THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



619 



condition of a nucleus. For instajice, 

 suppose a queen-breeder has several 

 hundred nuclei and a large number of 

 hives for surplus honey, how could he 

 afford to be compelled to look at the 

 slates, especially as some of the nuclei 

 have to be manipulated every day. 

 He must have in addition certain 

 signs so that he may know at a glance 

 in his daily rounds which to touch. 



In order to facilitate my own opera- 

 tions, I have devised for my own use 

 certain signs by the use of half-bricks 

 and smallhats. Each nucleus lias a 

 slate on top of its liive with dates, 

 short words, and letters, sliowing the 

 condition inside ; as, for example, 

 when a queen was taken for shipment, 

 when a cell was given {whether arti- 

 ficial or natural), from what breeding- 

 queen (I name each of my breeding 

 queens,as queen Florence, Perfection, 

 Daisy, etc.), and when the cell was 

 hatched. I make these combinations 

 with lialf-bricks and bats : 



1 . A half-brick on top of a hive, and 

 a slate by it, denotes that the colony 

 has just received a queen-cell. 



2. A half-brick, and a slate on top 

 of it, denotes that a queen-cell has 

 hatched ; if O. K. is on the slate it 

 means that I have seen the virgin 

 queen ; if I. O. K. is on tlie slate it 

 means that 1 have not seen the virgin 

 queen, but that I think from the ap- 

 pearance of the queen-cell and ab- 

 sence of cells she is all right. 



3. A half-brick, and a slate on top, 

 and a small bat on top of the slate, 

 denotes that the colony has a young 

 laying queen. 



4. A half-brick, and slate on top, 

 and a lialf-brick on top of the slate, 

 and a small bat on top of the last 

 half-brick, indicates that I have just 

 taken a laying queen from the colony, 

 and that 1 must give it a queen-cell 

 soon. When a queen-cell is given, I 

 go back to No. ] . 



6. A half-brick,and two bats on top, 

 with a slate by the side of the same 

 on the hive, snows me that the colony 

 needs extra attention of some sort, as 

 shown by the slate every day, until 

 the normal condition is restored ; and 

 so on ad libitum. 



Grenada, 5 Miss. 



VnT tne American Bee JonraaL 



The Patsalaga, Ala., Convention. 



The Patsalaga Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation met at the residence of Mr. 

 J. R. McClendon, Ramer, Ala., on 

 Sept. 10, ]8t).5. The meeting proved 

 to be harmonious, instructive and in- 

 teresting. Many citizens were pres- 

 ent who manifested much friendship 

 and good-will toward the interest of 

 bee-keeping in their locality. Several 

 subjects usual among bee-keepers 

 were discussed, and some resolutions 

 passed, among which was a resolution 

 that the Secretary send a list of the 

 names of the members for publication. 



.T. R. McClendon, Pres., Asa Carter. Vice-Pres,. 

 M. G. Rushton. Sec. M. II. Freeman, Asat. Sec, 

 W. E. Freeman, E. V. Liwrence, F. M. Amerson, 

 N. P. Jackson, C. C. Freeman. R. O, Lawrence, 

 GeofEe McClenrlon, J. ,J. McClendon, J. L. Soles, 

 W, A. Haynes, T. .1. Eiland, J. H. Norman, Mrs. E. 

 E. McClendon, W. II. Urqurheart, .1. W. Ilicbs, 

 Mrs, M.J. McClendon, F. M. Van. J. H. Lacy, S. G. 

 Story, J. W.Jones, A. A. Stoddard, Walter Boz- 

 man, Fred Pouncy, G. G. Long. 



M. G. Rushton, Sec. 



Smart-Weeds. — L. M. Brown, Ser- 

 geant's Bluff,*o Iowa, on Sept. 12, 

 18S.J, writes : 



I send a package of plants. They 

 are numbered from 1 to 4. The Nos. 

 1 and 4 are the best for honey. Please 

 name them all. I have a line swarm 

 of bees to-day. 



[These plants all belong to the 

 genus Polygonum. They are popularly 

 called smart-weeds, though not one 

 of these possesses acrid properties as 

 do some of their relatives. All are 

 excellent honey-plants, but No. 1 is 

 by far the best. In its natural state it 

 usually grows on wet land, but in cul- 

 tivation it succeeds well on any rich 

 soil. The names are: No. 1. Poly- 

 gonum Pennsylvanicum, No. 2. P. Per- 

 sicaria. No. 3. P. incarnatum. No. 4. 

 P. orientale.—T. J. Burrili,.] 



Working on the Heart's-Ease.— -Jno. 

 Haskins, Empire Prairie,^ Mo., on 

 Sept. 17, 1885, writes : 



Bees wintered very badly here last 

 winter, some lost all and others lost 

 very heavy. This season there was a 

 few days that bees worked finely on 

 white clover, but then it became so 

 very dry that up to about Sept. 1, 

 they kept eating what they had gath- 

 ered in the early part of the season. 

 About that time we had rain, and 

 since then bees have been doing splen- 

 didly on the heart's-ease. 



Bees in Good Condition. — Jesse 

 White, Ferry,© Iowa, on Sept. 19, 

 1885, writes : 



I increased my apiary from If! to 28 

 colonies, then one became queenless 

 which I united with another, thus 

 leaving 27. All are in good condition, 

 I think, with plenty of honey for win- 

 ter, which they have stored since Aug. 

 20, from smart-weed. Previous to 

 that time they barely made a living. 

 I will get about 75 pounds of surplus 

 honey and 10 pounds of wax alto- 

 gether. We have had no frost here 

 yet. 



Excellent Season.— 6 — Wm. Malone, 

 (5—31), Oakley,? Iowa, on Sept. 19, 

 1885, writes : 



This season has been one of the 

 best tor honey that I have known 

 since I have been in the bee- business. 

 I commenced with 5 colonies on May 

 15 ; one of them was good, one fair, 

 and the rest almost nothing, the 

 weakest one not covering more than 

 one-half of a Langstroth frame. Such 

 a time as I had with bees last spring 

 I never want again. I have increased 

 my apiary to 31 good colonies, and 

 have taken 865 pounds of extracted 

 honey, by actual weight, and sold it 

 at 8^;^ cents per pound. I will take 

 enough or more to make 200 pounds 

 per colony, spring count. My young 

 colonies are gatnerine 2 pounds of 

 honey per day now. We have had no 

 frost yet, and the bees are working as 



strong to-day as they did in July. 

 Ijinden did not amount too much, as 

 it lasted only three days. All except 

 2 colonies of my bees have not killed 

 their drones yet. I have had all the 

 empty combs that 1 could use, and so 

 nmde my increase by division, and 

 kept the queens all the time at their 

 best, never allowing them to become 

 cramped for room. 1 reared all Syrian 

 queens mated with Cyprian-Italian 

 drones. This year I had my queens 

 mated as I wanted them to be, for the 

 first time. We had a cold spell on 

 Sept. S and 9. and I had some bees 

 chilled that could not get into the 

 hives for want of room. They chilled 

 at the entrances. On Aug. 20 my 

 strongest colonies had 14 combs with 

 brood, and they have to-day from 5 to 

 fl combs of brood. What will I do 

 this winter, for I cannot get them on 

 10 combs, unless they die with old age 

 faster than I think they will V 



Best Season for 10 Years.- F. M. 



Taintor, Coleraine,"o Mass., on Sept, 

 21, 188.5, says: 



The past season has been the best 

 for honey since I have been in the 

 bee-business, which is about 10 years. 

 The forepart of the season was very 

 good, but when basswood bloomed it 

 was simply immense — the blossoms 

 seemed to be dripping with liquid 

 sweetness, and the way my Albinos 

 brought in the honey would make any 

 bee-keeper happy. 



Working on the Goldenrod. — Henry 



Alley, Wenham,(5 Mass., on Sept. 21, 

 1885, says : 



Just as I had commenced to feed my 

 bees, the weather changed from cold 

 to warm, and for tlie past ten days 

 bees have been at work upon golden- 

 rod, and have stored enough honey to 

 carry them safely through the win- 

 ter. We have goldenrod in great 

 abundance here — our road-ways are 

 lined with it, besides, there are acres 

 of it within one mile of my apiary. 

 We are sure of a good crop of honey 

 from it when the weather is favorable. 



The Weather— My Honey Crop,— C. 



Thielmann. Thielmanton,o, Minn., on 

 Sept. 19, 1885, writes : 



The weather for the past 4 or 5 

 weeks has been very unfavorable for 

 bees here, so that they could not 

 gather as much as they consumed, 

 although there was an abundance or 

 flowers, but it was too cold for honey 

 secretion. Yesterday was the only 

 dav since about Aug. 20, that my bees 

 did much of anything, and they were 

 busy all day and came home laden 

 with honey and pollen. They worked 

 until they could not see any more in 

 the evening. Although most of the 

 corn has been frozen, on Sept. 1 and 2 

 the fall flowers were looking fresh 

 and bright. I commenced with 90 

 colonies in the spring, increased them, 

 by natural swarming, to 170, and ob- 

 tained (i.-iOO pounds of honey, 1,000 

 Sounds of which vras extracted. 

 fearly all of it is clover and bass- 

 wood. Last night we had a heavy 

 rain, but it is nice and warm this 

 morning. 



