in scientific inanasenient. He increases liis 

 stoclc of bees to the desired extent by allow- 

 ing tiiem to swarm naturally, letting each 

 colony swarm but once, which he thinks is 

 enough when strong colonies (and conse- 

 quently plenty of honey) is the object in 

 view, as one strong colony will yield more 

 honey than 2 or 3 weak ones, the number is 

 of not as much importance as their strength. 



Those desiring to visit this apijiry are 

 welcome at ^11 times, and shown through 

 the premises with pleasure. 



The apparatus for making hives, pressing 

 foundation comb, extracting honey, and the 

 swarm catcher are novelties to the inexpe- 

 rienced. 



Mr. Bull is a constant reader of the best 

 books on bees : The American Bee 

 Journal, the Magazine and Gleanings 

 are regularly perused. 



The honey harvest in this locality has 

 not been abundant, on account of wet 

 weather in the early part of the season and 

 a dearth of basswood honey. During the 

 last 3 weeks, since white clover withered, 

 bees have stored very little honey. The 

 prospect now for fall honey seems to be 

 good— much buckwheat having been sown ; 

 this is just coming into bloom and bees are 

 lively at work again. D. W. Keeler. 



Valparaiso, Ind., Aug. 10, 1878. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee Tea— a Valuable Medicine. 



You have heard of the homeopathic medi- 

 cine. Apis (made from the poison or sting of 

 bees), which is a valuable remedy for bee 

 stings. Taken internally it neutralizes the 

 poison and removes the sometimes danger- 

 ous effects of the sting. But you will no 

 doubt be surprised when I tell you that the 

 poison or essence of bees, or rather bee tea, 

 has proven a valuable remedy for a danger- 

 ous and painful disease, as it has lately 

 done with old Dr. Hampton of this city. 



The doctor had suffered, and no doubt 

 tried every remedy known to the profession, 

 when one night several weeks ago a colored 

 woman aroused us and said, "Dr. Hampton 

 wants you to put about a dozen live bees in 

 this tin cup, and to pour hot water on them 

 until the cup is about half full." The night 

 was very dark, but with the aid of a light, 

 and after being stung severely for disturb- 

 ing the little fellows at such an unseason- 

 able hour, secured the bees, and prepared 

 them as directed. 



A few days afterward I met the doctor on 

 the street, apparently well and healthy, and 

 asked him how the tjee tea acted and what 

 it was for. He answered very emphatically, 

 " It acted like a charm. I have suffered 

 with involuntary retention of urine; have 

 tried many remedies, but this bee tea beats 

 them all." And with a thankful look of 

 gratitude to Heaven, he continued: " When 

 the great Creator completed this great world 

 of ours, he pronounced it all good, and it is 

 all good, if we poor mortals only know how 

 to use and employ the blessings we enjoy." 



The doctor tendered me a thousand thanks 

 for furnishing the bees; the pleasure and 

 satisfaction of knowing a suiferer had been 

 relieved, and that thousands more may yet 



be relieved with this simple and harmless 

 remedy, will always be remembered with 

 pleasant satisfaction. W. Williamson. 

 Lexington, Ky., July 29, 1878. 



• ■*■ • ■»« 



For the American Bee Journul. 



Surplus Boxes. 



" I have taken honey from 26 hives— over 

 1,000 S)S. of comb and 100 extracted. The 

 niost from one hive of black bees is 80 lbs., 

 the least 22 lbs. The most from Italians 70 

 lbs., the least 35 lbs. In the brood chamber 

 are 9 frames, size 141-4XIO in the clear. My 

 supers are of all kinds, nearly. I think 1 

 shall buy the ' prize boxes ' for next year. 



1 have had over 200 combs built by colonies, 

 all straight. I u.sed comb guides of founda- 

 tion 2 cells deep, run on with a straight- 

 edge ; the same for sections, which are 



2 inches from center to center; no separa- 

 tors; all straight, except an occasional 

 one, when starting upwards, will make an 

 ugly comb. Why not have the slot in the 

 center of bottom piece of frame? Why not 

 have paper boxes for surplus honey? prop- 

 erly prepared, say top piece corrugated or 

 plain, for 1 took nice honey from a box 

 with a brown muslin top; the sagging was 

 a regular curve. Let us go to work at some- 

 thing light and cheap. Wire might do bet- 

 ter; has any one tried it? Or have plain 

 wood box, cut out honey, sell at 10-cts. a 

 pound." Peter James. 



Waveland, Ind., July 24, 1878. 



[The slot in the center of a "Prize Box" 

 would come just where the comb should be 

 fastened, and in the center of it, too. 



langstroth case. 



The bottom-bar needs to be J^ inch nar- 

 rower to admit the bees and give room for 

 glassing. Would not paper boxes cost even 

 more than the "Prize Boxes?" We think 

 so. Then wherein are they to be desired? 



Comb-foundation in surplus boxes, used 

 two or three cells deep, will do very well, 

 but when more is used it is a positive injury 

 to the market for comb honey. We have 

 had some honey in prize boxes that contains 

 a regular "fish-bone." Comb foundation 

 was used from one-half to two-thirds of the 

 way down. Our customers frankly tell us 

 they do not want any more of it. We used 

 some of it, and found, to our disgust, that 

 the complaint was well founded. There- 

 fore let us insist that comb foundation be 

 not used for surplus honey, except for 

 starters of about one-half an inch],in depth. 



