AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



IT 



tions would be filled. I noticed that a 

 large amount of the 27 pounds of honey 

 (which this colony was said to have in 

 late October the fall before) was gone, 

 but this [ cared little for, as I could 

 afford to feed, should they be short in 

 the spring. 



Without going into all the details 

 familiar to all who have had colonies die 

 with diarrhea and spring dwindling, I 

 will say that before March 20th this 

 colony was dead, and had consumed all 

 but about l}-2 pounds of the stores it 

 had in the fall. 



By the side of this colony stood one 

 that I thought a small coiony when I 

 first found the one spoken of occupying 

 eight spaces, and I noticed that on the 

 day of flight spoken of above, this 

 small colony flew but very little, so I 

 jarred the hive to wake them up so they 

 would fly more. When spring opened, 

 this apparently little colony had con- 

 sumed but about six pounds of the 

 stores it had the fall before, and had 

 only a little brood in one comb, but as 

 spring advanced it proved to be any- 

 thing but a small colony, for by the 

 time warm weather arrived, the hive 

 was filled with brood and bees, and at 

 the end of the season it scored 298 

 pounds of section honey as the result of 

 Its labors, only two others in the whole 

 apiary giving a better result. 



Since then, I have found scores of col- 

 onies more or less like these two, and 

 wish to say that I never yet have had a 

 colony consume a large amount of stores 

 during the winter, unless it was injured 

 to a greater or less extent as to its use- 

 fulness. If it lived through to see the 

 next honey harvest at all. 



I should like to hear from others on 

 the subject. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



" Ainlier " Honey FoolisMy So-Callel. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BT THOMAS G. NEWMAN. 



There is no doubt about the matter. 

 Rules for " grading honey" would be a 

 great convenience, if they could be made 

 general. In order to be of any value at 

 all, they should be universally adapted 

 and uniformly adopted. Then honey 

 could be bought and sold by "grade," 

 and samples (which are often so difficult 

 to transport to long distances) would be 

 wholly unnecessary. 



When the matter of " Grading Honey" 

 was before the late North American 



convention, Mr. demons submitted four 

 grades for comb honey, two of which 

 were, he said, " for white comb, and two 

 for amber comb." Of course he meant 

 the first two for white comb honey, and 

 the latter for that not so white, but of a 

 straw color, for clean combs are all of 

 the same color. 



To use the word amber, to designate 

 any color, is very indefinite and ambigu- 

 ous. If the reader will consult Web- 

 ster's Unabridged Dictionary, it will be 

 readily understood that such a term is 

 wholly unsuited to the classification of 

 honey. Webster says, when defining 

 the word amber : "In color it is white, 

 ash-gray, yellow or black," and often 

 variegated like marble." 



While "amber" represents any color 

 from white to black, manifestly it is 

 totally unfit to use as a term to desig- 

 nate the color of honey. 



The word "straw" denotes the color 

 sought to be named by Mr. demons in 

 his suggestions about " Grading Honey," 

 and it is definite. 



The use of such ambiguous term as 

 "amber" only makes confusion worse 

 confounded. 



Chicago, Ills., Dec. 11, 1893. 



HemaBliroUles Amoii^lie Hoiiey-Bees. 



Writteyi for the American Bee Journal 

 BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



Animals and plants are said to be 

 hermaphrodites or monoecious, when 

 both sexes are included in the same in- 

 dividual. The term is also often used 

 when an animal appears to be of both 

 sexes, but in reality is not. This last 

 peculiarity is often found among verte- 

 brates and insects, though neither of 

 these two groups of animals are ever 

 true hermaphrodites. 



On page 434 of the Bee Journal for 

 1893, Dr. Elisha Gallup, formerly one 

 of the ablest and most prolific writers of 

 the several bee-papers of America, men- 

 tions a queen-bee which very closely re- 

 sembled a drone in form and general ap- 

 pearance. If I remember correctly, he 

 did not keep this queen very long, and 

 now regrets that he had not made a 

 more careful study of the subject. I re- 

 gret that he did not keep the specimen, 

 as such cases possess no little scientific 

 interest. 



These so-called hermaphrodites are 

 not very rare among insects, and indeed 

 are quite common among bees. I, myself, 

 have several specimens which I have 



