THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



213 



the accepted Dzierzon theory, the drones pro- 

 duced b)' impurely fertilized Italian queens will 

 still themselves be pure Italian. 



A further advantage of the process here pro- 

 posed consists in this, that we thereby secure 

 colonies sure to gather sufficient stores for the 

 "winter — which is a very important considera- 

 tion. The reason of this is found in the inter- 

 ruption of brooding, at the precise time when 

 pasturage is abundant. Swarms which retain 

 their queen, have their time and attention 

 largely occupied with attendance on tlie brood, 

 and can devote comparatively little of it to Hia 

 collection of stores. Dzierzon and others have 

 therefore long since recommended the tempor- 

 ary confinement of the queens in the mouths of 

 May or June. 



For the purpose here suggested, undoubtedly 

 only strong populous stocks can be employed. 

 The swarming season is usually contempora- 

 neous with that of the best pasUirage, and the 

 bees must therefore be in a condition to avail 

 themselves to the utmost of the offered supplies. 

 It is utterly in vain to operate in this manner 

 with weak stocks; it would certainly end only 

 in "vexation of spirit." But if several weak 

 colonies are previously united, the operation 

 may be rendered successful. 



A conviction of the superiority of the Italian 

 bees led me to devise and adopt this process 

 Formerly I was among those who regarded 

 them as a mere fancy article, like Shanghai 

 chickens, tumbler pigeons, and lop-eared rab- 

 bits, without having the least conception of 

 their intrinsic value, or the slightest desire to 

 possess them. But observation and subsequent 

 experience have long since changed my opinion 

 and satisfied me that they are incomparably 

 better than the common kind. They are at 

 work earlier, in the morning and later in the 

 evening, and visit many flowers and plants on 

 which common bees are never seen. They 

 have a keener scent, too, for honey or nectar, 

 and larger honey-bags; and having stronger if 

 not longer wings, their range of flight is Com- 

 paratively more more extensive, and their labor 

 consequently more productive. 



Neidholt. 



Borage is a useful plant for bees. It con- 

 tinues in blossom till the frost destroys the 

 stem. Its seeds drop, and will continue to come 

 up in the same place for years. It is an annual. 

 A few seeds may be sown in some by-place, 

 where it will continue without further trouble 

 lor years, only requiring to be kept free from 

 weeds. It has been called the King of bee- 

 flowers. In cold and even showery weather, 

 the bees feed on it in preference to many other 

 plants. Its flowers are pendulous; thus the 

 nectar they contain is not injured or washed 

 out by rain, and shelter is also afforded to the 

 bees while in search of the sweets it secretes. 



Warm winters make sad havoc among poor 

 slocks of bees, and rich ones have sometimes 

 nearly empty combs with which to begin the 

 new year. 



For the American Boe Journal and Gazette. 



A Query Answered. 



Editor Bee Journal and Oazette : 



In your March number several questions are 

 asked, among which is the following : "Can a 

 stock of bees troubled with dj^sentery void their 

 excrements in a wire-basket attached to the 

 hive, and the hive placed in a warm room; and 

 will the bees return to the hive ?" In this ar- 

 ticle I will give my own experience in a case 

 somewhat related to this, and which will par- 

 tially answer the question. On the 7th day of 

 February, 1866, I examined a colony of bees 

 belonging to a neighbor, which were situated 

 in a common hive. I assured him thej' were 

 very near out of honey and must shortly 

 pcii-ish, if not removed to a warm room and fed 

 liberally. This he requested me to do, as he 

 stated he was not at all versed in bee-manage- 

 ment, and consequently could not venture to 

 do it himself. I now took them iuio a room at 

 my own residenice, and immediately transferred 

 them to a Langstroth hive. On opening their 

 hive, I found them, as predicted, nearly out of 

 honey, but in possession of some maturing 

 brood, which I carefully transferred, placing it 

 in the centre of the combs, and arranging the 

 remaining small amount of honey in its imme- 

 diate neighborhood, on either side of the brood, 

 so as to make it easy of access to the bees. This 

 having been accomplished, I turned in the bees. 

 I next put wire-cloth over the front of the por- 

 tico, to prevent the bees from flying out into 

 the room; and before permitting the room to 

 become cold, I gave them some syrup made of 

 common sugar. This I poured into clean 

 combs, placing it directly on top of the frames. 

 Then covering them over with a heavy com- 

 fortable folded three or four thicknesses, and 

 so arranged as not to prevent the bees from 

 passing to and from their feed. Putting on the 

 cap, I now left them for the night. 



This feeding process I repeated each evening, 

 just at nightfall, for two weeks; and on each 

 day, after being thus fed, they would come out 

 into the portico of the hive, after the room be- 

 came warm, seeming very anxious to get through 

 the wire-cloth in their front. This excitement 

 was kept up, to a greater or less extent, until 

 the room again became unpleasantly cold, when 

 they would again retire to the interior of the 

 hive and become quiet. 



At the end of two weeks, I found, on exami- 

 nation, they still had nearly or quite all the 

 honey which I had transferred with them. They 

 had also constructed a piece of comb some seven 

 inches quite, which at this time contained ma- 

 turing brood. In the meantime the brood taken 

 from their old hive had hatched, and they were 

 now giving special attention to the new comb 

 and brood. 



During those two weeks I fed them some four 

 pounds of sugar made into a syrup, a consider- 

 able part of which they had stored away fur 

 future use. I now placed them on their sum- 

 mer stand; and during the remainder of the 

 spring, on warm days, I fed them some five or 

 six pounds more of sugar in the form of .syrup. 



