range of my apiary— enough I suppose 

 for 500 colonies. The honey is of a 

 beautiful light color and of delicious 

 flavor. 



The other plant commences to bloom 

 on the first of August, and is commonly 

 called "August flower" and "bitter- 

 weed." It is a species of chamomile. 

 I think it was introduced here in 1869- 

 70, with the Canada thistle, by the hay 

 fed to horses in the barracks of the 

 federal troops. I notice that it is 

 spreading in the country around and as 

 yet has well defined limits. It occupies 

 all the commons— every spot at all fer- 

 tile — and yields abundant honey of 

 golden color, all through August to 

 about Sept. 20. The objection to it is, 

 that the honey is bitter and of course 

 not salable. The apiarist would have 

 to utilize it for winter stores, comb- 

 building, making nuclei, &c. 



After August flowers we have golden 

 rod, asters, the butterfly weed, &c. My 

 bees are still gathering pollen and small 

 quantities of honey. 



But all sources of honey amount to 

 nothing unless the bee-keeper adopts a 

 proper uniform system and a proper 

 hive. I commenced with a regular 

 Langstroth hive, but came to the con- 

 clusion that there was too much floor 

 room to allow the bees to defend them- 

 selves to the best advantage against the 

 moth and other enemies ; that being 

 longer from front to rear, than from 

 side to side, was an objection , especially 

 with reference to preserving heat in 

 winter, that a hive should be of such a 

 size as to necessitate a second story for 

 winter and summer in order to allow 

 upward storage, and to let pent up heat 

 and corrupt air pass up. Moreover a 

 long frame is disadvantageous in mak- 

 ing nuclei and swarms, getting straight 

 combs, handling, &c. With these 

 views I shortened the Langstroth frame 

 and except for nuclei, use a second 

 story. The first story is a perfect 

 square 9}4 inches high, the tops of the 

 frames being exactly even with the top 

 of the sides ; the second story projects 

 beyond the first story to the right and 

 left. The wings of the second story 

 are, however, cut off from access to the 

 bees by division boards until they need 

 this extra room. There are in first 

 story 1,450 cubic inches— in the entire 

 hive about 4,000 cubic inches. A swarm 

 is hived in the first story, a cloth pre- 

 vents access to the second story. As 

 soon as the bees have filled the first 

 story, the combs are examined and all 

 drone comb removed. They are then 

 allowed access to the second story, 

 division boards preventing them from 

 occupying the wings. When they be- 



come crowded the division boards are 

 removed, the combs spread apart and 

 empty frames or combs put in. They 

 work with a rush to fill these empty 

 frames. The first story is never dis- 

 turbed as a rule, no honey, at least, is 

 ever taken from it and it is only looked 

 into only for purposes "of artificial 

 swarming. All manipulations, removal 

 of honey, &c, are confined to the upper 

 story. I think it highly advantageous 

 to the bees to leave a portion of 

 their domain entirely undisturbed. 

 They work with more energy. My first 

 story being small, no loss is suffered 

 from this course. When full the entire 

 hive holds 25 frames. The greater part 

 of my Italians are in these hives with 

 25 frames and I will let them remain 

 just as they are all winter. They have 

 more stores than are necessary, but 

 that is an advantage. Bees are not 

 gormands. 



By the above plan I think the wants, 

 necessities and aspirations of a colony 

 of bees with reference to this climate 

 are satisfactoy and that with the proper 

 attention, every drop of honey they can 

 possibly gather will be obtained. 



Grenada, Miss., Oct. 10, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



To find a Black Queen in 3 Minutes, 



C. W. TAYLOR. 



I allow myself 3 or 4 minutes to hunt 

 up a black queen at this season of the 

 year, after the honey season is entirely 

 over. I have but 3 frames to examine, 

 and can frequently lift up the frame 

 she is on, at the first attempt. To do 

 this, the hive must be prepared before- 

 hand. I first lift the honey-board and 

 if there has been a space of more than 

 5-16 allowed between the board and the 

 top of the frames, it will be filled with 

 comb and honey ; I then prop up the 

 honey-board about 3 or 4 inches, and 

 close the hive until the bees have cleaned 

 off the honey. As soon as this is done, 

 I carry away the honey-board out of 

 sight of the bees, and have a clean one 

 ready to take its place. I now clean 

 off the tops of the frames, and cut out 

 the fastenings between the frames, col- 

 lecting carefully all the pieces of wax 

 and putting them out of sight. I then 

 loosen all the frames, and draw over 

 toward the cool side of the hive all the 

 frames but 3, on one of which the queen 

 is to be found. In drawing them over 

 I arrange them so closely that a bee 

 can just pass between them, this will 

 leave a space of over 1 inch between 

 the main body of frames, and the 3 that 



