166 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jan, 



"it is possibly, from some taction of this instrument, 

 that she discerns tlie sizes of the eggs, and thence ^/(tir 

 respective sex." And, finally, " she lays about ten or 

 twelve thousand eggs in six weeks, depending much 

 on the propitiousness of the season" ; his estimate of 

 the extent of her faculty in this line being based on 

 what she jiroduces in April or May, " as it slumbers 

 during the summer heat, and revives again in autumn, 

 but totally terminates with the first cvld weather." So 

 much for studying a subject with the aid of musty 

 old volumes alone, instead of resorting to a movable 

 comb-hive for instruction, and using one's eyes dili- 

 gently, even at the hazard of a few stings. 



During the solar eclipse, July 18th, 18C0, Miller, a 

 German botanist, observed issuing from the leaves of 

 the Norway maple (Acer platanoides) a fine spray, 

 consisting of minute vaporous saccharine particles. 

 Next morning innumerable aphides appeared, imbib- 

 ing the excreted sugar— clearly showing that they 

 were not the cause of the saccharine sutlusion, as is 

 commonly supposed. No more satisfactory explana- 

 tion of this phenomenon has yet been proposed, then 

 that the sugar in the sap of the tree is produced too 

 rapidly and too plentifully, by the conversion of 

 starch, to be duly appropriated by the absorbent ves- 

 sels of the cellular tissue, and is then excreted 

 through the minute pores of the leaves. Whether 

 this accounts for "the milk in the cocoanut" we 

 shall leave for those to decide who are skilled in vege- 

 table physiology. 



COEKESPONDENCE OP THE BEE JOUKNAL 



Springfield, Ills., Nov. 17, 1870. — I became in- 

 terested in the bee ques-tion about the 1st of July last, 

 and immediately subscribed for the American Bee 

 Journal, since which time every article has been 

 carefully perused, and most of them re-perused. En- 

 closed please find two dollars, for wiiich send me 

 Volume V. of the Journal. It seems long to wait 

 from one month to another for tlie welcome numbers 

 to arrive, so the only alternative seems to be,- to take 

 the " back track," and " read up" the back volumes. 



I obtained five small, laie swarms, during the very 

 dry season, and as Langstroth says, "to build up 

 small colonies by feeding requires more care and 

 judgment than any other process in bee-culture," and 

 being entirely itinerant of the manner in which the 

 judgment should be used, I concluded to let all but 

 one "build up themselves." The result was, they 

 neither made honey nor comb, and literally starved to 

 death, and " went the way of all the earth." To the 

 fifth I fed syrup of sugar, and thrived pretty well, 

 and is now my only swarm. But I am not weary in 

 well-doing ; have engaged some more swarms for the 

 coming year, and hope, with the experience of the 

 past season, and the information gathered from the 

 pens of Langstroth, Quinby, Novice, Gallup, Alley, 

 and the many other practical and interesting writers 

 of our Bee Journal, to succeed better in future. 



I was very much interested in reading Dr. Abbe's 

 article on foulbrood. I have never seen a case of it, 

 and hope sincerely I never shall ; but believing it to 



be caused by parasites, or living germs, and having 

 had an extensive experience with sulphite and hypo- 

 sulphite of soda in the destruction of germinal and 

 parasitical life, it struck me verv forcibly that the 

 doctor had made a "happy discovery," and that we 

 should now say to foulbrood, that " fell destroyer" 

 of the bee famify, " thus far and no further." — H. O. 



BOLLES. 



Bloomfield, Canada, Nov. 17. — No intelligent 

 apiarian should think of doing without the American 

 Bee Journal — Bees did vei'y well in this section. We 

 have aliout sixty stocks, ail more or less crossed with 

 the Italian. Ihey are very heavy. The brood combs 

 are nearly all full of honey, and capped over. — S. J. 



BOWEKMAN. 



Waveklt, Iowa, Nov. 23. — Send along the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. Those who keep bees, and don't 

 take the Jouinal and pay for it in advance, deserve 

 to have all drone-laying queens next summer. The 

 first frost we had was on the morning of October 13, 

 and the first flake of snow November 13. Wheu 

 strange bees get into a hive to rob it, do they first at- 

 temjit to kill its queen, or do they go for the honey ? 

 I received ten queens from Adam Grimm, and intro- 

 duced them for my friends, except one, whicli I put 

 into a nucleus, and the roi)l)ers pitched in, and before 

 1 knew of it had taken all lis stores. I set them in my 

 darlv bee-house, but they all got out through a crevice 

 a;id lelt, and I found no more queen. — II. K. Swett. 



Datton, Ohio, Nov. 23. — Bees in this vicinity did 

 but poorly the past season. Cause — a late and cold 

 spring, with a very dry summer and fall. — E. D. 

 Payne. 



BrsuKii.i-, Pa., Nov. 2.5. — T have over one hundred 

 colonies of bees, and should like to raise something 

 that will jiroduce bee-pasturage in the interval be- 

 tween the w4iile clover and buckwheat. I would like 

 very much to try the iiarlridge pea, spoken of in the 

 November Journal. — W. Schounoveu. 



Newbukt, low-a, Nov. 25. — The past season has 

 been rather a good one, in our locality, for bees, al- 

 though mine did not store very much surplus honey. 

 They swarmed rather too much. I had twenty colo- 

 nies in the sjiring, and tiiej' cast otf thirty-eight 

 swarms, all of wliich are strong" enough and rich 

 enough in stores to winter well — except only three. 

 Please seud along the Bee Journal, for 1 cannot afibrd 

 to do without it. — A. Snydeu. 



GHBHAKTSBrRG, Pa., Nov. 36. — Bees in this section 

 have most generally proved successful this season, 

 'those that were managed on improved principles 

 have demonstrated that bee-keeping pays for proper 

 attention. The bees that were left to themselves 

 (and, I am sorry to say, the greater part are so left), 

 did as well as could possibly be expected, considering 

 the condition they were in in the spring. My bees 

 have done far belter than I expected, yet I cannot 

 crack up with as big figures as some of my Iriends 

 in the Journal. I would say, however, that I am 

 satisfied with the result, and with the iielp of tlie 

 Journal, and continued good health, I will endeavor 

 to improve every opportunity that may ofl'er. — W. 

 Bakek. 



Whitney's Point, N. Y., Nov. 28. — Bees have 

 done very well here. The weather was warm and 

 pleasant here yesterday and to-day, ai d bees are 

 having a good time, flying. — F. M. Dickinson. 



Atchison, Kansas, Nov. 29. — The past season was 

 not good for bees here; but we made enough honey 

 to satisfy ourselves that without a honey-slinger it 



