1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



89 



Like most uew beginners, lie increased his stock 

 nitber too rapidly, especially in so poor a season 

 as this has proved to be in that section generally. 

 Bees, however, did somewhat better at Geneva 

 than at St. Charles, only two miles away. At 

 Batavia, the same distance below, the bees have 

 done moderately well. Let me remark here that 

 the rains, throughout the West, for the most part 

 went in narrow streaks this season, especially in 

 June, sometimes not over half a mile wide. This 

 accounts for the difference in the condition of 

 colonies in apiaries only a few miles apart. 



I called on Mr. Way, at Bntavia, and took a 

 look at his bees and honey. He has a good 

 supply of surplus white clover honey on hand, 

 having been fortunate enough to be within the 

 range of one of the seasonable rain streaks. 

 The most of his colonies liave honey enough to 

 pass the winter safely, if they sliould not be able 

 to gather any more. I was told that the good 

 people of Batavia tried to get friend Way's bees 

 expelled from the city limits, as a nuisance, for 

 fear they might jiossibly sting somebody ! 



AMOKG THE HONEY DEALERS OF CHICAGO. 



I do not think that the largest honey dealer in 

 Chicago is doing the fair thing by his patrons — 

 that is, if he wishes to do a permanent business 

 and retain his best customers. He would rather 

 buy honey in large boxes and frames, and then 

 cut it into three or four small strips, put it in 

 glass jars, and fill up the jars with inferior 

 strained or Cuba honey. At the same time he 

 discourages the bee-keepers from taking their 

 honey from the combs with the melextractor, for 

 the simple reason, I suppose, that he can make 

 more money by straining the honey himself, as I 

 was told he had a nice steam apparatus for fixing 

 over strained hone}^ 



As to the commission men, there are not many 

 of them to be trusted, as it is seldom that honey 

 is handled with the care it ought to receive ; and 

 when it gets to leaking, they sell it for any price 

 they can get, in order to be rid of it. 



There is a great fault, too, in the manner of 

 shipping it, to have it go through in good shape, 

 as the railroad men do not handle things very 

 carefully. To get the best price from honest 

 dealers, the box honey must be put up in neat, 

 small boxes, weighing not over seven pounds 

 gross; and to get a market established for ex- 

 tracted honey, it should be shipped to some reli- 

 able man; and the jars must be labelled witli the 

 quality of the honey and the name of the pro- 

 ducer. Then the agent can recommend it to his 

 customers, and warrant it pure; and all you 

 have should be shipped exclusively to him. 

 When properly put up, I do not think there is 

 much to be feared from adulteration. 



Fulton, 111, Sept. 5, 1870. X. 



A good swarm of bees, put in a diminutive hive, 

 in a good season, may be compared to a power- 

 ful team of horses harnessed to a baby wagon, 

 or a uobk' fall of water wasted in turning a petty 

 water-wheel. — Langntroth. 



Narrow minds think nothing right that is above 

 their own capacity. 



[For tlie American Bee Journal.] 



Queen Eaising. — Experience and Observations. 



Too early last spring, I commenced by artifi- 

 cial means to raise queen bees. Using only 

 about a pint of bees, they became chilled during 

 the night, and would cluster in tiie corner or 

 top of the hive, deserting the larvse, and the un- 

 hatched young. This was in March. During 

 the latter part of the month of April, however, I 

 succeeded admirably in hatching them ; but two- 

 thirds were lost on "their wedding tours. _ 



I had as many as six queen cells which were 

 to hatch on a certain day. I was not at home on 

 that day, but returned late in the evening, and 

 on examining No. 1 (a full colony), I found the 

 queen had just emerged, the cap or end of the 

 cell still clinging by a small particle of wax, and 

 the qneen on the same frame within a few inches 

 of the cell. No. 2 had also hatched during the 

 day, ajipearing to be a few hours older. No. .3 

 was then visited, which was in a nucleus, and I 

 found only two worker bees in the hrve, — the 

 queen cell being still perfect. I had the evening 

 befoi'e given this nucleus some strained honey, in 

 a bungling manner, and did not contract the en- 

 trance of the hive as 1 should have done, and 

 they were robbed. My wife, early in the morn- 

 ing, noticed unusual activity at tliis hive. The 

 little family, I suppose, had helped to remove 

 their limited stores to tlie hives of the robbers, 

 and taken up their abode there, as usually occurs 

 in such cases. But, to return to our queen cell, 

 I removed it carefully and opened the end of it, 

 when, to my surprise, out crawled the queen on 

 my hand. Some honey was given to her, and in a 

 few minutes she was quite lively. She was then 

 introduced to a queenless colony, and was well 

 received ; but was lost on going out on the eighth 

 day. No. 4 was not examined until the next 

 day, Avhen a nice Italian queen was moving 

 amongst the workers; with as much dignity as 

 belongs to one not yet having attained her ma- 

 jorit3^ After an interval of about three days, I 

 examined the hive and saw the queen every day 

 until about the eighth, when late in the evening, 

 after sunset, on examination I found she was 

 gone. On closing the hive the bees came run- 

 ning out and showed all the signs of having re- 

 cently lost their queen, such as are often seen ; 

 and kept up that distressing search by crawling 

 over the hive and on the ground in its immediate 

 vicinity until after dark. The hive was again 

 examined with great scrutiny on the following 

 morning, and she was not there. At eleven 

 o'clock a natural first swarm issued from a hive 

 of native brown bees in the apiar}', and after fl}^- 

 ing around five minutes, clustered on the stem 

 and at the root of a cherry tree. I proceeded to 

 hive them, and when half the swarm had passed 

 into the hive, I saw the black queen march in. 

 Only a few minutes more elapsed before all the 

 bees had gone in, except a little ball or lump the 

 size of a partridge egg near the root of the tree. 

 I stirred them up with a stick, thinking they 

 were not cognizant of the fact that their queen 

 had gone in and the house was pre[)ared and 

 ready for them ; but they had no disposition to 

 disengage themselves. Taking the ball of bees 



