Volume 17 — THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL THOMAS C. NEWMAN. Editor and Proprietor. CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 6, 1881. The Lessons of the Hour.

“Sweet are the uses of adversity,” is a trite remark credited to Shakespeare, we believe. The winter of 1880-1 will long be known as one of the most severe in its nature and direful in its effects, not only in America but throughout the world.

A gentleman from Minnesota assures us that in the southern part of that State fully 10 feet of snow has fallen since the great storm of Oct. 14. Losses and privations have been the rule during the past 5 or 6 months. Fuel has been so scarce that in some places even the “liberty pole” has been sacrificed for use as fuel; those sections cut off from communication have been deprived of tea, coffee and sugar, and the coffee-mill has been made to serve the purpose of the flour-mill, to grind wheat for family use.

Heavy sleet storms have destroyed the timber, the principal sufferers being peach, soft maple, hickory and elm trees.

Birds, sheep, cattle and hogs have perished by thousands, being deprived of food and shelter and cut off from succor by the waves of death from the north and west, and the oft-repeated blizzard. Even mankind is no exception—untold numbers have been sacrificed upon the altar of the storm-king. Snow, hail, wind, blinding storm and blizzard-blast have united with poisoned air and miasmatic vapor to sweep men, women and children into the tomb, and is it any wonder that our pets—the bees—should suffer in common with all other forms of life?

But how difficult it is to discover the “sweet uses” of all this adversity! True, it may point out the more hardy kinds of trees, insects, birds and stock, to withstand the rigors of such seasons—upon the principle of “the survival of the fittest”—and it may teach men a valuable lesson on the necessity of securing more perfect ventilation, drainage and pure water.

When the unprecedented season shall have passed, let us try to fathom these deep lessons in respect to our bees. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here which we could learn in no other way. Close observation and profound study will no doubt be amply rewarded. “Let patience have her perfect work.”

☞ Dr. Ehrick Parmly, the genial Recording Secretary of the North American Bee-Keepers’ Society, made us a very pleasant call last Thursday afternoon, on his return from a three weeks’ tour through Colorado. We are glad to say the Doctor was looking and feeling remarkably well after his extended trip, and his jovial good nature done much to banish the gloom occasioned by the drizzling and monotonous snow which was then falling.

Is Bee-Keeping a Failure?

Now that the winter is drawing to a close, and the chilling blasts are becoming more fitful and spasmodic under the tardy but certain approach of spring, we begin to contemplate with an inward feeling of gratification the genial sunshine and gentle showers with which Nature will awaken to life; the far-stretching fields clothed in emerald green, the lawns and lanes with their grassy carpets, the air laden with the sweet perfume of the blossoms in garden and orchard, the trees in forest and grove animated with the feathered songsters whose little lives seem an incarnation of happy melody—all these will combine to help us forget the dreary hours of the past, and with keener zest enjoy the future. But how many will miss the cheerful hum of the myriads of toiling bees, whose flitting wings were wont to bear them from flower to flower, where they gathered nectar fit for a banquet of the gods.

We can scarcely wonder that many have become discouraged and almost doubt whether bee-keeping pays, when they think of the meager honey yields of two successive summers, and view the untenanted hives and soiled combs which are left as the sequel to their cherished hopes for the future. However, none should be too hasty in passing judgment. With the hives and combs already provided, more than one-half the original investment is saved, and with a propitious season for the present, our losses will be made good with a credit in our favor on the balance sheet. We cannot expect bee-keeping to be profitable every season, any more than any other special branch of industry which is dependent upon natural causes, but we can with forethought, industry and systematic perseverance, make it as reliable as any other, and now that many will be compelled to begin anew (or comparatively so), we suggest that they begin aright. It will not be a guaranty of success that they use the best hive, nor that they have an abundance of bees; a familiarity with all the recognized authorities and a mind crammed with theories, will often fail; the industrious brown bee will seek in vain, the gold-banded Italian bee will tire in its flight, and even Apis dorsata will view its stores with dismay, if there be no nectar-laden bloom from which to gather.

Now is the time to invest for the future. Every dollar judiciously paid out for seeds of honey plants will bear compound interest—will be “bread cast upon the waters.” The traditional two or three weeks of honey-flow can, with a trifling expenditure, be made to last more than as many months; a succession of bloom can be secured, so that should northerly winds or wet weather prevail for a time, it would not carry dismay to our hopes and starvation to our bees. If, as we hope and confidently believe, the present should prove an unparalleled honey season, it will ameliorate the only tenable objection to melilot or sweet clover, which is that it blooms but little or none the first season; and we can well wait till another season for our “sweet” reward from it. There are many other plants which we believe would repay cultivation in honey alone, but not one that will bear comparison with this Esau of the vegetable kingdom. Never was a better time to start in right than now, and never can we truthfully say bee-keeping is more hazardous than other industries, or less remunerative, until we have made some provision against natural failures and seasonable disasters. Every bee-keeper should, in justice to himself, test this matter of planting on a sufficiently extensive scale to satisfy himself. We feel confident of the verdict.

Law Against Adulteration in N. Y.

We have received the following copy of the bill against adulteration, referred to on page 92 of the Bee Journal for March 23. Mr. L. C. Root remarks: “The readers of the Bee Journal are, no doubt, interested in the progress being made regarding the bill upon which action was taken at the late session of the Northeastern Bee-keeper’s Association. The subject is one of marked interest to bee-keepers in general. I send you a copy of the bill, which may be of interest and which shows the progress thus far made.”

Assembly of New York.—Introduced by Mr. Root—read twice and referred to the committee on trade and manufactures—reported favorably from said committee and committed to the committee of the whole.

An Act, To prevent fraud in the adulteration of sugars, syrups, molasses and honey.

The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Sec. 1. Any person, company or corporation engaged in the manufacture, refining or mixing of sugars, syrups, molasses or honey for sale, who shall mix the same with glucose or grape sugar or any other article of adulteration, shall, before selling or offering the same for sale, cause to be marked on the cask or package in which it is contained, the percentage of glucose or adulteration therein contained, such mark or label shall be in plain Roman capital letters, not less than ½ each in dimensions, in black ink or paint, and on the upper and most conspicuous part of the cask or package.

§ 2. Any person, company or corporation who shall sell or offer to sell such mixed or adulterated sugars, syrups, honey or molasses containing glucose, grape sugar, or any articles of adulteration, shall expose or sell the same in or from the original packages in which it was consigned from the manufacturer or mixer to the same, and shall be plainly and conspicuously marked or labeled as required in the first section of this act.

§ 3. Any person who shall violate the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be liable to a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $200, or to imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 60 days, or both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

§ 4. This act shall take effect on the first day of June, 1881.

Circulars and Catalogues.—The following Circulars and Catalogues are on our desk:

E. A. Thomas, Coleraine, Mass.—4 pages—Choice Italian Queens and Bees.

Kennicutt & Keyser, Tecumseh, Mich.—4 pages—Poultry and Bees.

Bright Bros., Mazeppa, Minn.—20 pages—Apiarian Supplies.

S. Valentine, Double Pipe Creek. Md.—4 pages—Italian, Albino and Holy Land Queens and Bees.

L. C. Root & Bro. Mohawk, N. Y.—12 pages-Bee-Keeping Supplies, Quinby’s New Bee-Keeping, &c.

I. R. Good, Nappanee, Ind.—1 page—Holy Land Bees and Queens.

H. Barber, Adrian, Mich.—1 page—Russell Hives, Italian Queens and Bees.

Geo. H. Lamb, Wilmington, N. C.—1 page—Italian Queens.

J. M. Brooks & Bro., Columbus, Ind.—2 pages—American-bred Italian Queens and Bees, and Apiarian Supplies.

F.A. Snell, Milledgeville, Ill.—18 pages—Bee Hives, Italian Bees and Apiarian Supplies.

H. A. Burch & Co., South Haven, Mich.—40 pages—Bees, Queens and Bee-keepers’ Supplies.

Riegel & Drum, Adelphi, O.—8 pages—Italian Bees and Queens and Apiarian Supplies.

A. T. Blauvelt & Co., Blauveltville. N. Y.—16 pages—Fruit and Ornamental Trees.

Vennor’s Predictions for April.

So remarkable have his predictions been fulfilled in the past that we hope we shall not be disappointed in his predictions for May weather during at least a part of this month. The following are his probabilities for April:

There will be sharp frost in the beginning of April, with a snowfall on the 4th or 5th, but the spring will open favorably, and everything will be pretty well advanced by April 15. Floods may be expected in Chicago about the first week in April, with high winds also prevailing in the early part of the month. Snow-falls are probable about April 5. Navigation is likely to open on Lake Ontario about April 7.

The St. Lawrence will be open about the 9th or 11th, and the first steamship will probably arrive about the 17th or 18th. The weather will be very stormy in the Lower Provinces about the 20th, with very high water prevailing, but in the West, April will be a dry month. There will be warm weather just following the 20th, ending in thunderstorms on the 24th and 25th. Snowstorms are probable in the far West on the 25th and 26th, and snow-falls are not unlikely to occur in England at the close of the month. The month will end wet and cold, but, on the whole, will be like a May month.

Two Queens in a Hive.—Mr. Fradenburg says: “I think I can throw a new ray of light on this subject, which is now-a-days attracting some attention among bee-keepers. I have come to the conclusion that there are but just two causes or conditions in which two laying queens will be found in a hive at once—the first is the superseding of an old and failing queen, in which case each queen seems to have a sort of reverence for the other; the second condition is that the bees in one part of the hive do not know at all times what is going on in another part of the hive. This assertion may raise a storm of opposition among the fraternity, but I believe I have the positive evidence to support it.”

☞ We have received a very nice specimen of thin foundation for surplus boxes, made on the Root Mill, from G. W. Stanley, Wyoming, N. Y.

☞ This issue of the Bee Journal, the first in the month, goes to all the subscribers of the Weekly, Monthly and Semi-Monthly. Should any of the latter wish to change to the Weekly, they can do so at any time, by paying the difference.

☞ We can supply but a few more of the back numbers to new subscribers. If any want them, they must be sent for soon.

☞ California has had its floods, and now the Northwest is having a severe experience in the same line. According to Vennor our turn is next. Let all be watchful, and prepare in time, if possible, to avoid loss.

☞ Single copies of the Journal are sent postage paid for 5 cents each.

☞ Constitutions and By-Laws for local Associations $2 per 100. The name of the Association printed in the blanks for 50 cents extra.

☞ The Volume of the Bee Journal for 1880, bound in stiff paper covers, will be sent by mail, for $1.50.

☞ When changing a postoffice address, mention the old address as well as the new one.