596 



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Bees as Edut-ators.— Mrs. L. Harri- 

 son, in the Prairie Fai-mcr of last week, 

 gives tlie tollowing very iuterestiiig article 

 on the above subject : 



Educated Eyes.— No sooner does a per- 

 son become the owner of a colony of bees 

 than he looks around to see what are the 

 prospects of future gain. Heretofore he 

 drove or rode aloug the highways, noticing 

 the ruts, bridges, fences and houses, but 

 now his vision takes in a wider range. His 

 observation is quickened, and trees, slirubs 

 and plants have put on new life, as it were, 

 to his enlivened Jaculties. From the hrst 

 opening buds in spring, until the last rus- 

 tling leaf has fallen, his interest never lags, 

 as he constantly watches the opening 

 flowers, and notes with pleasure the busy 

 workers roaming over them in quest ot 

 treasure to store in their hives. 



Nectak in Weeds.— What was to him 

 once a useless weed, to be cut down with 

 the scythe, or whacked off with a hoe, is 

 clothed in beauty, and becomes a priceless 

 treasure. Whoever saw any beauty in the 

 figwort, or watched for the appearance of 

 its tiny cupboard, looked down into their 

 depths for the first appearance of sparkling 

 nectar, but a bee-keeper ? Or whoever saw 

 any utility in Spanish-needles, or beggar- 

 ticks ? There is a bond of friendship exist- 

 ing between the beekeeper and nectar-bear- 

 ing plants, and they appear to spring up to 

 greet him wherever he goes. The Indian 

 calls white clover '• The White Man's Foot," 

 and well he may, for its modest flower soon 

 appears as the harbinger of peace and 

 plenty. , , , . 



Soils.— The interest thus awakened in 

 plants, soon takes on a wider range, and ex- 

 tends to the soil. Seeds of sweet clover 

 (melilot) are scattered on gravelly soil, take 

 root, penetrating deeply, keep it from wash- 

 ing and dying and add to its fertility. Dreary 

 wastes thus become clothed with verdure, 

 adding to the beauty of the landscape and 

 yielding choice nectar, tit food tor gods. On 

 a recent trip of a dozen miles on a railroad 

 leading out from this city, we were agree- 

 ably surprised to find this plant growing 

 luxuriantly nearly the whole distance, and 

 some deep cuts were so covered with it that 

 the soil couldn't be seen. It is to be hoped 

 that the officers of railroads will appreciate 

 the utility of this plant in keeping the soil 

 from washing away and preventing damage 

 and danger thereby, and foster its growth. 

 I have seen the yellow variety of this plant 

 growing on the borders of salt marshes on 

 the shores of Long Island Sound. 



Moisture. — Marshes and wet lands along 

 rivers and watercourses, come in lor a share 

 of attention by the bee-keeper. His eye 

 quickly detects anything in the interest of 

 his winged stock. If by digging a ditch and 

 running off water tlie growth of favorite bee- 

 plants is promoted, it is done. He then 

 benefits his neighbors as well as himself, 

 for, as the ground becomes dry, blue-grass 

 and the clovers will take root, thus pro- 

 moting grazmg for stock, and malaria will 

 disappear. New plants will spring up as if 

 by magic, the button-bush (Cephalantlius 

 occidentalis) growing in water. It seems 

 as if the seeds ot honey-plants rattled from 

 the bee-keeper's clothes. The seed of many 

 honey-plants is food for birds, which are 

 our triends and co-workers in destroying 

 many noxious insects. 



Educated Eai:?.— As seeing is culti- 

 vated by bee-culture, so is hearing— even all 

 the senses are quickened, much better than 

 they can be in a kindergarten. How soon 

 the trained ear discovers the note of the 

 roljber, the sound of swarming, the piping 

 of queens, and the happy hum of plenty, or 



the sorrowful moan, when the queen is lost. 

 The sense of smell reveals the blooming of 

 apples, as also the opening of the fragrant 

 basswood, buckwheat, etc., and reveals the 

 presence ot that dire calamity, foul brood. 



Bee-keeping is, therefore, not only a 

 pleasant and profitable employment, but it 

 tends to lift up and exalt the intellect, and 

 educate the human senses. 



Pleasantries.— Prof. Cook, on page 

 602 of this issue says that " the Wiley lie " 

 was not a "scientific pleasantry "—there 

 was nothing scientific about it. Instead of 

 that, it was only a "glaring, mischievous 

 error," clothed in "the garb of science!" 

 The Professor is evidently correct. It is a 

 libel to call it "scientific." 



The Professor also gives some very em- 

 phatic decisions on honey being "digested 

 nectar," and Mr. Paul L. Vial Ion, Bayou 

 Goula, La., has sent us these criticisms on 

 the matter, which came to hand since the 

 page was " made up," which contains the 

 Professor's article. He says : 



X think Mr. Demaree gives us a pretty 

 good "pleasantry" when lie says on page 

 568 : " Pure honey is nectar of flowers 

 gathered by bees and reduced to proper con- 

 sistency by the internal heat of the bee-hive. 

 That's the whole of it." Will friend 

 Demaree please to theorize on that question, 

 and not let it remain in that crude state ? 

 As for the other part of the subject, he hits 

 the nail pretty well. 



CUapnian Honey-Plant.— Mr. R. 



Bacon, Verona, N. T., on Aug. 31, 1888, asks 

 the following questions about the seed of 

 the above-named plant : 



Please inform me as to when is the best 

 time to gather the seed from the Chapman 

 honey-plant, and how to clean it. 1 ob- 

 tained a small package of the seed, which 1 

 planted, and 1 find it to be one of the best — 

 if not the best— of honey-plants. I believe 

 that if bee-keepers would club together, and 

 plant a large area with it, it would add im- 

 mensely to our annual honey crop. 1 say 

 " club together," for it will hardly pay one 

 bee-keeper to plant it for all the surrounding 

 apiarists, but all should help in bearing the 

 expense, as all would reap the benefits. 



We refer this question to Mr. H. Chapman 

 for reply, which will probably appear in 

 our next issue. Seed can be obtained at 

 this office. 



Another Uee Story.— The following 

 is taken from the Chicago Daily News, and 

 was sent to it by telegraph from Martin's 

 Ferry, O., on Sept. 4, 1888. The bees must 

 have been very numerous down there to 

 have done so much cleaning up in so short 

 a time. It says : 



Mr. G. N. W. Stringer, a well-known and 

 reliable farmer on Deep run, was in town 

 to-day and told this wonderful bee story : 

 Yesterday Mrs. Stringer boiled down forty 

 gallons ot cider to ten gallons, put it iu four 

 tin pans, and set them on a table out-of- 

 doors to cool, covering the pans with a table- 

 cloth. Five hours later she went to the 

 table to take the cider in, and, much to her 

 surprise, discovered that the bees liad 

 emptied every pan, sipping the cider through 

 the table-cloth. 



A Peculiar method of dispensing 

 sweetness has been discovered by Mr. J. W. 

 Tefft of New York, as will be seen by the 

 following " notice " from the East Syracuse, 

 News of Sept. 1, 1888. It says : 



Mr. J. W. Tefft of Collamer will please 

 accept our thanks for his liberal donation of 

 several sections of honey last week. Among 

 the number was one marked " For the Office 

 Devil," with Mr. Tefft's compliments. Up- 

 on receiving the gift and immediately after 

 testing the quality, the devil enquired as to 

 the geographical position of Mr. Tefft's resi- 

 dence upon the globe. Our devil is quite 

 an ingenious chap and we would not be sur- 

 prised if he should invent a device to make 

 honey for the girls, as they were among his 

 most frequent callers during the past week. 



Xlie WortliAvestern Bee - Keepers' 

 Society is usually held in Chicago during 

 the last week of the Exposition. This year 

 the North American Convention is to be 

 held at Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 3 to 5, and 

 thus comes so close to the time for holding 

 the one at Chicago, that it is, by some, 

 thought best to omit it altogether. So many 

 of the members feel unlike making the out- 

 lay for attending it, after three years of 

 failure of the honey crop. If it is held at 

 all, the better time would be at the time of 

 the Fat Stock Show. The officers would 

 like to hear from the members on this point. 



IHr. !•'. Cliesliire says that the rearing 

 of a bee, from the egg to maturity, costs a 

 colony the equivalent of four cells of honey; 

 and it is only because a bee, in a fair yield, 

 is able to requite the colony with many 

 times its cost, that a large population means 

 surplus ; but if this population is brought 

 upon the stage after the harvest is over, it 

 becomes aconsuming instead of a producing 

 population. Hence the importance of hav- 

 ing the brood-rearing about over when the 

 honey-flow is at its best.— Exchange. 



Ho>v to Xest Drinking Water. — 



One of the simplest ways of testing drinking 

 water is to purchase a small quantity of 

 saturated solution of permanganate of potas- 

 sium from the druggist and put a few drops 

 of it into a bottle of drinking water. This 

 will turn the water a beautiful rose color, 

 but it the water contains any dangerous 

 amount of organic matter, in a lew hours 

 the water will change to a dirty reddish- 

 brown. If the color of the water remains 

 unchanged at the end of twelve hours it may 

 be considered comparatively pure. A yet 

 simpler way of testing the water is to put a 

 halt teaspoonful of pure sugar into a clean 

 pint bottle, three-quarters full of water, 

 cork the bottle, set it where it is warm for 

 two or three days and where it will not be 

 disturbed. If, during this time, the water 

 becomes cloudy or milky, it is unfit for 

 household use. If it remains perfectly 

 clear, it is safe.— N. Y. Tribune. 



Convention I^otices. 



iW The North American Bee-Keepers' Society 

 will meet at Columbus, O., on Wednesiiay, October 

 3, 1S88, and continue as usual in session for three 

 days. W. Z. Hutchinson, Secu 



I^~ Tne next meetinK of the Union Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will be held at* layton. Ills., on Thurs- 

 day and Krlday. October 1 1 and 1 2. IHSrt, in the Town 

 uail at 10:311 a.m. The Park Hotel will charnetl.oo 

 per day : the restaurants 25 cts. per meal. We ex- 

 pect Messrs Dudant, Hambaugb, Camm and other 

 prominent bee-keepers to be present. 



8. N. Black, Pres. 



