T'ufytlsht We&lily at lis Mlc^Ulfran Street. 



^1,00 ft Year^SamjilG Coj>y F'ree. 



37 th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 9, 1897. 



No. 36. 



An Observation Hive. 



The photograph from which the picture herewith is a re- 

 production, was sent us lately by Mr. Wm. F. Ware, of Cum- 

 berland Co., N. J., who said this about it : 



"It is a photosraph of an observatory hive I have had in 

 iny sittitig-rooin window. I kept it there until the hive be- 

 came too full of bees, and the Queen commenced laying in the 

 sections above. By the way. she was hatcht. fertilized, and 

 laid her first eggs in this hive. If any one wishes to learn the 

 habits of bees, let him or her have a hive like this." 



From the illustration here given, any one with a few tools 

 and the exercise of a little ingenuity, can make an observation 



hive that will answer every purpose. Having it placed as Mr. 

 Ware had it, it would afford an endless amount of bee infor- 

 mation and amusement. Especially will it prove of much in- 

 terest to visiting friends and neighbors, and children having 

 access to such a miniature "show " would become greatly In- 

 terested in studying the habits and work of the busy bee. 



The Honey-Flow of 1897— Queens Fighting. 



BY G. W. DEJIAREE. 



The past three years— 1894, 1895 and 1896— were fail- 

 ures in apiary work. 1894 gave us the disgusting flow of 

 "honey-dew;" 1895, a small quantity of acldulizfd honey 

 from the red clovers, and the little sickly white clover that 

 had escaped the summer drouth. I can't be blamed for won- 

 dering what those wonderful scientific " upper " and " nether " 

 head-glands were doing that they neglected to " niaf,c " good 

 honey out of this sour nectari 



1896 was a year of abundance of rain, but the clovers 

 had disappeared, and there was no honey excepting some fall 

 honey. But 1896 re-instated the white clover in all its 

 glory, and after the cold, wet spring (1897) had killed 75 per 

 I cent, of all our bees in northern Kentucky, we had six weeks 

 of the finest and most lavis-h honey-flow in my experience of 

 30 years. 



On May 20, last, my apiary of 45 colonies was reduced 

 to 15 weak colonies. No one could help them through the 

 cold, wet weather of March, April and May. When the 

 weather turned warm I took charge of the bees, and in the 

 month of June increast them to 36 colonies. Notwithstand- 

 ing the increase was too late to secure much surplus, my 

 ►loney crop — comb and the extracted article — was a "surprise 

 to the natives." 



The condition of the weather during the period of this 

 unprecedented honey-flow is interesting to the genuine bee- 

 nan. The weather was amazingly hot, and the atmosphere 

 «as loaded with moisture, "awfully sultry." No "cool of 

 ifae morning," no let-up in the evening, nor any abatement at 

 'he " midnight." I sometimes looktat the bees and wondered 

 t they could survive a temperature of 97° to 98° many days. 

 There was no excitement, the motion of the bees was rather 

 sluggish than otherwise, being loaded down and literally 

 •satiated with delicious pink-tinted nectar. There is now a 

 good promise for fall honey for winter supplies. 



I was a little surprised to see Dr. Miller's letter on page 

 460. It would have been much better If Mr. Bankston had 

 simply given his views on the points on which he wrote. This 

 would have accomplisht his purpose, and offended nobody. If 

 Mr. Bankston called Dr. Miller a "liar," he accuses several 

 of us in the same way. I have mentioned the fart several 

 times that I have had good, strong queens reared from 3- 

 I days'-old larva;. 



When the Cyprian queens were first imported by Mr. 

 JoDes, of Canada, Mr. A. I. Root, in compliance with an order 

 from me, sent me by mail a piece of comb about 2 inches 

 square, containing " just hatcht larvae." This piece of comb 

 was two days in the mail-bags; the larvae were fully three 

 days old when the prepared colony received the piece of comb. 



