from 

 frost, and this is the 20th of the month. The 

 consequence has been in not a few instances 

 the death of colonies from starvation, and in 

 many the adult bees only saved themselves 

 by devouring the juices of the grubs. The 

 supply of pollen previously obtained having 

 been unusually large, colonies that were 

 syrup led during the cold spell, kept on ad- 

 vancing in strenHth, and ou the whole are 

 not much behind usual. 



Up till now we have seen no preparation 

 for swarming. Most of our colonies are 

 occupying two stories, one being nearly full 

 of brood. Until honey comes in more freely 



we shall not use any sections. From other 

 districts we hear complaints of backward- 

 ness, swarms being still reported "early" 

 ifi the newspapers. Highland bee-keepers 

 should look forward to a full heather bloom, 

 which is ensured by the due rains we have 

 had already, and which will probably be 

 early. . 



Concerning the season in Ontario, the 

 Canadian Bee Juurmil remarks as follows: 



At this date we have nothing encouraging 

 to say as to the prospect of the entire sea- 

 son's crop. Up to this time the take has 

 not been large, atid as the dry weather con- 

 tinues basswood will not likely amount to 

 much. In some localities there has been a 

 fair amount of yield from clover— Muskoka 

 has not done badly. Waterloo has come 

 out with a medium crop, as have also the 

 southern counties. Slnicoe has nothing to 

 boast of, as far we can learn. On the whole, 

 there will not be over one quarter crop. 



The price will, however, be in iiroportion, 

 and we stronsjly advise all who have honey 

 to sell, and who can do so conveniently, to 

 hold it until the fruit season is over, and 

 then to ask a rea-^onable price for it, com- 

 mensurate with the supply. 



If " misery loves company," it may have 

 considerable of it this year— for, ou the 

 whole, so far, it has been the poorest of all 

 the poor years immediately preceding it. 

 But such comes occasionally to all pursuits, 

 and is usually followed by a boomi?ig sea- 

 son, so that we may reasonably expect such 

 a refreshing time next year. Let ns hope 

 tliat its realization may be duly and promptly 

 enjoyed. 



Swarm of Itees in a House. — 



This is how a newspaper reporter "dishes 

 up "an item for the press concerning the 

 antics of a swarm of bees : 



While S. S. Brown, of Long Island, was 

 at lunch with his family, the doors and win- 

 dows being open, a swarm of bees entered 

 and made themselves at home on the furni- 

 ture and bric-a-brac, and inspected at 

 leisure the food on the table. 



Mr. Brown, his two daughters, and a 

 friend from New Y<irk, who had precipi- 

 tately retreated from the house, rallied 

 some of the neighbors and returned. The 

 bees being still in possession, a counsel of 

 war was held. 



Some wanted to attack them with noise, 

 and some with brimstone, while others 

 argued that brimstone would make fearful 

 odors, and a terrible mess with dead bees. 

 Loud shouts, pounding on pans and kettles 

 and all that sort of thine, would possibly 

 result in the enemy making a bayonet 

 charge that would be disastrous. 



It was decided to give them a little more 

 time, and the family found refuge in an ad- 

 jacent building. Some of the neighbors 

 tiually got tired of this, put covering on 

 their faces and hands, built fires in the 

 erates, covered the chimneys and smoked 

 out the visitors. 



The buzzing began to increase again, and 

 the bees migrated. It has not been ascer- 

 tained where they came from, or where 

 they went to. The walls, ceilings and cur- 

 tains of Mr. Brown's residence were con- 

 siderably soiled by the insects. The num- 

 ber of bees is estimated to have been be- 

 tween four and five thousand. 



Xlie Augusta, Georgia, National Ex- 

 position for 1888, opens Oct. 10, and closes 

 Nov. 17. 



Xlte Uritisli Bee Journal, our es- 

 teemed cotemporary in London, was de- 

 ceived by the statement of the Dairy Com- 

 missioners of New Jersey, in reference to 

 the adulteration of American honey, as 

 shown on page 387 of the American Bee 

 JouBNAL. The matter receives attention 

 in tile last number of our British cotempor- 

 ary, in this manner : 



Our article was written in the interest of 

 bee keepers and bee-keeping, and we have 

 never hinted that bee-keepers ever adulter- 

 ated houey, and we should repudiate such 

 an idea quite as strongly on behalf of our 

 American cousins as our friend the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal does Our object is to 



protect the interests of bee-keepers, be they 

 Enullsh, American, or of any other country, 

 and we should not be doing our duty if we 

 did not expose what we knew was doing 

 them harm. If it is shown that the whole 

 thing is a hoax or a trick of trade, we shall 

 give it every publicity. 



We have no desire to prolong this discus- 

 sion, but will say that we are very glad to 

 learn that the B/ittsh Bcc Jowtuil desires 

 to protect the interests of American bee- 

 keepers—which, from its former articles, 

 we were led to doubt. 



Still Anotlier.— In the Farm, Field 

 and Stockman of last week we notice this : 



Of the several hundred samples of honey 

 examined at a late meeting ot the St. Louis 

 Society of Microscopists, not one was imita- 

 tion, but the majurity of them were adul- 

 terated with such stuff as glucose, grape 

 sugar, etc. 



The State chemists and microscopists are 

 apparently making a raid on honey just 

 now— to try to crush its use, and drive it 

 out ot the market. It is very sure that they 

 are talking of something they know nothing 

 about. 



The fact is, that honey produced on dif- 

 ferent soils and under various climatic con- 

 ditions, differs so much in its constituent 

 parts that no one can ivith positive certainty 

 decide upon its purity. 



This fact accounts for all the floundering 

 among the chemists and microscopists when 

 they attempt to decide ou the purity of 

 honey. 



To believe the assertions made by this 

 St. Louis Society, we must admit that more 

 than one-half of the honey on the market is 

 adulterated, very many of the honey-pro- 

 ducers and all the honey dealers are 

 frauds ! ! A thing which will be utterly 

 repudiated by honey-producers universally. 

 They may not be more honest than other 

 men, but they certainly are not more fraud- 

 ulent. We know hundreds, and perhaps 

 thousands, who would rather die than to 

 perpetrate frauds upon innocent purchasers 

 of their products. 



A lazy, eareless, slovenly Per- 

 son will fail in bee-culture as in everything 

 else. There can be no harmony or feeling 

 of sympathy between such a person and 

 this marvelous insect, whose name, for ages 

 past, has been emblematic of industry. So 

 says an exchange. 



