2m 



TIIK AMERWAN BEE KEEPER. 



^l;/^ust 



capture fir?t. It would be of no use 

 to compete without it, he must. A 

 jar was filled with basswood honey, 

 and by means of a neat little paddle, 

 a wad of soot and, creosote, sometimes 

 called "smoker juice," wasextracted 

 from the nozzle of the smoker, and 

 enough of it thoroughly mixed, with 

 tHe honey- to give it the rich browp 

 color of the desired article. 

 , "Biit," suggested an- accomplish, 

 ".\vhat of the tlavor? That will never. 



do." ■ ./ , . • , ;,'.'- 



"Don't worry _ about the flavor," 

 promptly responded the chief,;: "the 

 judges are not agoing to eat buck- 

 wheat honey, with' lots of finer and 

 more jialatable 'grades at their dis- 

 posal." : V ' '■ 



The entry was made and the exhibit 

 presented a very attractive ap[)earance 

 in the apiarian building. By the har- 

 monious contrasts of the several va- 

 rieties, a very artistic effect was cre- 

 ated, though to the owner, that 'buckr 

 wheat" seemed to be unduly con- 

 spicuous; especially so, as the judges 

 filed into the building and proceeded 

 to'tasle and in subdued tones, discuss 

 the relative merits of competing ex- 

 hibits. As this collection was finally 

 reached, and one jar after another 

 was freely "'sampled," it seemed highly 

 improbable that the fi'aud could es- 

 cape detection under such thorough 

 otticial scrutiny. Yet a faint hope 

 lingeied, until Mr. Cornell reached for 

 the "buckwheat," and after holding 

 the package for an instant it })asfed lo 

 the haiul of Jui'.ge MiKnighl. who 

 promptly remove<l his pipe and placed 

 his hand upon the screw top, as if to 

 open it, then turning suddenly to give 

 the contents an admiiing (?) glance 

 by transmitted light, he replaced it 

 upon the table. 



During the remaining days of the 

 exhil)itiun a red ticket wliuh nio- 

 claimeii -'First Prize," in hold faced 

 type, adorned a jar of honey, creosote 

 and tar. 



El). Am. Bee Keeper, Dear Sir.— 

 Please inform me in the Bke Keeper 

 what was the cause of the ^ following 

 strange action of my bee.s.; 1 had a 

 swarm come off and :in about a half 

 hour they returned. 1 cut out all the 

 queen cells. but one. Two weeks af- 

 terward:. 1 'found' a- young queen in. 

 fipnt of the hive. 1 put' her back in 

 the entrance. ■ A week after we had 

 a big rain in the evening and in, the. 

 morning following 1 found piles of 

 dead bees in front of the ■hive. I 

 found no queen or brood' in the hive. 

 1- gave them Vjrood , ' but they were 

 killiiig bees and rolling them out all 

 cLay. 1 smoked them but it made no 

 difference. Yours, etc., 



Mrs. M. Haas, 

 Clintonville, Pa., July 21, '97. 

 [Without any further knowledge of 

 the conditioiis than those al)Ove given 

 which are rather meageV, we could 

 not state the • cause definitely. The 

 following solution however suggests 

 itself and is probably correct: The 

 swarm in some way lost its queen, 

 hence the return to the hive. The 

 young queen was out for her flight 

 when" found outside, a second attempt 

 may have resulted in her loss. Col- 

 onies in such abnormal conditions, 

 frequently become the victims of rob- 

 bers, especially immediately after a 

 heavy rain, as in this case, which 

 temporarily cuts ofl' legitimate honey 

 gathering in the field. Assuming that 

 it was a case of early morning rob- 

 bers, the use of smoke was fatal, as 

 it is the one known thing of which 

 bees are afraid, and its use during a 

 siege of robl)ers gives the invaders 

 every advantage. — Ed ] 



