Report of Crop—Two Queens in One Hive. 



Carson City, Mich., July 9, 1880. 

 Bees are at work very industriously, 

 but the rain washed out the honey from 

 the basswood, after the first day's yield. 

 They are working on white clover now, 

 completing the sections of basswood 

 with it. Some are nearly ready to take 

 off. I have about 50 colonies in all. 

 One colony superseded its queen, and 

 both old and young queen remained in 

 the hive about 4 weeks ; both were lay- 

 ing a part of the time. I saw them both 

 every few days. O. R. Goodno. 



Lengthening the Cell Walls of Foundation. 



Constantine, Mich., July 12, 1880. 

 Can any one prove that bees use part 

 of the wax foundation for lengthening 

 the cells ? I have colored the founda- 

 tion, and find they let it remain, and 

 add on white wax without using the 

 foundation. I have offered them wax 

 in various ways, on frames, and in thin 

 sheets, and in lumps, etc., but they do 

 not use it. Bees have done very poorly 

 here until the 20th of June ; they are 

 now doing better, but have swarmed 

 very little, yet they seem strong, the 

 whole portico of the Langstroth hives 

 being filled with idle bees every warm 

 day. They have no queen cells. Four 

 swarms from 40 hives seems a poor turn- 

 out, up to July 12. The July Bee Jour- 

 nal is at hand, and is as good as ever. 

 W. H. Armitage. 



[Bees will sometimes use the wax of 

 foundation for lengthening side walls, 

 and sometimes not. It is a remark, 

 trite but true, " that bees will not do 

 any one thing invariably." — Ed.] 



Good Prospect for Honey. 



Sprout Brook, JST. Y., July 1, 1880. 

 Bees are doing well in this section ; 

 getting surplus very nicely. 



J. Van Deusen. 



Light Crop. 



Oketo, Kan., June 28, 1880. 

 The Aveather is very dry. My bees 

 are gathering very little honey. The 

 wheat crop is light; perhaps an aver- 

 age of 7 bu. per acre ; the corn crop 

 looks poorer than I ever saw it in Kan- 

 sas. We must have rain soon, if we 

 get any corn. I have 240 acres of land 

 under cultivation, a fine orchard of -500 

 apple trees, 200 cherry, all commencing 

 to bear ; also 5 acres or forest trees. I 

 have my bee hives arranged in the 

 grove near the house where I can give 

 them attention. Edmund De Lair. 



Foundation Compared. 



Williamsburg, Ind., June 24,4880. 

 Bees are not doing very well as yet, 

 but are storing some surplus. I tried 

 the Dunham foundation by the side of 

 the Root, which was lighter than it, but 

 could not see any difference in the two 

 for the same length of time. Both are 

 good. M. G. Reynolds. 



Milk-Weed and Horse-Mint. 



Indianola, Iowa, July 1, 1880. 



I send you 2 plants ; please name 

 them. The red blooms in June and the 

 white in July. Both yield honey. Lin- 

 den has been in bloom a week. Bees 

 are storing honey and swarming lively. 

 The quality of the honey is the best 

 that I have tasted in 10 years. Warren 

 is one of the best counties in Iowa for 

 bee-keeping, as well as for agriculture 

 and stock raising. E. A. Milltken. 



[The red blossom is a species of milk 

 weed, the white is horse-mint.— Ed.] 



Catching Swarms. 



Wyocena, "Wis., June 30, 1880-. 

 As luck would have it. Mr. J. W. 

 Bailey, of Ripon. came with a load of 

 his swarm catchers just in time to catch 

 a portion of a swarm that was coming 

 out, the remainder being in the air, and 

 were about to light high on a tall oak 

 tree. I placed the catcher near the tree, 

 and the bees came down and lit on it. 

 On the outside of the swarm-catcher 

 I afterwards found 3 queens (it being a 

 second swarm), while on the inside 

 there was no queen to be found, thus 

 showing that the catcher is of great use 

 where the apiary is surrounded with 



tall trees. Bi>es are not doing very well 

 in this locality. 



F. N. Spear. 



Spider Plant. 



Big River Mills, Mo., June 29, 1880. 



Bees have done well here considering 

 their weak condition in the spring, 

 caused by the drought last summer and 

 the cold wind and rain so prevalent this 

 spring. Spider plant grows abundantly 

 in southeastern Missouri, in neglected 

 fields, and produces honey abundantly 

 for a few hours in the morning. When 

 it is in bloom the air is filled with bees, 

 even before it is light enough to see 

 them. It sometimes grows 4 or 5 feet 

 high with brandling top; it seeds 

 largely, but it dies root and branch each 

 year. Mr. O. H. Townsend has our 

 thanks for his article on how to rear 

 good queens ; now tell us the compo- 

 nent parts of royal jelly, and we may 

 experiment more in this direction. 



S. G. Haile. 



