been in full bloom for 2 weeks ; it is cov- 

 ered with bees in the forenoon. Crops 

 never looked better at this season of the 

 year. I intend to give more attention to my 

 bees hereafter. I am glad to hear from bee- 

 keeping friends through the Journal, 

 which I read with the greatest pleasure. 



N. Davis. 



Houston, Minn., July 15, 1879. 

 I have been a constant reader of the 

 American Bee Journal for more than 

 half a dozen years, and it has brought me 

 through the mysteries of bee-keeping better 

 than all other instructions I have ever had ; 

 1 could not afford to be without it for $50 a 

 year. 1 have thought of many things that I 

 wanted to ask through its columns, but be- 

 fore 1 could get the time another had done 

 so and someone had answered the question, 

 and I had the necessary instruction. But 

 there are two questions upon which I would 

 like further instruction : 1st. How shall I 

 prevent ray bees from bringing in more pol- 

 len than they can use ? 2d. What shall I 

 do with the surplus already in the combs ? 

 I have 70 colonies in Langstroth hives, with 

 frames 8x18 in. inside measure ; 9 frames in 

 lower story, 8 in the surplus department, 

 all the same size with cap large enough to 

 cover the whole, so that I can use any frame 

 in the apiary in any surplus department or 

 brood chamber of any hive and exchange in 

 any way that I wish to. I think that 1 have 

 taken out 300 lbs. or more of pollen this 

 summer, a part of which I have made into 

 wax; and am finding more every day. I 

 think there is a larger percentage of pollen 

 in queenless colonies than any other ; but 

 it is not altogether with queenless colonies. 

 I opened one to-day that had a super with 8 

 frames of old comb for extracting, and un- 

 der the super 24 small boxes. Upon exam- 

 ination, I found the combs in the brood de- 

 partment about one-third full of capped 

 honey, about one-fourth full of brood, and 

 the balance filled with pollen. The super 

 contained 3 combs, partly filled with brood; 

 one of which contained the queen, the bal- 

 ance with honey, and 5 combs filled with 

 capped honey, and the bees were working 

 in the boxes. Nelson Perkins. 



[1. We know of no way to prevent their 

 gathering and storing pollen. 



2. If there is more pollen than may be 

 wanted for fall, winter and spring use, you 

 can only cut out the combs in which it is 

 stored and extract the wax, or save for fu- 

 ture use. In this latitude we have never 

 heard complaints of too much pollen ; in 

 fact, we find it necessary each spring to 

 supply artificial pollen. Perhaps some of 

 our readers, who have had a like experi- 

 ence with yourself, can suggest a remedy. 

 —Ed.] 



Colfax, La., July 16, 1879. 

 1 now have 18 colonies of Italians in fine 

 condition. I started with 4. Three out of 

 14 young queens fertilized wrong; these I 

 expect to remove this fall. I want to in- 

 crease to 75 next year, and expect to get all 



of my supplies from you, as I am very much 

 pleased with everything I have purchased 

 from you. James A. Daniel. 



Ripon, Wis., July 22, 1879. 

 Our bees came to a perfect standstill July 

 15th ; no work since. Our white clover 

 bloom was very good for two weeks. The 

 extreme heat caught the basswood in full 

 bloom, drying it up in 4 days, closing out 

 the clover at the same time. Our white 

 honey crop will be very short. R. Dart. 



Port Elgin, Ontario, July 16, 1879. 

 Would you kindly let me know in your 

 next number, or write me a few directions 

 how to preserve fruit with honey, as de- 

 scribed in a late number of the Journdl ? 

 I filled a jar with fruit and then put in ex- 

 tracted honey, as much as it would hold, 

 but somehow after 2 weeks I find fermenta- 

 tion has commenced with it. Should fruit 

 be scalded or put it just as pulled fresh? A 

 few plain instructions in some way would 

 much oblige, for if I knew the proper way, 

 far more honey could be sold, and no doubt 

 others would be benefitted as well as my- 

 self. Solomon Bricker. 



[On pages 18 and 19, "Honey as Food and 

 Medicine," we find the following instruc- 

 tions for preserving with honey.— Ed.] 



Grapes Preserved with Honey. — 

 Take 7 lbs. of sound grapes on the stem, th9 

 branches as perfect as possible, pack them 

 snugly, without breaking, in a stone jar. 

 Make a syrup of 4 lbs. of honey, I pint good 

 vinegar, with cloves and cinnamon to suit 

 (about 3 ounces of each); boil well together 

 for 20 minutes, skim well, then turn boiling 

 hot over the grapes, and seal immediately. 

 They will keep for years, if you wish, and 

 are exceedingly nice. Apples, peaches and 

 plums may be done in this way. 



Honey Preserves.— All kinds of fruit 

 made into jam, with honey instead of sugar 

 are nice. "Butter" made with extracted 

 honey is much nicer than when made with 

 sugar. For grapes, pick from the stem and 

 pack into a jar until it is full, then turn 

 cold honey over them until they are covered 

 well. Seal up without any heat, and keep 

 in a cool place. After a few months they 

 will be found to be delicious. 



Nashville, Term., July 17, 1879. 

 I went into winter quarters with 50 colo- 

 nies of bees ; came out in the spring minus 

 1, and 4 queenless. I commenced feeding 

 the first of March, and fed 200 lbs. of honey 

 and 200 lbs. of granulated sugar ; I fed until 

 the first of May, when the poplar began to 

 bloom, of which my bees got full advantage. 

 The white clover, our main source for nice 

 honey, was a complete failure on account of 

 the dry weather we had in April and May. 

 It is very dry here now. I had only 3 colo- 

 nies to swarm ; took 700 lbs. surplus honey, 

 mostly poplar. My hybrids gathered some 

 very nice honey from red clover. Honey is 

 worth 20c per lb. retail and 15c wholesale. I 

 got 5 or 6 times as much honey in propor- 

 tion to the number of colonies as any one 

 else. Which is the best way to keep comb 



