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THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



THE AMESIOAN BEE JOUENAL. 



WASHINGTON, DECEMBER, 1867. 



ESf^ The American Bee Journal is now 

 published monthly, in the City of Washington, 

 (D. C.,) at f 2 per annum. All communications 

 should be addressed to the Editor, at that place. 



C^^Our present supply being exhausted, we 

 cannot furnish new subscribers with copies of 

 Nos. 1, 2, and 3, volume 3, of the Bee Jour- 

 nal. We shall liave those numbers reprinted at 

 an early day, and send to those who have or- 

 dered tliem. 



l!l^"Want of room and time compels us to de- 

 fer the publication of several articles intended for 

 this number of the Bee Journal. Communica- 

 tions should be in our hands before the 15th of 

 the month, to enable us to avail ourselves of them 

 conveniently for the next succeeding issue, as we 

 desire to have the Bee Journal published reg- 

 ularly at the beginning of eacli month. 



Sl^^We received lately from a correspondent 

 in West Virginia, a specimen of a plant linown 

 there by the trivial names of Iron or Brush weed, 

 and which is said to be "an important lioney 

 plant'' in that section — coming into bloom about 

 the first of September and continuing until frost; 

 the honey gathered from it being of good quali- 

 ty." 



We submitted the specimen to Prof. Porter, 

 who says it is "the Aster ericoidcs, L., which is 

 exceedingly common along roadsides and in ne- 

 glected pastures. I have never seen bees worlv- 

 ing much upon it, and greatly question its honej^- 

 bearing quahties. But there is one Aster which 

 richly deserves attention in this respect. It is 

 often cultivated as an ornamental plant, and pro- 

 duces a great profusion of reddish purple fiowei-- 

 heads of large size late in autumn; audi have 

 frequently noticed bees working most diligently 

 upon them, when nearly everything else had 

 yielded to the blighting influence of the frost. It 

 is a perennial and will grow well in ordinary 

 mould. It is the Aster NoDm Anglia, or New 

 England Aster." 



lE^^Tlie following note respecting tlie breath- 

 ing test, was received from Mr. Boot just as this 

 number of the Journal was going to press: 



"Perhaps it is due to the readers of the Jour- 

 nal to state that the Breathing Test, described 

 in the September number, doe's not answer in 



cold or cool weather. 



"V/hen the article was written I had not seen 

 a failure. But since in trying them in cool 

 weatiier, tliey manifest considerable excitement, 

 especially if tried suddenly. However, I have 

 never yet had the full bloods sting me at such 

 times, although they act very much as if they 

 would. Still there is a marked difference in 

 their behavior from the hybrid bees. 



"I should have made this statement sooner, 

 but awaited the result from others. 



"Medina, Ohio. "A. I. Root." 



[For the American Bee Jon-rnaX] 



Fixed Frames. 



Mr. Editor: — I noticed in the October num- 

 ber of the Journal an article on bee-hives, iu 

 which the writer says he cannot see the objec- 

 tion to keeping tlie frames all fixed at equal 

 distances. Now, as I am only a beginner my- 

 self, I should perhaps not say much; but as facts 

 have a value far above theory, I will state my 

 objections to such frames. 



in the first place, if frames with closed tops 

 are used, the bees will glue them to each other 

 with propolis their whole length, so as to make 

 it very difficult to open a hive, especially in cool 

 weather, which hardens the propolis and makes 

 it adhere very firmly to the frames. In prying 

 them apart you cannot then avoid jarring the 

 combs, which greatly enrages the bees; whereas 

 in the Langstroth liive, the operation is per- 

 formed without any jarring wliatever. 



Again, when you come to shut the hive, you 

 cannot avoid pinching and crushing bees, in 

 swinging or bhoving the tops together, which 

 of course also irritates the colony. But in the 

 Langstroth hive, where the frames are separate 

 throughout, there is no danger of killing a sin- 

 gle bee. Nor, as no two combs are built just 

 alike, can you conveniently change combs from 

 hive to liive, as is readily done where the Lang- 

 stroth hive is used. In hives having frames 

 with closed tops, every frame has to come to a 

 certain place, allowing no chance for adjusting 

 waving or bulging combs; while in the Lang- 

 stroth hive you can make ample room for any 

 comb, however waving it may be. 



Again, suppose you want to examine a comb 

 in the middle or back part of the hive, you have 

 to move every frame till you come to it, whether 

 there be one or a dozen; whereas in the Lang- 

 stroth hive, such an operation is quickly and 

 easily performed. 



I have been ufcing the last-named hive for 

 two seasons, and think it incomparably supe- 

 rior to any other with wliich I am acquainted. 

 Hoping I have made my objection to tlie kind of 

 frames referred, suflicienlly plain and intelligi- 

 ble, I will stop. 



Yours respectfully, H, S. S. 



EVANSEURG, Pa. 



The hive-bee sometimes manifests an antipathy 

 to particular individuals, whom it attacks and 

 wounds without provocation. 



