L^iS 



THE AMERICANS BEE JOURNAL. 



For ttie American Bee Journal. 



A Visit at Sweet Home, and What 

 I Saw There. 



Sweet Home is located in Illinois, coun- 

 ty of Mercer, twelve niiles south of Mus- 

 catine, and seven miles north of !New 

 Boston. The Ajnariau is a man of about 

 twenty-five or thirty years old, Aveighing 

 iibout 140 pounds, and in opinions cither 

 religious or hygiene, is radical. We were 

 a little surprised to find the family con- 

 .sisting of only two, ]Mr. Palmer and an 

 active boy, of two years old, both of 

 Avhom are very fond of honey. They 

 can eat li lbs. per day. He calls the boy 

 Honey. WhyV Because that's his name. 



Mr. Palmer's house is quite peculiar 

 and handy. The observing hive we would 

 I'.ever tire of looking at. For a young 

 man, he has quite a collection of books 

 and a cabinet of specimens of various 

 kinds. He is making bees and fruit his 

 Ijusiness. The bee i)asturage of Sweet 

 Home consists of (before August) lynn, 

 white clover and a A^ariety of minor 

 sources. About the first of August or the 

 middle of July his bees roam the Missis- 

 sippi bottom, which is four miles wide 

 anil twenty miles long. In autumn it is 

 one bed of flowers. Sweet Home being 

 on the bluft' over-looking the bottom, is 

 Avell situated for both up-land and bottom 

 range. Up to this time (Aug. 10th), his 

 bees have been idle only three days this 

 season. His apiary at present consists of 

 'lo hives, in Longstroth and Thomas' hives ; 

 licing an increase of 40 hives, and has 

 about 1,200 pounds of slung honey and 

 400 pounds of box honey. He thinks 

 by time of frost that he will double that 

 amount of honey, and mcrease to 100 

 hives. 



He increases as follows : He raises his 

 ([Ueens from the best queen; he puts his 

 (jueen cells in a nursery until hatched ; 

 then as soon as out of cell (he examines 

 twice a day), he introduces by putting in 

 honey . a few hours after forming. To 

 start a hive, he takes two combs of brood 

 cutting out, Avith adhering bees, and puts 

 iu the hive next to one side, then puts a 

 division board close against them. As 

 soon as the young queen is fertile, and has 

 supplied the two combs Avith eggs, he 

 puts in two combs, one empty and one of 

 <-utting brood. This he repeats once in 

 tliree to six days, owing to the Aveather 

 and strengtli of colony. 



He, like others, has been trying to raise 

 <iueens from eggs sent him by mail ; he 

 got some of Dadant's imported stock, 

 and succeeded in getting tAvo queens, after 

 li\e days on the road. He tried eggs from 

 "Novice's" queen, but failed. 



He keeps a record of his hives on slates 



about 3^x3 inches. Take common school 

 slates and cut each in six to twelve pieces, 

 according to size; cut by straight-edge 

 and any sharp instrument; drill a hole 

 Avith a pod bit, and hang on a nail; drive 

 the nail a little downward, so that Avinds 

 Avill not blow the slates off; Avrite with a 

 slate-pencil, and it Avill be plain for a long 

 time. To erase such writing, it is neces- 

 sary to use Avater and friction, so storms 

 will not att'ect it. 



He told me of one of his neighbors 

 having a swarm of bees hang on a tree 

 for seven days, Avhen they Avere taken 

 down and put in a hive, and are noAV at 

 Avork. Ok The Wing. 



-*-•-•-•-♦- 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My Italian Bee Experience. 



Bees have done well here this season ; I 

 think the best in twenty years that I have 

 kept them. I Avish to tell my exi^erience 

 Avith Italian bees. 



Seeing an advertisement in the Jourxai,, 

 I sent the price for two; they came all 

 right, and Avere introduced to two of my 

 best stocks. Then I commenced feeding 

 them, it being A^ery dry here. One of 

 them commenced laying, and in about 

 four weeks they had brood flying. She 

 Avas a hybrid, having bees from no bands 

 to tiiree. She died iu the hive in Febru- 

 ary, leaving a fair swarm, Avhich I put 

 Avith the other one. They did not raise a 

 bee till March; I Avatched them Avith 

 much interest. They soon had them caj)- 

 ped, some cells being longer than others, 

 all mixed among the brood. They hatch- 

 ed out in due time a fine lot of little 

 drones as ever need to be. Tiiat queen 

 could not keep the colony up; she died or 

 Avas displaced by the bees in Jul)'. I 

 w^-ote the man, I think, in April, sending 

 the price of another, and asking him to 

 replace one of them. He Avrote me back, 

 saying he Avould send them as soon as he 

 could raise them. I Availed till August, 

 then I Avrote to know Avliy he had not sent 

 them. He returned no answer, but sent a 

 dark colored queen, Avhicli I introduced 

 to a black sAvarm. She raised a mixed 

 brood. Drones are black. I have three 

 ciueens raised by her; they are black now. 

 I call that a black queen fertilized by an 

 Italian drone. Now if those are 31r. 

 Alley's best queens, Iioav long Avould it 

 take to Italianize an Apiar^y ? 3Iy loss by 

 the transaction is, two good SAvarms; two 

 (pieens, at $4.00,' and one at $2.25. The 

 last one Avas very prolific; she filled tAvo 

 liives Avith brood, then led off a swarm. 

 1 filled the second hive Avith comb. 



]My best Avishes for the consolidated 



JoinNAI,. C. A, SAItOKNT. 



South Kcw Berlin. K. Y. 



