510 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



she finds every available cell stored with 

 ripened honey. 



At this point, the instinct of the bees 

 teachf'S them that they must have brood, 

 or they will soon cease to exist as a col- 

 ony, and a general rush is made for the 

 sections, the honey from below is car- 

 ried above, so as to give the queen room, 

 and, in a week, we have, as a result, the 

 sections nearly filled with honey. I 

 have often had such colony complete 

 from 50 to 60 pounds of honey in the 

 sections in from 10 to 15 days, while 

 those to which I had given a laying 

 queen immediately after swarming, did 

 little else but swarm during the same 

 time, with not a pound section of finished 

 honey on the hive at the end of the 

 honey season. 



According to my ideas of bee-keeping, 

 the apiarist should have a thorough 

 knowledge of the location he or she is 

 in, as to its honey-resources, and then 

 secure the largest number of bees pos- 

 sible at the time of the honey-yields, to 

 gather the honey from the flowers while 

 in bloom, having just as few at all other 

 times as is consistent with accomplish- 

 ing this object. 



That the giving of a laying queen, as 

 stated by the correspondent whom I 

 have quoted, tends to produce a large 

 quantity of bees at a season of the year 

 when there is nothing for them to do, is 

 why I oppose his position. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Apicullural Holes from Texas. 



A. C. ATEN. 



We are having very fine weather for 

 bees at present. There are not many 

 honey-producing flowers in bloom, but 

 the bees are very busy getting some 

 honey, and carrying in plenty of pollen. 

 My bees are in splendid condition at 

 present, but next month is our worst 

 month for bees generally, and I am pre- 

 paring to feed them well, and give them 

 better attention than I have ever given 

 them before. I am full of good inten- 

 tions, which, I hope, I will have the 

 firmness to carry out. 



About the middle of this month we 

 had a v<'ry cold spell of weather, snow- 

 ing a little, and freezing considerable for 

 three nights, killing about all the fruit 

 that had bloomed up to that time (and 

 there was very little but what was in 

 bloom), so our fine prospect for fruit is 

 all gone. 



Corn, that was up, was killed down to 

 the ground, but came out again, and 

 many plants almost ready to bloom, 

 which would have furnished nectar for 

 the bees, were ruined. Notwithstanding 

 this, vegetation has somewhat revived, 

 and the bees are happy. 



CAUSE OF BITTER HONEY. 



What is the cause of bitter honey ? 

 is a question asked by some one. Well, 

 it is the product of some plant. The 

 only plant that I know of here that pro- 

 duces bitter honey is the bitter camo- 

 mile; it has a yellow bloom, and looks a 

 little like dog-fennel, and in some places 

 in this part of Texas it quite often ruins 

 half the honey, as very few can eat it, 

 and it is fit for nothing but feeding bees. 

 It appears to grow only on a certain 

 kind of soil, and none of my apiaries are 

 situated near where it grows. 



We have another plant here — a kind 

 of milk-weed — which we call " snow on 

 the mountain," because of its peculiar 

 white upper leaves, which make it look 

 as if it was covered with snow. This 

 plant produces peppery honey. Pure 

 honey from this plant is too strong to 

 eat, but when mixed with other honey, 

 and allowed to get a few months old, it 

 loses much of its strong, peppery flavor, 

 and is pretty good honey. 



ITALIAN BEES AS A PURE RACE. 



I am somewhat surprised at much that 

 is written in regard to whether Italian 

 bees are a pure race or not. Strictly 

 speaking, there may not be a pure race 

 of any kind of animals, or insects, in 

 the world, but I will venture the asser- 

 tion that they are as pure as anything 

 else, and it will be a more difficult matter 

 to prove that bees "sport" than any 

 other animal kept either for pleasure or 

 profit ; because we cannot control the 

 mating, and cannot tell whether the 

 queen meets a pure, hybrid, or black 

 drone. 



Round Rock, Texas, March 29, 1892. 



A Visit AiiionE Iowa Bee-Keepers. 



THOS. JOHNSON. 



On March 10, 1892, I began a week's 

 visit among bee-keepurs in neighboring 

 towns. I called first upon E. N. Tag- 

 gar t, of Coon Rapids, who has 30 colo- 

 nies of bees, all wintering well. Mr. T. 

 obtained 200 pounds of surplus honey 

 last year, besides leaving sufficient in 



