  Dear Sir: Am in receipt of Vols. 1 & 2 of the “American Apiculturist” handsomely bound in cloth with an enormous golden bee on the front cover. Happy bee! to thus repose upon a production that has sprung up under the skies of Quinby, Carey, Parsons, Elwood, Alley, Hetherington, Doolittle, L. C. Root, and a The attractiveness of the book and its practical teaching should find for it a ready sale. Willamina, Yarnhill Co., Ore. S. M. Locke, Sir: I have just received your first and second volumes bound together in cloth, and must say that it exceeds my greatest expectations. Every beekeeper should have it. Pres. of the Willamette Valley B. A. Dear Sir: Vols. 1 & 2 of the “Apiculturist” received, and after carefully examining its contents, I have no hesitancy in pronouncing it fully up to any bee journal published. Its contributors are first-class, and show by their articles that they are men of ability. I highly approve of your treatment and condemnation of fraud in every shape. I am pleased to meet with the familiar face of our old friend Mr. Langstroth in Vol. 2. He lives within 200 yards of me, and is one of the dearest old men I ever knew. A person has only to know him to appreciate his worth. Battle Ground, Ind., April 13, 1885. Dear Sir: The “Am. Apiculturist” came safe to hand, and having examined its contents, or rather the headings of the major part of the book, I pronounce it ne plus ultra. It should be in the hands of every respectable beekeeper of our broad land, it being complete and full of most useful knowledge. With many thanks I am, sir, very truly yours in fraternal bonds of apiculture. P. S. I truly wish you success, in all that is good and honorable, and shall try to furnish an occasional article for the Am. Apiculturist. Please find this my second contribution to same. If acceptable you are at liberty to publish. Trusting the “Apiculturist” may live long and prosper, I am as ever, Friend Locke: I see by the last number of the “Apiculturist” much new and valuable information from England and Germany. Last fall I learned through a German journal that the poison of the honey bee was utilized in curing honey. A thought suggested itself to me which I hoped ere now I should have been in a position to practically test, but circumstances have been unfavorable and perhaps you know of some one who would take an interest in the matter. I intended taking a strong colony and feeding them, say 3 lbs. of syrup per day and allow the bees to seal this and extract with great care. Then feed the same colony 25 lbs. in a day of twenty-four hours (and it can be done) and after it has been sealed extract as before, during hot weather, and again later in the season, giving four distinct experiments, and then test the various syrups for difference, if any, of quantity of poison contained in stores. If a marked difference occurred after repeated experimenting the matter might be worthy of consideration and thus one reason why stores put in late are not as good as those given earlier. I must say a man must be too much of an enthusiast if he considers, as many appear to, that any one condition, if fulfilled, will insure perfect success in wintering. Doubtless much is to be learned in wintering, and theories advanced will often be another step towards success. If we only acted thoroughly up to our present knowledge and were more careful, the percentage of loss would doubtless be wonderfully reduced. We are pleased with Mr Holterman’s suggestions, and, if possible, will make some tests, as this matter is of more vital importance to beekeepers than they are aware. We shall refer to this again in the near future. Mr. Holterman has touched the right key; we must have more careful experimenting with a view to solving some of the mysteries that now surround apiculture, and we trust that others of our readers and beekeeping friends will offer like suggestions and also assist us in making the tests. It will pay you well to do so, and we can by this means help each other very much.—Ed.] FOOTNOTES:1 Read at the Beekeepers’ Congress, at New Orleans. 2 If our friend will visit us we will show him colonies of Italians that can be examined without fear of stings, and this with neither smoke nor protection.—Ed. 3 When working for comb honey, I return all of my swarms so that I get no increase that season.—D. F. L. 4 Doubtless our readers would be pleased to hear from friend Lashier again, and we trust that he will favor us with the article.—Ed. 5 Nature has wisely ordered it that generally only one-third of the bees in a colony fly out to the fields, so that the colony would not perish even if all the absent bees were lost through some mishap. 6 Literally magazine or wave house hive.—R. F. H. 7 We are unable to decide to what extent the “Chaff Hive” was liable for the loss of our friend’s bees, as quite frequently the lack of a thorough knowledge of beekeeping will result in loss of queens or bees which is attributed to the hive or dealer. Our friend certainly has a right to speak and the columns of the “Apiculturist” are always open to those who wish to express opinions, so long as they do so in a fair, manly way.—Ed. 8 By mistake this communication, which should have appeared in our last, was overlooked and as it contains valuable items we give it in this number.—Ed. 9 This paper was read at a meeting of the New York Microscopical Society, March 6, 1885. 10 The ocelli are simple eyes or lenses, set between the compound eyes, as additional organs of vision. These organs are possessed by all insects which have compound eyes.—Ed. Transcriber’s Note:Obvious printer errors corrected silently. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original. |
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