Coopersburg, Pa., Aug. 11, 1879. 

 I inclose you two species of bee plants to 

 examine, and please report in trie next 

 American Bee Journal. The first (No. 

 1) is a sort of climbing shrub, and seems to 

 be a great favorite with the bees, while No. 

 2 is also visited by them, but does not seem 

 to please them like the former. 



Preston J. Kline. 



[No. 1 is Clematis Virginiana (common 

 virgin's bower) and is undoubtedly a good 

 bee plant, especially in dry weather, as it is 

 a shrub and roots deeper than an herb, or 

 rather has larger roots, and is less sensitive 

 to drouth. 



No. 2 is Eupatorium purpureum (trum- 

 pet weed or Joe-pyeweed). It is as nearly re- 

 lated to boneset or thorough wort, as red oak 

 is related to black oak, or white ash to black 

 ash. I have received it from bee-men for 

 several years past.— W. J. Beal.] 



Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Aug. 8, 1879, 

 Inclosed you will find a flower plant which 

 yeu will please name. It is a prairie plant, 

 growing along the edge of sloughs in culti- 

 vated fields, and flowers from Aug. 1st to 

 frost ; an annual ; yellow flower with seed 

 pods resembling those of the locust. I call 

 it a beautiful flower plant, and one of the 

 best honey producing plants in the West. 

 Chas. McMillan. 



[Prof. Beal has kindly identified the 

 plants as Cassia chamicerista, patridge pea 

 or sensitive pea. The partridge pea has 

 often been praised, as will be seen by refer- 

 ring to back numbers of the American 

 Bee Journal.— Ed.] 



Columbus, Ky., Aug. 6, 1879. 

 I send you a specimen of a plant that 

 -abounds in this region. Never saw it till 1 

 came to what is called the Green river 

 country in Southern Kentucky. It grows 

 on almost all kinds of soil— by the roadside, 

 on old rocky knolls, on old worn-out fields, 

 in lanes and alleys, and on good ground. 

 Dry weather is a mere circumstance for it. 

 It is regarded as a great nuisance. But I 

 observe that sheep and the Colorado potato 

 bugs eat it with avidity. It blooms all the 

 season through till frost ; is rich in pollen, 

 and the bees resort to it very early in the 

 morning, especially in a dry season like this 

 when other pasture fails. What is it? 

 Never heard a name for it. No surplus 

 honey gathered here, and a natural swarm 

 this season has been a rare thing. The 

 summer has been one of extreme drouth. I 

 am feeding my weak colonies— such as 

 were formed artificially this season. From 

 Mr. Argo, of Lowell, Ky., I have learned an 

 admirable plan for introducing queens at 

 this late time, when robbers abound — or 

 rather, it is for capturing the queen that is 

 to be removed. Say it is a Langstroth hive. 

 Take off the honey board, replace the cap, 

 smoke well at the entrance ; then close the 

 entrance, and rap on the hive 5 or 8 min- 

 utes. In front of the hive spread a sheet on 



a board, lift the cap, and shake out the bees 

 that are in it on the sheet 5 or 6 feet from 

 the hive,— a third or more of the bees will 

 be in the cap with the queen,— set the cap 

 in front of the hive with its edge slightly 

 raised, and the bees will crawl to it, and the 

 queen can be easily observed and picked 

 up. As soon as the cap is lifted from the 

 hive a cloth should be spread on the latter 

 to exclude robbers. In this way I have had 

 the queen captured and caged, and the hive 

 all in good order as at the start, in 6 min- 

 utes. Then you proceed to introduce the 

 new queen, with the usual caution at this 

 late season of the year. Rarely a queen 

 will be found that will not leave the combs 

 and go up Into the cap. In that case I 

 remove the hive, at 30 to 60 minutes by the 

 sun in the evening, to some vacant room, 

 shop or out-building, and search for the 

 queen in usual way, and have not been 

 troubled by robbers. Geo. J. Reed. 



[This is Solanum Virginianum. It is 

 much like another called horse-nettle— a 

 vile thing.— A. J. Cook.J 



Grantville, Ga., Aug. 8, 1879. 

 Will the Rev. C. Lacy, who wrote on the 

 "Bee Cell" and explains how they came 

 thus, explain the formation of the drone 

 cell ? It will take drones to build drone 

 comb, if his rule of sixes has to be worked. 

 A. B. Stroud. 



Bee Creek, Ky., Aug. 16, 1879. 



1. Is a colony of bees in a healthy condi- 

 tion if the old bees carry out young bees 

 just before it is time for them to hatch out ? 

 I notice a few of the cells the caps have 

 sunken in and some of them look as if there 

 had been a pin stuck through the cap; most 

 all my bees are that way. 1 have not 

 noticed them taking out very many bees 

 yet. 2. I have a hive that is queenless and 

 without any brood except quite a number of 

 drone cells that have from one to three eggs 

 in a cell, and about half a dozen worker 

 cells around the outside of the drone cells 

 have eggs in ; the rest of the hive is pretty 

 well fiiled up with the bread and honey. 

 They have a few queen cells capped over. 

 What is the matter, and what shall I do 

 with them ? 3. How shall I get my bees to 

 work in boxes ? They are taking in lots of 

 honey. Ira M. Alling. 



[1. No. The sunken cells are a pretty 

 sure indication of dead brood, and the holes 

 in the cappings are certain indications of it. 



2. The queen was old and superanuated, 

 or from some physical cause had become 

 drone-laying. We would not like to waste 

 time iu testing the queens which may 

 emerge from the queen cells. Better intro- 

 duce a good prolific queen at once; as the 

 old queen should have been superseded 

 without compelling the bees to do so. 



3. If your bees are bringing in lots of 

 honey and not working in the boxes, it is an 

 indication that they find plenty of room 

 below. Contract your brood chamber or 

 wait till they fill it.— Ed.] 



