24 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[JuLir, 



not made, by the bees, it being a natural secre- 

 tion in most flowers. Beeswax is not gathered 

 but manufactured by the bees, and the process 

 may be watched in an observing bive when 

 comb building is going on. The bees fill them- 

 selves with honey, hang in clusters or chains, 

 and by some internal process, secrete the wax, 

 which may be seen exuding from between the 

 scales of their abdomen in the form of little 

 white scales. These are taken up by fellow 

 workers, and formed into cells, which are built 

 with true mathematical precision, and combine 

 strength with the least expenditure of material, 

 in a manner which has excited the wonder of 

 philosophers, and formed a theme for poets in 

 all agis. The manufacture of wax and the 

 building of comb, occasion a large expenditure 

 of honey, and hence it is good policy to preserve 

 and utilize comb as much as possible. It lasts 

 many years, if taken caie of, and the extractor 

 or melipult, is a most valuable invention, be- 

 cause it enables the bee-keeper to obtain honey 

 without the destructicm and loss of comb. 



The eggs laid by a queen-bee hatch in three 

 days into small grubs or worms. These are fed 

 and nursed until about the eighth day when 

 they become nymphs, and are sealed uj) in their 

 cells, whence they issue perfect bees. A queen 

 matures in from ten to seventeen days from the 

 laying of the egg; a worker in twenty-one 

 days; a drone in twenty-four days. — Canada 

 Farmer, May 15th, 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Iowa as a State for Bee-Keeping. 



Mr. "Wm. C. Merrill, on page 140, December 

 number, says he has wished that he was in Iowa 

 or some other good place for bees, etc. I have 

 been requested to give the readers of the A. B. 

 Journal my opinion of lowi as a place for bee- 

 keeping ; but, as Noah Cameron says, my extreme 

 modesty has always i)revented it. When I moved 

 from Wisconsin I selected my locality with 

 especial reference to bee-keeping, and thus far 

 (eight years) I have not been disajjp' dnted. We 

 have first, in spring, sap from sugar-majile, 

 willows, soft or white maple, poplar or Quaker 

 asp, as some call it, of two vanet es; then, wild 

 currants, wild gooseberries, wild red and black 

 raspberries, wild plums, wild apples, and wild 

 cherries, three varieties, and wild grapes, three 

 species of wild thorn, three varieties of elm and 

 sugar or rock maple. All the above are in pro- 

 fusion. Then there are the tame or cultivated 

 fruits, acres of wild apples, plums, currants and 

 gooseberries. Th -n the sumach produces large 

 quantities of pollen, aad, some seasons, honey. 

 Thousands of acres of timber are interspersed 

 with basswood, and in some places very thickly. 

 The burr-oak produces an abundance of forage 

 in its season, and even timothy or herds-srrass 

 and corn come in in their places. Buckwheat 



produces abundantly, and there could never be 

 a soil better adapted to white clover than the 

 soil of Iowa. It comes in naturally everywhere. 

 Then we have fall or prairie flowers, consisting 

 of so many varieties — that I do not know the 

 name of — that I will not attempt to name them, 

 but the jjrincipal among them are queen of the 

 meadow and golden rod. We also have a 

 species of wild balm, in bloom in August, that 

 produces large quantities of excellent quality of 

 honey, of a jjeculiarly rich, golden color. The 

 locust-tree also, in its season, produces abund- 

 antly. Then there is a mustard, catnip, etc., etc. 

 In fact, if the weather or season is right, there 

 is a continual succe^sion of honey-producing 

 flowers from early in April until into October. 

 Now, the reader will readily see that in our 

 jjoorest season, if the bees are kept in the right 

 condition, they will store enough for their own 

 use and a surplus. The past season has been as 

 good as any that I have seen since I came to the 

 State, and twenty-eight stocks, in just eight 

 days, gave l,60ii jjounds of surplus besides 

 building large quantities of comb at the same 

 time. One stock, that had no comb to build, 

 stored IGl) pounds in the eight days, an average 

 of twenty pounds per day. After the eight 

 days' yield my stocks gained steadily, but very 

 elowly. up to the middle of September, and all 

 went into winter quarters heavy with honey, 

 except two stocks, and they have sufficient to 

 winter on without anv feeding. My increase 

 was eighteen stocks from thirty-two. Should 

 the spring open up good I shall have from six 

 to eight hundred pounds to extract. 



E. Gallup. 



P. S. — I have never had to feed in the fall 

 since coming to the State. My bees have 

 ahvavs stored sufficient for their own use. But 

 if we had depended upon comb-honey the past 

 season, we should have got almost nothing. 



E. Gallup. 



Chicago Honey Market. 



G. BAUMEISTER & CO. 



Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 



231 West Randolph Street. 



Will pay for choice white box honey 25@30c. 

 Fair to good 20@25c. 



Extracted, choice white 12@16c., fair to good 



10@12c. Strained 8@10c. 



Beeswax 30@33c. 



