582 



TH® m'MMmi^MM mmM jO'^pkhmi*. 



apiary could have done as well as such 

 a colony, I should have had a big 

 yield." 



Some contend that various things 

 have all to do with it, but I am in- 

 clined to think that the race of bees 

 has the greater influence over these 

 things, and that certain traits of char- 

 acter exist in certain colonies to a 

 greater extent than in others, making 

 them more susceptible to our manipu- 

 lation, etc., that brings about the dif- 

 ferent results. If this is true, there is a 

 chance for impi'overaent in our bees, 

 and I am inclined to think that it will 

 be more to our credit in the future to 

 strive to improve on the bees which 

 we have, rather than to continue im- 

 porting stock. 



But how can we accomplish this im- 

 provement ? I know of but one waj- 

 at present for the majority of us to 

 accomplish this, and that is through 

 the queen. Could we bring the drones 

 into subjection, we might do better or 

 get along faster, but as all eftbrts at 

 controlling these have proven failures, 

 we have only the queen to aid us as a 

 certainty. Well, such being the case, 

 how shall we proceed ? I do not know 

 that I can give my views better than 

 to saj- that some years ago I adopted 

 the following plan : 



At the close of each honey season I 

 struck an average of the number of 

 pounds of surplus honey produced by 

 the whole apiary, and then all colonies 

 which did not come up to the average 

 were marked. These colonies were 

 united either in the fall or spring with 

 others, which had produced an average 

 amount, or above, if such uniting was 

 deemed advisable, through colonies 

 light in bees or scarcitj' of honey. 



Of course I always destroj'ed the 

 poorest queeu and retained the other. 

 If all were not disposed of in this way, 

 I superseded the inferior queens by 

 those reared from colonies known to 

 have produced the very largest amount. 

 The above requires the keeping of a 

 record of each and all colonies in the 

 apiarj", which is of benefit in several 

 ways, beside the one here spoken of. 

 Mr. Newman's " Apiary Register" is a 

 nice thing for this purpose, and no 

 apiary should be without one of these 

 " Registers." All queens at all times 

 are reared as far as possible from those 

 producing the largest yields of honey, 

 and in this way the apiary can be 

 steadily improving as regards the 

 honey-gathering qualities of the bees, 

 instead of retrograding. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



DROUTH. 



The Plants Aviiich are Less 

 Affected by It. 



Written for the Prairie Farmer 



BY MRS. L. HAKRISON. 



Are yoii Cioing to the Fair * If so, 

 will you kindly send to this office and get a 

 few samples of the Bee Jolknal, and give 

 them out to your friends there, and get up 

 a club ? We will send them to you with 

 pleasure. 



Day after day the thermometer has 

 been playing around one hundred in 

 the shade, and one day it was one 

 hundred and ten, accompanied by hot 

 wind. I can now sympathize with 

 Kansas. These hot winds bear away 

 the last drop of life in leaf and twig. 

 A large green ash growing near the 

 honey-house, has shed almost all its 

 leaves, drying green upon the tree, and 

 then falling. Elms and lindens, my 

 especial pets, have suffered severely, 

 and part of them are now dead. If 

 horticulturists could give hints how to 

 preserve trees during such trying or- 

 deals, it might do a world of good. 



Judging from my own observations, 

 I think that keeping the soil mellow 

 around the trees during drouths of 

 long continuance, is better than pour- 

 ing water upon the hard soil under 

 them, which only serves to bake it 

 down harder. 



In order to preserve the lives of two 

 cherry trees, whose leaves were turn- 

 ing yellow, I mellowed the soil and 

 then covered it with about a foot of 

 leaves, which I keep in place by piling 

 on brush, so that the wind or chickens 

 may not remove them. I then gave 

 them a liberal watering. If I had one 

 pail of water to give to a tree every 

 night for two weeks, I would prefer to 

 to give fourteen pailfuls at once, and 

 should expect then that it might do 

 good. One pailful at a time does more 

 harm than good, if the soil is dry and 

 hard. After a light shower is a good 

 time to give a liberal watering. 



Sunflowers, helianths, like the eagle 

 with its eye on the sun, can face it all 

 day without Ijlushing, laugh at the 

 heat, and like the old darkey, "think 

 him mighty pleasant weather." I have 

 been watching the sunflowers for 

 years, in hopes to prove that it would 

 do to tie to as a great honey-plant 

 during dry weather, but have not been 

 able, so far, to make it " pan out." 

 Bees gather honey and pollen from it, 

 but it yields sparingly. 



One morning I was highly elated by 

 seeing so many bees with tremendous 

 loads of pollen on the face of a big 

 Russian, but on taking a nearer view 

 I found that they were not Italians, but 

 some species of wild bees from the 

 woods. 



Cleome - integrifolia stands dry 

 weather well, and has been blooming 

 during the very hot weather ; but bees 

 work upon it only in early morning. 

 It does not appear to yield as much 



honey in this locality as its near rela- 

 tion, Cleome - Pungens, otherwise 

 known as spider-plant. Prof. Cook, of 

 Michigan Agricultural College, last 

 year, grew Rocky Mountain bee-plant 

 on a large scale, in order to find 

 whether it would pay to raise it for 

 honey alone, and it failed to fill the 

 bill — the climate could not be furnished 

 along with the seed. 

 Peoria, Ills. 



BEE-DISEASE. 



Salt is the Antidote for the 

 " Nameless Bee-Disease." 



Written for the American Bee Jourtial 



BY JOSHUA BULL. 



It appears, from what we read in 

 the bee-papers from time to time, that 

 the " nameless bee-disease " continues 

 to be troublesome in various places, 

 and that information is wanted con- 

 cerning a remedy. Perhaps it may 

 not be amiss for me to report mj' little 

 experience with this strange disease ; 

 although not very extensive, yet th» 

 little experience which I have had 

 therewith has been of such a nature 

 that it has been ver^' conclusive and 

 convincing to me, at least, in the fol- 

 lowing points : 



First, that the disease originates 

 with the queen ; second, that it is not 

 contagious ; and third, that common 

 salt properly administered will effect 

 a permanent cure. 



In support of the foregoing conclu- 

 sions, I offer the following facts : 



In the summer of 1888 I obtained 

 two queens from parties living sevei-al 

 hundred miles distant, and I introduced 

 those queens into good, health}- colo- 

 nies. Previous to this time I had 

 never noticed any signs of the " name- 

 less disease " among my bees, neithei* 

 did it appear in these colonies during 

 the remainder of that season ; they 

 wintered on the summer stands,built up- 

 very strong in numbers in the early 

 spring of 1889, but about the time of 

 fruit-bloom they were both attacked 

 with this disease, and began to dwindle 

 very rapidly. 



When their numbers were reduced 

 about one-half, I commenced experi- 

 menting with one colony by sprinkling 

 them with salt-water, which did not 

 seem to do any good. I also dissolved 

 about ii table-spoonful of salt in a little 

 water, and mixed it into one gallon of 

 honey, and fed it to them as fast as 

 they would take it ; this seemed to ar- 

 rest the progress of the disease some- 

 what, and when the brood began to- 

 hatch, which had been nursed with 

 this salted honey, they began to re- 

 cruit, and increase in numbers again. 



