THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



19; 



[TTor the American Bee Journal]. 



Several Things Considered. 



Much has been said by different individuals, 

 in various parts of the United States, about ob 

 taining almost incredible amounts of surplus 

 honey and enormous increase of bf es. Now I 

 wish to know much how those bee-keepers feed 

 in .be spring and summer in order to secure 

 such gigantic results. I wish to know how 

 many swarms they put in a hive, and how many 

 times in a week the swarm is replenished with 

 brood from other 'hives. I do not mean to 

 charge my good brethren in bee-keeping with 

 making false statements, for I believe lhat they 

 get all the honey and swarms they have re- 

 ported. But I am led to the belief that all that 

 has been done to obtain such desirable results 

 has not been made public, or else I am forced 

 to the conclusion that they live in a far better 

 locality for bees than the State of Iowa is; for 

 I confess that I have never been able to secure 

 any extraordinary product in the common way, 

 that is, without resorting to the means already 

 intimated. 



Here, in the west, we commonly have cold, 

 blustering, and wet springs. Consequently the 

 bees lose the advantage of tbe first bloom, or at 

 least a lare;e part of it; and then the white clover 

 does not fairly come in till the middle of June. 

 The lindens, too, vary greatly in their period 

 of blooming. In some seasons, in the uplands, 

 tbey bloom as early as the 25th of June, or a 

 week later in the fiat hinds; whereas, in other 

 seasons, they do not bloom till the middle or 

 latter part of July. Most of the native bees 

 build no comb after the linden bloom closes ; 

 though the Italians, both pure and hybrids, still 

 store some surplus. Of course there are some 

 stocks in the spring that did not get through 

 the winter with a sufficiency of population and 

 stores. Few of these secure any surplus, and 

 I shall not here speak of their condit'on, my 

 object at present being to find out, if possible, 

 Avhat is requisite for the attainment of such em- 

 inent success as that referred to above. 



I am pleased with Elisha Gallup's article in 

 the December number of the Journal, page 

 111, on bee management. It is to the point, as 

 far as it goes. I would like to have Mr. Gallup, 

 or some one else, give us a full description of 

 the honey extractor, as to its practical working, 

 as there is none in this section of the State that 

 I could examine. I believe it to be a good 

 thing. I have often felt the need of something 

 of the kind, even before I heard of the thing 

 itself. I often wished that the honey could be 

 got out of the combs without destroying them. 

 Now, as the discovery has been made, and I 

 have the geering to run the thing, I would like 

 to make one, if it do not cost too much. I would 

 also wish that Mr. Langstroth would tell the peo- 

 ple through the Journal, what he charges those 

 that use his hive; also the price he charges for 

 individual rights. I suppose any one has a right 

 to make and use it, and the firm has a right to 

 collect their price for it. 



As the last season was an awful poor one for 

 bees to store a sufficient amount of the precious 



nectar, to keep from starvation the swarms made 

 during tbe time tbe lindens were in bloom, there 

 will have to be considerable feeding done the 

 ensuing spring. I have tried various kinds of 

 feeders, and as all of them failed to answer the 

 end designed. I concluded to have one made 

 entirely different from any recommended ; and 

 as I am the inventor of it, I have undoubtedly 

 the right to brag of it just as much as I please. 

 However I will merely say that I have one that 

 knocks all other feeders in the shade. You will 

 see a full description of it in the Bee Journal, 

 under the inventor's own signature I can tes- 

 tify to its practical merit, and if others of my 

 good fellow bee-keepers continue to recommend 

 their strainers, I may be allowed to boast more 

 of the feeder. James McMullen. 



Oskaloosa, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.) 



A New and Curious Theory. 



I guess it may be called Coxe's, as he is the 

 only advocate of it I know of. Tt is this : 

 That bees furnish the necessary germ, and re- 

 quisite heat, to cause combs to grow similar to 

 mushrooms. 



If the case is stated right, I would like to 

 know — 



First. If all the wax, except some propolis 

 used at times to strengthen the comb in special 

 places, is not an outgrowth of the body of the 

 bee, in thin scales of tbe thickness of the sides 

 of the cells ? 



Second. What is done with the scales of wax, 

 as the bees keep producing them, after the hive 

 is full of cells, provided there is honey to be 

 gathered, or they are raiding young bees ? 



Third. Why cannot Mr. Thompson produce 

 the necessary growth in his forcing house, as 

 he has embryo comb in all slages, in all tem- 

 peratures between forty -five and one hundred 

 degrees, and yet no growth? 



Fourth. Must, the comb germs have the ema- 

 nations of the bodies of bees, in the shape of 

 thin scales of wax, to apply to the outer edge, 

 or sides, or bottom? I understand the theory 

 assumes bottom growth that pushes the rim out- 

 wards. 



Fifth. Is the base or the rim of the cells the 

 germ? 



Sixth. Do not tbe combs cease to grow, when 

 honey cannot be obtained in sufficient quantity 

 to have some to store, notwithstanding the ne- 

 cessary temperature is kept up by the cluster of 

 bees ? J. M. Marvin. 



St. Charles, Ills. 



The sting of a bee is a beautiful little tube, 

 formed like a telescope, through which the poi- 

 son from the bag to which it is attached is in- 

 jected. This very fine and delicate apparatus 

 is barbed at the end, and whpn firmly fixed be- 

 low by contraction, draws the rest of the sheath 

 after it ; and the sting, with its appurtenances, 

 is so large in proportion to the whole body of 

 the bee, and the detaching it from the other 

 parts so seriously disturbs the internal economy 

 of the insect, that the wonder seems to be that 

 it retains any animation at all after losing it. 



