428 



Tmm mmmmiG-mn mmm joismnmi^. 



the sweet clu\er, mustard, and the 

 sumac at )5reseiit, and the basswood 

 will be ready about July 1. It looks 

 fine this year, and it appears at pres- 

 ent that I will get more honey than I 

 have had in two years. We have had 

 fine rains lately, and everything looks 

 nice. I have two of the Heddon hives 

 to try this summer. 



I was happy to see that Mr. Rich, of 

 New York, came out all right in his 

 bee-lawsuit, and his neighbor got the 

 sum of six cents ! It seems so strange, 

 to me, that we cannot have more bee- 

 keepers to join the Union. No man 

 can tell when he will get into trouble 

 with such fellows that know no better. 

 I have been told a number of times, 

 that if I was inside the city limits, they 

 would make me move my bees out, as 

 the bees troubled the grocery stores so 

 much ; but this year they have not 

 been troubled with the bees, and now 

 thej- feel slighted. I tell them that I 

 have been getting an honest race of 

 bees, that do not believe in stealing. 



Too Cold and Too Wet.— John 

 R. Sample, Elizaville, Ills., writes : 



Bees in this neighborhood are not 

 doing anj- good. In the spring it was 

 too dry and cold for them to get honey 

 enough to breed on ; then it com- 

 menced raining on Ma}' 25, and has 

 rained nearly ever}' day since. 



Unfavorable Weather, etc 



John Dewar, Tiverton, Ont, on June 

 15, 1889, says : 



Bees generally came out in good 

 condition this spring. The latter part 

 of April, and up to about May 20, was 

 very favorable for the bees, with no 

 spring dwindling, at least with my 

 bees ; but since May 20, the weather 

 has been very cold and wet, so that the 

 bees could not leave their hives. It is 

 now warmer, but still wet. If we 

 should get favorable weather after this, 

 we expect a good yield, as the colonies 

 are very strong. 



Selectinjg; a Fnliire Home W. 



C. Steddom, Oregonia, O., on June 24, 



1889, writes : 



As there has been a great deal writ- 

 ten about bees selecting a future home, 

 I wish to add the result of my obser- 

 vations. Some three weeks since, I 

 was expecting a swarra ; in my apiary, 

 consisting of about 50 colonies, was an 

 empty hive, and on the opposite side 

 from the hive containing the colony 

 which I thought about ready to cast a 

 swarm. Bees had been at work clean- 

 ing up and guarding the empty hive 

 for several days — I think that some of 



fc*^*^ *^A^^^*^fj^j^j*- *^*-^*^*-"- ''^*.^ ^^ '. ^ ^ 



them stayed during the night; by 

 watching them after sundown, when 

 other bees liad ceased to fly, I could 

 easily follow them as they would go 

 home, and they went directly to where 

 I expected the swarm. In a few days, 

 out came the swarm, and streamed 

 across the apiary to the empty hive, 

 and were pouring into it before more 

 than one-half were out of the parent 

 hive. What more do we want, to 

 prove that bees do select the future 

 home ? 



Queens Too Old to Lay, etc. — 



Wm. Anderson, Sherman, Mo., on 

 June 17, 1889, writes : 



I have not seen a better season for 

 honey than this, though it is very 

 backward and late. The rains and 

 cool weather has put the bees back in 

 this part of the country. I have been 

 \evy much discouraged on account of 

 so much failure in honey and bees, but 

 I see before me a bountiful harvest of 

 honey, though having lost very nearly 

 all my bees with foul brood and star- 

 vation. 1. What is the cause of a 

 queen's stopping laying for the space 

 of three weeks ? 2. How old is a 

 queen when she is too old to lay, if 

 she is ever too old to lay ? 



[1. In cases of scarcity of food, 

 queens sometimes stop laying, or the 

 bees will not allow the eggs to hatch 

 until favorable conditions exist. 



2. A queen should laj' for three 

 j'ears or more, all other things being 

 favorable ; but sometimes she becomes 

 sterile from other causes than age. — 

 Ed.] 



Bees Eating Brood, etc. — Rev. 

 Stephen Roese, Maiden Rock, Wis., on 

 June 10, 1889, writes : 



Up to yesterday, bees in this section 

 of the country were almost in a starv- 

 ing condition, owing to the heavy 

 frosts and cold weather ; but since the 

 rain, a few days ago, white clover 

 blossoms have opened, and the bees 

 find something to do. On a careful 

 examination. I found, in spite of my 

 feeding, that all colonies were much 

 lighter than in the early spring, and 

 some were even in a starving condi- 

 tion. One colony I found dead, hav- 

 ing had a vigorous young queen, and 

 breeding rather ahead of her stoi=es ; 

 six frames were full of sealed and un- 

 sealed brood ; the latter, it seemed 

 that the dying colonj-, after all the 

 honey was gone, subsisted upon, judg- 

 ing from the unsealed brood mostly 

 consumed. Has anything like this 

 been known before ? Upon further 

 examination, I found that many colo- 



nies had made prepartions for early 

 swarming, but in consequence of the 

 cold weather and destructive frosts, 

 they had torn the queen-cells down, 

 and were killing their drones. 



P. S. — At this date (June 16) the 

 weather is quite warm, and bees are 

 very busy gathering nectar from white 

 clover and raspberry. The good-na- 

 ture and cheerful hum of the honey- 

 gatherers, is an indication that the 

 hard-times and honey-dearlh are over 

 for the present, and the apiarist is 

 looking forward with a good hope that 

 he will be well rewarded for his labor 

 and toil. Many hundred acres of 

 buckwheat are sowed in this immediate 

 neighborhood, and about one-fourth of 

 it is the Japanese variety. I am put- 

 ting on sections, but I have had no 

 swarms as yet, and do not look for any 

 for eight or ten days yet, as I have 

 built up the weaker colonies by taking 

 brood from the stronger ones. 



Starting Again with Bees. — H. 



G. Heckraan, Clark, Uak., on June 19, 

 1889, says : 



I am again trying to begin the bee 

 and honey business, as I have pur- 

 chased several colonies, and I believe 

 that I can make it a success here in 

 Dakota, but I am more than five 3'ears 

 behind the times. I have 2 colonies 

 of pure Italian bees — perhaps the only 

 ones in this (Clark) county. I am 

 living on the edge of a thriving village, 

 engaged in farming, and I am well 

 satisfied with this country. I have 

 seeded two acres to buckwheat, and 

 we have wild mustard and golden-rod, 

 and some other honey-plants. 



Ciiloroforiu and Swarming. — 



L. B. Graves, Nineveh, Ind., on June 

 22, 1889, writes : 



On page 823, of the American Bee 

 Journal for 1888, Mr. W. H. Kirby, 

 speaks about chloroform for the pre- 

 vention of swarming. I would like to 

 know just how he uses it, and just how 

 much. I tried it on two colonies, but 

 it had no ett'ect. I used a cold-blast 

 smoker, and put a small piece of cot- 

 ton in the muzzle, poured chloroform 

 in on it, and putted it in at the hive- 

 entrance, but I could not even stupefy 

 the guards. If there is a better waj' 

 to use it. I would be glad to know it. 

 The season has been verj- backward 

 here — very cold and rainy, until the 

 last few days it has been very warm, 

 and now the bees do nothing but 

 swarm. I gave them more room both 

 in the brood and the surplus depart- 

 ments, but they would not occupy it — 

 only hang around the entrance for a 

 day or two, and then swarm. 



