1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



467 



No need of being afraid of not leaving enough — there are 

 always too many roosters. 



Shade. — Did you ever, on a hot day, see a hive in a yard 

 painted brown — not the yard, but the hive ? And did you not 

 feel as if you should hate to live in that house ? When the 

 thermometer stands at 100- in the shade, and at .... (how 

 much ?) in the sun, how can those bees keep their combs from 

 melting ? By forcing a current through that little hole in 

 front. And the owner has just given them a super, and he 

 wants me to explain to him why the bees did not fill it but 

 swarmed. I should swarm, too, if I lived in such a place. 



Ventilation. — That was one of the hobbies of old Father 

 Langstroth. During the honey harvest there is no need of 

 any colony remaining idle ; there is no need of " a beard " on 

 any of the hives. Every bee that, hangs in that " beard " is 

 losing precious time, and it is not from choice that they do 

 it, but from necessity, because the hive has not sufficient 

 means of ventilation. There may be room, there may be space 

 for air, there is not enough of one or the other, perhaps they 

 need both. Their home must be commodious if we wish them 

 to stay in it. A loose bottom enables the bee-keeper to raise 

 the hive up whenever needed, and to give as much space for 

 ventilation as may be necessary, especially if the hive is not 

 composed of a pyramid of narrow stories piled three feet high. 

 In that case I should want to give them some fire-escapes 

 along the way. 



These remarks seem perhaps superfluous to the bee-keeper 

 who lives in a cooler atmosphere. Here we have days after 

 days of 100^^ Fahrenheit weather, and the ventilation of the 

 hive is a serious matter aside from the need of it to prevent 

 swarming. In 1877, if I remember rightly, we lost a large 

 number of colonies from a failure to comply with the physical 

 laws, by placing our bees in such conditions that they might 

 keep their combs below the melting-point. Whole rows of 

 hives in an out-apiary five miles from home were damaged, 

 losing from one to seven combs, and if we remember rightly, 

 seven colonies were lost altogether by the breaking of every 

 comb from heat. 



But let us come back to the swarming question, and I am 

 done with only a few words more : After we have taken all 

 sorts of precautions we still have some swarms, Mr. Dadant, 

 senior, says 3 to 5 per cent. Sometimes we have more, but 

 sometimes less. In 1883-84 we harvested on the farm of 

 Mr. P. Charapeau — another Frenchman, Dr. Miller (not you) — 

 25,000 pounds of honey in two years, and had two swarms in 

 the two years. This was extracted honey, though, not comb 

 honey ; 87 colonies. 



On the other hand, in 1890, on the farm of J. P. Lamout, 

 we had an endless number of swarms. This was the best year 

 we ever saw, and the bees got away with us. We could not 

 keep up, as everything was full and overflowing before we 

 knew it. 



A certain percentage of colonies will swarm in spite of 

 anything that may be done. You must bear in mind that it 

 takes but little to induce swarming during a good honey har- 

 vest. If you introduce a strange queen in one of your strong 

 colonies, they may accept her under protest. In this case 

 they will go quietly to work and rear queen-cells to replace 

 her. Meanwhile they will let her go unmolested. If this is 

 during a honey-flow, in nine cases out of ten they will lead 

 her out with a swarm, even if the hive is not otherwise ready 

 for swarming, and with plenty of spare room. For the same 

 reason, if their queen shows signs of failing — this often hap- 

 pens when they become exhausted by the incessant laying — 

 they will at once prepare to replace her, and when the young 

 queen is reared, the swarm goes with the old queen, even 

 though their intention, perhaps, was not to leave in the first 

 place. Such primary swarms usually lose their queens before 

 he end of the season, as she is old and worn. When the hive 



becomes queenless from any cause, they have a good oppor- 

 tunity to swarm with one of the young queens. Dividing a 

 hive that prepares to swarm usually results in the swarming 

 of both the old colony and its divided swarm, as the swarming- 

 fever is not ended by a division. 



But, I believe Dr. Miller is smiling. I guess in all this 

 verbiage he has found some things that he knows (I wonder), 

 and perhaps also some that he knows aren't so. I will quit. 

 He spoke of witchcraft, but I assure you. Doctor, even old 

 Cotton Mather could not convict us. Hamilton, 111. 



Figwort or Carpenter's-Square. 



BY MKS. J. G. BIRCHETT. 



Believing that bee-keepers generally are interested in 

 plants that afford an average supply of honey, I write in ref- 

 erence to one that affords not only an average supply, but a 

 continuous one, as the number of bees thereon would prove, 

 from morning till night, from spring until late in autumn. 



Fortunately for us, and I trust equally so for some others, 

 I was induced by having read an article published in the Bee 

 Journal some time since, to test the merits of the honey-plant 

 usually called " carpenter's-square." We were not as success- 

 ful in finding it growing "commonly " as the article indicated, 

 nevertheless we secured two plants, and were unnecessarily 

 careful (as experience has proven) about transplanting them ; 

 however, they wilted comparatively none, and ere long re- 

 sumed their usual vitality, sending up numerous flower-stalks 

 to the delight of the bees, to say nothing of our own interested 

 selves. 



Had it not been for the honey-plant, our late swarms 

 could not have survived the winter, owing to the drouth of 

 last fall. While every flower and vegetation throughout was 

 thoroughly exhausted, by lack of moisture, the honey-plant 

 remained green and luxuriant, sending forth its usual supply 

 of bloom every day until killed by late-repeated frost. 



We have white clover, mustard, catnip, buckwheat and 

 an abundance of locust, cherry, etc., all of which do well 

 enough while they last. 



The honey-plant begins blooming about the time apples 

 cease, and continues until late autumn, as previously stated. 

 While it grows very large upon fertile soil, it shows up equally 

 as many flower-stalks upon thin land, so that I do not think it 

 inferior as a honey-producing element to those grown on richer 

 soil. I pinched out the top bud of an average plant of nine 

 flower-stalks, about three weeks ago, and now it contains 47 

 racemes, each from 4 to 12 inches long. I shall continue 

 pruning and report results later. 



This wonderful bee-plant is herbaceous, and the old plant 

 spreads, and semingly grows more luxuriant every year. The 

 seed should be sown in the fall, but it will not bloom the first 

 season until July or first of August. 



I should like to have the opinion of others who have given 

 this plant attention. Shelby County, Ky. 



[Prof. Cook, in his "Bee-Keepers' Guide," writes thus 

 about the above plant: — Ed.] 



Figwort, Scrophularia nodosa, often called rattleweed, as 

 the seeds will rattle in the pod, and carpenter's-square, as it 

 has a square stalk, is an insignificant looking weed, with in- 

 conspicuous flowers, that afford abundant nectar from the 

 middle of July till frost. It is a very valuable plant to be 

 scattered in waste places. 



Xlie nicEvoy Foul Brood Treatment is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on " Foul Brood ; Its Natural 

 History and Rational Treatment." It is the latest publication 

 on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for $1.10. 



