554 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Aug. 3, 190S 



general objects as ourselves have found such 

 rules advisable. Those whose interest in us 

 is mainly in shearing us are sometioies favored 

 too much — and also they might be proscribed 

 too severely. Page 420. 



THE " CLOISTERING HIVE" IN WINTER. 



Mr. Dadant is right, that in our climate it 

 is better to let winter bees fly when they can 

 <and suffer real losses from chilling and snow- 

 shine) rather than to try to restrain them of 

 their liberty. Nevertheless the Cloistering 

 Hive is interesting. It should do us some 

 good to study up the ingenious devices of our 

 fellow craftsmen of other lands. Giving bees 

 air through perforated tubes darkened at the 

 ends is a nice way. I'm not sure but some of 

 our manipulations might borrow it. A lot of 

 hollow weed-stems not quite large enough for 

 bees to crawl through is also an ingenious air- 

 supply when hives are to be closed in with 

 cow-dung. Why cow-dung instead of mud? 

 Mud, when perfectly dry, is a tolerably good 

 bee-wall; but it reabsorbs water too easily. 

 Every rain maljes it wet. Cow-dung, when it 

 does get dry once, resists water nearly as well 

 as a board, and being lighter than a board, it 

 holds more air, and is probably warmer. 



Having such a nice arrangement for shut- 

 ting bees in might very easily make the bee- 

 keeper a hobbyist on that subject — be shutting 

 them in at odd times all summer. And here's 

 a question possibly profitable for our experts 

 to butt their heads against; Would frequent 

 shutting in through the summer get them so 

 habituated to confinement that the winter's 

 shutting in would do little or no harm? I'll 

 venture the guess that most colonies (not all) 

 could have their restlessness greatly mitigated 

 that way — but not entirely cured probably. 

 Page 40.5. 



Reports anb 

 (fxpertcnces 



Prospects Poof in Colorado 



The first crop of alfalfa has been cut, and 

 although bees are very strong not a pound of 

 comb honey has been produced. Many bees 

 are starving, and many are trying to rob those 

 that are weak. It looks now as if the price 

 of honey would solve itself, though I am sorry 

 to see things in their present condition. 



The weather has not been favorable for the 

 secretion of nectar. It has been cool and 

 quite windy, with very cold nights. Grass- 

 hoppers are playing havoc with the sweet 

 clover. I have but little hope now of a 

 honey crop. W. S. Bbvbrlin. 



i; Delta Co., Colo., July 7. 



Good Yield from One Colony 



I have 80 colonies of bees, 40 at one yard 



and 40 at another. I took 46 pounds in 13 



days from one hive while it was rainy 



weather. I havedoubled up my colonies now. 



.John Gerthoffer. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y., July 21. 



A Peculiar Honey Season 



The present honey season is in more than 

 one respect a peculiar one. The copious rains 

 during the first 3 months of the year produced 

 an extraordinary growth of shrubs and 

 bushes, at the same time causing great hopes 

 for an unusually large honey-crop to spring 

 up in the hearts of our bee-keepers. The 

 honey-How from black sage started in with 

 full force, and in years there had not been 

 seen such a glorious bloom of this wonderful 

 honey-producing plant. Those bees that 

 were in good condition (having been fed as 

 late as March) profited well and carried in 

 considerable honey, which, it must be said, 

 was of rather thin quality. Unfortunately 

 the weather was not very favorable— too cold, 

 and dry fogs prevailing, and preventing the 

 bees from making wax. Soon reports came, 

 that in general the hives were honey-bound, 

 that the bees were loafing, and it was rather 



difficult to start them to working in the 

 supers for comb honey. This state of things 

 lasted all through the months of May and 

 June, and thus it happened that not so much 

 extracted honey, and still far less comb 

 honey, was produced than might have been 

 the case. The swarming-fever started in 

 rather late, but when they began to swarm 

 rather large swarms were cast off, and many 

 an apiarist has more than doubled his number 

 of colonies. 



This mouth, up to date, we have had only B 

 bright mornings; also a few rather hot days, 

 the temperature running up as high as 100" 

 F. When the black sage stopped blooming — 

 which was sooner than expected — there was a 

 lull for over 14 days, when the bees became 

 rather cross and difficult to handle. White 

 sage bloomed all right, though not so well as 

 desirable. At present the bees are working 

 hard on sumac. 



We therefore might say that the present 

 honey-crop, though by no means as large as 

 anticipated, will still be above a medium 

 average ; that is, as far as extracted honey is 

 concerned, while it will be far below half in 

 comb honey. Max Boelte. 



San Diego Co., Calif., July 1". 



Clover Crop Cut Short 



I have 40 colonies of brown bees. It was 

 so dry here during June that the white clover 

 crop was cut short. Bees are at a standstill 



now. E, G. GUTHREY. 



Saline Co., Mo., July 3. 



Splendid Work of One Colony 



I started last spring with one colony of 

 bees, it having wintered well, and in April I 

 bought one colony of 3-banded Italian bees, 

 which did well. It cast a swarm the forepart 

 of May, and the swarm filled 10 Danzenbaker 

 brood-frames and 28 sections, and the old 

 colony filled 36, making 64 in all. This they 

 did in about 4 weeks, when the honey-flow 

 was cut short on account of dry weather. But 

 the recent rains have brought white clover 

 into bloom again, and bees are going to work 

 on it once more. I use the Danzenbaker hive 

 and sections. Fred W. Maneke. 



Madison Co., 111., July 20. 



Roeky Mountain Bee-Plants and a 

 Mint 



I send samples of Rocky Mountain Bee- 

 Plant (white and purple), also what I think 

 is a species of mint. I would like to know 

 what the name is. W. O, Darnell. 



Weld Co., Colo., July 8. 



[We are glad to get samples of the Rocky 

 Mountain Bee-Plant from its native home. 

 The plant grows as far east as Illinois, but 

 Prof. Cook, in " The Bee-Keepers' Guide," 

 says it does not promise much for bee-keepers 

 in the East. The other sample belongs to the 

 Mint family, but has no common name except 

 the ciliated Blephilia, which comes from the 

 scientific name Blephilia ciliata. The whole 

 mint family is famous for the fine-flavored 

 honey which the bees get from it.— C. L. 

 Walton.] 



Odors of Queens 



I think any one with experience will agree 

 with A. C. Miller, page 453, in regard to the 

 reception of an alien, whether a queen or not, 

 but will not agree with him on the odor 

 theory. Why will the bees cluster on a cage 

 that a laying queen has been in, it there is no 

 odor? Why will they sometimes ball her 

 when she has been handled? Two different 

 odors — one pleases, the other makes them 

 angry. I think there are two sure indications 

 that odor is one of the principal factors in 

 introducing. Where hives set close together 

 bees irill intermingle, and I think nearly every 

 one laden with honey, or a very young bee, 

 will mix with other colonies unmolested. 



It you walk into a strange boarding-house 

 and put down f 10 for a week's board in ad- 



vance, I think you would meet with as warm 

 a reception as the little bee does with her 

 pockets full, or the little infant that strays to 

 the wrong door. They may have a full house, 

 but will try to accommodate you somehow; 

 it is so with the bee. 



Give the queen plenty of time to acquire 

 the scent of the hive, then let her in with as 

 little disturbance as possible, is about the 

 safest way. A. W. Tates. 



Hartford Co., Conn., July 3. 



Short Season for Bees 



Bees are doing fairly well now on white 

 clover. The season will be short on account 

 of excessive cold and rain. 



C. R. Bridgman. 



Lafayette Co., Wis., July 15. 



Rains Injure the Honey Crop 



We had an unusual amount of rain all win- 

 ter and spring, and a good crop of blasted 

 hopes in lieu of the big crop of mesqulte and 

 catclaw honey we were looking for. We gen- 

 erally get a second bloom of both in July, and 

 hope to have it this season. 



S. N. SALSBnRT. 



Cochise Co., Ariz., .luly 15. 



Poor Weather for Honey Crop 



We have had 5 days of good weather for 

 bees to work (the last 5 days), and another 

 good day to-day. Most of my colonies have 

 2 supers on. I have not taken off any honey 

 to amount to anything yet. Cold nights and 

 rainy weather have lost us 3 weeks of time. 

 Our white clover has been a wonderful crop. 

 Lisle Schneider. 



Delaware Co., Iowa, July 18. 



Prospects for a Good Honey Crop 



Basswood is budding out nicely, and the 

 fields and pastures are entirely covered with 

 white clover bloom, so if the weather keeps 

 favorable we will have a good honey crop. 

 Heretofore it has been very unfavorable. It 

 has been raining more or less nearly every 

 day for the last 4 weeks. 



C. O. Behostrand. 



Polk Co., Wis., July 3. 



Scarlet Sumac 



What is the tree, a sample of which I en- 

 close? It has clusters of blossoms from 3 to 

 inches across, and the berries are red and bit- 

 ter when ripe. Is it a honey-tree? 



Nathan Pulsifbr. 



Aroostook Co., Maine, July 17. 



[The tree or shrub is the Scarlet Sumac, 

 Rhusglabra, the common name coming from 

 the cluster of scarlet berries appearing in the 

 late summer. All the sumacs are classed with 

 the honey-producing plants.— C. L. Walton.] 



Foul 



Poor Yield from White Clover- 

 Brood 



A good many bee-keepers are located along 

 the Mississippi River bottoms. The principal 

 sources of honey are clover, heartsease, and 

 Spanish-needle. White clover has been very 

 plentiful, but the weather has been too cold 

 and wet for a good honey-flow, and the yield 

 will hardly average 25 pounds of surplus 

 comb honey per colony. 



Foul brood has secured a good foothold 

 here, many yards being badly affected before 

 the owners were aware of its presence. It 

 took about 125 colonies from me in 2 years — 

 nearly all — but I have now built up to 116 

 colonies, all clean and doing nicely, thanks to 

 State Inspector Smith, who visited us last 

 year. Mr. Smith also called July 1. He found 

 a great change for the better in my yard. 



The next day I accompanied him, as pilot, 

 and we visited nearly all the bee-keepers about 

 Fulton and Albany. We found foul brood 

 in every apiary but one. Some yards were in 

 pretty bad condition, but their owners will 

 try hard to head off the disease fcllowing Mr. 



