1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



807 



within a year your bees will most likely be mixed with those 

 around. If you know of no other bees near, or very few, then 

 make a good deal of effort tu have the best Italians. Of 

 course, it's better to start with the best in any case, but you 

 can see that if they are likely to be mixed with surrounding 

 bees, you can at any time introduce new blood, whereas if you 

 are alone and want to keep pure Italian stock it will be much 

 easier to have nothing else in the first place. 



Probably two colonies will be enough to start with, and 

 spring the best time to get them. Instead of trusting your 

 own judgment in selecting, better get from some one in whom 

 you have implicit confidence, and with his riper experience he 

 can tell which are the best colonies. Generally those dealers 

 who have been in business some time will be careful enough of 

 their reputations to treat you fairly. 



Instead of advising you further just now as to any pur- 

 chases, I advise you to get one or more catalogs of bee-keep- 

 ers' supplies and go to studying them. You'll find it lots of 

 fun, and after you've spent some time at it you'll be so mixed 

 up you'll not know so much as when you started, but after- 

 ward the mists will clear away to some extent and you'll begin 

 to have some idea as to what you want, and then you'll likely 

 have some very pointed questions to ask, which I shall take 

 pleasure in answering, providing your confidence in my judg- 

 ment has not entirely evaporated by that time. 



Sowing White Clover Seed. 



1. When should white clover be sown ? 



2. How many pounds to the acre ? 

 Denison, Tex. 



H. C. 



Answers. — 1. Probably at the time farmers in your lo- 

 eality sow other clovers. Although white clover grows by the 

 acre where I live, I have some doubt whether as much as a 

 quarter of an acre at a time was ever sown, only as it drops 

 its seed and sows itself. 



2. Because white clover is generally self-sown, it may not 

 be easy to find out how much seed should cover an acre. I'm 

 sure I don't know. At a guess I should say 40 pounds to the 

 acre would do uo harm, but half that much would make a 

 pretty fair catch, and five pounds would give a start that 

 would thicken up in two or three years. Now I've committed 

 myself by that latitudinous guess, and some one who knows 

 something about it can pick me up. 



What Ailed the Bees? 



What ails my bees ? Just after a warm day, after having 

 had a day's flight, there were found dead next morning a pint 

 or more of bees, and they continued to crawl out and die all 

 the day following. On opening the hive I found them to be in 

 a sluggish, stupor state, slow of movement, and unable to 

 guard the entrance. They would come out and open their 

 wings to right angle with their bodies, and stretch out their 

 bills to full extent and die. The end of the bill looked red and 

 moist as if they were exuding something. Could they have 

 found something on the day of their flight that poisoned them ? 



I thought since the brood-chamber and super were both 

 full to cover of honey, they might want more air, or at least 

 it might help the case, so I put an empty super on top so as 

 to give air space above the honey, and in 15 minutes they 

 seemed to revive, and were able to guard the entrance. They 

 did not spot the places where they sat, nor did they appear to 

 be swollen — the fact is, they seemed to be too lifeless and 

 stupid to fly. 



I can't think that giving them more air cured them, not- 

 withstanding they seemed to revive, for they were occupyiug 

 the same hive that they had occupied all summer, and if this 

 was the cause of their ailment, why was this effect not pro- 

 duced sooner? A. B. B., Lone Dell, Mo., Nov. 20. 



Answer. ^All I can do is to guess, and I don't believe I 

 can make any better guess than yours — poison. If any one 

 knows any more about the case, or has any more probable 

 guess, let him please take the floor. 



An Experience with the Porter Escape. 



I have been reading four bee-papers, and have looked in 

 vain for some intimation through them that others have had 

 the same experience with the Porter bee-escape that I have 

 had. I related my experience to Dr. Miller, but got no in- 

 formation. 



In the fall of 1895 I used a Porter escape on a colony of 



bees that had four supers of comb honey, three of which were 

 complete ; the incomplete super being next to the brood- 

 chamber. The escape was placed under the three. The bees 

 did not leave the supers readily, and on the second day the 

 sections were taken off, and the queen found above the escape 

 and returned to the brood-chamber. 



Two or three hours later, on passing the hive, I saw what 

 I thought would amount to three or four thousand bees in 

 front of the hive, dead and dying. I opened the hive, but 

 found nothing to show why those bees were killed. The 

 queen was all right, and did good work this year. 



What I want to know is, what was my mistake in the use 

 of the escape ? The loss of bees was so great that the colony 

 did no further work that season. I have had the same mishap 

 with two colonies this year. I do not like to give up the 

 use of the escape. J. B. D. 



DeWitt, Nebr. 



Answer. — I don't remember to have seen this question 

 before, and I always mean to answer in the paper designated, 

 all questions sent. I have some doubt whether your manage- 

 ment of the escape had anything to do with the matter. It Is 

 just possible — providing that the escape was put back after 

 putting down the queen — that the escape was clogged so as to 

 smother the bees in the supers, but in that case it seems not 

 likely they would have made their way out, but would have 

 remained jammed in the super. It seems a little more reason- 

 able to suppose that a stray swarm tried to force its way in, 

 and the bees were killed. 



Demorest's Cbristnias Xnmtter opens with a 

 most interesting article called "The Cradle of Christianity," 

 being a series of sketches of the Holy Land, written by the 

 Rev. Thomas P. Hughes, who has traveled all over that part 

 of the world. It is copiously illustrated with several full-page 

 and many other smaller pictures. Other interesting contents 

 are the following : The good old-time Southern darkey with 

 his queer customs and superstitions is admirably set forth by 

 Mary Annable Fenton. Howard Helmick contributes six 

 full-page drawings, and the smaller illustrations are charac- 

 teristic and delightful. The Fiction is furnished by Kate 

 Erskine and Margaret Sutton Briscoe, and is particularly at- 

 tractive and cheerful, as it should be for a Christmas number. 

 There is a very appreciative and interesting little sketch of 

 Eugene Field, written by Edwin C. Martin. It has both ex- 

 terior and interior view of the poet's home, together with one 

 of his comic sketches and other pictures. "Christmas in 

 Several Lands " is the attractive title of a delightful sympo- 

 sium, wherein the Christmas customs and the Christmas spirit 

 in various countries are pleasantly described by persons who 

 have had some part in them. In " Smelt-Fishing in Northern 

 Waters," J. Herbert Welch gives a spirited description of 

 winter fishing through the ice, accompanied by a number of 

 illustrations of the fishermen and their life there in their 

 lonely shanties. Ernest Jerrold has a charming little story 

 of a boy's love for a bird, entitled "The Fatal Knot-Hole." 

 Better send for a copy— only 20 cents. Address, Demorest 

 Magazine, 110 Fifth Ave., New York City. 



A Ne'w Binder for holding a year's numbers of the 



American Bee Journal, we propose to mail, postpaid, to every 



subscriber who sends us 20 cents. It is called "The Wood 



Binder," is patented, and is an entirely new and very simple 



arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 



Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 



Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 



reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can afford to 



get it yearly. 



.*-»-*■ 



The Alsike Clover L,eaflet consists of 2 pages, 

 with illustrations, showing the value of Alsike clover, and 

 telling how to grow it. This Leaflet is just the thing to hand 

 to every farmer in your neighborhood. Send to the Bee Jour- 

 nal office for a quantity of them, and see that they are dis- 

 tributed where they will do the most good. Prices, postpaid, 

 are as follows : 50 for 25 cents ; 100 for 40 cents ; or 200 



for 70 cents. 



<-.-* 



Xlie McEvoy 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. 



