THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST, 



ni 



DOOLITTLE CUPS. -CHAPMAN 

 HONEY-PLANT, ETC. 



Prof. Cook in GJpanings discourses 

 on various little matters as follows : — 



Please ask Dr. Miller to wait a lit- 

 tle before he comes to take lessons on 

 the rearnig of queens in the Doolittle 

 cups. Our last gives eighteen good 

 capped cells and eight destroyed. 

 In some cases all, or nearly all, were 

 destroyed. Our students are now try- 

 ing the Doolittle method. They have 

 some success. 



The Chapman honey-plant is a 

 fraud. Our plants, self-sown two 

 years ago, are weak and of little ac- 

 count. We have two fine fields of 

 rape and three of sweet clover. Our 

 Rocky Mountain l)ee-plant has failed 

 again This plant will never pay to 

 plant except to throw about in loasle 

 places. This should be done in Aug- 

 ust or September to secure the best 

 results. 



I am not a chemist, but have no 

 doubt that beeswax can be distin- 

 guished from eitlier ceresin or paraf- 

 fine. Not only is the composition 

 different, but the texture and strength 

 are not the same. We shall soon have 

 these matters (purity of honey and 

 wax) worked out by our Kxperiment 

 Station. We are only getting a good 

 ready. I wish some Wisconsin bee- 

 keeper or other would furnish me some 

 bass wood hone}', say two pounds, 

 where the honey w^as gathered very 

 rapidly — say 15 or 10 pounds per col- 

 ony in a day. I have special use for 

 it. 



Our reversible frames are not work- 

 ing well. The bees are filling in on 

 the sides below with honey. They 

 never did this before. "One swallow 

 does not make a summer." 



The honey-dew is coming from sev- 

 eral trees. Lice are very common, 

 and the secretion equally so. Bee- 

 keepers must look out. 



1 should expect no harm from eat- 

 ing poisonous animals like centipedes. 

 Even the venom of the rattlesnake or 



copperhead is harmless if taken into 

 the stomach, though deadly if injected 

 directly hito the blood. 



We, too, are among the fortunate 

 ones, for Rambler is spending the 

 Fourth with us. As he comes from 

 so many beekeepers, it is like a visit 

 from the whole fraternity. 



A.J. Cook. 



Agricultural CoUege, Mich., July 4. 



Yes, Doolittle's cell-cups seem to 

 be having a hard time this year ; as 

 to that matter they always have had 

 a bad time. All bees cannot be 

 fooled in that unnatural way. — Ed.] 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



PRKVENTIXG KGG-LAYING IN THESECTIOXS. 



A correspondent wishes to know 

 how brood can be kept out of the sec- 

 tion boxes, and why such a state of 

 aft'airs is more prevalent than years 

 ago. 



The above is clipped from the Am. 

 Bee Journal. Mr. Doolittle made a 

 long reply to it. If we were to make 

 any reply would say "use the Bay 

 State beehive." Of the thousands 

 of these hives in use, no .queen has 

 ever been known to enter one of the 

 sections and deposit eggs therein. 

 This hive was not constructed with 

 a view to prevent the queen enter- 

 ing the sections, yet time has shown 

 that the queen will not leave the 

 brood chamber and lay eggs in the 

 surplus department. Now, consid- 

 ering no queen excluder is used and 

 the sections are nearer the brood 

 than they can be placed in any other 

 hive in use, this of course is a strong 

 point in favor of the Bay State hive. 



This hive has given excellent satis- 

 faction to those who have them in 

 use. 



CARXIOLAN BEES. 



With this letter I send a cage of 

 Carniolan bees. The mother of them 

 was hatched and fertilized in Ger- 

 many, and imported by me. Please 



