470 



hive about half full of comb that summer. 

 The next spring when they swarmed the 

 queen fell to the ground. I set the old hive 

 back and put a new one in its place, then 

 put the queen (a nice Italian) in it, and the 

 bees soon came back and went in with her. 

 This spring they swarmed and I hived them 

 the same way. I have now 9 good colonies 

 from that queen by natural swarming. I 

 attribute all my success to "Cook's Manual 

 of the Apiary" and the American Bee 

 Journal. Nathan Davis. 



[This is a species of Spanish-needle, or 

 bidens. See " Manual of the Apiary," page 

 244.— A. J. Cook.] 



Richfield, 111., Sept. 11, 1S79. 

 I have been in this county 48 years, and 

 this has been the poorest season for bees 

 that I have ever experienced. I have been 

 a bee-keeper for many years, keep the Ital- 

 ian strain, and use the Langstroth frame, but 

 different style of hive. Last fall I left 45 

 colonies on their summer stands, of which 4 

 froze to death in March; had 9 natural swarms 

 this season; no surplus honey; some honey 

 from white clover; linden was a failure on 

 account of drouth, and buckwheat also. Not 

 one-half the colonies in this county have 

 ' stores enough for winter, and mortality 

 among them will be great. I would like to 

 have the name of the accompanying sprig of 

 plant. It may be common in some places, 

 but not here. It seems to be attractive for 

 bees. David Rice, Sr. 



[This is a species of coreopsis, tick-seed 

 (see page 244, Manual). As I have only the 

 flower, I cannot tell the species.— A. J. 

 •Coo£. ] 



Clinton, Ind., Sept. 20, 1879. 

 A new feature in the relation of sorghum 

 mannfactures vs. bee culture has come to 

 light in this vicinity. A farmer living 5 

 miles west of here has 40 or 50 colonies of 

 bees ; a neighbor living close by engaged in 

 manufacturing sorghum molasses ; the bees 

 swarmed around in such numbers as to com- 

 pel the manufacturer to desist and go away. 

 The bees then made a raid on the slush-hole, 

 where the skimmings were thrown, and filled 

 themselves to repletion, until they died there 

 in such quantities as to cover the slush to the 

 depth of 2% or 3 inches, and lay dead and 

 sick all over the yard near the furnace. Has 

 the like occurred before, and what is the 

 chemical or poisonous effect of the syrup on 

 the bees ? H. A. White. 



_ 'A British bee-keeper says he has wit- 

 nessed the destruction, in two weeks' time, 

 of a thriving apiary of five colonies, solely 

 by wasps — which being in a starving condi- 

 tion, and as much for warmth and protec- 

 tion as for food, forced an entrance into the 

 hives. The best defense he has found, both 

 against wasps and robber-bees from stronger 

 colonies, is, first, to keep the colonies uni- 

 formly strong, and second, to close the en- 

 trance holes to the attacked hives so that 

 only two bees can pass or repass at the same 

 time, thus giving one means of defense 

 which they will not be slow to take advan- 

 tage of. 



I^xrrcigtx |^0tjes. 



Bee Show at Perth. 



The Caledonian Apiarian and Entomo- 

 logical Society, in accordance with a prece- 

 dent inaugurated some two years ago, chose 

 the occasion of the Highland and Agricul- 

 tural Society's Show for their exhibition of 

 hives, bees, honey, etc., on July 29th and 

 three following days. The Highland and 

 Agricultural Society have taken the sister 

 show under their wing in a very kindly 

 manner, for they have at once given a free 

 site, voted a grant of £20, and offered a 

 handsome silver medal for the driving com- 

 petition. Under such fair auspices the 

 Show could hardly fail of success, and we 

 have much pleasure in giving a brief account 

 of the exhibition. 



Passing along to the northeast corner of 

 the grounds where are pitched the tents 

 sacred to the bee, we find the center of 

 attraction to be the Observatory hives. In 

 this department there was a keen competi- 

 tion, and the first prize fell to Mr. Bryce 

 Wilson, Newburgh, whose hive, working 

 somewhat on the old "Huber" principle, 

 was noticeable both for its ingenuity and 

 beauty. The bars, 7 in number, were of the 

 Woodbury size, arranged in a row, and 

 standing parallel to each other. These 

 working on a pivot opened out like the 

 leaves of a book, while the bees found their 

 way to the main channel down the center 

 of the pivot. We do not know, however, if 

 the bees would find themselves quite at 

 home in the elaborate complication of such 

 a dwelling. Mr. W. W. Young came sec- 

 ond with a 6-bar Woodbury hive. In it the 

 frames were arranged in two perpendicular 

 rows, showing artificial comb foundation in 

 the various stages of extension up to the 

 complete cell. The exhibit looked remark- 

 ably neat, inclosed as it was in a bower. 

 Mr." J. D. Hutcheson, Glasgow, made an 

 exceedingly good third ; it being a matter 

 of no small difficulty to adjudge the respec- 

 tive places merited by these excellent ex- 

 hibits. 



A most interesting thing was elicited by 

 the prize offered for the most artistic design 

 wrought by the bees. Mr. W. W. Young, 

 Perth, did himself au honor by the exhibi- 

 tion of the Perth arms— two spread eagles 

 with the word "Perth" underneath, and 

 wrought out in honey comb; and the design 

 received the attention and admiration it so 

 well deserved. Mr. R. R. Godfrey showed 

 a beautiful collection of natural objects and 

 diagrammatic illustrations of apicultural 

 subjects. Among the former was a curios- 

 ity in the shape of a wasp's nest found in a 

 hive. Terrible as these creatures have 

 always seemed, we couldn't help thinking 

 that our old enemies would have got their 

 deserts had the Ligurian bee been tenants 

 of the invaded hive. 



The hives shown were numerous and all 

 of a superior kind, both as to workmanship 

 and design. The bar-frames indeed were so 

 fine a show as to awaken a hope that the 

 old "ruskie"and the bar-barities too long 



