combs and in tlie surplus frames, it is a 

 grand success. If it could be so made as 

 not to sai;, and thus used in tlie brood- 

 chamber as foundation for all the comb, so 

 that we could secure perforce all worker 

 brood-comb, it would be a still greater 

 advantage. We must reach this. I fasten- 

 ed the foundation by simply pressing it to 

 the wood. I used the artificial comb foun- 

 dation for sections with the happiest results. 

 Epicures, even, did not detect the differ- 

 ence, and so of course found no fault. 

 We proved again the great 



VAI-UE OF THE EXTRACTOR. 



With proper use, it will pay for itself in a 

 single season, even with no more than two 

 colonies of bees. A thorough trial of the 

 Muth extractor convinced us that it was 

 inferior to A. I. Root's, which we still thinic 

 the best of the many we have seen tried. 

 We had 3 of 



THE RUSSELL HIVES, 



made by A. H. Russell, of Adrian, in use all 

 the season. These are certainly no in- 

 fringement on the Langstroth, though 1 

 find in Bevan on the Honey Bee, a descrip- 

 tion of essentially tlie same thing. These 

 hives are very good, though hartlly as con- 

 venient as the Langstroth style. Without 

 any guides, the combs were all built per- 

 fectly true. There is no difficulty in sepa- 

 rating the combs, though in putting them 

 togetiier some time and caution is required 

 to avoid killing bees. The claim of superi- 

 ority for out-door wintering I shall test the 

 coming winter. We have also tried Mr. 

 Russell's box, which only ditfers from the 

 Isham frame in the mode of fastening tlie 

 tin corner. As a box it has no superior; 

 and as the width may be varied so as to 

 contain 3 combs, 2 combs, or 1 comb, it is 

 convenient, and perhaps has no superior if 

 it is desired to have the comb surrounded 

 on both sides and ends by glass. A rack 

 Hive Dr. -Southard's, permitting the remov- 

 al of all these boxes or frauies at once, 

 would be a valuable addition. 



IIOXEY PLANTS. 



We have experimented farther with 

 honey plants. Having had beds of mignon- 

 ette, alsike sweet, alfalfa, also called Lu- 

 cerne and iSpanish trefoil, yellow Bokhara, 

 Italian or scarlet trefoil, white Dutch, or 

 white aud yellow trefoil clovers, Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant, or cleome, white anil 

 black mustard, which we have bought for 

 two years under the name of dwarf aud tall 

 Chinese, catnip, motherwort, rape, borage, 

 sainfoin, and silver-leaf buckwheat. Of 

 these, the following can hardly be recom- 

 mended too highly: White clover aud 

 alsike. in bloom all through June and into 

 July. ]\Iiguonette and sweet clover in 

 bloom as early as June 22, the former con- 

 tinuing the year, and the latter for a month, 

 and both yielding bountifully of the most 

 delicious honey. This year was unfavora- 

 ble and our mignonette did very poorly, yet 

 from the rt-ports of others and our experi- 

 ence in former years, 1 heartily reconnnend 

 it. Both of the above are admirable for 

 their exquisite perfume, which renders the 



atmosphere delightful for long distances. — 

 White Mustard blooms in from four to five 

 weeks from planting, and the black mustard 

 in 7 to 8 weeks. They are both excellent; 

 swarming with bees, especially during the 

 forenoon, through the entire season of 

 bloom. The former continues in bloom 

 about four weeks, the second some longer. 

 Like borage, these seem less affected by 

 climate conditions than most plants, being 

 thronged by bees even after heavy rains. — 

 Rape, much like white mustard, blooms in 

 about 4 weeks after sowing. Borage com- 

 mences to bloom, if planted the first of 

 May or self-sown, the last of June and con- 

 tinues till frosts. Cleome, or Rocky moun- 

 tain bee-plant, if planted early or self-sown, 

 commences to bloom the middle of July, 

 and continues for more than a montii, 

 yielding liberally of the most excellent 

 honey. Catnip ancl motherwort deserve 

 their high repute. The first commences to 

 bloom late in July, the other late in June. — 

 Silver-leaf buckwheat is only better than 

 the common in that it yields better, and 

 thus has more flowers. The other plants 

 mentioned in the list seemed worthless as 

 bee-plants. How much of this was owing 

 to the unfavorable season, it is difficult to 

 say. Early in the season several honey- 

 trees were transplanted to our grounds, 

 among which were hard and soft maple, 

 basswood and crab-apples. 



PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE. 



The vai'ious methods of wintering, as 

 described above, proved so successful that 

 we shall practice each the coming winter. — 

 12 colonies we shall nut in the cellar, .5 we 

 shall bury, 2 in Russell hives we shall not 

 protect at all, and the 9 renniining colonies 

 we shall pack in straw, varying our method 

 as follows: Our hives are l}4 feet long and 

 1 foot wide. We shall make the sides of 

 the surrounding box 23^ feet long and 2^ 

 feet high at one end and 6 inches higher at 

 the other. The upper, slanting edge is made 

 by sawing a board 2,^| feet long and G inches 

 wide diagonally across from corner to cor- 

 ner. One end will be 2 feet long and 3 feet 

 high; the other 2 feet long and 2^ feet high. 

 These sides will be made of (> inch boards, 

 fastened together by nailing cleats one inch 

 from each eiul. Tliese cleats will be on the 

 inside and and will thus form shoulders at 

 the corners. The sides will not be nailed 

 together, but fastened by a staple and nail, 

 so they can be taken down and packetl 

 away in summer. The east side of this 

 box, opposite the entrance of the hive, will 

 have a central opening, 4 inches square, 

 with a square tunnel extending from it to 

 the entrance. This will permit the bees to 

 fly, and at the same time allow the hive to 

 be entirely surrounded by straw. The top 

 of the box will be made of matched lumber, 

 fastened together by cleats as before, which 

 will project over the ends of the box so as 

 to hold the cover to it. The cover will 

 incline to the south, while the boards com- 

 posing it will extend lengthwise in the 

 same direction. This box will cost §1.00; 

 will permit flight, but from its entirely 

 surrounding the hive and confining a layer 

 of straw, densely packed, it is expected 

 that it will prevent much flying, and thus 



