irmm mjsokmwtic-mn mmu jQTjmnmi^. 



789 



Bird, Bee and Flower. 



Not far from the door, 



A sweet flower bell 

 Peeps forth from its stalk, 



Of beauty to tell ; 

 A humming bird comes. 



Sips daily, with glee, 

 For each other borii 



They surely must be. 



I hie me away 



To others, with care, 

 But ere they are reached 



The dear bird is there, 

 A-kissing each lip, 



lu fancy, so tree ! 

 For liirds those bright blooms 



Most surely must be. 



As up from the ground 



A modest, young flower 

 First ventures to claim 



Th' sunlight its dower, 

 'Tis quickly espied 



With roUicksorae glee, 

 And blossom and bird 



Each other's must be. 



Oh ! rover, so gay, 



In yonder fair dell, 

 A lover, more plain. 



Is bound by the spell ; 

 And lover am I — 



Thou plainly may'st see — 

 Of Flora's fair offspring 



As well as the bee. 



"We'll quarrel not o'er 



These beauties of earth, 

 This brightness of bloom. 



Where pleasure has birth ; 

 The heavens mete out 



These treasures so free, 

 There's bounty enough 



For bird, bee and me. 

 -Vick's ilontlilu. H. A. M. 



EMPTY COMBS. 



How to Store and Protect them 

 During the Winter. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY M^ J. DAVIS, 1st. 



One feature of advanced bee-culture 

 is tlie proper care of all good worker- 

 combs in the brood-fiames, and all 

 white combs in tlie sections. If it be 

 a fact that 20 pounds of iioney are 

 consumed by the bees in the produc- 

 tion of one pound of wax. it follows 

 that one pound of new comb should 

 have the value of 20 pounds of honey ; 

 and every pound of such comb is so 

 much capital invested in the business ; 

 and every square inch of good comb 

 .shouhl be talien care of. 



I am aware that some store reserve 

 combs in empty hives. * some hang 

 tliem in tlie cellar, and some store 

 them in paper saclcs ; but all of these 

 methods have tlieir objection of im- 

 proper ventilation, inconvenience, and 

 jci-upy too much room, especially 



when one has from eight hundred to 

 twelve hundred to store away for the 

 winter. 



I will briefly describe my method of 

 keeping them through the winter, and 

 if need be. through the summer, too, 

 secure from the attack of the wax- 

 moth. I have boxes made of three- 

 eighths pine boards, two feet loug, in- 

 side measure, and the proper width 

 for the length of the brood-frames. 

 The bottom box, for a pile, has a bot- 

 tom nailed on, and made deep enough 

 so that the bottom of the frame will be 

 about an inch from the bottom of the 

 box. 



In one of the sides, a hole, about 6x8 

 inches, is sawed out and covered with 

 fine wire-cloth on the inside. This is 

 for ventilation. 



Other boxes of the same size are 

 made witliout top or bottom, and piled 

 upon the first as high as the storage 

 room will admit, or the convenience 

 of the apiarist may suggest. The top 

 box should have a ventilator like the 

 bottom one, and the pile covered with 

 a suitable board. Combs thus venti- 

 lated will keep clean and sweet, if 

 stored in a suitable rooiu, provided 

 they have been cleaned up by the bees. 

 after the honey has been extracted. 



Each two-foot box will hold 16 

 combs. In making such boxes, the 

 sides are dropped five-eighths of an 

 inch below the ends, to form the rab- 

 bets for the end of the top-bar. and a 

 three-eighths inch strip one and one- 

 fourth inches wide, nailed on each 

 side, even witli the ends, to make all 

 tight ; also a strip gne-half an inch 

 wide, nailed on the sides, at the bot- 

 tom, or lower edge of the box, to rest 

 on the 1} inch strip of the box under 

 it. An inch strip nailed across the 

 ends, near the top, for handles, is very 

 convenient. 



I assort ni}' combs, placing those 

 that have the most pollen in a separ- 

 ate pile, for supplying those colonies 

 that require pollen in the spring, be- 

 fore the flow(u-s yield any. 



The advantages of this style of 

 storage are : 



The boxes are not expensive, are light 

 to handle, will last a life time, are 

 mouse-proof, and with pure Italian 

 bees to keejy the combs clean, are moth 

 proof, besides storing the largest 

 number of combs in a given space by 

 piling them up. 



This season there ■will doubtless be 

 a large number of unfinished sections. 

 These should be passed through the 

 extractor, and the bees should be 

 allowed to clean them of every particle 

 of honey ; the propolis should be 

 scraped oft', and then packed in sec- 

 tion-cases for future use, secure from 

 mice and spiders. 



Youngsville, Pa. 



"WASHINGTON. 



Bcc-€iiilure in thi§ IVew State 

 of the Nortli\ve§t. 



Written Jor the American Bee. Journal 



BY C. THEII.MANN. 



This is my third trip to this great 

 resort in Washington, situated 16 miles 

 west of Spokane Falls. This lake has 

 great curative qualities for many dis- 

 eases. Some come here sick and go 

 away in a short time greatly improved, 

 and others in perfect health. 



The country has greatly improved 

 since my first trip, eight years ago. 

 Spokane Falls was then a small town ; 

 now it is a large city with hundreds of 

 buildings in course of construction, 

 many of which are to be first-class 

 business houses, which will compare 

 favorably witli Eastern cities, and even 

 out-do some of them. The Opera House 

 cost .1350- 000. 



Tlie falls of the Spokane River has 

 immense waterpower, and will be the 

 center of Eastern Washington ; there 

 is a big show of minerals and agricul- 

 tural products on exhibition here this 

 month, which is very good for a new 

 country. 



Only one lot of honey is on exhibi- 

 tion, and that is shown by Rev. G. D. 

 Kimke, of Sprague, Lincoln county. 

 The honey is of fine quality, and 

 nearly white. I have taken interest, 

 as a bee-keeper, to visit Mr. Kimke at 

 his range, about 18 miles southwest of 

 this lake. I found him at his comfort- 

 able home on what is called Rock 

 Creek, but could not find water in it, 

 (as many of the creeks in this Big-Bend 

 country of the Columbia, disappear for 

 some distance, and come to the surface 

 again). 



Mr. K. was much surprised and 

 happy to meet an Eastern bee-man. 

 He has a nice little apiary, and the 

 only one in this county. Last year he 

 had to feed his bees during the whole 

 season, on account of the great drouth. 

 This season he secured about lO 

 pounds of snrplus honey to the colony, 

 besides their winter stores of about 10 

 pounds each, which he says will be 

 enough, as their winters are shorter 

 than in Minnesota, 



Mr. Kimke is working his bees on 

 scientific principles, and does not 

 think that over 50 colonies could be 

 profitably kept in one place, and eveu 

 then honey-producing plants should be 

 cultivated, of which he has already a 

 number of varieties, such as sweet 

 clover, spider-plant. Rocky Mountain 

 bee-plant, etc. He has on his own 

 laud some native Rocky Mountain 

 bee-plants, the only difference being 

 in the color of the bloom ; it is a pur- 

 ple ; he had also some blossoms of 



