^0tc5 nml ^xxtxxzs. 



Huntsville, Ala., Oct. 9, 1878, 

 Enclosed lind a few blossoms and piece of 

 the stem of a weed that grows in great 

 abundance in the fields and waste places 

 here. It grows from one to four feet high ; 

 commences to bloom Oct. 1st, and is giving 

 our bees quite a lift ; stands the drouth well ; 

 is called by some wire-weed, and for aught 

 I know is a valuable honey plant. Please 

 give proper name. John R. Lee. 



[These are asters. See description in 

 Nov. No. of Bee JouRNAL,!page 373.— a. j.cl 



Grantville, Ga., Oct. 31, 1878. 

 I send a specimen of a plant tiiat bees 

 work well on and gather considerable honey 

 from. It gi'ows from 6 to 12 feet high, 

 branches from the ground up, and blooms 

 on every branch. Bees are now at work on 

 it. Wliat is the name, and its value as a 

 honey plant ? L. B. Watkins. 



Prof. W. J. Beal, of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College, answers as follows : 

 Leonotis nepetcefoiia (Lion's-ears). This 

 is an annual which belongs to the mint 

 family, and like most or all of the familj', is 

 good for bees. Famous bee-plants of this 

 family are basil, lavender, germander, ly- 

 copus, horse-balm, hyssops, majoram, 

 thyme, sage, catnip, dragon-head, blue-curls, 

 scull-cap, &c. These are all general names 

 and are most of them applied to numerous 

 species, and often several genera of this 

 large family. 



Orange County, Fla., Oct. 22, 1878. 

 Can you tell me why bees will not build 

 comb ill this climate in summer? In May 

 I was speaking of getting some bees, and 

 some one present said if I wanted to trans- 

 fer them I had no time to lose, as it was 

 about time for tiiem to stop making wax ; 

 that they could not make wax after the mid- 

 dle of Jiiiie, until late in tlie fall. But as he 

 could not give any reason, I thought he did 

 not know anything aliout it, so went ahead 

 and got my bees, put them in Laiigstroth 

 hives on May 21st, and gave them foundation 

 to work on. For about three weeks they 

 went at it with a rusii, and then they 

 stojjped. On some of the foundation they 

 had just begun work. From that time until 

 about the tirst of September, not one cell 

 was built. Since then they have been doing 

 a little, but not working as tliey did at first. 

 The comb which they had built was all the 

 time full of brood in all stages; and they 

 carried in pollen freely, but very little 

 honey. There are only two others near 

 here who use the movable frames, and they 

 tell me their bees have done the same way. 

 1 saw a large colony put into an einptj' box 

 hive about the lOtli of June. One day in 

 September I was passing the place and was 

 asked to stop and look at the bees. I turned 



the box down, and found they had not built 

 a piece of comb as large as your hand, and 

 the colony had dwindled to a mere handful. 

 I fed one of my colonies for some time, 

 thinking I could get them started building 

 comb, when they found they were getting 

 more than they needed for food, or could 

 store in the comb already built. They 

 would use all I gave them, but no new comb 

 could I get. Where they put it I can't say. 

 There are very few days here in winter, 

 when the sun shines, that it is not warm 

 enough for bees to fly. I have some cane 

 to grind and syrup do make. How can I 

 manage not to kill my bees ? I have neither 

 much cane nor many bees this winter, but 

 by next winter I want a good lot of both. 



A gentleman living some distance from 

 here, who has no bees on his place, told me 

 he did not think lie would exaggerate in 

 saying he killed a i)eck of bees each day last 

 winter while he was making syrup. If that 

 is so, I will soon grind up all of mine, and 

 my neighbors', too. If you can suggest some 

 plan whereby I can prevent such a catas- 

 trophe, I will be much obliged. 



]Sr. J. Bayard, Jr. 



[I think the case of Mr. Bayard is only to 

 be explained by some abnormal condition 

 of the colony. To be sure, bees, if kept for 

 a series of years in a country where tliere 

 are no need of winter stores, might cease 

 to make provision for an interval of idle- 

 ness and rest ; but change of Iiabit like this 

 would require long years. Again, in Florida, 

 as elsewhere, there is not a continuous flow 

 of nectar, and there, as elsewhere, bees must 

 provide stores. In California and other of 

 our Southern States, there is an equally 

 high temperature, and yet, we have not 

 heard of such a refusal to build comb. I 

 can but think that some evil had befallen 

 the bees in question. In one case mentioned 

 it was very likely the loss of queen, and the 

 bees were too discouraged to continue their 

 activity. 



We have taken all combs away from our 

 bees, at various seasons, even when it was 

 too cold for the bees to fly, and yet they 

 would build comb in every instance, though 

 shut up in their hives, and fed wholly on 

 melted sugar. 



In regard to the cane grinding, I see no 

 way to remedy the evil, except to shut up 

 the bees, or else to do the grinding in a 

 building closed against the admission of 

 bees. If the bees were shut up, they might 

 be buried or put into a dark cellar, to keep 

 them quiet. In well ventilated hives, 1 

 should suppose they would bear confine- 

 ment on their stores for two or three weeks, 

 without injury. Perhaps the ground cane 

 and syrup could be covered with gauze, so 

 as to exclude the bees.— a. j. c.l 



