1882 



(ILEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



609 



other sources. I wish I could send you a sample of 

 the honey. T am g'olng to inclose a sample of the 

 plant, and ask j'ou to name it. I can find no name 

 for it. It has been growing hero only about four 

 years, thriving everywhere. The old fields are cov- 

 ered with it, to the great annoyance of the farmer 

 and the joy of the bee-keeper. We had too much 

 rain in spring and summer to obtain much surplus. 

 Now, friend Root, while this report, as compared to 

 some others, is insignificant, to me it is quite satis- 

 factory, and I feel that my name should be added to 

 the list of those who are under obligations to you 

 and other writers for spreading a knowledge of sci- 

 entific bee-keeping. E. C. Fisher. 



Sissonville, W. Va., Nov. 8, 188:i. 



The plant you sent, friend F., is one of 

 the many species of asters. I am very glad 

 to know you are so well pleased with the 

 progress you have made. We have the same 

 kind of honey in stock that you mention, I 

 think. The flavor is good, but its dark color 

 is rather against its sale. 



HONEY FROM COTTON, ETC. 



I made some nuclei about the first of September, 

 and they have built up to nice colonies. We have 

 had considerable rain lately; but when the weather 

 was favorable, our bees gathered honey. The first 

 and second days of this month were fine honey days. 

 The bees gathered honey from cotton bloom (as I 

 supposed). It was very light-colored, fine flavor, 

 and very thin, so I could shake it out of the comb. 

 I have never before suspected that the bees got 

 much honey from cotton bloom. We seldom get 

 honey from it in this locality. Hor?cmint (not 

 " meat ") is starting finely for a crop next year. It 

 lives over winter, like wheat, and we may anticipate 

 a flow of honey from the start it gets in the fall 

 from rains. No frost yet. I have just been out hoe- 

 ing potatoes. They are cracking the ground nicely. 

 I will dig them when frosts come. M. S. Klum. 



Whitesboro, Tex., Nov. 6, 1882. 



HONEY FROM COTTON, IN NOVEMBER. 



Saturday, Nov. 11. — What a joyful sight! bees 

 tumbling over each other as if another grand flow of 

 honey from horsemint were here; bees filling every 

 cell as fast as the young ones come out; the cottfin- 

 fields alive with bees; the weather as warm and 

 pleasant as June; 74° Fah., 10 P.m., Friday night; 

 Saturday noon, 90° F. ; bees roaring at night as they 

 did last summer. Sunday brings a change. Oh how 

 sad to my little pets, but joyful to our afflicted 

 peoplel The thermometer ran down to 30° F.; to- 

 day, the 13th, all is drooped, and some hives have 

 lost nearly a pint of bees. I have some in chaff, to 

 try the difference this winter. B. F. Carroll. 



Dresden, Tex., Nov. 14, 1882. 



CYPRIANS AS GENTLE AS ITALIANS. 



The way I manage them I see no difference. I 

 open the hive carefully, using a little smoke; re- 

 move one comb, and set it down beside the hive. I 

 then, with a wing feather of a turkey, brush the 

 bees from the next frame while in the hive, blowing 

 in a whiff of smoke; this starts the bees to running; 

 and by this means, while extracting from my best 

 Cyprian stocks last summer, T seldom got a sting. 

 Dr. C. H. Hart says this Is the best way to get beca 

 from combs he ever saw, and then there is no dan- 

 ger of injuring your queen by falling in the hive. 



Dresden, Texas. B. F. Carroll. 



BROOD THAT DOES NOT HATCH. 



In the early fall I had 5 strong and 2 good swarms, 

 with lots of stores; in fact, I had serious intentions 

 of dividing 3 of them. Soon I noticed the brood did 

 not hatch out; it appeared chilled; but there was no 

 bad smell from it. I had one thickness of burlap 

 over the frames, and at once I put 2 and 3 thickness- 

 es more on; still the trood did not hatch, and some 

 of the young bees could only get their heads out, 

 and then would die. The bees commenced dwind- 

 ling, although they had plenty of stores on an aver- 

 age, to winter. I commenced feeding granulated 

 sugar in syrup, 8 lbs. to 6 of water, hoping to stim- 

 ulate them, taking care, while boiling, not to scorch 

 or burn it. I fed from 13 to 20 lbs. to the hive, as I 

 thought they needed it. To cap all, while in Toron- 

 to on Sunday, Oct. 22d, my bees commenced robbing, 

 and on Monday I had the remnants of three colonies 

 which I put together, and now have a moderately 

 strong swarm, with plenty of stores. Can you give 

 me any idea of the cause of all this trouble, particu- 

 larly the cause of the brood not hatching? I use 

 frames 18x10. My hives are double boarded, with 2- 

 inch space all around, some of them being packed 

 with dry leaves. S. G. Holley. 



New Hamburg, Out., Can., Oct. 27, 1882. 



I presume, friend H., that several of your 

 five colonies were tlius affected, but you 

 don't quite say so. I do' not think the 

 trouble was foul brood : for if I understand 

 you, the brood matured, and died only when 

 it was ready to bite out. I ttjink we have 

 had the same thing reported before, but 

 never any satisfMctory explanation. If it 

 were only' one colony, I would suspect it was 

 from some lack of vitality in the queen. 

 Brood would not chill with a fair colony, 

 even if they had no hive about them at all, 

 even during frosty weather. 



WHY DO FRAMES RUN THE LONGEST WAY OF THE 

 HIVE? 



In hives of the Langstroth form, most apiarists 

 use frames running the longest way of the hives. 

 What are the supposed advantages which give this 

 practice the preference? W. Bradford. 



Louisville, N. Y., Nov. 13, 1882. 



First, because it takes a less number of 

 frames, and we thus have fewer to handle. 

 Secondly, w^e have longer sheets of comb, 

 and so less ends and sticks to fill the hive, 

 and hinder the bees and queen. Thirdly, as 

 the bees go in, they can quickly get between 

 any two combs, right from "the entrance, 

 without traveling over the combs. Foui th, 

 the operator can stand on either side of the 

 hive Wlieu handling the combs, without get- 

 ting before the entrance and hindering the 

 bees. If the above are not reasons enough 

 for the prevailing custom, I presume some 

 of the friends can furnish more. I believe 

 the first is the most important reason. 



BLUE HONEY. 



Blue honey has been found about here. A man 

 named Kersey, who is a noted bee-hunter, and gen- 

 erally kept a few swarms in the old way, tild me 

 that he once found some swarms on the Mississippi 

 bottLms in autumn that had honey of a bright blue 

 color. He could not tell from what plants the honey 

 was gathered. The honey season here has been ex- 

 cellent, but the past spring was very bad. 



Lancaster, Wis., Aug, 3, 1882. Joel A. Barber. 



