124 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAi. 



further, especially when it is merely to gratify 

 your great desire for "fun," regardless of fiicts. 

 b. puckett. 

 Winchester, Ind. 



iW Several errors occurred in Dr. Puck(!tt's 

 last article, in the September number. On page 

 58, second column, line 26, for G-allup says that 

 "bees do not make honey," read '■'•hecs do make 

 honey ;" and in the next line, for " suppose they 

 do not," read " suppose they c^d." Some other 

 errors in that number of the Journal escaped 

 correction, as we had no opportunity to read the 

 proofs, and could only glance hastily over the 

 revise. — Ed. 



A Profitable Apiary, 



A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer gives 

 that paper an account of a visit to the apiary of 

 Messrs. Fi-ancis, not far from Springfield, 111. 

 They have one hundred and twenty swa^-ms ot 

 bees— Italians and crosses of Italians with black 

 bees. They think the crossed bees are the best 

 workers. From a hive of half Italians they have 

 taken, this season, one hundred and si.Kty (160) 

 pounds of honey, whicli netted about thirty cents 

 per pound. From the whole apiary they have 

 taken about four thousand (4,000) pounds of 

 honey, an average of 33^ pounds or $10, to the 

 hive. The sale of bees paid all expenses of the 

 apiary, leaving the honey net profit. They use 

 the Langstroth hive exclusively. 



Bees' Wax. 



American beekeepers are perhaps not generally 

 aware of the enormous consumption of bees' 

 wax in Europe, and the pre-emiuoit value of 

 the article produced in the United Stat'\s. In- 

 dependently of the very large yield of mineral 

 and vegetable waxes, England alone must con- 

 sume more than two thousand tons a year, to the 

 value of $2,100,000! Its wonh is assessed by 

 color, purity, and the melting points; and the 

 latter process readily exposes adulteration by 

 foreign matter. To-day's quotations, takinggold i 

 at 131, are as follows, viz : — ■ 



Cents per lb. [ 



American, bright pressed yellow 45 to 51 i 



American, rough mixed yellow 43 " 43| 1 



West Indian, yellow 4U " 43| 



East Indian, yellow U^ " 43^ 



African 36;^ " 41^ 



As an instance of the consumption, it may be 

 mentioned, that one European palace alone is ; 

 said to burn ten thousand wax candles nightly. 

 The method of lighting them is ingenious. The 

 respective apartments being prepared with the 

 candles, an inflammable and scented web-like 

 link (gun cotton) runs from wick to wick. Im- 

 mediately one end of the link is lit, the flame 

 rushes round the connected wax lights with , 

 lightning rapidity, and in a moment they are all 

 simultaneously inflamed ! As the link consumes 

 and lights each candle, an agreeable scent is 

 emitted, and the apartment at once, from one : 

 end to the other, are thus not only illumined, 

 but perfectly refreshed and perfumed, as by ' 

 magic. — A. L. Macrae's {Liverpool) Courier. 



I [For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee Feed. 



In the October number of the Journal a cor- 

 respondent calls chicken-meat as food for bees 

 "something new under the Sun." To many it 

 may be so. I heard of it being so used several 

 years ago. My informant told me he often fed 

 his bees on chicken-meat, to take them through 

 the winter. I was quite diverted at the idea, 

 and having a good opportunity to test the new 

 and to me doubtful theory, I slily (for fear of 

 being laughed at) put into my feeding boxes a 

 "dainty mess" of well cooked chicken; and, 

 strange to tell the bees did "go for it," actually 

 licking the bones ! 



That same winter I was driven to many ex- 

 periments in bee-feeding, as, like many a new 

 beginner, I was in haste "to get rich ;" so that 

 I had a number of colonies and but little honey, 

 and as the fall was very unfavorable, I could 

 get no honey conveniently. I fed a number of 

 these weak colonies, from January to April, with- 

 out honey. The principal feed I used was pre- 

 pared as follows. I had bread baked of rye, 

 buckwheat, or wheat flour, light as possible, cut 

 into thin slices, and well soaked in brown sugar 

 syrup. The bees used up the greater portion of 

 the bread as well as the syrup. Sweet apples 

 and peaches, stewed and well sweetened, they 

 ate eagerly. In the spring they were much re- 

 duced, and seemed to have no disposition to hunt 

 stores, until I supplied them with a quantity of 

 genuine honey. Then they seemed to " wake 

 up," and went to work; and by fall they were 

 not more than in good wintering condition. 



Since that time I am fully persuaded that it 

 does not pay to put weak, or sparely supplied 

 colonies into winter quarters ; and I have learned 

 to adopt the motto — "strong colonies, or 

 NONE." I am assured that the best bee feed for 

 all practical purposes, is good, pure HONEY. 

 J. S. Flory. 



Fayette Co., West Va. 



[For the American Beg Journal.] 



" Golden Rod and Aster." 



Mr. Wagner says, in the November Bee Jour- 

 nal, that he has never seen bees at work on the 

 golden rod. Two years ago I should have said 

 the same, and was surprised to see it mentioned 

 as an excellent honey plant in several "bee 

 books," for there was a field of some twelve or 

 fifteen acres covered with it, within less than an 

 eighth of a mile of my bees, und they took 

 not the slightest notice of it. The field is high 

 and dry, and the golden rod was the small spa- a 

 cies, from a foot to eighteen inches high, which ■ 

 always grows in such situations. " 



But summer before last, as I was crossing a "* 

 low marshy piece of ground, at least a mile from 

 home, I found the bees very hard at work on a 

 large species of golden rod, which I had never 

 noticed before, but have seen several times since 

 in similar places. It was very different froi^i the 

 common kind, being from four to six feet high, 

 and bearing flowers of a lighter and more green- 

 ish yellow. As many of the bees at work on this 



