838 



Tmm s;ME^Ricsrf mMM jo^mMmiL, 



THE DYIIVO YEAR. 



The New Year comes,ancl on her wings doth 



bear 

 A holy iraerance, like the breath of prayer; 

 Footsteps ot angels follow in her trace, 

 Witnessing tlie Old Year's death in holy 



peace. 



The stream is calmest when it nears the 



tide, 

 And flowers are sweetest at the eventide, 

 And birds most musical at close of day. 

 And saints divinest when they pass away. 



Morning is lovely— but a holier charm 

 Lies folded close in evening's robe of balm; 

 And weary men must ever love her best. 

 For Morning calls to toil, but Night to rest. 



All things are hushed before her, as she 



throws 

 O'er earth and sky her mantle of repose ; 

 There is a calm, a beauty and a power. 

 That morning knows not, in the evening 



hour, 



"Until the evening" wemustweepand toil. 

 Plow life's stern furrow, dig the weedy soil, 

 Tread with sad feet our rough and thorny 



way. 

 And bear the heat and burden of the day. 



So when our sun is setting, we may glide 

 Like Old Year's evening, down tlie dying 



tide ; 

 And leave behind us as we pass away 

 Sweet, starry twilight round our sleeping 



clay ! 



COLORS AND BEES. 



Are Bees Attracted by the Color 

 of Flowers ? 



Written for tJie American Bee Journal 

 BH PKOF. L. H. PAMMEL. 



On page 700 Mrs. Mahala B. Chad- 

 dock takes objection to the statement 

 that changes in color of flowers, after 

 they have been pollinated, and the 

 secretion of nectar has ceased, is de- 

 veloped for the apparent purpose of 

 Indicating to insects, that their services 

 are no longer needed, thereby saving 

 them much waste 0|f time in probing 

 such flowers. 



In many flowers, the fertility de- 

 pends upon the insects which visit 

 them. The more frequent the visits 

 of insects, the greater tlie fertility. So 

 that color as a guide is not only ad- 

 vantageous to insects whicli visit 

 flowers, but the plant in return is ca- 

 pable of producing more and better 

 seeds, thus giving it a better chance in 

 the battle of life. 



That odor is important in attracting 

 insects, is an established fact, which 

 no one disputes. Most naturalists 

 agree that color is an important factor, 

 in attracting insects to flowers, and 

 that they have done much to develojj 

 the colors in flowers. 



In nearly all of the brightly colored 

 flowers, pollination is efl'ected by in- 

 sects, as in mints, larkspurs, colum- 

 bines, honey-suckles, salvias, etc., but 

 in tlie inconspicuous flowers of the 

 hazel, walnut, oak, grasses and sedges, 

 it is done by the wind. 



Will Mrs. Chaddock please explain 

 why the sunflower should have de- 

 veloped the large, conspicuous ray- 

 flowers surrounding the head ; tlie 

 vermilion red tracts surrounding the 

 flowers of poinsettia ; the bright red 

 corollas of bee-ljalm, or the rose purple 

 corolla of the dragon-head, and numer- 

 ous other cases which might be men- 

 tioned ? Have the colors and forms 

 of flowers been developed merely to 

 gratify and please our senses ? 



The simple statement that insects 

 are attracted " by scent and not color " 

 has little weight. Experimentally it 

 has been shown by Sir John Lubbock, 

 in " Ants, Bees and Wasps," chapter 

 X, page 274 ; and by Hermann Muller, 

 in "Versuche ueber die Farbenlieb- 

 haberei der Honig-biene," Kosnias, No. 

 10, Vol. XII, page 273, that bees pos- 

 sess an acute color sense, readily dis- 

 tinguishing such colors as blue, green, 

 orange, red, white and yellow. It does 

 not follow froni this, that insects rea- 

 son because colors are discerned, any 

 more than a bee uses reason to con- 

 struct its cells. 



St. Louis, Mo. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



The Japanese Variety — Its Seed, 

 Flower and Honey. 



Written for Gleanings in Bee Culture 



BY PEOF. A. J. COOK. » 



As you requested, I send my conclu- 

 sions after raising a crop of Japanese 

 buckwheat. I thought at the time, 

 that ,$3.00 per bushel was a good deal 

 to pay for seed ; but now after r.aising 

 the crop I do not regret that I paid it. 

 I sowed one-half early in June, and 

 the remainder late in the same month. 

 Thus the field was in blossom a long 

 time. 



When the blossoms first opened, the 

 bees visited them freely, though upon 

 close oljservation it was found that the 

 bees ceased gathering from these 

 flowers sometime before the flowers 

 faded. 



Common report hath it, that bees 

 will not work after noonday on the 

 flowers of common buckwheat. This 

 was not true this season on the Japa- 

 nese variety ; bees were on the flowers 

 at all times of the day. But what as- 

 tonished us all was the prolificness of 

 this buckwheat, and the great size of 

 the berry. All who saw it said they 

 never saw its equal. 



I sowed it on the site of an old 

 brick-kiln — solid clay soil with almost 

 no humus, and yet I had a fairly good 

 crop. I took two bushels to mill, that 

 we might test the flour. The miller 

 said he never saw so little waste in 

 buckwheat, nor such enormous ker- 

 nels. Of course the little waste would 

 follow from the large size of the ker- 

 nel. We have tested the flour in 

 griddle-cakes with maple syrup, and 

 pronounce it A No. 1. 



Dr. Beal says he believes that this 

 is our common buckwheat, Fagopyrtim 

 cscuhnlum. As buckwheat is a native 

 of North Asia, this is quite likely true ; 

 but one has only to see the two side by 

 side, to be convinced that this Japa- 

 nese is a distinct and well-marked 

 variety. 



Let me suggest reasons why farmers 

 (especially bee-keeping farmers) should 

 sow buckwheat as a part of their crop 

 rotation. First, it is sown late in 

 June, and the comparative leisure 

 after planting gives opportunity to 

 prepare the ground. Secondly, it is 

 an excellent crop to precede corn on 

 land that is infested with wire-worms. 

 It seems to starve out these terribly 

 destructive grubs. Again, it is a 

 profitable crop, often paying as well 

 or better than does wheat. It also 

 gives us the basis of our buckwheat 

 cakes, which, with maple syrup, will 

 tempt the most capricious appetite. 

 Lastly, buckwheat furnishes ofttimes 

 abundant nectar for the bees when all 

 else fails. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



OVER-PRODUCTION. 



Over-Stocking and Legislation 

 for Bee-Keepers Considered. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY J. W. TEFFT. 



Many very interesting articles have 

 appeared in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal concerning over-production and 

 legislation for bee-keepers, but they 

 do not hit the mark, I think, or at 

 least do not strike it in the centre, and 

 make a convincing argument. There 

 is no such thing as apiarian over-stock- 

 ing or over-production ! The trouble 

 lies in mai'keting the product. Im- 

 pecunious honey-producers create an 

 unfortunate depression of prices by 

 selling honey at any figures that maj' 

 be ottered ! We might legislate until 

 doom'.s-day to cui'e this evil, and ac- 

 complish nothing. 



Many are fitted by nature and ex- 

 perience to manage large apiaries, and 

 their tact, judgment and knowledge 

 of human nature enable them to suc- 

 ceed, where others ignoniiniously fail I 

 They use discretion, and only in cases 



