THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



25 



those ill the centre were lively and 

 ready to Hy or stin<? every time I 

 rolled back the cover. The bees on 

 the outside of tlie cluster soon died, 

 while those on the inside were always 

 lively. About the middle of Febru- 

 ary we had three days of warm 

 weather, and the bees showed signs 

 of bee-diarrliea, and carried out the 

 dead bees. Now, did those bees which 

 wintered (Mi the inside of the cluster 

 have the diarrliea, or was it only those 

 which were partly chilled which had 

 it? 



During the summer of 1870 a palent- 

 hive vender visited this neighbor- 

 hood. His hive bad 8 frames about 

 10x14 inches, with a moth-trap at the 

 bottom, and a honey-board with two 

 8-pound boxes for surplus honey over 

 the lirood-nest, with holes to corres- 

 pond in both honey-boxes and honey- 

 boa nl. 



Tlie vender's instructions were to 

 close the holes with a tin slide fur- 

 nished over the bees, when preparing 

 them for winter. Three of my neigh- 

 bors and my.self bought some of these 

 hives and transferred our bees into 

 them. AVe closed the holes in the 

 honev-board as directed, and tlie re- 

 sult was that all the bees died. The 

 bees which were in box-hives and log 

 gums, by the side of the patent hive, 

 lived and did well. What was the 

 cause of this V The box hives had no 

 ventilation at the top, but had plenty 

 at the bottom ; the patent hive had a 

 double door at the bottom, but a full- 

 sized entrance. By accident one of 

 my neighbors left the holes open in 

 the honey-board, and his bees in that 

 hive wintered all right. From that 

 we all took the hint and have had no 

 more trouble ; but we had tried those 

 hives two winters before we discov- 

 ered the difficulty. 



On page 809 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1884, is an article containing ad- 

 vice to beginners. It advises to smoke 

 bees at the entrance of the hive ; but 

 let me say, never smoke the bees at 

 the entrance unless you want them to 

 stop work for 10 or 15 minutes. If the 

 bees are gathering honey and the sun 

 is shining, it will not be necessary to 

 smoke them, otherwise you may have 

 to employ a little smoke. 1 would 

 never wish to manipulate the hive at 

 its rear end, but always at its side 

 with my right hand next to the en- 

 trance. Kever let the bees know that 

 jou are near them until you are roll- 

 ing back the cloth which covers the 

 frames ; uncover one-half of the 

 frames at a time, and if a bee alights 

 on your nose or hand, do not strike at 

 it. for if you do you will get stung ; 

 but if yoii pay no attention to it, nine 

 times out of ten it will not sting. At 

 least that has been my experience 

 with Cyprians. The figure o before 

 my name, at the beginning of this 

 article, indicates the number of years 

 I have been engaged in the bee-busi- 

 ness ; if others choose to follow the 

 suggestion, we will all understand it. 



Oakley, ? Iowa, Dec. 29, 1884. 



For tlie American Bee JouraaL 



The Secretion of Honey. 



F. A. HUNTLET. 



In every honey-producing plant 

 there is, each year, a varialion in the 

 amount of honey secreted. Some- 

 times a plant furnishes honey in fairly 

 paying quantities during alternate 

 years; and again, there will be sev- 

 eral years during which there is a 

 scarcity or a liberal supply. The same 

 species of plants in different regions 

 seldom afford a like supply of honey 

 from year to year. In man^ parts of 

 New York our common white clover 

 is the chief among honey-producing 

 plants ; while here in central Iowa it 

 was never known to yield a large 

 crop. During the past four years I 

 have anxiously watched the bees at 

 work upon the white clover blossoms ; 

 and, though at times their industry 

 has seemed marvelous, yet seldom 

 have they ever secured a surplus over 

 and above that necessary to their own 

 immediate wants. 



In this country, buckwheat is no 

 longer what we are at liberty to call a 

 honey-plant. Some ten years ago, in 

 this locality we realized crops of 

 honey in payingquantitiesfroni buck- 

 wheat; but since that time we have 

 seldom seen a trace of buckwheat 

 honey, even in our largest colonies. 

 Goldenrod has always yielded honey 

 plentifully, but it is fast disappearing 

 as the country becomes more thickly 

 settled, and basswood fails frequently 

 to furnish any honey at all. 



If the true cause of the occasional 

 failure in the secretion of honey by 

 the flowers could be ascertained, a 

 remedy might possibly be devised to 

 avert such frequent failures. Prof. 

 C. E. Bessey, Botanist of the Iowa 

 Agricultural College, suggests that 

 perhaps the iion- secretion of nectar 

 in white clover blossoms might be 

 due to the very rapid growth of that 

 plant while in bloom. This reason 

 may apply to all plants during their 

 time of flowering. A rapid growth 

 in the plant may cause an interrup- 

 tion in the secretion of nectar in the 

 blossoms. It has been many times 

 suggested that non-secretion of nectar 

 is due to either too wet or too dry 

 weather. The bee-keepers from dif- 

 ferent parts of the State, assembled 

 at our last State Fair, seemed to be of 

 the opinion that the honey crop of 

 the past season in Iowa was fully 

 two-thirds below the average. 



AVebster City, © Iowa. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



"Working Against Nature." 



i^" Do not forget to send for a 

 Binder in which to file your Journal 

 and thus have the full benefit of it 

 during the whole year. 



W. Z. IIUTCniNSON (68—94). 



Under the above heading. Dr. G. L, 

 Tinker criticises the Heddon method 

 of preventing after-swarming ; as I 

 have practiced the method for two 

 y.ears, perhaps I may be allowed to 

 reply. In the two years' practice, 

 about 60 colonies have been managed 

 upon this plan, and only one has cast 

 an after-swarm : there has been no 

 robbing nor any " disease." 



If the Doctor will carefully study 

 Mr. Ilcddon's method, I think that he 

 will admit that Mr. Ileddon never 

 proposed to follow the bliiul instincts 

 of nature whenever his reason was 

 superior. We find with bees as with 

 domestic animals, that our best in- 

 terests demand tliat we cross their 

 instincts at certain times, and exactly 

 accord with them at other times. 

 Every one else, except Mr. Mitchell, 

 has reported success with this method 

 of preventing after-swarming, and I 

 predict that he will in the near future. 



In the third paragraph the Doctor 

 evidently misunderstands Mr. Hed- 

 don. Mr. Ileddon has not said that 

 after-sicarms were always, or as a rule, 

 or ever, any advantage in the amounts 

 of comb honey secured, but that the 

 colony that cast a prime swarm came 

 out ahead, even with the after- 

 swarms, too. In the Heddon method 

 of preventing after-swarming, the 

 bees are changed from the old hive to 

 the new while they are of the same 

 parentage, hence it is really no " mix- 

 ing " at all, nor any incentive to rob- 

 bing, compared with the Doctor's 

 proposition to unite different colonies 

 in the fall. 



I am really surprised to see the 

 Doctor advocate the old, troublesome, 

 uncertain plan of cutting out queen- 

 cells, and returning the after-swarm. 

 Queen-cells are liable to be over- 

 looked, and more cells may be started 

 from the last laid eggs ; and besides, 

 the time necessary to look over the 

 combs, remove the cells and hive the 

 swarm, is at least five times greater 

 than with the Ileddon method in 

 which it is not even necessary to open 

 the hives. I would, also, like to ask 

 the Doctor if clipping queen-cells, 

 putting back after-swarms, and unit- 

 ing colonies in the fall, is any more 

 in accordance with " nature " than 

 the Heddon method of preventing 

 after-swarming ? 



Rogersville, 6 Mich. 



For the American Bee JuurnaL 



The Fecundation of ftueens. 



0. W. DBMAIIEE. 



Mr. r. L. Wright, In the Kansas 

 Bee-Keeper of Dec 15, 1884, gives one 

 of the very few instances in which 

 the meeting of the queen with the 

 drone has l)een observed by the eye of 

 man. Unfortunately for the deeply 

 felt want of positive information on 

 this subject, Mr. Wright was left to 

 guess at the most obscure part of the 

 hidden problem. Mr. John F. Conn- 

 ley, of this State, a man of keen 

 observation, informed me some time 

 since that he, on one occasion, saw a 

 drone chase and overtake a queen; 

 they grappled and fell to the ground. 

 He hastened to the spot and saw the 

 queen rise and fly away, and upon 

 looking for the drone he saw his lord- 

 ship deliberately crawl up on a piece 

 of rail and soar avifay to chase other 

 queens. Perhaps I have added some 

 to Mr. Connley's statement, but at 

 any rate the drone took wing and flew 

 aw'ay. 



In the season of 1882, my bees gath- 

 ered but little surplus honey ^n 



