THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



39 



fashioned log gums tliau any other kind 

 of hive. 1 am unable to understand wiiy 

 this should be so ; unless it is that the 

 gum is a continuous cylinder, contract- 

 ing and expanding "with every change of 

 temperature, charred as they usually are 

 and exposing numerous lissures "which ex- 

 pose the mouths of innumerable capillary 

 A'cssels, so as to facilitate the absorption 

 and escape of moisture. 



I have frequently noticed that blankets 

 or cari)et, when tacked on hives just suf- 

 liciently large to cover them, they become 

 damp; but when I have accidently left 

 them large enough to extend one-third or 

 lialf-way down the hive on the outside 

 they remain dry. 



This can be accounted for on the same 

 principle, that if we place a roll of caudle 

 Avick in a vessel of water, extending only 

 a short distance above the surface, the 

 liquid will ascend in the wick and be 

 slowly evaporated ; but if the wick is 

 drawn out some distance and allowed to 

 hang down, this capillary force is greatly 

 increased and will soon empty the vessel. 



These are natural forces governed by 

 natural laws which every day we see de- 

 monstrated, and which we need only to 

 comprehend and apply to attain the ob- 

 jects in view; and before we are wedded 

 to any particular theory it should be tried 

 by the test and if that theory is not in 

 conformity with those general laws it is 

 sure to lead to false conclusions. 



Washington, Ind. J. A. Scuddek. 



For The Amerlan Bee Jounial. 



Be3 Notes From Kentucky. 



Mr. Editor : — After a long absence 

 from the columns of the Amkrican Bek 

 Journal I again appear ; this time I pre- 

 sume to meet a great many new subscri- 

 bers and novices, to whom I may be a 

 stranger. We notice a great many new 

 writers the present year, and but very few 

 of the old veterans of a few years past. 

 AVhat has become of them. Where is Dr. 

 Bolirer, Burbank, Gallup, and others 

 whose articles used to adorn the columns 

 of the Journal? Have they become dis- 

 couraged and lost interest in bees, in con- 

 sequence of the great bee malady the few 

 liast winters ? It" so, this is wrong, for 

 hog and fancy poultry breeders do not 

 get discouraged to such an extent as to 

 quit the business when their whole stock 

 is cut otf with cholera; nor would this 

 be acting wise to do so. 



I have never as yet encountered any 

 sort of disease among my bees. But for 

 the last three years, I have encountered 

 bad seasons equal to a bee disease. The 



season of '73 was but a poor one. That 

 of '7:>, as bad as any 1 ever knew, and 

 until jNIay 1st. this season, we hardly had a 

 day tit for bees to lly out, for the great 

 rains. The rains ceased in the 1st week 

 of INIay, Mhen the great draught com- 

 menced that held out about 9 weeks with 

 no rain of any consequence intervening. 

 The honey season was but about thirty 

 days, and when it commenced the bees 

 were very weak and had to have time to 

 recruit, during the honey yield. So weak 

 were my bees when the long rain ceased, 

 that I could have doubled up the thirty- 

 five odd stands into ten strong ones. I had 

 fed liberally during the rains — but it 

 seems that the bees became tired, waiting 

 so long for the rains to cease — and so a 

 great many ventured out in the rain every 

 day nearly and got lost. 



I had such a number of C[ueens engaged 

 that I did not double up a single stand; 

 keeping them all for nuclei. Now for 

 the result. The thirty days from the day 

 the rain ceased was the best honey season 

 I ever knew. The 35 weak stands soon 

 got strong and increased to 67 and gave 

 me twelve hundred lbs. surplus, besides 

 raising over a hundred queens. Besides 

 this there was the best fall bloom I ever 

 knew, in which I got about six or seven 

 hundred lbs. more of surplus, besides ev- 

 ery stand even the weakest is now very 

 full of honey. I have two New Idea 

 hives with about four or five times enough 

 to winter on. So I think I can safely set 

 the amount of surplus at 20001hs.asl was 

 unable to attend to my bees part of the 

 time owing to indisposition. 



This is enough to encourage any one 

 who is becoming discouraged by bad sea- 

 sons in succession. Another encourage- 

 ment was I found a ready market of 30 

 cents for comb and 25 for machine, right 

 at home this season. This was doubtless 

 owing to the great scarcity of bees, 

 caused by the bee mortality the past few 

 winters. 



The above shows the importance of al- 

 waj^s getting bees strong before the hon- 

 ey harvest sets in. I had my bees 

 stronger the 1st of April than they were 

 the 1st of May. I found it easy to get 

 them strong but how to keep them so 

 during a conMnual rain , in the first 

 part of the honey season, was the main 

 trouble, especially when every day was a 

 wet one. I could not keep them from 

 flying out in the rain. 



If any of your correspondents know 

 how to keep bees from flyiug out in the 

 rain in the midst of the honey harvest, 

 especially when the rain is a continued 

 one of a week or two — mine was about 

 seven weeks — will they give it through 



