THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



421 



Explanatory.— The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous sprinj^: and fall, or fall and spring-, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named : 

 5 north of the centre ; 9 south ; O east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; ^northwest; 

 o» southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



Bees at Work on the Linden. 



[The folluwing, saya the BecKeevfrs' Magazine, 

 was read at a National Convention at Cleveland, 

 Ohio, about 12 years ago. The wonderful yields of 

 honey from basswood (linden) taken for three 

 successive years by J. W. Hosmer, of Minnesota, 

 made his fame proverbial, and tbe recital of the 

 facts by Mr. Hosmer himself, so worked upon the 

 poetic feelings of Mr. Whitford, that he at once 

 transformed a sublime poem, recounting the re- 

 sults of the conflict of mighty armies at war, into 

 that of a more numerous host busily engaged in 

 pursuing the arts of peace.l 



On Linden, when the sun was low, 

 (All ready were the combs of snow) 

 The bees began a feat to show. 

 Of honey-gathering rapidly. 



'Twas noon— and yet the July sun 

 Was half bee-clouded by ihe run. 

 Thai streamed to show what can be done 

 From Mr. Hosmer's apiary. 



With tiny trumpets fast arrayed, 

 Each •' stinger" sheathed ber battle-blade. 

 Nor laggard natives long delayed. 

 But joined the merry revelry. 



Then shook old heads with wonder riven. 



As past the bees their teams were driven, 



For swiftly through the light of heaven. 



Fair tlasbed the bright higurians. 



And wider yet their fame shall grow. 

 On Jjinden's sweets in combs of snow. 

 And greater yet sliull be tbe show 

 Of honey gathered rapidly. 



Well, Hosmer saw a splendid sight. 

 As forth he went to weigh that night. 

 Commanding John, his man, to light 

 The darkness of his apiary. 



The gain that day, per single hive 

 Was two pounds less than fllty-flve; 

 No wonder, then, bee-keepers thrive 

 Who understand their bees-ness. 



The interest deepens. On, ye brave. 

 Whose work and glory 'tis to save 

 Our friends, the bees, from cruel grave 

 Beneath a sulphurous canopy. 



Ah! few shall fail, and many meet 

 Success like this authentic feat. 

 When every tlower beneath our feet 

 Shall feed some dainty epicure. 



For the Amencan Bee Journal. 



Among the Bees in Spring. 



16— G. M. DOOLITTLE, (80—50). 



The warmth of spring has at last 

 reached us here in Central New York, 

 and the bees are enjoying it from morning 

 till night, at work or play (tliey act more 

 as it playing than anything else), in the 

 millions of yellow tassels which hang 

 from the hard maple, from whicli but little 

 else save pollen seems to be obtained ; 

 also upon the long, cone-like blossoms of 

 the golden willow from which they are 

 getting honey more abundantly than they 

 have done for several years past. A peep 

 inside of the hives of some of the strongest 

 colonies, shows that the cells are being 

 lengthened along and near the top-bars or 



the frames, which are well-filled with new 

 honey ; with all below full of brood in all 

 stages, except as some of the combs have 

 nearly as much yellow pollen in them as 

 there is brood and honey. This, of course, 

 indicates prosperity, and gives joy to the 

 heart of the apiarist. As 1 pass on from 

 hive to hive, this joy disappears, for soon 

 I come to hives from which no bees are 

 seen to issue, while others are so weak 

 that perhaps a minute will elapse when 

 but a single bee will go forth to the fields 

 or return with her load of pollen. Per- 

 haps tlie.se hives contained my most popu- 

 lous colonies la.st fall, but now they are 

 no more, or are so depopulated as to be of 

 little value during the season of 1S85. 



But it is of no use feeling gloomy or 

 sad, for this condition of things arouses 

 to action, and a feeling steals over me to 

 see how great an amount of cash and fun 

 can be gotten out of what bees 1 have left, 

 by dint of hard work, and an untiring en- 

 ergy bestowed upon them. But before 

 setting out for this purpose, I must glance 

 at the little blocks put on each hive, 

 which tells the condition of each colony 

 last fall, and the kind of stores it con- 

 tained, so that it possible I may have 

 some guide in the future, by which to 

 shun, if possible, a like disaster in com- 

 ing years. This glance reveals that of 

 those having natural stores, one-third are 

 dead, one-sixth are weak, and one-half 

 are the strongest colonies I liave ; some 

 of the hives being full even to the outside 

 of the outside combs. Of those having 

 only sugar syrup for stores, one-halt are 

 dead, one-third are weak, and one-sixth 

 fair, with none as good as the first named. 

 These latter had very little if any pollen. 

 Of those liaving stores of both honey and 

 sugar syrup, a la Hill, one-fourth are 

 dead, one-half are weak, and one-fourth 

 from fair to good ; by which it will be 

 seen that of tne three, those wintered on 

 their natural stores of honey and pollen 

 have really the most value in them. 



Regarding cellars and out-door winter- 

 ing, 1 have tlie most colonies in number 

 left from those wintered in the cellar ; 

 but if the bees and brood are to tell the 

 story, those wintered out-doors in chaff- 

 packed hives will count nearly two to one 

 of the others, by all of which will be seen 

 that this time 1 have gained but little light 

 on how to winter bees. But the winter is 

 past, and we have now to do with the 

 present, and the first thing I am to do is 

 to get each hive in as good shape as pos- 

 sible, for the comfort and prosperity of 

 its occupants. So I now begin on one side 

 of the yard and open tbe first hive. This 

 1 find has brood in only two frames, and 

 only small patches at that ; while the little 

 honey there is, is scattered throughout the 

 hive. I take the two frames having the 

 brood ill them and set them close to one 

 side of the hive, and then take all the 

 other combs (after brushing off the few 

 straggling bees there are on them) to the 

 shop. Alter getting a comb well filled 

 with honey, from the shop, which was left 

 by some of the dead colonies, I upturn and 

 Vdaee it close beside the other two combs 

 having the brood, after which a division- 

 board is nicely adjusted to suit the re- 

 quirements of the little colony, when the 

 quilts are carefully tucked about them on 

 top and down the side of the division- 

 board, and the cover put on. 



The entrance to the hive is now regu- 

 lated so but one or two bees can pass at a 

 time, and i-; so fixed that it comes beyond 

 the division-board, thus sluittii>g off the 

 pool outside air from coming directly 

 upon the bees. 1 now place a small stone 

 in-such a position on the cover that it tells 

 me in the future at a glance how this col- 

 ony is fixed, and I pass to the next. This 

 1 find to be stnmg, having brood in several 

 frames, while the sealed honey along the 

 top-bars of the frames tells that no stores 

 are needed. This colony needs no shut- 



ting up or anything of the kind, except to 

 carefully tuck the quilt down at the tt)p, 

 and give them about two iinthes in length 

 of entrance, when the little stone telling 

 the condition is placed on top. 



The next proves to be hardly a fair 

 colony, with lots of dead bees on the bot- 

 tom-hoard, which are carefully removed, 

 or a clean bottom-hoard substituted. As 

 they have brood in only three combs, they 

 are treated similarly to the first, except that 

 a frame of honey is placed on either side 

 of the brood, for such colonies are often 

 apt to get short of stores, as they have 

 few bees to gather from the flowers ; yet 

 they will rear brood quite rapidly. 



In this way I go over the whole yard, 

 putting each colony in the best possible 

 condition, when they are left undisturbed 

 until the time willow and hard maole 

 bloom. This part of the work is done' at 

 the time pollen first becomes plentiful, 

 and not during the time willow and hard 

 maple is in bloom, as perhaps Ihe forepart 

 of this article might lead one to believe. 



But now the willow and maple are in 

 bloom, and again 1 go over the yard as be- 

 fore, so I will again commence with col- 

 ony No. 1. After opening the hive, the 

 first thing I do is to look for the queen to 

 see if her wing is clipped, for you know 

 Doolittle is one of those believing in hav- 

 ing all queens' wings clipped. If I find 

 her wing not clipped, I take out my jack- 

 knife, the little blade of which I generally 

 keep sharp, and holding the frame upon 

 whicli I find the queen, in my right hand, 

 I carefully pick the queen off by taking 

 hold of her wings with the thumb and 

 forefinger of my left hand. 1 now lay the 

 frame fiat down .so the corners rest on top 

 of the hive, thus keeping it from catching 

 any bees below it, and between it and the 

 top of the hive, when I place the sharp- 

 edge of the knife-blade on the queen's 

 wings held between my thumb and fore- 

 finger. Both hands are now lowered with- 

 in an inch of the flat surface of the comb, 

 when the knife is carefully drawn a little 

 and the queen falls wingless on the comb, 

 and walks about as if nothing had hap- 

 pened. Do not say that they are clipijed 

 too short, for I can find two queens with 

 wings thus clipped, to where I could find 

 one if only a little of the wings were cut 

 of. There is no danger of cutting my 

 fingers it I stop drawing tlie knife as soon 

 as the queen falls. 



Having clipped the queen's wing, I ob- 

 serve the brood, and if I find it near one 

 end of the frames (there were but two 

 having brood in them in this hive, you 

 know), I change ends with one of the 

 frames which causes tlie bees to fill tlie 

 other ends with brood. If there is still 

 plenty of honey the hive is closed, and 

 the little stone moved to another part of 

 the cover, so as to tell me what was done 

 last. I now mark the hive as having a 

 queen with her wing clipped, and I pro- 

 ceed to the next, clipping the queen's 

 wing, if not already clipped, after which 

 I change the brood right around, i. e., I 

 place the outside frames of the brood-nest 

 in the centre, and tbe centre frames on 

 the outside. Do not understand by brood- 

 nest, brood-chamber, for often this brood 

 will be in only ft or O frames, and if 1 put 

 the centre of these on the outside of the 

 brood-chamber, so that frames having no 

 brood in them came in tbe middle of the 

 hive, I should spoil the whole thing. The 

 idea is this : The combs on the outside 

 of the broiid-nest are from one-third to 

 one-half full of eggs and larval bees, 

 while those in the centre are full of sealed 

 brood. Now this sealed brood can stand 

 a greater degree of cold than can the eggs 

 and larvse, yet it is in the place where it 

 gets the most heat, so by changing it 

 around I get the brood in right shape as 

 regards heat and cold, and also coax the 

 queen to fill the partly broodless fi-ames 

 in short order, even clear down to the 



