THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WEEKLY EDITION 



OF TUE 



^g^jgmiOAi*^. . , 



BujtoiN^ 



PUBLISHED BY 



THOMAS Q. NEWMAN, 



BnlTOK AND PUOPUIETOll, 



925 WEST MADISON-STREET, CHICAGO, ILL. 



AVcekly, JSS a year ; Monthly, SO cents. 



Vol. XXI. April 15, 1885. No. 15. 



len ; and they are always in quest of 

 honey from the same source. In dull 

 seasons, when strawberries are in 

 blossom, the action of the wind can- 

 not fertilize the pistilates properly, 

 in which case a colony of bees is 

 worth many times its cost, aside from 

 the profit realized from them. Last 

 summer I had 50 colonies and 25 

 nuclei, and after disposing of some of 

 them, I packed 25 colonies in chaff on 

 tlie summer stands. The last was a 

 poor season, and I obtained no honey. 



Bees Fertilizing the Flowers. 



One of our correspondents sends the 

 following item copied from the Ameri- 

 can Cultivator, which shows that bees 

 and fruit flourish together in England: 



Lord Sudeley's fruit plantations at 

 Toddington, in Gloucestershire, Eng- 

 land, extend to about 400 acres, and 

 the land was formerly an arable farm 

 rented at $5 per acre, which nobody 

 would take. The past season has not 

 been a good one, but 75 tons of fruit 

 have been gathered. There are 50,- 

 000 plum trees, 900 pear trees, 9,000 

 damsons, and 500 cherry trees. Of 

 small fruits there are 222,000 black- 

 currant bushes, 120.000 raspberries, 

 20,000 red currants, 100,000 gooseber- 

 ries, while 130 acres are devoted en- 

 tirely to strawberries. There are also 

 10,000 poplars, 100 Scotch firs, and 100 

 cobnuts, planted for sheltering pur- 

 poses. Lord Sudeley has established 

 a bee-farm as well, which he finds a 

 valuable aid in his fruit culture. 

 There are 170 colonies, and they have 

 proved most profitable. Adjoining 

 the apiary, is a rabbit warren of 200 

 acres, In which 6,000 rabbits are killed 

 every season. Lord Sudeley sells ail 

 bis fruit to a jam maker of Ealing, 

 who has built a jam factory at Tod- 

 dington. where 160 tons have been 

 made this season. 



But for the ott-repeated visits of 

 the bees, many a beautiful flower 

 "would in a short time cease to bud, 

 bloom, yield fruit, or even live ! Many 

 plants absolutely require the visits of 

 bees, or other insects, to remove 

 iheir pollen-masses, and thus to fer- 

 tilize them. In a letter just received 

 from Mr. F. D. Wellcome, of Maine, 

 he thus argues the point with " fruit 

 growers" concerning the utility of 

 bees to them : 



I find that bees are one of the best 

 investments for the fruit grower. I 

 find them especially helpful in ferti- 

 lizing pistilate varieties of strawber- 

 ries, etc., which blossom at a time 

 when they are in wantjof much pojr 



1^ Mr. V,. Ames, of Thorndike, 

 Maine, has sent us a device for re- 

 versing frames. It consists of a piece 

 of galvanized iron bent something 

 like this : 



-I r 



to be fastened to each end of the 

 frame. The projecting ends are simi- 

 lar to those of the Novice metal cor- 

 ner ; the sides of these corners are of 

 the same piece, with a flange to pass 

 about J4 of an inch over the end-bars 

 to hold them in place. In the end- 

 bars screws, about one inch from the 

 top and bottom, pass over a hole in 

 the galvanized iron to which is con- 

 nected a slot, running downwards, 

 and the screw passing into this slot 

 holds the frame in position. This 

 makes a strong, durable and easily- 

 manipulated device. 



Take it just as it is, spread, and cut 

 awav the back from each end, smooth 

 with the narrow strip, and just far 

 enough to shove into the entrance of 

 the hive. To use, close it as much as 

 is desired, and shove it into the en- 

 trance, observing that the ends fit 

 closely to the hive, and tight enough 

 to not be easily moved. The upper, 

 or J's-inch strip, serves as a false 

 alighting-board, and will be used by 

 the robber bees, while the robbed col- 

 ony will use the true one. The small 

 and shallow mitre allows a single bee 

 to stand before the entrance under 

 good backing, and no robber will ven- 

 ture within its grasp. I had a colony 

 which had given up, and were clus- 

 tered in another part of the hive ; I 

 smoked and jarred them until the 

 robbers were all out, and closed the 

 entrance for an hour or two, until 

 they came down to the entrance to 

 get out, then I forced the slides apart 

 while robbeis were still thick around 

 the hive. The bees of the robbed 

 colony burst out on the alighting- 

 board and became quite thick, and be- 

 fore they returned they had dis- 

 covered the Thermopylfe which I had 

 constructed for them, and they suc- 

 cessfully defended it afterwards. 



. ^" Mr. W. M. Woodward, of Cus- 

 ter, Ills., sends us a robber-proof 

 entrance-block and remarks as fol- 

 lows concerning it : " Any one troub- 

 led by robber-bees may be glad to 

 learn of a simple device which, if 

 made and used rightly, will effectually 

 prevent their depredations. It will 

 efiectually shut out robbers, and yet 

 allow the bees of the colony to pass 

 in and out at pleasure." He adds : 



I make it thus : Take a piece Mx% 

 of an inch, and as long as the hive is 

 wide ; another piece the same length 

 by % of an incli, plus the thickness of 

 the hive stuff, in width, and as thick 

 as to fit tightly into the entrance, but 

 not exceeding % of an inch, else it 

 may give room for more than one bee 

 to pass in the perpendicular. Saw 

 squarely off the thin piece, in the cen- 

 tre, and mitre two corners back }i of 

 an inch each way. Be particular 

 about this, as it is one of the secrets 

 of success. On the mitred side of the 

 thin pieces slit with a saw i^ tlie 

 length from, each end, and }4 of an 

 inch from the edge. To put the pieces 

 together, place the two thin pieces 

 upon the %-iiich side of the long 

 piece, with the mitres together, and 

 ttie mitred side even, and nail with 

 flat-headed wire-nails y of an inch 

 from the outer ends. Slide the pieces 

 as far apart as thev will go, and then 

 nail i/i( o£ an inch from the inner end. 



1^ The " Canadian Bee Journal," 

 is the title of a new bee-paper pub- 

 lished by D. A. Jones & Co., Beeton, 

 Ont. Names are plenty enough with- 

 out taking that of Bee JournaT, which 

 for a quarter of a century has been 

 the name of our paper. It is not only 

 unjust but umcise, for it will cause 

 much confusion among patrons and 

 agents. The Dominion of Canada is 

 a part of America, and as such it is 

 fully included in the cognomen of 

 The AmekicanBee Journal. Why 

 not have taken the name of one of the 

 scores of bee-papers that have died, 

 instead of appropriating that of the 

 oldest living bee-paper on the Ameri- 

 can Continent V We have none but 

 the kindest feelings towards the jiew 

 paper, but its name should be changed. 



m" From A. J. & E. Hatfield, South 

 Bend, Ind., comes a section-case for a 

 Langstroth hive to hold 24 one-pound 

 sections, arranged with wood separa- 

 tors. The sections rest on iron slats, 

 and the separators run the whole 

 length of the case. It is a nice arr 

 rangemeut. 



Catalogues for 1885.— We have re- 

 ceived the following : 



.1. H. & W. Robertson, Pewamo, Mich. 

 H. H. Brown, Light Street, Pa. 



F. W. .Jones, Bedford, Quebec, Canada. 

 C. Weckesser, Marshalh'ille. O. . 

 C'hai'lesD. Duvall, Speneerville, Md. 



G. R. TyrreU, Laporte, Ind. 



C. M. Goodspeed, Thorn Hill, N. Y. 

 P. 0. Updegraff & Co., Irving:t«n, Ind.— 

 Poultry and Stock. 

 1 ,]. V' Cotta, Lanark, ill ,— J'nijt, 



