314 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



In conclusion, permit me to say a few 

 words in regard to a grape wliose origin is 

 in obscuritj^ as no traces of it can be found 

 farther back than through the liands of two 

 nurserymen, when all trace is wholly lost. 

 I have handled it for 3 years and it has 



g roved itself fully as hardy as the famous 

 oncord, and much larger, as well as a far 

 better grape tlian the Concord, and has, for 

 the last 4 years, been fit for market on Aug. 

 13th. It will have an unbounded run, etc. 

 This is the first that has been said of it out- 

 side of my own cii'cle of friends. 



C. HOTCHKISS. 



Keck Island Co., 111., Aug. 8, 1877. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bees and Red Clover. 



As it seems to be doubted whether any 

 bees do actually work on red clover, let me 

 say that my bees do, and they are blacks. 

 Two or three years ago a Mr. Coffield, living 

 in Caledonia, 5 miles north of me, got a 

 queen or tv/o from Mr. Quinby, and my 

 young queens seem to have met his drones; 

 for stock hives that I know were common 

 blacks now show from one to three bands, 

 and are better dispositioned, but most of 

 my stocks are black, and out of hundreds 

 that I have seen on my common red clover, 

 not one showed a yellow band. I heard of 

 them working on it all spring and summer, 

 but being very busy and hardly crediting 

 what the children said, did not notice it my- 

 self till August 10th, when crossing a field 

 of second crop. I found them all over 

 gathering honey and a very dark amber- 

 colored pollen. Mentioning it to my wife, 

 she says positively she saw them on the 

 first crop, too, which was very rank. 



Wm. Cam. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Notes on Queen Rearing. 



I have raised 7.5 queens since July 8th. 1 

 made a hive to hold 11 frames; put 3 divi- 

 sion boards in it, which divide it into 4 

 apartments. The boards must fit close, so 

 that tlie bees cannot pass, or they will all go 

 together and save but one queen. Cut a 

 small entrance on each side to give each 

 apartment an entrance. In this way four 

 queens can be fertilized in a colony at one 

 time, just as successfully as I can in a 

 nucleus, a rod from any other. 



Take the queen from any colony desired 

 to breed from; let it raise cells just as they 

 are sealed over; slip in 3 division boards, 

 cutting it into 4 apartments of 2 frames 

 each. Let its 4 queens begin to lay; then 3 

 can be used and the colony be thrown 

 together as before. This is the simplest 

 plan for queen-rearing I have ever tried. 

 By this plan 4 splendid queens can be rais- 

 ed in any colony at any time, and the 

 colony not broken up, and can always be 

 left in good condition. Two queens can be 

 raised in one hive, just as easy, by fitting in 

 a division-board and arranging the entrance 

 block to make a small entrance at each 

 side. Two will fertilize at same time. 



I use Langstroth hives. Queen cells 

 should always be raised under precisely 

 natural circumstances, i. e., just as they are 

 in natural swarming, when honey is coming 



in, the weather propitious, and colonies 

 strong with workers. These conditions 

 should be maintained through honey 

 dearths, by feeding. 



Novice's plan of moving an old colony, is 

 very good for raising cells until we get all 

 the nuclei we want. Cells from these 

 nuclei may be grafted into 4 nucleus hives, 

 when their young queens are removed, and 

 in 10 or 15 days they will have 4 more young 

 queens ready for use. A good queen may 

 be raised with a few bees, in warm weather 

 by concentrating tiieir whole force on the 

 cells, by putting in just some larvve. These 

 plans are perfectly practicable. I have 

 tested them after having had years of ex- 

 perience. 



1 want to answer a few questions: First, 

 there are no black bees nearer than a mile 

 of my apiary, and only .5 or 6 colonies with- 

 in 3 or 4 miles of it, and 97 out of 100 queens 

 fertilized in my apiary are pure, and per- 

 haps a larger per cent, than this. I have 

 100 colonies, all pure Italians, carefully 

 bred from the very best imported queens. 



Those procuring queens should state 

 whether tney want light-colored ones or 

 not; daughters of imported queens are 

 nearly always dark. ' Newly - imported 

 queens are always darker than American- 

 bred. My imported bees have gathered 

 double the amount of honey that others 

 have. John Kookeb. 



Noblesville, Ind. 



Letter from G-ermany. 



Enzlieim, Alsace, July '20, 1877.— " MoNS. 

 T. G. Newman: Dear Sir — I receive your 

 Bee JouiiNAi- with pleasure. It is intense- 

 ly interesting. I do not see how you can 

 fill it so full of such very instructive mat- 

 ter. 



"The year 1877 has been not very favor- 

 able to apiculture here. The crop of bees 

 has been, so to speak, nil; that of honey is 

 far below the average. Had it not been for 

 the fine weather in June, our bees would 

 have starved to death. The Society of Api- 

 culture in Alsace is prosperous. It com- 

 prises 22 branches with 1600 members. It is 

 beginning to spread itself in Lorraine— thk 

 adjoining province which Germany tooe 

 from France in the late war. with this also. 

 There two branches have already been 

 started and several others have been form- 

 ed. The organ of our Society is L'Apicul- 

 teur Alsacicn. It will after the 1st of next 

 January probably appear in both provinces, 

 and languages— French and German." 



M. Deunleb. 



» • > ♦ » 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Western Illinois B. K. Meeting. 



The Western Illinois Bee-Keepers' Socie- 

 ty will meet at Oquawka, Henderson Co., 

 111., Tuesday and Wednesday, October 2nd 

 and 3d, 1877. All persons interested in bees 

 and honey are respectfully invited to come 

 and bring any hive, extractor, or different 

 kinds of bees and honey that they can. 



Come and talk bees, and have a good time 

 in general. Ileduced rates at the hotels will 

 probably be obtained. 



Hakdin Haines, See. 



Wm. M. Kellogg, Pres. 



