THE aMERICKl>t BEE JOURNailr. 



471 



never had so large a proportion of the 

 prepared cups completed as I have had 

 all along during this worst of all years. 



The queens hatching from these cells 

 have been splendid, but when it came 

 to getting them fertilized, either in 

 upper stories or in nuclei, it has been 

 uphill work, for I never lost so many 

 queens from nuclei in the same length 

 of time as I have this year, that I re- 

 member of. 



Basswood promises to be about one- 

 half of a crop, according to the show- 

 ing of buds. As these buds will open 

 in a few days, I hope for better times in 

 tlie near future. 



Borodino, N. Y., July 3, 1889. 



[*0n each comb there are two sur- 

 faces, with cells extending down to the 

 centre wall (or "niid-i-ib," as they 

 call it in England), and a Gallup frame 

 contains 230 square inches of comb 

 surface, as Bro. Doolittle remarks in 

 the first paragraph. 



His second paragraph is clearly 

 wrong. A board cannot be compared 

 to a comb, unless it is two inches thick 

 (or, if we may be allowed the expres- 

 sion, unless it is a ••double board"). 

 Then it would be calculated by " board 

 measure," and both surfaces would be 

 taken into the calculation, like tlie 

 comb surfaces of the frame. While 

 " we do not measure a board on each 

 side to tell us how many feet there is 

 in it,'" we invai'iably do measure or 

 calculate both sides when that board 

 liecomes a two-inch plank — and more 

 nearly resembles a frame of comb with 

 two surfaces. — Ed.] 



BASSWOOD. 



]M)- inaiiUiSfeiiiciit of Swarms in 

 the Apiary. 



WritUn lor the Ameriryn Bee Journal 

 BY MISS IDA HOUSE. 



Basswof)d is very rich here ; one 

 colony brought in 12 pounds of hone}' 

 on July 12. On July 10 we extracted 

 40 pounds of white clover honey from 

 the same colony, and did not extract 

 from tlie brooil-chamber. 



We find it almost impossible to get 

 along without the queen-excluders. 

 We have had a number of sections of 

 honey spoiled b}- neglecting to put the 

 queen-e.xcluders on. 



I am guarding against swarming all 

 tliat I can, until basswood is done with. 

 I take four frames of brood from a 

 hive for a nucleus, put in four empty 

 frames, and cut out all remaining 



queen-cells ; as far as I have gone, this 

 method works splendidly, but I find it 

 impossible for nie to get along very 

 fast among so many bees. 



My brother-in-hiw has charge of an 

 elevator here, so he can help me only 

 at night and morning with the bees. 

 On Jul)- 7 we had 15 swarms, and also 

 on July 10 we had 15 swarms ; but 

 with my sister's help, I hived them 

 witliout the loss of one. We have not 

 lost a swarm of bees for six summers. 



All of our queens have their wings 

 clipped, and when a swarm comes out, 

 we go to the hive, pick up the queen, 

 take out all tlie liiood from the hive, 

 and put ill empty frames ; then put the 

 queen in front of the hive, and the bees 

 will soon return, and go to work 

 again. 



Our colonies arc all verj' strong, and 

 in splendid condition. We could not 

 ask for more favorable weather than 

 we are having. When I have more 

 time, I will tell how we winter our 

 bees, which I hope will help some bee- 

 keeper who is unsuccessful in winter- 

 ing his bees. 



Howard, Minn., July 13, 1889. 



REARINa QUEENS. 



Results of Some Experiments in 

 Bce.Kecping, etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY FRANK S. JOHXSOX. 



On page 362 I related my experience 

 in bee-keeping up to the hatching of 

 the queens in my two nucleus colonies. 

 Although I felt rather nei-^ous as to 

 the result of my experiment, for there 

 were several queen-cells in each hive, 

 still the first queen hatched must have 

 destroyed the other cells, as there were 

 no " second swarms." 



Tlie weather at this time came on 

 cold and rainy, and in consequence 

 1 was uneasy about their welfare while 

 on their "bridal tour." After about a 

 week, however, one commenced to 

 lay ; but I could discover no eggs in 

 the other hive. 1 waited a few days 

 longer, and then, thinking that the 

 "lady" had met with some mi.shap, I 

 sent for a Carniolan queen, thinking 

 that I would give that race a trial, as 

 they are well spoken of as to their pro- 

 lificness and comb-building abilities. 



The queen came all right, but in the 

 meantime the other queen that I 

 thought was missing, began to lay, 

 and she proves to be a fine one, for 

 she has everything filled with brood. 



I took two frames of brood from the 

 old colony, and put the Carniolans 

 upon tlie conil) in a Peot cage, but 

 tlirough some fault of mine, the queen 

 gnawed throiigli the comb into the 

 cage, and killed a few of the attendant 



bees. Of course, as I saw the dead 

 bees at the entrance, I thouglit that 

 my queen was gone ; but upon examin- 

 ing the hive the next da)', I found her 

 moving around, and quietly depositing 

 eggs. 



I examined her again a few daj'S 

 ago, and found four and five eggs in 

 some of the cells. What does tliat 

 signify ? 



In this country we get no earlj' sur- 

 plus. There is verj' little fruit except 

 wild plums, and no clover at all. Elms, 

 box-elders, and cotton-woods furnish 

 pollen. Just now (July 10) bees are 

 storing a liglit, mild honej', but wliat 

 they obtain it from, I am unable to 

 determine. I supposed tliat it was 

 sumac, but I have been unable to liiid 

 any bees working on it, although th'-re 

 is an}' quantity of it in bloom iii^ar 

 here. 



After harvest is when we get our 

 .surjilus. The stubble-fields will Ije 

 fairly red over acres and acies of 

 heart's-ease or smart-weed. The honey 

 is rather dark, but of quite good llavor, 

 and sells well. 



I have 3G pounds nearly all capped 

 over, in one-pound sections, on my old 

 colony. One of my neighbors says 

 that I will be the cause of all this 

 county being covered with bees. 



Two of my neiglibors ha\e already 

 spoken for queens from my old colony. 

 The record they made last year, and 

 so far this season, causes every one 

 here, who has bees, to' want a queen 

 from them. 



I have sent for Mr. Doolittle's 

 " Queen-Rearing," and propose to 

 learn all that I can by experience and 

 study, about the business ; and perhaps 

 sometime I m.ay engage in the bee- 

 business extensively. 



Oolden-Rod tlie I^atloiial FIoM'er 



In regard to the National Flower : 

 I think that it would be rather unjust 

 to choose a flower that blooms only in 

 certain parts of the United Slates, like 

 the trailing arbutus; although this is 

 much more beautiful and fragrant 

 than the golden-rod, still, if I am cor- 

 rect, folden-rod is found in some of its 

 varieties nearly all over the United 

 States. We certainly have several 

 varieties of it in great profusion here, 

 making great golden mas.ses on the 

 prairies in all directions. I would 

 speak for " golden-rod." 



Campbell, Nebr. 



[A good queen lays the eggs in reg- 

 ular order, and one in a cell. The 

 presence of 4 or 5 eggs in a cell sug- 

 gests that either the queen is a poor 

 one (or drone-layer, as she is some- 

 times called), or that the hive con- 

 tains laying workers.— Ed.] 



