July 19, 1906 



617 



American Hee Journal 



populated the hives to such an extent that from 3 to .( 

 colonies had to be united to make one good one. Very 

 little honey could be harvested except during the fall honey- 

 flow, in December.. — Austr. Bee Bulletin. 



Our 



Dee-Iteepini 



ere 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



An Old Bee-Poem 



The following was kindly sent in by Mr. Edwin Bevins, 

 of Eeon, Iowa, who says he " copied it for the American 

 Bee Journal to while away an idle hour :" 



The Bee and the Flowers 



By .Vary Lunelle Duncan, born at Kelso, Scotland, 1S14, died 1840. 



Mother. 



Ah ! do not, do not touch that bee; 

 Stand still, its busy course to see, 



But take your hand away ; 

 For, though 'tis neither large nor strong, 

 It has a sting both sharp and long, 



And soon could spoil your play. 



i'ou need not tear; it loves, like you, 

 The flowers of varied form and hue. 



They yield it honied spoil ; 

 It only stings the thoughtless train, 

 Who seek its lite, or give it pain, 



Or stop its happy toil. 



Or idle drones which labor not, 

 But eat the honey it has sought 



To store the crowded hive ; 

 Or insects that would enter there, 

 To steal the food it brings with care 



To keep its race alive. 



In search of flowers this food that yield, 

 It flies abroad through hill and field 



With pleasant, humming sound ; 

 It rests on many a blossom bright, 

 That opens, far from human sight, 



To deck the lonely ground. 



Flowers were not made for man alone, 

 But freely o'er the earth are strewn, 



To bless the creatures, too ; 

 And many an insect nation dwells 

 Among fair fields and mossy cells, 



That we shall never view. 



Child. 



I did not know the bee could sting; 

 I see it fly on rapid wing 



Among the garden bowers; 

 And now it 'lights upon a rose, 

 And now to a jasmine branch it goes — 



Say, will it sting the Jlowers ? 



It settles where the woodbine sweet 

 Twines round the tree— it plants its feet — 



How firm and fast they cling ! 

 Oh, how I love the pretty flowers, 

 That bloom through all the sunny hours — 



Pray, do not let it sting. 



The Poppy as a Pollen Yielder 



So Brother Hasty thinks I left Hamlet out of my 

 Hamlet by omitting the poppy from the list of nectar- 

 yielding flowers for a floral display, page 5-'5. The omis- 

 sion was chiefly due to ignorance. 



We have never had enough poppies to have a cham 

 to learn what the bees did think of them. This peculiar- 

 ity, however, has been noticed (I wonder if Brother 

 Hasty has noticed it?) that popp -pollen is black. At 

 present we have just one lone poppy — the Poppy of Oz — 



but the poor, sickly thing doesn't look at present as if it 

 i . mid stand bees or anj thing else. 



Thank-. Brother Hasty for calling attention to the 

 poppy, especiallj as some of the later kinds are of mar- 

 velous beauty. But pray, why did you leave us in sus- 

 pense as to your "prime favorite among the flowers, even 

 if it does not draw bees at all?" Please tell us what it is. 



Honey for Brain-Work 



A well-Known author acting on the advice of his doc- 

 tor, uses honey largely, and has imply proved by experi- 

 ence that in doing heavy brain work there is nothing bet- 

 ter for the system than honey. — British Bee-Journal. 



How to Manage an Apiary Successfully 



Here's a sister of an inquiring turn of mind. It's 

 Mrs. F. Wilbur Frey, of Michigan, who says in the Bee- 

 Keepers' Review: 



Here are a few of the things I want to know: 

 1st. How to keep a large apiary together until the 

 honey is completed. 



2d. The easiest way to get rid of old queens, and 

 have all young queens in the bee-yard in the fall, and, at 

 the same time, keep the colonies all strong, and ready 

 for all harvests. 



3d. How to keep bees from -wanting to swarm. 



4th. How to get all nice, clean honey without travel- 

 stains. 



It is to be hoped that she may be successful in get- 

 ting satisfactory answers to her questions, and may then 

 give the rest of us the benefit of such answers. Es- 

 pecially is it desirable to get answer to her 3d question. 

 for that goes to the root of matters; and when we find 

 the cause — rather if we find the cause — we may then seek 

 with some intelligence for the remedy. 



As to the 4th question, we already have an answer — ■ 

 at least for this locality. It is to take off each super 

 before the bees begin to darken the central sections; for 

 the darkening always begins centrally. That often obliges 

 taking off a super before the corner sections are sealed; 

 in which case the unfinished sections from several supers 

 are massed together in one super and returned to the 

 bees to be finished. 



iouthern 

 Beedom ;^ 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl, New Braunfels, Tex. 



Three Queens in One Brood-Chamber 



In one of my out-apiaries I had 2 hives near each 

 other that had old, failing queens. As it was in early 

 spring I had no young queens to replace them, so I 

 decided to unite them h\ pulling 1 hive on top of the 

 other, and letting the bee- settle it so far as the queens 

 were concerned— as they were both good Italians. In 

 about 2 weeks I was back in the yard and found this 

 united colonv with capp ' cells, but destroyed all 



but one of the best cells for fear of swarming. On a 

 third visit I found this colon} unusually strong, and as I 

 decided it might swarm anyway, even with this young 

 laying queen (as 1 was was mated and laying 



by this time), I concluded to hunt her out and clip bet- 

 wing. I soon found one ol the old clipped queens hobbling 

 about over the comb- •■ eggs. I set the comb 



on the outside to lool fui for the young one. and to 



my surprise found the second old clipped queen; and on 

 further looking I found a third queen that was mated and 

 laying, which was the yoi So I had three laying 



