420 



page 298 of the American Bee Journal, 

 Mr. W. Boiling, of Dunkirk, N. Y., com- 

 plains of the little black ants on the top of 

 his hive or honey board. By close observa- 

 tion he will rind they do but little harm; 

 perhaps more good than harm. They de- 

 stroy the moth-worm or grub and eggs de- 

 posited there. I will say in answer to Mr. 

 James Heddon's question, as to the irrita- 

 tive effects of propolis on the bronchial 

 tubes, that it is undoubtedly so, as the dust 

 of the propolis has the same effect as pul- 

 verized pepper. Wm. Martin. 



^°A correspondent in Kansas or Mis- 

 souri sent us in July a sprig of vervain, 

 with inquiry as to [its name, etc., which we 

 forwarded to Prof. Cook, who has inadver- 

 tently mislaid the letter and address, but 

 has kindly answered the inquiries. Any 

 person having sent a letter of inquiry in 

 that month and not finding the same in 

 print, will appreciate the following answer 

 from the Professor : "The plant is the ver- 

 bena stricta or hoary vervain. I can well 

 believe that it is a valuable honey plant, as 

 our common blue vervain (V. hostata) seems 

 to yield much nectar, while the white ver- 

 vain has surprised me the past two weeks. 

 The dry weather has even dried up the nec- 

 tar fountains of our borage, mustards and 

 motherwort, yet the white vervain (V. uti- 

 cifolia) is covered with bees from morning 

 till night. This plant grows on low, damp 

 places and so is more or less independent 

 of drouth. 1 know of nothing more worthy 

 to be sown in damp wastes for bee forage. 

 It would take the place in such cases of 

 motherwort and sweet clover on waste or 

 unoccupied high ground. Our teasel came 

 into bloom one week before the basswood, 

 and remained in bloom more than one week 

 after the linden had ceased to attract the 

 bees. All this time it was freely visited by 

 the bees." 



Kane, Greene Co., 111., Aug. 5, 1879. 

 I commenced in the bee business with 2 

 colonies, in 1877, and in 1878 I increased to 7 

 colonies, all in Armstrong's centennial hive; 

 wintered on summer stands with perfect 

 success. I have now 15 colonies, all doing 

 well— that is, they are raising large broods 

 and keeping honey and pollen ahead ; no 

 surplus honey yet, for it has been almost a 

 famine here for the " blessed bees." There 

 is plenty of buckwheat sown, and if it rains 

 soon we may have a good fall harvest. My 

 bees did splendidly in swarming ; 1 never 

 lost any. I am trying to Italianize my bees. 

 June 11th I found a bee tree, and on the 12th 

 we cut it and put the bees in hive No. 8. 

 The queen was lost, and on the 13th, 

 late in the afternoon, a bumble bee went 

 into the hive, and the next day the bees 

 swarmed, and you never saw such crooked 

 traveling. I used water, bells and dirt 



and they heeded it not, and I gave them 

 up. They returned^ nearly back to the yard 

 and settled on a little sprout about a foot 

 high. I placed the same hive near them 

 and brushed them off on the platform with 

 an old wing, and found the queen bumble 

 bee in the middle of the wad of bees. I 

 killed her, then the bees went into the hive. 

 I gave them brood comb with a queen cell 

 on it, and they are doing well. Inclosed in 

 a quill find a little spider or insect ; please 

 tell which, for it is the bees' friend. They 

 are about all my hives, and the moth is 

 nearly disinherited in my yard. About the 

 1st of July I saw a moth miller buzzing 

 around hive No. 6 on the platform, then to 

 entrance, but the bees turned her on the 

 back track ; as she turned the corner, the 

 small spider jumped about 2 inches and 

 caught her by the head and killed her in- 

 stantly, and carried her off. They don't 

 make much web. I now see these spiders 

 between the division boards in every hive, 

 where in April and May there were scores 

 of moths and millers. As to oils, my ware- 

 room, where I keep my coal oil and oil bar- 

 rels, the floor is oiled all over, and I paint 

 my hives early in spring and store away in 

 this room till I need them ; two hives I 

 painted and put bees into while not dry r 

 and I had no trouble with them. I poured 

 kerosene all around and under some of my 

 hives ; no trouble yet. I used it to destroy 

 the ants. The robbers from the woods give 

 me trouble. The first part of July one 

 small brood went into hive No. 14 ; there 

 was war for a short time. 1 saw them come ; 

 I was watching the course of robbers. I 

 closed all the hives down very small, so 

 they made peace. After a few thousand 

 were kilied the robbers surrendered and went 

 to work all right In the same hive. I dread 

 robbers from the timber, as they are bad in 

 such seasons. I wish never-dying success to 

 the American Bee Journal. 



Radford M. Osborn. 



[The insect you sent was shriveled and 

 dried into so small a compass it would be 

 impossible for any entomologist to deter- 

 mine its species and characteristics. — Ed.] 



Polo, Ogle Co., 111., July 31, 1879. 

 Allow me to trouble you with an inquiry: 

 One of the 7 colonies I set out in the spring 

 began the last of May to lose bees. They 

 would come out on the alighting aboard and 

 seem in great pain, as evidenced by great 

 uneasiness and a kind of tremor, rubbing 

 their bodies and wings and sometimes ap- 

 pearing to shake themselves as if to dis- 

 lodge something. They were weak and 

 when off the board could not return. Occa- 

 sionally found bees crawled into crevices 

 between frames, and either dead or dying. 

 Colony has lost as many as its increase; 

 has gathered considerable stores. There is 

 no smell about hive and it is clean ; was 

 changed when first observed that they 

 were sick. More bees seem to die in bright 

 sunny days than in cloudy and cool ones, or 

 then sick bees venture out and are seen. I 

 see none of the characteristics of dysentery. 

 Sometimes observe the abdomen appears 

 swollen ; at others quite shrunken. Most 



