THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



163 



There is also, esi)eoialIy in dry seasons, 

 often a sieat deal of this honey dew in the 

 fall. In this i)art of the state the common 

 sernb oak yields more than any other 

 tree. We are not now aliic to state whether 

 this is also the work of an inseet. If it is so, 

 it is of an inseet too small to he seen with 

 the naked eve, and we have nevertested the 

 qnestion with a ^lass. The honey gathered 

 from the oak is mueh lijihter colored and of 

 better (luality than that from the cotton- 

 wood. — :<<iviainc)ito Union. 



How to Lodge a Swarm. 



In the account which was given of a be- 

 ginner's early exi)erience. and the unsuccess- 

 tnl attempts that were made by himself and 

 his friend to secure a swarm, "we promised 

 to notice some errors that had been commit- 

 ted. Several nnght be nuMitioned, but we 

 shall advert to those only that were the im- 

 mediate causes of failur(>, and led to the re- 

 peated migration of the housed colony. 

 They may be reduced to two, the beginner 

 being guilty of one, and the old apiarian of 

 another. 



The mistake of the former, to say the least 

 of it, "was the more stupid. It consisted in 

 turning the skeji, the moment it received the 

 swarni, over to iis natural position, without 

 first covering it witli a board to prevent the 

 bees falling out. The error of the latter lay 

 in being too hurried : and, as this is a fault 

 of the gravest character, causing much un- 

 necessary labor and sometimes loss, it will 

 be proper to give it some consideration ; for 

 what happens Avhen a hive is quickly invert- 

 ed after a swarm is put into it ? Do not the 

 bees just fall down in a mass upon the 

 board? And if the entrance has been left 

 open, as is generallj- the case, will not the 

 pressure of the fallen bees against the unre- 

 sisting point cause an outward current which 

 may be followed by a general rush of the 

 whole community ? A movement once be- 

 gini is not easily stayed, and prevention is 

 always better than cure. It is not the part 

 of wisdom to run risks that may be avoided. 



The reason why a newly-lodged swarm 

 tumbles out when the hive or skep is imme- 

 diately turned over, is just because the bees 

 have not been allowed sutticient time to take 

 hold of the sides of the interior and of each 

 other. If a footing has not been obtained, 

 they cannot in their massed state prevent 

 themselves from falling down, and rolling 

 out like grain at every opening. Consetptent- 

 ]y, an inversion ought never to be made un- 

 til after the lapse of several seconds, and 

 when making it, care should be taken to do 

 it slowly. 



Operators are often in an unreasonable 

 hurry to get the skep jilaced rightly ui)on 

 the board, but it is of far greater imi)ortanee 

 to get the board iikiced rightly upon the 

 skep, and keej) tlie ix>siti(in for a little while 

 unaltered. When a swarm is shaken or 

 struck down into the crown of a hive, tin; 

 bees are usually disiuisi'd to rise and take 

 wing without loss of time. They spread 

 themselves out and tak<' the apj)e'arance of 

 a thick lining all round the inside, and if 

 in this condition the hive is gently turned 

 over, scarcely any bees will fall down, or 

 make an attempt to escape. 



We wish the tyro in bee-keeiiing, there- 

 fore, after he had housed his swarm, to re- 



member that anything approaching to 

 roughness or haste in restoring tlie donucih? 

 containing it to its i)roper jiosition must be 

 carefully avoided, if this cajition is neg- 

 h'cted, the result may be, as has often hap- 

 l»eiu'd, a case of bees'lodged, but not of bees 

 cured. 



In our early days, when no assistant was 

 at hand, we vised to place three stones in the 

 form of a triangle, or nu\ke a hollow by 

 shovelling out some earth with a spade, for 

 the purpose of kee]iingthe skep steady, and 

 preventing its to])iiling over after the swarm 

 was ])ut into it. This allowed the free use 

 of both hands for ])ro])erly adjusting the 

 board and sweeping aside any bees that 

 were in danger of being crushed. Then, 

 when all was right, we placed one hand up- 

 on the board to keep it in its jilace, and put 

 the other under the eiown, and with the en- 

 trance uppermost made the retpnred inver- 

 sion.— J5/igli.s/i- Agricultural Oazette. 



Candied vs. Liquid Honey. 



Ml!. Editor:— At the time I wrote 

 the article that Mr. Dadant refers to, in 

 June No., page loii, on the above subject, 

 my honey had not candied, and at the same 

 time, I know it was dbnolutely pure and 

 not heated but put up in the way I there 

 described. (See March No., page "(31) I will 

 now say to friend Dadant that since then it 

 has candied as thick as lartl; so I now believe 

 he is right. I will here add that it was very 

 cold until nearly ]S[ay 1st, and you all know 

 that it was a very severe winter; hence my 

 surprise that my honey had not candied at 

 the time I wrote that article, on the lirst of 

 February. Let all who do not believe 

 Dadant is right send along the proof. 



We ought to ha\e a law prohibiting 

 the adulteration of honey, if not. those who 

 produce the pure article will soon find no 

 sale for it. I wrote to a friend at Louis- 

 ville last week to aseertian the prospect for 

 the sale of honey in his locality, and receiv- 

 ed the followiiig answer: — "The honey 

 market is remarkably dull and prices low; 

 so much of the Chicago stuff on the mar- 

 ket. 



W^ould like to say a word in reply to. other 

 correspondents, but have no time at jires- 

 ent, this being a very busy season with me. 

 R. M. Aego. 



Lowell. Ky. 



For tlie Aniprican Bee Journal. 



Reoiy to Mr. Root. 



Mi;. Editok : 1 nuist say that I was veiT 

 sorry on ref iviie^ the May No. of the 

 A\ir":i;KAX Dke .Iouiinal, to find Mr. 

 lioot's tesiauonial among the list published, 

 and it will be a sulficient ajwlogy to the 

 readers ol t!ie .JoruNAi,. as well as the vin- 

 dication of nivown honor when I say that 

 I have been absent from Illinois for two 

 years, an<l let! t'le i)u-iiness and all papers in 

 otiu-r bands. I know notliing of the plans 

 for advertising this spring, but sujjpose 

 when the\' decide to publisli testimonials, 

 Mr. Hoot's being among them, anil consid- 

 ered a truthful one., by them, went in with 

 the others. 1 have as good testimonials as 

 any jiublished, n-ceived within a year or 

 two, a;id from those experienced in the use 



