790 



THE MuyiERicMr* m'Bm jo^kkmi*. 



is very good, I use the standard size of 

 supers interehangeabl}- with the shallow 

 cases, on the strongest colonies. — G. 

 W. Demaree. 



The honey-yield never depends upon 

 the kind of hive, nor the shape of the 

 frame. Flowers yield honej', if any is 

 gathered ; bees are the gatherers, and 

 the combs ai'e the vessels to hold the 

 honey. We may get more honey in a 

 marketable shape by some method 

 Ihan we may by' another, but if the 

 llowers yield, and the colonies are 

 strong, and storage room is abundant, 

 a "log gum " will hold as much as the 

 finest hive in the world, of the same 

 capacity. (Give me credit for priority 

 on this statement. I think that I have 

 a "moral right" to it,)— J. M. Shuck. 



Economy would probably decide 

 this question in the negative. Two 

 sizes of frames are not only undesir- 

 able, but unnecessarily troublesome 

 and laborious in the manipulations of 

 the apiary. — The Editor. 



HONEY-BEES. 



Ancient Apicullural History and 

 JLiierature. 



Written Jtir the American Bee Journal 

 BV HENRY K. STALE!'. 



Bees have been known to man since 

 the highest antiquity, then living in 

 trees, caves, box-hives, or the conical 

 straw-skeps and other rude habitations 

 prepared by the ancients. That the}' 

 existed long before the Christian era, 

 we have the Biljle as our testimony. 

 Who has not heard of the "land flow- 

 ing with milk and honey ?" or of Sam- 

 son, how that, when he went down to 

 Timnath, to view his girl, he came 

 upon a young, stalwart lion, which he 

 rent with his hands ? or, how that. 



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Convention Notices. 



Cy The Nebraska state Bee-Keepers' Associatjion 

 will convene at Liucoln, Nebr., on Jan. 9. lO and 11, 

 188.9. J. W. UeaTEH, Sec. 



S3^ The annual meeting of the Ontario Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Associuimn will be held at Owen Sounrl, Ont., 

 onJan.snnda, 18k9. W. Coi'SE. Sec. 



XW~ The twentieth annual convention of the New 

 York State Bee-Keepers' Association will he held 

 in the City Hall, Syracuse, N. Y.. on Dec', il. 12 and 



13. IWS. U. a. KNICKBKBOCKKR, Sec. 



^^' The iSrd annual meetine of the Michigan 

 Siiiie l*ef-Keepei«' A.-i3ociaii<in will beheld in tlie 

 Council Ro.ini itt.Iuckson. Mich . on Dec. 12 and 13, 

 IKKH. Greiitlv re<lii'-cil rules huve been securcl at 



the Hurd Uou-e. siso jil Itu ninerciitl House 



(near the Mid. niiUL Central .lepot) at tl.f.oanil »l.iio 

 per day. A prou'r:ininic i« beiny prepared anil excel- 

 lent essays are aire uly pronnaeti. Any bee-keeper 

 having anylhing new and useful, and tlndincit liu- 

 ptis-ible tt) be piesent. can send it by Kxpress to 

 .TH<-k«"n ill (lire of the Secretary, who will place it 

 on exhibition and return it as per orders. Please to 

 cuuie auU brinn your Pee-lieepmg friends with you. 

 II. D. CDTTINO, Sec 



after a time, wlien he went to take her 

 to wife, turning aside to the vineyard, 

 he found the carcass of the dead lion 

 inhabited by a populous swarm of 

 bus}' bees, from whose ossiferous domi- 

 cile he partook of the honey and ate, 

 also oftering some to his parents ? 



And growing out of this came that 

 mighty riddle of riddles, which he put 

 forth at the marriage feast, completely 

 dumb-founding the would-be expound- 

 ers, viz: "Out of the eater came 

 forth meat, and out of the strong came 

 forth sweetness." A beautiful thought 

 this is indeed, how that out of a lion's 

 carcass could come that sweet, de- 

 licious honey, which the bees can 

 gatlier from the reddest clover tops to 

 the whitest buckwheat blossoms. No 

 wonder it tempted Samson, for what 

 boy or girl, when buckwheat cakes are 

 in season, does not desire the smooth- 

 healing honey for a covering ? 



It was on this riddle that Samson 

 declared, that if within the seven days 

 of the feast they could declare it unto 

 him, then he would donate them 30 

 sheets and 30 changes of garments ; 

 but if then they could not expound it, 

 lie tlien was to receive the same from 

 them. At first not being able to ac- 

 complish the desideratum, tliey got his 

 wife to entice her husband to tell her 

 the riddle, and she to them ; and hav- 

 ing plowed witli his heifer (as he .ap- 

 she nearly 



as a sequel of tliis riddle, emanating 

 from tlie bee, were 30 men slain at 

 Ashkelon by Samson, to purvey goods 

 for those who had wrongfully won the 

 guerdon of the riddle. 



This was not the entl of that slight 

 affair ; for, the Philistines having 

 burned Samson's wife, enraged him 

 the more, so that he took 500 foxes, 

 and, turning them tail to tail, put a 

 tire-brand between to tails, and let 

 them go into the standing corn of the 

 Philistines. Thus we can see, as "great 

 oaks from little acorns grow," terrible 

 results from meager things may follow, 

 as it does from those dirty and abomin- 

 able apicultural lies circulated through- 

 out the country. And I think that 

 that carcass ought to have the praise 

 of being the first frame hive, and pos- 

 sibly of giving the idea of movable- 

 frame hives to men. 



Honey as an Ancient Food. 



Honey was held in great esteem by 

 the ancients. Jacob, when he sent his 

 sons down into Egypt, had honey as 

 one of the gifts for the Governor. I 

 wonder if he thought it would soften 

 the temper of Pharaoh, or curb his 

 tongue and ire ; for you know how 

 sweet it tastes. 



The diet of John the Baptist in the 

 wilderness was locust and wild honey ; 

 and Solomon said : " Hast thou found 

 honey ? Eat so much as is sufficient 

 for thee, lest thou be filled therewith 

 and vomit it ;" and also, "It is not 

 good to eat too much honey j so for 

 men to search their own glory is not 

 glory." 



Not long after this Virgil sung of 

 them in his Georgics, and especially in 

 that renowned poem, the ^Eneid, when 

 lie compared them with the enthusias- 

 tic Tyrians, thus : 



*' Quails apes aetate nova per florea rnra. 

 K.xercet sub 80ie labor, cum gentisadultos 

 Kducunt tetus, aut cum li quentia luella 

 Stipant et (lulci disiendunl nectare celtas, 

 Aut oneru aceipiiint vementum aut agmine facto. 

 Ignarum fucos pecus :i praesaepibus arcent : 

 Tervet opus, redolentque thyme Iragantia mella. 



Even this great Italian poet had to 

 stop and muse upon these insignificant 

 insects, which albeit they do come into 

 close consanguinity with the dreaded 

 tape-worm, yet they are one of God's 

 o-randest pieces of mechanism among 

 the animal creation — microcosms in 

 themselves. 



The bee has two antennse jointed in 



pellated lier), until she nearly wore 



the life out of him, he, the man, who about twenty places. Do they not in 

 at his death, to be avenged of the 

 Philistines, pulled down the pillars of 

 a temple, tluis killing more men at his 

 death than in his lifetime ; he, the 

 man, with the new jaw-bone of an ass 

 slew a thousand living souls, and car- 

 ried off llie liiigt; doors of tlie gate of 

 Gaza, bar and all, had to submit to 

 that delicate creature — woman 



this peculiarity resemble the tape- 

 worm, tliat dreaded visitor of people ? 

 Tlie antenna?, like the yards of a sliip, 

 seem to be the directors of the bee, for 

 it is supposed tlirough them that the 

 bee is directed to tTie sweet-smelling 

 flowers, or skips to the blooming or- 

 chards, and sips the balmy nectar. 

 And The antenna; are the objects of touch. 



