1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



00 



Shall we feed snj^ar in July and August, if 

 forage is scarce, when the bees have large stores 

 of honey?* 



Is lack of honpy the cause of perforated cells 

 in brood combs ?f 



Ten colonies swarmed once each. We followed 

 instructions, and had things our own way in that 

 direction. Just when we supposed all were doing 

 equally well, we found one new swann greatly 

 reduced in numbers, with uncapped and per- 

 forated cells, exposing dead brood. Of course 

 we rushed to the books for light. 



The "senior member" declared as his firm be- 

 lief, that death and destruction was before our 

 bees, in the shape of foul-brood. Indeed, it 

 seemed so sure a case, that the hive was closed 

 for sacrifice. Wiser counsels prevailed, and said 

 hive was carried about half a mile" distant, and 

 fed liberally for a few days — which treatment 

 entirely cured our foul-brood. 



Sue W. 



Pacific, Mo. 



* Feed sn^ar eyrup whenever forase is scarce or 

 bees cannot fly out from " stress of weather." Feed 

 all youno: swarms liberally for a week or ten days 

 after hiving, and longer in unfavorable weather. 

 Feed stimulatingly in July and August, however 

 good the forage or ample the stores ; biit give the 

 queen an opporluuity to lay ei:£cs, by extractlug the 

 honey from oue or more coDibs, if there be not plenty 

 of empty worker cells iu the hive. This will furnish 

 a stock of young bees to live over winter and labor in 

 the early sprinij. Old bees commonly perish in winter, 

 and leave the hive weak in numbers at its close, if 

 youuff bees be not bred in the fall. — [Ed. 



t No case of "perforated cells in brood-combs," 

 of sufficient extent to enable us to study it, has ever 

 come under our observation, and we can only guess 

 at the cause. It may possibly arise when the popula- 

 tion of a colony, from any cause, becomes suddenly 

 so reduced that the existing brood can no longer be 

 properly attended to and protected. 



Young swarms placed in close proximity to strong 

 old stocks, may become depopulated, or rather be 

 prevented from becoming populous, by having its 

 returning bees decoyed to the old stock by the loud 

 huraminK constantly kept up at its entrance. This, 

 especially, after young bees are hatched, and begin 

 to fly out. We have known a young swarm of Ital- 

 ians thus damaged, and the cause would perhaps have 

 escaped notice, had it not been seen that the old stock, 

 though known to have a fertile black queen, was daily 

 receiving accessions of Italian workers. Placing the 

 hives further apart at once stopped the emigration, 

 and the Italian swarm thenceforward prospered.— [ Ed. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



More Lady Help Coming. 



Mil. Editor : — Still another lady with "bee on 

 the brain." Trvxly the sphere of woman's use- 

 fulness is enlarging rapidly. It is now three 

 years since I left my western home to visit rela- 

 tives in Walpole, New Hampshire, and while 

 there I became interested in the "mysteries of 

 bee-keeping," and assisted in the apiary of J. L. 

 Hubbard two seasons. After my return to the 

 west, I concluded to give up my old occupation 

 (that of school teaching) " with its wearisome I 



round of duties," and engage in the more pleasing 

 one of bee-keeping. I purchased five swarms of 

 the common black bees in the old fashioned box 

 hives, and commenced transferring them into the 

 movable frame hive, as soon as the fruit trees 

 were in blossom. Some of the oldest combs I 

 tied in with strong twine, but nearly all of it 

 was held in place by strips of wood on each side. 

 I had good success in transferring, and now 

 have ten swarms of bees. Tliree of them were 

 artificially made ; the others swarmed naturally. 

 The bees are working nicely in boxes, of which 

 the most salable in this vicinity are the square 

 glass ones, that will hold from four to six pounds. 

 The season here has been a fair one, although 

 we have had some rainy weather of late. 



I am using a honey extractor mauufactui-ed at 

 St. Charles, Illinois, that throws out the honey 

 at a fearful rate ; it is quite a wonder to the good 

 people of this village, as it is the first oue ever 

 brought here. 



Enthusiastic. 



Omro, Wis., July 11, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Keport from Illinois, 



Mr. Editor : — I am highly pleased with the 

 Journal, and prize the correspondent's column 

 very highly. It is very pleasing to take up the 

 Journal and get monthly news from our brother 

 bee-keepers, from all parts of our land, learning 

 of their success or faihire. This seems to give 

 us new energy at once, for when reading of their 

 success, we are incited to try to rival them, and 

 when we learu of their reverses, it sets us to 

 thinking, lest we fare as bad, or worse. 



We well remember, in the spring of 1818, 

 when, of all the stocks put in our cellar the fall 

 previous, we brought out only thi-ee weak colo- 

 nies to their summer stands, how much we were 

 stimulated to greater and greater activity. And 

 we now believe that our success since is partially 

 due to the loss of those colonies then ; for we 

 set ourselves to studying with a will, that we 

 might better know oixr business. We were often 

 asked if we were not going to quit bee-keeping. 

 Our reply generally was that we should yet as- 

 tonish the natives ; at least, we thought we 

 should. The result has been as follows : — from 

 the three surviving colonies above mentioned, 

 and two feeble stocks purchased, we had. in tlie 

 fall, fourteen stocks and one hundred (100) 

 pounds of box honey. 



In the spring of 1870, those fourteen stocks 

 came through in good condition, increased to 

 twenty colonies, and gave me four hundred and 

 forty (440) pounds of surplus honey, mostly 

 in boxes. 



The spring of 1871 commenced with twenty 

 colonies, and increased to thirty-one strong 

 stocks ; and up to July 10th, the surplus honey 

 yielded was thus : 



Box honey 877 pounds. 



Extracted honey 910 " 



Total 1,287 pounds. 



