TH© J£MEERIC1£]H: BE® JOURNSlLr. 



475 



and basswood is in full bloom, but 

 neither has produced honey as in 

 days of yore ; but swarming has been 

 above the average. The prospects ai-e 

 good for a fall crop, but I believe that 

 all the honey produced in this State 

 this season can be sold at the home 

 market, and a better profit realized 

 than to ship to the cities ; in fact, this 

 is the great mistake of bee-keepers in 

 general ; they seem to think it more 

 business-like to ship to Chicago, New- 

 York or Boston, when the facts are 

 th.at a little eft'ort around home would 

 realize them from 3 to 5 cents per 

 pound more for their honej' ; and re- 

 member this is all pi'ofit, the first cost, 

 or cost of production, must be paid be- 

 fore our margins begin. I certainly 

 hope that the bee-keepers will profit 

 b}' the lessons of the past, and thus get 

 as much money from half a crop, as 

 they usually do from a full one. 



Basswood Rich in Bfectar. — J. 



F. Eikenberry, Greene, Iowa, on July 

 16. 1889, writes : 



Bees have been doingwell ever since 

 the white clover began to bloom, and 

 the linden nectar is very rich and in 

 great quantity in this locality. I 

 stai-ted out with about 50 colonies, 

 and have increased them to 69. I have 

 a large fiuantit3- of honey almost ready 

 to take off. I have taken 32.5 pounds of 

 e.Ktraeted honej-, which is something 

 unusual at this season of the jear, in 

 this climate. 



Good AVIiite Clover Yield B. 



Volkering, East Farmingtou, Wis., on 

 July 14, 1889, says : 



Bees have been booming for the last 

 month or more. I have some colonies 

 each of which have filled 72 one-pound 

 sections from white clover alone. I 

 do not expect to get much honey from 

 basswood, for the nearest trees are 

 two miles distant. The buds are just 

 beginning to open. I am well ])leascd 

 with the American Bee Jocrnal — in 

 fact I could not get along without it. 



I>rag;ging Out Bees — Dummies. 



— Matthew Rebholz, Kane, Ky., on 

 July 13. 1889. writes : 



1. What was the matter with my 

 bees ? The first week in May one of 

 my colonies dragged out young, live 

 bees, and piled them up in front of 

 the hive. These .young bees were ap- 

 parently just hatched. The ue.xt day 

 2 other colonies did the same, and so 

 it went on through my whole ajiiary of 

 14 colonies:. The dragging out lasted 

 about two (^ays. Now what was the 



^_^_^Jt-^ * ■* * m * — - -^ ^^^^ ^^^^^'.^ 



reason of it? 2. .Since I have been 

 reading the Bee Journal, I came 

 across the word " dimimies," and as I 

 am yet somewhat young in bee-keep- 

 ing, I would like to know what is 

 meant by it. 



[1. They were short of stores, and 

 destroyed the brood to prevent destitu- 

 tion and starvation. 



2. A "dummy" is a close-fitting 

 division-board, used for contracting 

 the brood-chamber when that is de- 

 sirable. — Ed.] 



Bees on Scales.— E. E. Smith, 

 Clayton, Mich., on July 12, 1889, says: 



I received the new scales all right, 

 and I am well pleased with them. I 

 put a colony of bees on the scales this 

 morning early, and they gained l(j 

 pounds for their day's work. 



[That is a good day's work for one 

 colon}-. — Ed.] 



Carin;; for Honey 



Judge Ware, Maywood, Ky., asks these 

 queries : 



Please answer tlie following ques- 

 tions : 1. After taking the honey from 

 the hive, what is tlie best plan to take 

 care of about 20(1 pounds for family 

 use ? that is, to protect it from the 

 wa.x-moth, ants, etc. ? 2. How shall I 

 proceed to bi'eak up a colonj- of bees, 

 and give them to 10 other colonies ? I 

 want to give each one of the 10 a 

 frame of bees and brood to strengthen 

 them. 



[1. See page 454 of last week's issue. 

 2. Sprinkle all the colonies with pep- 

 permint water, and then give them 

 each the desired frame. — Ed.] 



S^veel Clover and Figworl 



L. K. Williams, Paris, Texas, on July 



8, 1889, writes : 



1. I send a piece of a plant — we 

 call it "bee-clover."' It grows from 4 

 to G feet liigh, and comes up earl}- in 

 the spring from the old stalk (or 

 roots). 2. I send one piece of another 

 plant. It has large leaves. Please 

 give the proper names, and which is 

 best for honey, if eitlier are good. 



[1. The first plant sent by Mr. 

 Williams is common sweet clover, or 

 melilot. 2. The other is figwort. Both 

 are most admirable honey-plants. I 

 doubt if any plant i.s better for bees 

 than sweet clover. — A. J. Cook.] 



lleallliniincss of Bee-KeepinK, 



ete — John H. Davis, Council Hill 

 Station, Ills., on July 15, 1889, writes : 



During the five years I have kept 

 bees, my health lias been good, but for 

 20 years before, at times I sufl'ered 

 from indigestion, and paid many dol- 

 lars for medicine which often did no 

 good. I never used honey until I kept 

 bees ; now I eat lots of it, and I tliink 

 that the honey has wrought the change. 

 I had 7 colonies in the spring, and 

 have 12 now. I have extracted .550 

 pounds of nice white clover honey, and 

 in a day or two I will extract aliout 200 

 pounds more. I made a solar wax- 

 extractor as described in the Bee 

 Journal, and it does its work so well 

 that when I see the wax running into 

 the pans, I feel sorry that I did not 

 make one before. 



Bee-IIOHSC — Good Season H. 



A. Morgan, Brazil, Ind., on July 11, 



1889, says : 



I have .35 colonies of bees in good 

 condition. They are doing better here 

 this year than for 4 or 5 years. I have 

 a bee-house, and it is a success. 



A Profusion of Bloom. — Milton 

 Newlin, Georgetown, Ills., on July 12, 



1889. writes : 



I send a flower to be named, as the 

 bees love to work on it early and late, 

 and it continues to bloom for quite 

 awhile. I have some Chapman honey- 

 plant nearly ready to bloom. It looks 

 excellent. Linden bloom is almost a 

 failure in this locality. White clover 

 has been very good. I had some 

 Alsike clover, and the bees kept a per- 

 fect hum all the day long on it, for 

 quite awhile. 



[The flower is one of the asters — ex- 

 cellent for honey. — Ed.] 



A .Sivarni on a Carriage. — Wm. 



Oldfield, Tickfaw, La., writes : 



As a most curious instance of selec- 

 tion by bees, of an object to settle on, 

 I will tell you of what I saw in New 

 Orleans on April 4. I was standing on 

 the "allery of tlie St. Charles Hotel, 

 when, seeing a large crowd gathered 

 around a hack, I thought there must 

 have been an accident, and went down 

 to the street to ascertain, and was con- 

 siderably surprised to find that the 

 attention of the crowd was attracted 

 and retained by observing a very large 

 swarm of bees which had settled on 

 the handle of a carriage which stood 

 immediately ojiposite the St. Charles 

 Hotel. The bees were- entirely good- 



