THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



539 



doubtless they destroy all extra and 

 useless cells as soon as their instincts 

 tell them that the swarming season is 

 over. There can be no coilsistent 

 argument brought forward to show 

 that the instincts of the queen prompt 

 her to do anytliing that would prevent 

 the propagation of her kind, and as 

 she cannot be moved to such acts by 

 a rational feeling of jealousy, as all 

 feelings for the opposite sex are sup- 

 posed to be lost as soon as she has 

 mated with a drone, and become fer- 

 tile, the whole matter must be a mis- 

 take. 







Good Honey Season.— D. K. Knoll, 

 Salamonia,ot Ind., on Aug. 13, 1885, 

 ■writes : 



I had 19 colonies of bees in the spring 

 of 1SS5 for work, in good condition, and I 

 have 3.000 pounds of honey (half comb 

 and lialf extracted). They increased to 

 38 colonies ; I sold 2, leaving me 36 colo- 

 nies for tliis season's work. They in- 

 creased by natural swarming. 



Good Lot of Honey,— T. F. Bing- 

 ham, Abronia, P Mich., on Aug. 19, 

 1885, writes : 



We have a lot of good extracted honey 

 for this region, but it is not yet sold. 



No Basswood. — O. B. Barrows, 

 Marshalltown,© Iowa, on Aug. 14, 

 1885, writes : 



Bees did well while white clover lasted, 

 but tlie basswood secreted ne honey. I 

 did not see a bee at work on the linden 

 blossoms, and as that is one of our prin- 

 cipal sources, the crop of surplus in this 

 section will be light. 



The Syrio-Albino Bees.— Dr. G. L. 

 Tinker, New Philadelphia,o+ O., on 

 Aug. 14, 1885, writes : 



I mail you to-day a box containing some 

 worker bees of the new strain of Syrio- 

 Albinos. I have a few queens producing 

 workers ah like these. I consider them 

 the most absolutely beautiful bees that it 

 is possible for man to produce by the most 

 careful selection. 



[The bees are very tine, well developed, 

 and beautiful in appearance.— Ed.] 



Poor Honey Season.— G. W. Morris, 

 Cornish ville,© Ky., on Aug. 13, 1885, 

 writes : 



Tills has been the poorest season for 

 honey since 1 have kept bees ; there being 

 only about 400 pounds of honey in my 18 

 two-story Langstroth hives, which could 

 be extracted and called surplus. 1 have 

 had but one swarm this season. Some 

 who have kept bees a long time in this 

 county (Mercer), say they expect to lose 

 more than halt tlieir bees during the 

 coming winter. The Langstroth hives 

 filled with Italian bees, so far as tested 

 here, prove to be tlie best for extracted 

 honey. Old boxes, log-gums, and black 

 bees are almost a failure. Bees are getting 

 about as much as they consume daily 

 from the buck-bush. I think well of the 

 Bee-Keepers' National Union. 



Regularity.- O. Fitzalwyn Wilkins, 

 International Bridge, 9 Ont., on Aug. 

 17, 1885, writes : 



I receive the AMERICAN Bee Journal 

 every Wednesday at 8:3.5 p. m., which is 

 more than 1 can say for the regularity of 

 other apicultural periodicals. 



Shallow Reversible Frames.— Dr. J. 



C, Thorn, Streetsville, Out., asks the 

 following question : 



The frame I use now being 10Kxl3%, 

 inside measure, 1 would like to ask Mr. 

 Ileddon, through the Bee Jouknal, if by 

 adopting the reversible method I cannot 

 make it as successful toward the produc- 

 tion of section lioney, as if I adopted a 

 shallower frame, say 9 inches, the hive 

 holding 9 frames. 



[As much depends upon the operator 

 and location in which he operates, I could 

 not say positively just how any of your 

 experiments would turn out. I could 

 hardly advise one as extensively in the 

 business as yourself, to change, if only so 

 slight a change is contemplated. In my 

 experience I find even the Langstroth 

 hive too deep. Surely the reversing prin- 

 ciple is of most value to the deepest 

 frames, yet I know of no frame so shallow 

 but that I should desire to reverse it at 

 times. The deeper your frames the 

 greater the necessity for constant revers- 

 ing. For myself I should abandon a hive 

 of the dimensions of yours, but your e.x- 

 perience may teach you differently ; and 

 were 1 only going to alter the hive, I 

 should not change the size of the frame, 

 but simply make all new ones reversible. 

 —James Heddon.] 



Winter Packing. — R. L. Moore, 

 Boonville,OMo., on Aug. 13, 1885, 

 writes : 



I send a sample of a plant which lately 

 has made its appearance here, and has 

 spread rapidly. The bees swarm on it 

 early in the morning and late in the even- 

 ing. It blooms from the middle of July 

 until September. I am of the opinion it 

 is the spider plant. 1 enjoy every moment 

 1 get to work with them, unless it is when 

 one stabs me. I succeeded finely last 

 winter, wliile many of my neighbors came 

 near losing all. I prepare them thus: I 

 have a house 7 feet wide by 40 feet long ; 

 doors set in front so that I can take all 

 out. The house faces south. 1 first get a 

 dry goods box and fit it down over the 

 hive so there is 3 inches or more space all 

 around. Then 1 take out 3 or 3 of the 

 lightest frames and cut a hole about one 

 inch in diameter one-third from the top of 

 every frame left in the hive ; draw up the 

 divi.sioii-board and fill behind it with 

 chaff ; also fill between the box and hive 

 with chaff. 1 then separated the frames 

 so that they are all from M to J^ of an 

 inch apart at the top with slats in, so the 

 air can pass up freely. Then 1 take a 

 gunny-sack and make a chaff cushion 6 or 

 inches thick and put over the frames. 1 

 put the cover on the box and let them 

 take care of themselves, which they did 

 well last winter. It is considerable 

 trouble, but in the bee-business 1 find, as 

 well as any other kind of work, that 

 "there is no excellence without great 

 labor." Bees have not done much here 

 this summer, but are galhering honey 

 now. 1 think we shall have a big fall 

 yield, from present prospects. 



[It is cleome, called by some the Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant.— Ed.] 



Crop Almost a Failure. — Joshua 

 Bull, Seymour, o+ Wis., on Aug. 13, 



1H85, writes : 



The lioney crop is almost a failure in 

 this vicinity. Bees did fairly well through 

 Iruit-blooiu, and white clover yielded 

 nectar quite plentifully from June 1.5 to 

 July G, hut on July 7 it seemed suddenly 

 to cease. Basswood bloomed profusely 

 from July l.'j to the a.'Jth, but the most of 

 this time was very rainy ; yet we had two 

 or three fine days, and 1 visited some trees 

 several times that stand within 100 rods of 

 my apiary. The bloom was abundant, 

 but not a bee could I see or hear, except 

 one bumble-bee which was buzzing inonrii- 

 fully around, solitary and alone. At this 

 date there are several acres of buckwheat 

 in full bloom within one mile, and al- 

 though the bees make considerable stir, 

 yet they do not seem to get much honey. 

 Goldi^nrod was making a fair show for 

 fall bloom, but alas ! the grasshoppers are 

 eating all tlie buds and blossoms off from 

 that. From the present prospects it ap- 

 pears as though we npght have a good 

 opportunity to try the vutue of sugar for 

 wintering our bees next winter. 



Some Queries.— A. J. Duncan, Hart- 

 ford, 9 Iowa, on Aug. 11, 1885, writes: 



1 lost all my bees (38 colonies) last win- 

 ter. I packed them out-of-doors in the 

 most approved way I know of ; that was, 

 by setting theiii in rows, side by side, fac- 

 ing south, boarding up tiglitly behind and 

 in front, tramping in straw, 18 inches 

 thick behind and 10 inches in front ; put- 

 ting sticks across the frames and cloths 

 over the sticks, filling the upper story 

 with dry forest leaves, covering all over 

 with straw, and a wide board in front, to 

 keep out tlie cold winds and snow. Bees 

 in cellars fared but little better. Not 

 overs per cent, (and perhaps not over 3 

 per cent.) of the bees wintered in this 

 township. There has been the usual 

 amount of absconding swarms (some say 

 more) ; two took possession of two of my 

 empty hives, three of one neighbor's, and 

 one of another neighbor's. Where did 

 they come from ? There has been some 

 discussion in the Bee Jourmal whether 

 bees will winter better in trees than in 

 modern hives. This is a timbered sec- 

 tion, having one of the largest groves in 

 the State, being about 30 miles long and 

 from 3 to 6 miles wide. Is not this cir- 

 cumstantial evidence that bees do winter 

 best in trees ? I will take the hint and act 

 differently hereafter. 



Bee-Keeping in Alabama.— W. E. 



Freeman, Olustee Creek,o, Ala., on 

 Aug. 17, 1885, says : 



Apiculture seems to be growing im- 

 mensely in Alabama at this time. Bee- 

 keepers' societies and clubs are springing 

 up; movable frames are slowly coming 

 into use ; one and two-story hives are 

 being discussed, and many other subjects 

 of importance. Bees have been doing 

 well since April 1. Many colonies per- 

 ished in February and March, leaving the 

 frames iu the hive full of sealed brood, 

 larvw, etc. We anticipate a heavy crop 

 from the fall bloom, .should the weather 

 prove propitious. We bee-keepers of Ala- 

 bama think that we liave one of the best 

 bee-countries upon the face of the globe ; 

 all that our people lack is to be fully 

 aroused to the importance of so small an 

 insect as the honey-bee— and we are wak- 

 ing up at last. We have organized an 

 association for bee-keepers, known as the 

 "Patsalaga Bee-Keepers' Society." It 

 meets iiKinthly at Mime member's apiary 

 or residence. We have hekl two ineetiugs 

 since tlie organization was iierfected, and 

 we expect our meetings to grow more and 

 more in interest. 



