1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



235 



Winder machine on account of its being geared, 

 but have never used any kind. Is common 

 elder good for bees, and will it pay to cultivate 

 it? I see there is much said about feeding bees 

 syrup in order to make them more prolific in 

 breeding, but have never seen a receipt for 

 making the syrup. Will you please give me the 

 above instructions, or refer me to some one who 

 will, and oblige Nelson Perkins. 



Houston Co., Minn. 



I regard your Joiirnal as invaluable to every 

 apiarian who wishes and deserves success in the 

 management of the bee. I have been a bee- 

 keeper for about twenty years but a new begin- 

 ner in this latitude. With one year's experience 

 here I find it quite different from central Illinois. 

 Some time in the future I hope to be able to 

 contribute to your columns my success or re- 

 verses. A'Vishing the .lournal unbounded success 

 in its laudable endeavors, for I know its efforts 

 are being felt all over this land. 



Jekemiah Ewing. 



Mont., Ohio. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice. 



Dear Bee Journal : — Once more we meet, 

 but can any one of lis avoid feeling the solem- 

 nity of the thought that our dear old friend of 

 so many years is among the dead. 



The presiding genius of all our disputes, suc- 

 cesses, triumphs and sorrows, ever ready to 

 assist and lenient as a kind parent to those who 

 erred ; giving these pages freely to all with the 

 conviction, as he once expressed it, that "Truth 

 is great and will prevail." May his successor, 

 whoever he may be, be an equally good man, is 

 our earnest prayer ; that he may have the .skill 

 and experience at once of Mr. Wagner, we 

 hardly dare hope. 



Our bees are just on their summer stands. 

 Three colonies are dead and we should have 

 been lamenting their loss severely had not there 

 been a peculiarity in regard to the matter that 

 Las made us rather rejoice at their loss. We be- 

 lieve we fed the sugar syrup to all colonies ex- 

 cept five. These five were the American hives 

 that were used double, and we found plenty of 

 sealed honey to carry them through safely, so 

 that the fullest combs were simply put into one 

 of the hives and they were considered all right 

 for winter. 



Now, then, those that were, dead were three 

 out of the five and the remaining two were at 

 the point of starvation, with the combs of all 

 literally daubed with the excrement so plainly 

 denoting bee cholera or dysentery. 



If Mr. Gallup or any one else can give any 

 other reason than food for colonies equal in 

 number and every other condition (side by side 

 in the house), that we know coming out with 

 bright and clean combs and not one half of tlieir 

 sealed combs of sugar Kyrup consumed. 



We are very much inclined to thank Mr. Lang- 

 sti'oth for supplying the only remaining clue to 

 the disease, viz., cider mills. Our bees visited 



in droves a cider mill less than a quarter of a 

 mile away, and we followed, of course, and found 

 the pcmiace yellow with countless Italians. 

 Every stock must have stored more or less. 



We believe late discoveries in the medical 

 world are showinEr tliat this same cider and ex- 

 cessive use of fruits in general are almost the 

 direct cause of a long list of diseases in the hu- 

 man system, almost as disagreeable as that under 

 which the poor bees have been suffering. 



A friend asks if we are going to recommend 

 the bees a beefsteak diet to secure healthy diges- 

 tion and development of muscle ; to which we 

 reply that pure coffee sugar syrup seems to be 

 to the bees as svu-e a remedy as the beef has been 

 to us. 



Tliere is one reader of the Journal who we 

 really hope, when he sees these lines will see that 

 it is a positive duty of his to give the world a 

 little more light on a subject that has been a life 

 long study with him, with the aid of all modern 

 appliances of science, most especially the micro- 

 scope. 



Does any one know of mignonette as a honey 

 plant. Nothing under our observation has ever 

 kept Italians so busy from July until late in fall 

 as half-a-dozen stalks of what we purchased as 

 tree mignonettee. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller, of Russel, N. Y., wrote us 

 so favorably of it that we half decided to occupy 

 the space between ovu- four hundred basswood 

 trees, ten and a half acres, to see if we could 

 not at least keep the bees busy in the fall, for^ 



" Satan always finds mischief,'" etc. 



Cider mills, etc., and besides we don't like to 

 trouble our neighbors, even if they do laugh at 

 the Italian capers, a joke, etc. 



So Gallup wants to see what Novice will do 

 when hit. Just this, our sincerest thanks and to 

 really hope every other reader will say as frankly 

 just what they think of us and wherein they 

 think our views are conti-acted, one-sided or 

 conceited, and we promise you we won't quar- 

 rel, even if we are right and j^ou wrong. 



Mr. Editor or each reader may decide for him- 

 self, after our reasons are given, which of us is 

 right, or both, or neither (very likely the latter). 



QUESTION. 



Can a hive be made that will give as good re- 

 sults with combs spread out horizontally as with 

 two stories, like the usual Langstroth form ? 



Now we are going to try hard to be frank and 

 not make positive assertions. Mr. Gallup has 

 made an enormous result from his hive. Was it 

 the hive or the season? Could he not have done 

 the same with a Langstroth of sufficient capacity ? 

 Hosmer, near him, has also made an enormous 

 result with the American, and why will not the 

 American shape of frame bear comparison with 

 Gallup's ? 



Our six double American hives were placed 

 side by side, with one entrance like the original 

 hive, and one the opposite way, of course, and 

 we mixed the brood all through, every time we 

 extracted honey and even turned the hives 

 "tother end to," as Gallup does, and for a few 

 days they did go ' ' in one end and out the other ;' ' 



