682 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ocient to enable us to save our bees, 

 as they are now in fair condition as 

 regards stores. Bees liave been work- 

 ing on the asters foraboutfour weeljs, 

 when warm enough to fly. 



The display of bees, honey and bee- 

 keeping implements at the Fair was 

 very good, and attracted a great deal 

 of attention. The premiums vs'ere 

 quite liberal. Mr. Geo. Bischoff re- 

 ceived S-9 in premiums, besides sev- 

 eral diplomas, on his several exhibits. 

 John Nau secured $19 in premiums, 

 besides diplomas, and Mr. W. H. 

 Smith obtained Sll. 



Jno. Nau, Sec. 



Country Gentleman. 



The Maryland Sensitive-Plant. 



G. W. D. 



My bees are particularly fond of 

 working upon this plant (the Cassia 

 chamKcrist(i), whose efflorescence be- 

 gins early in August and extends to 

 Sept. 20, and here it is their chief 

 dependence during the second honey 

 harvest. Sandy fields are densely 

 covered with it at this season. But, 

 strange to say, the bees do not collect 

 the honey from the showy yellow 

 flowers, but from glands or rather 

 cup shaped nectaries, one upon each 

 petiole (leaf-stalk). These nectarif- 

 erous glands are open (concave on 

 top), cup-sliaped, sub-pedicelled (hav- 

 ing a short stem, though hardly no- 

 ticeable), very minute, and contain a 

 clear honey easily seen shining in all 

 the matured crops. This was the 

 lirst case of nectaries occurring upon 

 petioles instead of in the corollas (as 

 we find in nearly all flowers), that 

 came under my observation ten years 

 ago, though others have glands upon 

 their stem leaves (I'assion flower), 

 but not honey-secreting ones, and 

 several again have them upon the 

 margin, and even in ttie cellular tis- 

 sue, of their leaves (aromatic glands 

 of lemon, geranium, and others). The 

 bees are so ravenous after this honey 

 that I have actually seen them run 

 over each other in their eagerness to 

 reach these nectaries first. 



Their pretty papilionaceous flowers 

 are rarely touched by insects. I never 

 saw a honey-bee upon them, though 

 I once detected a carpenter-bee, 

 seemingly at work; since they are 

 destitute of a nectary and their pol- 

 len, dry and scant, show-ing that the 

 sense of smell in insects is superior 

 to that of sight, or else tliey have a 

 discriminating power of which we 

 know nothing. They work upon them 

 until past mid-day— much longer than 

 upon buckwlieat, which would indi- 

 cate that the lioney does not evapor- 

 ate so quickly. I find that bees do 

 most of their honey-collecting during 

 the (irst half of the day, a perceptible 

 lull always after 12 m., with a slight 

 increase after 3 p. m., which would 

 show that the more direct rays of the 

 sun dissipate it.orelse the bees gather 

 it all. The one great exception is the 

 pulse family fZ,e.9i(mnios(P), and their 

 peculiarly shaded nectaries prevents 

 this. I have known bees to work 

 upon black locust (Bobinia rudocassia) 



long after sundown, and until quite 

 dark. Cloudy days lengthen the galli- 

 ering time of all open corollas or 

 rather unshaded nectaries. The secre- 

 tion of nectar — which can hardly be 

 called honey until evayiorated, for it 

 is a bland, watery liquid and thereby 

 thickened into honey by the bees — 

 probably goes on chiefly at night in 

 all fresh corollas, and as these fade, 

 the secretion decreases, and ceases 

 altogether at a certain period, being 

 only indirectly essential, through the 

 aid'of insects, fructification or rather 

 conception. 



These plants grow luxuriantly upon 

 sandy land in Northern Maryland, 

 and even the poorest sandy soil will 

 produce a dense mat of them from one 

 to three feet high. Belonging to the 

 pulse family, they will grow upon the 

 above soil like the cow and black-eye 

 pea, having a long top-root like clover, 

 and are probably quite as enriching 

 as either of the above peas ; there- 

 fore they are excellent to turn under 

 as an improver of the soil, though 

 better if left to shade the soil. Quails, 

 called here " partridges," are very 

 fond of the seeds which are enclosed 

 in legumes, resembling those of the 

 black locust, hence called partridge- 

 pea. During cloudy weather and at 

 night, or when broken or pulled up 

 they fold their leaves like the true 

 sensitive-plant which they resemble 

 very much. Cows eat them when 

 green or in full bloom, though spar- 

 ingly. 



Annapolis,© Md. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Manitoba Convention. 



At an enthusiastic meeting of bee- 

 men that took place in Winnipeg, on 

 Wednesday evening, Oct. 7, lsS-5, an 

 organization was formed called the 

 "Manitoba Bee-keepers' Association," 

 with Chief Justice Wallbridge Presi- 

 dent ; Thomas Collins, of Portage la 

 Prairie, Vice-President ; and J. Ham- 

 mond, of Winnipeg, Secretary. 



In the course of the evening the 

 President gave a most interesting 

 discourse, describing his method of 

 cellar-wintering, by which he had 

 never lost a single colony of bees. 

 The main features of the system con- 

 sist in giving ample ventilation from 

 below and plenty of porous material 

 above to absorb the perspiration, 

 which otherwise would condense and 

 fall back on the top of the bees, caus- 

 ing thereby ;ill tlie evils which so 

 often end in the destruction of the 

 inhabitants of the hive. 



It was reported tliat Mr. D. D. 

 Campbell, of Manitou, whose beauti- 

 ful exhibit of comb honey attracted 

 so much attention at the exhibition, 

 had brought his bees through the 

 past severe winter in splendid condi- 

 tion by adopting similar measures as 

 those "described by Chief Justice Wall- 

 bridge. 



It was resolved that all communica- 

 tions in connection with the Associa- 

 tion should be addressed to the Secre- 

 tary, at 859 Main Street, Winnipeg. 

 J. Hammond, ISec. 



Prairie Farmer. 



Shiny Bees— Autumn Management. 



MRS. L. HARBISON. 



An unnamed disease has decimated 

 some apiaries this season. Bright 

 Italian colonies have been carrying 

 out black, shiny bees with pointed 

 bodies, during the entire season. This 

 malady has appeared twice m my 

 apiary, and I failed to discover the 

 cause. There was abundant brood, 

 and the affected colonies, so far as I 

 could see, differed in no respect from 

 the healthy ones. If one of the shin- 

 ing blacks got away from its captors, 

 and re-entere3 the hive, it was im- 

 mediately marched out again. These 

 shiny bees would come out on the 

 alighting-board, apparently in dis- 

 tress, with their wings extended, and 

 a tremulous motion to their bodies. 

 A change of queens might remedy 

 the difllculty, whatever it is. 



We had a very hard frost on Tues- 

 day night (Oct. 5) ; ice was seen in 

 some places. This closes the honey 

 season. I have removed what little 

 surplus honey there was, and find all 

 colonies supplied with winter stores. 

 The bees are remarkably good-na- 

 tured for this time of the year, and 

 the colonies are usually populous. If 

 the weather should come off warm, 

 they will forage around, but it is not i 

 to be expected that much honey will 1 

 be gathered. ' 



I shall examine each colony care- 

 fully, to ascertain its exact condition 

 for wintering. Where I find one with 

 its honey scattered through the hive, 

 I shall confine the inmates to the 

 combs best filled, letting them carry 

 home the honey from the others. 

 Combs containing little honey I shall 

 put in the cap, leaving a small open- 

 ing for the bees to come up. If they 

 do not work upon the combs at once, 

 I will uncap some of them. The 

 smell of honey is more apt to start 

 robbing than is that of syrup, and I 

 shall use caution against it by throw- 

 ing an old quilt or something similar 

 over the hiye. As fast as the combs 

 are clean and dry, I shall store them 

 away for use another season. 



Peoria,© Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Experimenting in Wintering Bees. 



MAHALA B. CHADDOCK. 



In his answer to Query, No. 128, on 

 page (329, Mr. J. E. Pond, Jr., says: 

 •' It hardly pays to experiment in 

 wintering, that is, to do so by leaving 

 the old beaten track that has been 

 traveled with comparative safety for 

 many years." Just so ; but which 

 beaten track shall we follow ?■ Mr. 

 Ileddon now has a sure way to winter 

 bees ; shall we do it in that way V Or 

 had we better try Mr. Doolittle's 

 plan V Or whose shall we try V 



Near Lewistown, Ills., lives Mr. 

 Kuf us Porter, a successful bee-keeper, 

 and a successful winterer of bees. He 

 contracts no broodnests, feeds no 

 syrup, winters his bees on the sum- 



