— the queen— imported from Italy through 

 Friends Newman, of tlie Journal, we 

 hastened to the apiary. Of course queens 

 are nearly all alike; butitwas not until then 

 my good fortune to see a queen deposit 

 eggs ill an open frame, exposed to the bright 

 sunlight, while being carried away from the 

 hive at least 50 yards. The workers in the 

 meantime were as quiet as could be wished 

 for. After examining several other hives 

 which were in fiue condition, we adjourned 

 to tlie house. 



Next morning friend Kepler and myself 

 started for Capt. Williams', whose farm is 

 43^ miles east of Napoleon and 2)4 miles 

 west of Liberty Center. 



The bee-yard contained about 150 colonies 

 only, 30 having been removed to a location 6 

 miles north-west, making in all 180. After 

 much trouble, friend Williams has, during 

 the last 5 years, succeeded in Italianizing 

 all the bees within a radius of 3 miles. 

 In several instances he furnished queens to 

 persons indisposed to Italianize. He claims 

 to have as pure a strain of Italian bees as 

 can be found any where in the state; and 

 from what I have seen during a 5 liours' stay 

 I think he has. His imported queen is from 

 Charles Dadant, of Hamilton, III., and her 

 progeny does her credit— possessing the 3 

 spots on the backs spoken of in relation to 

 the queen received from Rev. Salisbury in 

 Sept. No. of Journal. Friend Williams, in 

 queen-rearing, endeavors to improve with 

 each generation and has the following 



f»oints in view in breeding, viz.' First. Pro- 

 ificness; Second. Industry; Third. Tem- 

 per; Fourth. Color. 



And judging from the heavy colonies in 

 the yard, the constant stream of bees passing 

 in and out, and the entire absence of "Bing- 

 ham's addition to the apiary," so much in 

 use among bee-keepers, I for one would be 

 willing to sacrifice the clear buff color in a 

 queen, could I have as evenly tempered.bees 

 as I saw at Capt. Williams'. 



And now, Mr. Editor, as the mission 

 of bee Journals is, as I understand, to im- 

 prove our knowledge in bee-culture by an 

 interchange of ideas, and as I have been a 

 reader of some of the leading bee papers for 

 a couple of years and saw nothing from the 

 above source, would it not be a good idea to 

 call friend W. out. as he is a subscriber to 

 your Journal. I don't anticipate he will 

 refuse; and as he is a close observer and 

 sound reasoner, as well as a successful bee- 

 keeper, we may profit by his remarks on 

 queen-rearing. 



At dinner I had the pleasure of sampling 

 various preserves, jellies and cake sweet- 

 ened entirely with honey. The jelly, which 

 was of crab-apple, was just as clear as if 

 made of the best granulated sugar, proving 

 the fact that honey will in a great measure 

 take the place of sugar for the various hwuse- 

 hold uses. After dinner an hour or two was 

 spent in comparing notes and relating bee- 

 keeping experiences, when the time of 

 departure drew near and after a cordial hand 

 shaking all round, and a brisk walk of 2X 

 miles I took the afternoon train for Toledo, 

 enjoying a pleasant ride, and ob.serving 

 acres upon acres of boneset now in full 

 bloom, and yellow patches of golden rod 

 just budding out, which with the white 



clover and basswood in season makes north- 

 western Ohio, second to none in point of 

 honey production. A few miles outside the 

 city the apiaries of B. O. Everett and L. P. 

 Christiancy come in plain view, the newly 

 painted hives, to the number of nearly 200, 

 showing off to good advantage from the 

 train. A few minutes more and our desti- 

 nation is reached, and our double holiday is 

 one of the things that were, only to be 

 remembered with pleasure. 



J NO. Y. Detwiler. 

 Toledo, Ohio, Sept. 5, 1878. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Chips from Sweet Home. 



As each one of us cannot visit all the 

 apiaries we might wish, I will give you a 

 description of a few. 



I had the pleasure of calling on J. H. 

 Nellis, of Canajoharie, N. YV He has 

 certainly one of the most picturesque loca- 

 tions in the United States. He is about 2 

 miles from Canajoharie, on a high bluff of 

 the Mohawk Valley. In sight of his apiary 

 is the Mohawk river, a canal with a small 

 village nestled in the side of the bluff, and 

 over on the far side of the valley may be 

 seen more than one train of cars per hour. 

 He has a house apiary which holds about 50 

 hives. He told me that for queen rearing he 

 would prefer the house to out-doors; but for 

 surplus honey, he would take out-doors. 

 They were putting their bees in the cellar 

 while I was there. J. H. is very finely fixed 

 for queen-rearing of which he makes a 

 specialty. They have a shop, horse-power, 

 saws, etc., for making bee hives, honey 

 boxes, etc. Also, a printing press— in fact, 

 he is well fixed for the business. Long and 

 pleasantly we shall remember our short 

 call with J. H. Nellis. 



Sweet Home Apiary is located 12 miles 

 south of Muscatine, and 8 miles north of 

 New Boston, on a steppe of the bluff, being 

 4 miles from the Mississippi. These 4 miles 

 being the Mississippi bottom, gives us wil- 

 low bloom in spring, and from Aug. 20, till 

 frost a supply of golden rod honey. Sweet 

 Home Apiary (Sept. 5.) consists of 300 hives, 

 which you may think is overstocking, but as 

 long as we can make the average more per 

 hive than smal ler apiaries in as good location, 

 we will not think we are overstocking. \Ve 

 use the double-portico Langstroth hive, and 

 are using the prize box. Sweet Home con- 

 sists of only 10 acres, being run for fruit of 

 various kinds. The hives of the apiary ruu 

 in rows north and south, east and west, 

 being 6 feet from center to center, giving me 

 room to run a wheel-barrow between 

 the rows each way. Each hive has its slate 

 hung on the front right hand corner, so that 

 whenever I am operating a hive, I always 

 open on this side, and here's my register at 

 my left hand. 



North of Sweet Home, within IJ^ miles, 

 are 3 apiaries of 200 hives. South of me 1 

 mile, is another apiary of 50 hives, and 4 

 miles further south is the apiary of L. H. 

 Scudder consisting of between 200 and 300 

 Langstroth hives, situated in an apple 

 orchard, Sandburrs, peppers and bee-stings 



