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page 423, Mr. Robbins says that seven 

 frames will usuall)", if not always, be 

 all that a queen can fill in 21 (.lays. If 

 I had a queen that would not till more 

 than 7 frames with brood in 21 days, 

 bj' the 15th of May I would rear 

 another, or exchange her for a better 

 one at once ; for the bees are usually 

 in the second story by that time. I 

 use 9-frame 3-story hives, and I wish 

 they held 10 frames ; I would have no 

 objection to 12, as they would be less 

 liable to blow over in storms. While 

 speaking of queens, I have one that I 

 bought for 13.50 three years ago, and 

 I was told that she was two years old, 

 and was a "two-story" queen — she 

 was in the second story when we found 

 her, and it was half full of brood at 

 the time. She has never done less, 

 but a great deal more. This year 1 

 have taken 8 or 10 frames of brood 

 from her to rear queens from, giving 

 empty combs in exchange. Sometime 

 in May I divided her colony, giving 

 each brood and empty combs. On June 

 7 she swarmed out, and I hived her on 

 empty combs in a three-story hive. 

 She is now in the second storj'. I shall 

 not supersede her while she does so 

 much, regardless of age. I have no 

 queens for sale. 



Half a Crop — marketing the 

 NeAV Honey. — J. Richards & Co., 

 Brooklyn, Wis., on July 29, 1889, says: 



The white honey crop is a little bet- 

 ter than last year, but it is not more 

 than half a crop. Now because sugar 

 is high, and because we have been 

 losing money in the business for the 

 past two years, we ought to have a 

 good price for our one-half crop this 

 year. Let shippers limit commission 

 men to last year's prices, and hold fast. 

 Wisconsin has no more than we can 

 use at home. 



Cause of Swarming. — Mr. Aaron 

 Benedict, Bennington, O., writes : 



On reading Mr. Doolittle's article 

 about swarming (page 470), I thought 

 that I would help him a little. What 

 seemed to him to be rather dark, is 

 plain to me. As a rule, the queen or 

 mother-bee is the instigator, or cause, 

 of bees swarming. In natural swarm- 

 ing, the cells are filled with larvre, 

 eggs and honey, the queen has no- 

 where to deposit her eggs, and she 

 passes rapidly through the hive ; tliis 

 excites the workers, and out they 

 come, the queen following. This is 

 pure natural swarming. I have no 

 doubt but Mr. Doolittle, as well as 

 other queen-breeders, have been both- 

 ered with their nuclei swarming out, 

 when the queen has been left several 



da3s after she commenced to lay. By 

 examining, you will find she has laid 

 eggs in all the cells that the bees 

 could cover, and sometimes two or 

 more eggs in a cell. The queen is iin- 

 easj% this excites the bees, and out 

 they come, the queen following. 1 

 have no douljt that the case where Mr. 

 D. says the bees left where there was 

 honey and brood, was because there 

 were not bees enough to cover the 

 eggs. Now all this swarming is nat- 

 ural, and caused by the queen having 

 no where to deposit eggs. There is 

 another kind of swarming that is not 

 natural ; early in the spring a swarm 

 comes out for lack of food, and such 

 are called "starved-out swarms." 



BE:I.L,S UF XHE A<jiES. 



BY BTIBT HARTE. 



Bells of the past whose unforgotten music 



Still fills the wide expanse, 

 Tingeing the sober twilight of the present 



With color of romance. 



I hear you call and see the sun descending 



On rocks, and waves, and sa^d. 

 As down the coast the mission voices blending, 



Girdle the heathen land. 



Within the circle of your incantatiOQ, 



No blight nor mildew falls ; 

 Nor fierce unrest, uor lust, nor lost ambition 



Passes those airy walls. 



Borne on the swell of long waves, receding, 



I touch the farthest past — 

 I see the dying glow of Spanish glory. 



The sunset dream and fast 1 



Oh. solemn bells ! whose consecrated masses 



Recall the faith of old— 

 Oh, tinkling bells ! that lulled with twilight 

 music 



The spiritual fold. 



Your voices break, they falter in the darkness — 



Break, falter, and are still. 

 And veiled, and mystic, lilie the host descend- 

 ing. 



The sun sinks from the hill. 



Large Crop Anticipated.— John 



Moller, Sr., Fremont, Nebr., on July 

 25, 1889, says : 



This is undoubtedly the best honey 

 season that we have had in Nebraska 

 for many years. The bees are so eager 

 to store honey now, as is usually the 

 case with them in the fall of the }'ear. 

 I anticipate a large crop of hone}' dur- 

 ing the year 1889. 



Satisfied with the Results — R. 



L. Tucker, Lexington, Mo., on July 

 24, 1889, writes : 



My crop, up to date, amounts to 

 nearly 11,000 pounds, of which 7,000 

 pounds is extracted, and nearly 4,000 

 pounds of comb honey in one-pound 

 sections. My crop is in verj' fine con- 

 dition, and I am having some success 

 in disposing of it at fair prices. I be- 

 lieve that this will be a profitable year 



for bee-keepers generally, and if the 

 report is true, that the California crop 

 is a partial failure, we need have no 

 uneasiness in regard to good prices, as 

 wherever I have tried to sell, I have 

 found a bare market, and some de- 

 mand. Prospects seem to be fine for 

 a fall yield, and if we have even our 

 usual one, it will make our average 

 unusually large. My crop is from 120 

 colonies, but it is no fair test, as I had 

 to let 100 colonies lay idle for 10 days 

 in the best flow, on account of not 

 being prepared with enough surplus 

 sections, and being unable to obtain 

 help when needed. But I am well 

 satisfied with the results, and 1 will try 

 and not be caught again prepared to 

 save onlj' a fair crop. My apiary now 

 numbers 190 colonies. 



Extra Good Honey-Flow. — 



Johil Nebel & Son, High Hill, Mo., on 

 July 1889, write : 



The honey-flow has been extra good 

 so far this season, but at the present 

 writing the flow has ceased. The con- 

 tinuous rain that we have had for the 

 past two weeks has made the weather 

 unfavorable for secreting nectar ; 

 though what little sweet clover there 

 is in this vicinity, seems to be yielding 

 considerable nectar now. We are 

 looking forward for an immense yield 

 from Spanish-needle this fall. 



Bee-Keeping in Germany. — 



Rev. Stephen Roese, Maiden Rock, 

 Wis., writes : 



Your pampiilet, entitled "Honey as 

 Food and Medicine," is most excellent, 

 and will be of great help for bee-keep- 

 ers to advertise and sell their honey. I 

 am going to have a lot with my ad- 

 dress printed on them. The German 

 bee-papers that you sent me I read 

 carefully, and I find a wonderful im- 

 provement in the art of bee-keeping in 

 Germany since my absence from there. 

 It seems that they are trying to keep 

 pace with the forward march in bee- 

 culture ; discarding the old-fogy way 

 of keeping bees in straw hives ; and it 

 seems that their regulations in regard 

 to bee-periodicals is diflerent f rom that 

 here in America. The editor, or man- 

 ager, receives a salarj', and the paper 

 goes to each member of the bee-socie- 

 ties, free of extra cost ; but the pay- 

 ment of a yearly fee or dues seems to 

 pay for it. Lords and noblemen are 

 in the ranks of bee-keepers there, and 

 the American bee-keepers are often 

 mentioned at their annual meetings. 



Please to get your iVcifflihor, 



who keeps bees, to also take the American 

 Bee Jouunal. It is now so cheap that 

 no one can alfor'1 to do without i t 



i 



