THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



209 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A few Questions from England. 



Mr. Editor: — Accept my thanks for your 

 invaluable Journal. Although three thousand 

 miles of watery waste roll hetween us, we 

 Britishers, (that is, the fortunate few that take 

 the Journal), are regularly marie acquainted 

 with theups and downs of our little friends in 

 Yankeedom. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I have one or two ques- 

 tions to put. before the beekeeping brotherhood. 

 It would give me great satisfaction if Gallup 

 would "try his hand." 



The real superiority of the Italians, in what 

 does it consist '? 



Are Italians more difficult to handle than 

 black hces ? I have only one stock of the for- 

 mer, and they sting furiously. 



The popular way to handle bees ; whether by 

 smoking, or liquid sweet, or neither '? 



Is there any way to prevent the accumula- 

 tion of propolis — sealing the honey-hoard and 

 frames so tightly as that they almost become 

 fixtures? 



What decision have the bee-keepers arrived 

 at concerning red clover? My stock of Italians 

 was separated from twenty-five acres of red 

 clover merely by a turnpike road and a high 

 hedge ; and yet on neither crop could I see any 

 of the family of Apis, excepting a few humlers. 

 If Italians really do work on red clover, almost 

 any part of Kent is good for apiculture. But I 

 fear that is too good to he true. 



Another question is, whether, by doubling 

 correspondence and eas7i, we can get the Bee 

 Journal fortnight!}' ? 



The last question, though last is not least, do 

 we not all hold ourselves indebted to Mr. Lang- 

 strotli ? Is he not the Father of modern hives, 

 and the Prince of modern apiarians ? A corres- 

 pondent wrote some time back that Ave owe 

 him a debt not only of gratitude, but of cash ! 



Brother Beekeepers, if this is so (and it 

 really is), should we not find a pleasure in at- 

 tempting to liquidate that debt ? Surely it will 

 not be so difficult, a question as the present 

 standing Alabama Claims ! Any plan Ameri- 

 can bee-keepers may devise, (providing it does 

 Mr. Langstroth justice), I will cheerfully sub- 

 scribe to. 



Mr. Editor, I do not wish to intrude on your 

 space, hut allow me to thank Mr. Gallup and all 

 other correspondents, who so unreservedly give 

 us their experience. 



Walter Hewson. 



wlckiiam-breaux, kent, england. 



In their modes of flight the several species of 

 bees vary considerably. Some, like the Sara- 

 pocla and Antlwpliora dart along in a direct line, 

 with almost the velocity af lightning, visit a 

 flower for an instant, and dart off again with 

 the same fleetness and vivacity. Others, like 

 the humble bees and the hive bees, leisurely 

 visit every blossom, even upon a crowded plant, 

 with patient assiduity, sedulously extracting 

 and appropriating the secreted nectar. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Remarks on the Bee Disease. 



In the March number of the Bee Journal, 

 Mr. J. Davis, on page 172, states "facts" and 

 asks "quessions" about the late prevalent bee 

 disease. Now, I think the problem is not a 

 very difficult one to solve. I have had a per- 

 fect shower of letters from Kentucky, Indiana, 

 Illinois, and portions of this State, with refer- 

 ence to the disease ; and the statements appear 

 to be very contradictory. From these leiters 

 and from what I have learned from the Bee 

 Journal, it is hard to give a positive answer 

 as to the cause of the disease, if all the state- 

 ments are true. I do not wish to be understood 

 as accusing any one of falsehood. It may, in 

 part, be owing to the fact that all the corres- 

 pondents are not practical or experienced bee- 

 keepers, that the statements are so contradic 

 tory, even from the same neighborhoods. But, 

 with my friend Davis, I can be positive, from 

 personal observation of cases of a similar kind. 

 The reader will notice particularly that Mr. 

 Burbank, of Lexington, Kentucky, led his bees, 

 and on the 14th of January they were all right. 

 (See March number, page 1G4). Now, let us 

 look at the facts. In this section the season 

 was good up to the 25th of July, and then the 

 extreme heat cut off the honey crop at once. 

 Still, the Italian bees kept on raising brood un- 

 til the iast of August. Young swarms, that had 

 been building comb, stopped breeding from two 

 to three weeks earlier than swarms that had 

 their combs all built. Mr. Davis asks, will the 

 queen cease to lay eggs if the bee pasturage 

 fails ? She certainly will, and last season de- 

 monstrated that fact conclusively. Understand 

 that if the failure is only of short duration, the 

 cessation of brooding will be only partial ; but 

 when long continued, as it was last season, the 

 cessation is complete. He also asks w&iy it 

 should be so extensive and general ? Answer, 

 because the drouth and extreme heat were ex- 

 tensive. He further enquires, if it was a gen- 

 eral thing everywhere that bees were dying, or 

 was it local ? Answer, it was general, so far 

 as the drouth or extreme heat extended, except 

 where bees had access to buckwdieat pasturage. 

 In neighborhoods where they had not access to 

 buckwheat fields, they died ; and three miles 

 off, where they had access to buckwheat, 

 they are in excellent condition. The buckwheat 

 came in, here, just at the right time, before the 

 queens had entirely ceased breeding, and hence 

 the usual fall brood was matured. Where the 

 bees could not resort to buckwheat blossoms, 

 there was literally nothing for them to gather 

 until September ; and the bees having been so 

 long a time, at that season of the year, without 

 pasturage, when they re-commenced gathering, 

 gathered very rapidly, paying no attention what- 

 ever to their queen, and she consequently laid 

 no eggs. Here, there were only six days in 

 September that they gathered honey. They 

 commenced on the 8th, and continued three 

 days ; then, after a cessation of five days, fol- 

 lowed three more gathering days. When bees 



