3°& 



BEES— MANAGEMENT AND CARE OF. 



among other sources, the snow-white 

 blossoms of buckwheat. This is raised to 

 a considerable extent here, and is the 

 richest harvest of the year. It usually 

 lasts till frost. 



The meagre supply of honey from 

 flowers and blossoms during the latter 

 part of July might, to the casual observer, 

 be considered an injury to the honey bee 

 and its business of making honey ; but a 

 little further observation shows that it is 

 not the case. About this time the comb 

 is filled, and the honey that has already 

 been gathered is to be sealed over and 

 secured ; the brood of young ones is to 

 be nurtured and ma'tured to supply the 

 place of those which have gone forth in 

 swarms; pollen, or bee bread — that is 

 furnished principally, at this time, by 

 corn tassels — is to be laid up for the next 

 spring's brood, then to be reared, and the 

 industrious bee takes this opportunity to 

 gather and store it up. After the early 

 frosts there is not much honey to be col- 

 lected, except from the yellow blossoms 

 fall which now appear amid the faded ver- 

 dure of decaying nature. But now the 

 weather is too cold for gathering honey, 

 and the bee only struggles for a time with 

 the chilling winds of autumn, then ends 

 the campaign and returns to winter 

 quarters. 



The following list comprises some of 

 the plants from which bees gather honey 

 and pollen during the feeding seasons : 



Spring. — Willow, alder, aspen or pop- 

 lar, elm, maple, marsh-marigold, hepatica, 

 anemone, dandelion, erythronium, service 

 berry, currant, gooseberry, strawberry, 

 peach, cherry, apple, pear, China tree, 

 black gum, whortleberry, cottonwood, 

 cornel or dogwood, narcissus, honey- 

 suckle, oak, red bud, hazle, yellow jas- 

 mine, sweet myrtle, magnolia, hawthorn, 

 box-elder, locust, azalea. 



Summer. — Red clover, white clover, 

 raspberry, blackberry, cockspur, thorn, 

 whortleberry, black-haw, self-heal, azalea, 

 sour-wood, cinquefoil, cucumber, narrow- 

 leaved plantain, horse chestnut, straw- 

 berry, pea, honey-kew, (on live oak,) 

 chincapin, persimmon, linden, bee-balm, 

 maize, sorghum, heliotrope, iron weed, 

 smart weed, butterfly weed, viper's bug- 

 loss, cotton plant, buckwheat, sumac, 

 catnip, Spanish needles, beggar's lice, 

 boneset, starwort, silk weed, thistle, sage, 



cardinal flower, balsam, mountain mint, 

 sweet marjoram, lavender, spearmint, 

 peppermint, thyme, dandelion, duckweed, 

 pennyroyal, sweet clover, speedwell, 

 poppy, turnip, hollyhock, sunflower, 

 dahlia, phlox. 



Autumn. — Aster, golden rod, dande- 

 lion, white clover, red clover, cinquefoil, 

 chickweed, pennyroyal, artichoke, phlox„ 

 chrysanthemum. 



BEES, Common or Black, vs. Italian. — 

 We are satisfied that the Italian bees are 

 superior to the common or black bees,, 

 first, in the prolificness of their queens ;; 

 this is marked. Italian hives will be 

 strong in spring, and throw off swarms 

 from one to two weeks before the com- 

 mon bees. The great preventive of the 

 ravages of the moth is to keep your hives, 

 strong; this very prolificness of the Italian 

 queen keeps the hives strong. Seldom 

 do we find moth worms in an Italian 

 hive. Second, in vigor and energy. 

 They commence work earlier in the morn- 

 ing; this is easily tested. Let a box with 

 comb be exposed to the bees, the first 

 bees that visit it in the morning, though 

 there may not be more than one hive of 

 Italians in twenty, will be the Italians, 

 and they will be the last to leave it at 

 night. This superior energy and vigor 

 enables them to store more honey than 

 the common bee. Third, in keenness of 

 scent. This is also marked. Few who 

 have kept the Italians have failed to 

 notice this peculiarity. Let a dish of 

 honey be exposed in a room with an open 

 door or window, during the scarcity of 

 honey, and the first bee that approaches 

 it is sure to be an Italian. And fourth, in 

 amiability of disposition. This has been 

 questioned, and we will acknowledge that 

 they are not always the quiet, gentle crea- 

 tures that some have represented them to 

 be. Excite their anger, and the same 

 vigor and energy that leads them to work 

 earlier and later than the common bee 

 will make them more furious and less 

 easily quieted, but my own experience is 

 that they are rather more peaceable than 

 the common bee. That they work on red 

 clover any more readily than the common 

 bee, we have not been able to see yet But. 

 to conclude, the Italianizing of an apiary 

 of common bees adds, in pur humble 

 opinion, fully one-third to its working 

 powers. 



