American Bee Journal 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEE CULTURE. 



VOL. XII. 



CHICAGO, OCTOBER, 1876. 



No. 10. 



®itr ^xthmtQts. 



Boil it down ! Boil it down! 

 Give ustlie new and useful points— 

 The good— and that's enougli ! 

 Boil it down ! 



GLEANINGS. 



Cake of Empty Combs.— James Bolin 

 says: 



" I had several hundred frames of empty 

 comb last spring, and as much of it was 

 bouglit of neighbors who lost their bees last 

 winter, and had left the hives containing it 

 standing on the summer stands until I 

 bought it, which in some instances, was 

 after the weather became quite warm, it 

 was full of the eggs of the moth-miller, and 

 worms soon made their appearance. For 

 some time 1 was at a hiss as to how I could 

 best arrange so many combs to fumigate 

 them. I finally went to work and ripped 

 out strips of inch lumber 2 inches wide for 

 the inside pieces and 13-3 in- wide for the 

 outside ones. I rabbeted }4 in- square out 

 of two corners of the 2 in. strips and one 

 corner of the 13^ in. strips. I then nailed 

 the strips in parallel lines, with the rabbet- 

 ed sides up, securely to the ceiling overhead 

 at such distances apail that the top bar of 

 my frames would just pass between the 

 parts left after the rabbetuig was done. The 

 frames hang on these strips the same as , 

 they do in the hives, are out of the way 

 when not wanted either summer or winter, 

 are easily put up or taken down by simply 

 moving one end a short distance eitlu'r way, 

 and best of all, are in the most eomfoHnble 

 place when 1 close the ventilators, windows 

 and doors, place a kettle half full of live 

 coals in the room, and throw a pound of 

 brimstone in it. In the above way by a 

 half day's woi-k I provided storage room for 

 over 1,0()0 combs and it is out of the way 

 and always ready for use when wanted." 



Staktixg Work in Boxes. — Novice 

 says: Take a section, bees and all, from 

 some stock that is working briskly, and put 

 it in the centre of the one that will not 

 work. We have successfully used this 

 plan, excepting that we have always 

 shaken off the bees. It may be worth 

 while to try what difference it would make 

 to take bees and all. 



Italians on Red Clover.— Novice says 

 his Italians have been working on red 

 clover whilst the blacks were idle. Much 

 capital was made of this point wlien Itali- 

 ans were first introduced, but there has 

 been very little said about it lately, some 



having claimed that the Italians were no 

 better in this respect than the blacks. We 

 have our doubts whether the matter 

 amounts to nuicli practically but should be 

 glad to hear from those who have had good 

 opportunities for investigation. 



Is He a Swindlek?— Lyman Legg says 

 he received an order from Chas. Freed, of 

 the American Honey House, Philadelphia, 

 for 50 lbs. box honey as sample, which he 

 sent, and has not been able to get pay or 

 reply to any of his several letters. Moral — 

 always inquire as to the responsibility of an 

 unknown party before sending consign- 

 ments to them. 



Rev. L. L. Langstkoth. — It gives us 

 very great pleasure to note that this able 

 veteran, to whom we all owe so much, is 

 again so recoverd in health that he is able 

 to take up bee-culture where he left otf 

 about a year ago. 



BRTIISH BEE JOURNAL. 



Gloomy reports and prospects were the 

 rule during the early part of the season, but 

 the opening sentence of the September 

 nimiber of the B. B. J. is:—" With this 

 month will close a finer honey season than 

 has ever been recorded in the annals of api- 

 culture." 



Cause of Swarming.— The editor, for 

 whose opinions we have great respect, ven- 

 tures a guess on this topic, which is at least 

 worth considering. He says: 



The cause of swarming is a problem 

 which has puzzled the minds of investiga- 

 tors during many ages, and at the present 

 day is a matter of speculation; but we have 

 little doubt that the first suggestion of it to 

 the bees arises from their nive or nest be- 

 coming over-heated. Excessive heat in a 

 hive may be brought about by its being too 

 much exposed to the sun's rays, by the 

 over-crowding of the bees, by a sudden glut 

 of honey, causing great excitenu*nt in the 

 hive, or "by the geiit^ral heat of the weather; 

 but we avow our conviction that heat is the 

 exciting cause of pr(*j>aration, and a con- 

 tinuance of it. with a fair amount of honey 

 coming in wliih^ tlie days are lengthening, 

 will surely cause a healtiiy colony to 

 swarm. 



We do not see the exact bearing of the 

 last named condition; most of our own 

 swarming come after the days' cease 

 lengthen. 



