THif m'mmmi€^mn bee jqumuril. 



329 



out fof a time bj- the clammers of the 

 " patent-right man." 



The i-evisers take a proper view of 

 the " contraction system." We want 

 a system that will give the best possi- 

 ble yield of surplus honey, and at the 

 same time leave the bees in a normal 

 condition. Extravagant contraction 

 can never meet these desirable ends. 



I'^eediiiS Bees. 



What is said in this new book on 

 "feeding bees," is sound and practical. 

 There is nothing better and mure econ- 

 omical than good sealed honey for 

 winter stores, or for spring feeding. 

 Sugar feeding should only be resortetl 

 to when it becomes necessary on ac- 

 count of scarcity of honej'. 



Queen-Kxcliiding' Honey-Boards. 



I was much pleased to see what these 

 practical authors had to say about the 

 use of the "slat honey-boai-d." This 

 iijplement has been well spoken of by 

 many practical apiarists ; and while I 

 believed that much of the praise be- 

 stowed on the " break-joint principle" 

 applied to honey-boards, had its origin 

 in a desire to please the inventor, I 

 was slow to pass upon its usefulness 

 till I had tested it in ever}' sort of sea- 

 son, and under all circumstances 

 wherein a honey-board might be useful. 



With me the slat honey-board is an 

 unnecessary appendage. In a good 

 season it is stuck fast to the tops of the 

 brood-frames in a most provoking way, 

 while it does not prevent the queen 

 from going into the upper story ; and 

 when she does go above, she will some- 

 times settle down into busy life in the 

 upper stor}', entii-ely abandoning the 

 brood-nest proper. I have met with 

 this provoking state of things in sev- 

 eral cases. 



The break-joint hone3'-board is a 

 fussy arrangement, and is a real im- 

 pediment in the way of the bees, and 

 there should be very many good points 

 about its use to over-balance its many 

 faults. 



The perforated-zinc queen-excluders 

 I have found very useful to keep the 

 queens out of the extracting-cases, as 

 I believe that the very best article of 

 honey cannot be taken with the ex- 

 tractor, from combs containing un- 

 sealed brood ; for the reason that such 

 combs usually contain more or less 

 thin nectar in close proximity to the 

 brood, which, when mixed with the 

 thoroughly evaporated honey, acts as 

 a.fermenl to the whole lot of honey 

 with which it is mixed. 



The chapter on comb foundation is 

 exceedingly interesting, both histori- 

 cally and in a practical way. But I must 

 close this line of thought with the 

 thought, what a book is this before me ! 



ChristianSburg, Ky. 



BOX-ELDER. 



A Tree that Yivld.x Pollen very 

 rieiitiriill)-. 



Written for thr. American Bee Journal 

 Br WM. L. DREW. 



On page 295, Mrs. L. Harrison rec- 

 ommends the box-elder {Ncgundo accr- 

 oidcs) as a tree valuable both for pol- 

 len and honey. Now, while it may be 

 unsafe to positively say that the box- 

 elder, or almost any other plant, yields 

 no honey, yet I do not regard its value 

 in that direction of any consequence. 



The flowers of this tree are dioecious, 

 that is, the pollen-producing flowex-s 

 are on one tree, while the fertile 

 flowers, or those which produce seed, 

 are on another tree. On this latter 

 tree, where we would expect to find 

 the nectar, if any were produced, I 

 have never seen a bee at work. On 

 the other hand, bees work in great 

 numbers on the honej'-producing tree, 

 but from examination of the flowers, 

 and careful observation of the bees at 

 work, I feel quite positive that no nec- 

 tar at all is obtained. 



I would not undervalue this tree, 

 however. Besides being a native here 

 in Iowa, it is widely cultivated for 

 shade and blooms, and produces an 

 abundance of pollen at a time when 

 pollen is of great value — much more 

 than honey, in fact. The flowets 

 opened this year about April 15. 



There is no other single plant that 

 I know of from which the bees gather 

 so much pollen, as from the box-elder ; 

 but it must be remembered that only a 

 part of the trees, the stamenate, are of 

 an)- value. The flowers are beauti- 

 fully adapted for fertilization by the 

 wind, and probably its fertilization is 

 seldom accomplished through any 

 other agency. Here, at least, is a 

 plant upon which bees work in large 

 numbers, and the plant receives no 

 benefit therefrom. 



Iowa City, Iowa. 



WISCONSIN. 



A Oreat Honey-Producing State 

 — Early Swarming. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY W. A. HODGE. 



I am of the opinion that Wisconsin 

 will in due time become one of the 

 leading States in the production of 

 bees and honey, at least that portion 

 of the State bordering on the great 

 Mississippi Valley, as the river bottoms 

 average about four miles wide the en- 

 tire length of the State, and are usually 

 one vast ocean of flowers of almost all 



kinils, from , July until November. Tlie 

 honey-bee can be seen gathering 

 sweets from these bottoms fully a 

 month .after all flowers are killed on 

 the highlands; and also in the spring- 

 time (March and Ai)ril) the honey-bee 

 is usually found gathering a goodlj' 

 amount of pollen and honey from the 

 soft maple and willow, of which there 

 is a great abundance. 



So, taking the foregoing advantages, 

 tog(^ther with uplanil forage, sucli as 

 the clo^ ers and fruit-blossoms of sev- 

 eral kinds, we, or at least some of us 

 Wisconsin hee-keepers, are beginning 

 to .see that poor, cold, Wisconsin has 

 something in store for us, not to be en- 

 joyed by (^very one living on the broad 

 and boundless ])lains. 



Some l':ai-ly Sifrarms. 



Now, as to early swarming : William 

 Valliant, living two miles from me, on 

 the river, on April 30 had a natural 

 swarm of bees that were all right, and 

 are doing nicely. On the tenth day 

 from that time, the second swarm came 

 out all right, and it is doing well also. 

 Who is ahead of thi.s ? I have kept 

 bees in Wisconsin for 25 years, and 

 never heard of bees swarming naturally 

 in April ; if any Wisconsin man has, 1 

 should like to hear of it. Our bees are 

 rushing the season here. 



Victory, Wis., May 13, 1889. 



COIVVEXTIOX DIRECTORY. 



1889. Time and Place nl MtetinQ. 



Dec. 4, C— International, at Briintfnnl.Ont.. Canada. 

 K. F. Uultermann, Sec, Urantfurd. Ont. 



jy In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulara of 

 time and place of future meetinKS.— ED. 



sikm^i^m 



Bee§ are Booming. — Dr. A. B. 



Mason, Auburndale, O., on May 10, 

 1889, writes : 



I did my lirst extracting to-day. I 

 looked to see if the colonies were rcady 

 for the supers, and found that in one 

 day some of them had filled everything 

 nearly full of honey, and were capping 

 it over, and building pieces of comb 

 wherever there was a chance ; I had 

 to extract to give the queens room. 

 There is " worlds" of fruit^bloom, and 

 the bees are booming. It is so very 

 dry that the white clover will be ma- 

 terially injured in a few days, if it 

 dones not rain. 



p. s._May 11. — We had a splendid 

 rain last night, and everybody and 

 ! everything looks happy. 



