November, 190". 



1 '" ^^ Eig:^ 



American ^ec Journal 



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— and I don't think I ever will. 



I did put a queen-exclnder under the 

 empty super of drawn combs, as I did 

 not care to roix brood and honey when 

 extracting, as one man I saw do. How- 

 ever, by putting the excluder under tlie 

 super with only one frame of brood, 

 the brood would be all hatched and 

 gone before extracting the honey. 



Instead of cutting off my Italian 

 queen's head, she committed suicide, or 

 left, and saved me the trouble. The 

 hybrid qucen-cell that I gave the col- 

 ony hatched out finely, and has given 

 me as large and populous a colony as the 

 Italians were, and the queen is from 

 the best hybrid stock I have. They 

 have not had time to gather any sur- 

 plus on account of the short, scarce 

 honey crop and lateness in getting start- 

 ed. I am in hopes to see a marked im- 

 provement in the colony next year. 



The bees have had a hard time of it 

 around these parts this season. The 

 late, cold spring and then the short 

 crop have not made honey cheap this 

 year. I have a little over 100 pounds 

 from 4 colonies of hybirds, as my total 

 crop. About half is comb honey and 

 half extracted. In proportion to colo- 

 nies kept, I have a larger crop than any 

 one of the large or small bee-keepers 

 around here, so it has not been my fault 

 in handling the bees wrong that I have 

 a short crop. 



At our recent West Michigan State 

 Fair was a man who has exhibited for 

 a number of years and has always had 

 tons of beautiful comb honey, and a 

 large exhibit. This year his exhibit was 

 of necessity small, and he lost many 

 swarms in the spring. He makes bee- 

 keeping make him a living, and it is 

 harder on sudi a person to have no 

 crop, you might say, than for a person 

 who keeps bees only as a pastime. 



However, Michigan produces her pro- 

 portion of excellent honey, and generally 

 an average crop. I do not know but 

 that she is one of the first States in 

 the production of honey, mainly on ac- 

 count of her large and famous fruit 

 crops. 



I see some of our Western "brothers" 

 have had a good honey crop this year. 

 Good for them 1 We have good crops 

 here, too, generally. 



Personally, I'll take Michigan for 

 mine. You can do many things here 

 that it is impossible to do where it is 

 always monotonous summer, and a 

 storm is welcome to break the mon- 

 otony. (Miss) Elsie A. Cutter. 



Grand Rapids, Mich. 



In deciding between Italians and hy- 

 brids, you must not leave out of the 

 account the possibility of very bad tem- 

 per working into hybrids. It almost 

 seems as if bad temper and good gath- 

 ering qualities go together: at least thev 

 do sometimes. Dr. INIiller and I are not 

 entirely agreed. I would take the best 

 gatherers, no matter how cross ; but he 

 says if he had it to do over again he 

 would stick to the pure-bloods, selecting 

 from them always the best. Perhaps if 

 pains were taken always to kill promptly 

 the queen of any colony appearing un- 

 usually vicious, there might be secured a 

 strain of hvbrids without the ill tem- 



per. Hut not .all Italians arc entirely 

 sweet-temi)ered. 



Yes, it is harder on one who depends 

 upon his bees for his bread and butter 

 when a year of failure comes, than for 

 one who has only a few colonics ; but, 

 on the other hand, when a good year 

 comes the one with a lot of bees gets 

 more out of it. Any one who embarks 

 in bee-keeping as a business, should go 

 into it with his eyes open, expecting 

 bad years as well as good : and until he 

 is so situated as to stand one or more 

 years of failure, he should not think of 

 making bee-keeping his sole business. I 

 know at least one bee-keeper who, when 

 a year of failure comes, takes the matter 

 philosophically, appearing just as cheer- 

 ful as if he had a crop, saying that a 

 succession of successes and failures is 

 the regular program to be expected, and 

 why not accept one as well as the other? 



Hone> -Brine 



Boil 20 minutes : 20 quarts of water, 



9 pounds salt, 8 pounds of honey, and 



10 ounces of saltpeter. Let it cool, 

 llavor with an infusion of 7 ounces of 

 spices, and pour over the meat to pre- 

 serve it. 



By this procedure the meat is pre- 

 served many days without losing its 

 taste and nutritive qualities. — L. Apicul- 

 ture Nouvelle. 



Keeping Butter Under Honey 



Butter can be kept all winter, accord- 

 ing to a writer in L. Apiculture Nou- 

 velle, page 231. The butter is packed in 

 i-pound or 2-pound glass jars, tlior- 

 oughly worked, and everything scrupu- 

 lously clean. Over the butter honey 

 ready to granulate is poured to the depth 

 of half an inch. Before the butter is 

 put into the jar a small quality of sul- 

 phur is burned in the jar to kill any 

 germs. 



Illinois State Fair Exhibit 



The following is the list of premiums 

 awarded in the bee and honey depart- 



ment of the Illinois Stale i'air, held re- 

 cently at Springfield, Mr. K. Grabbe, of 

 Libertyvillc, 111., being the judge: 



IJi.splny of comb honey — 1st. Geo. M. Rum- 

 Icr, of Mohawk, Ind., $20: 2(1, Mr. and Mrs. 

 A. Coppin, of Winona. 111., $15; 3d, Cha». 

 Becker, of Pleasant Plains, 111., $10. 



Collection of labeled cases of white honey 

 from iliiYereiit flowers — ist, Mr. and .Mrs. Cop- 

 pin. $8; 2(1, Mr. lieckcr, $5; id. Jas. A. Stone 

 & Son. Koulc 4, Springfield, III., $3. 



Collection of labeled cases of amtjcr or dark 

 honey — ist, Mr. liecker, $8; 2d, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Coppin, $5; 3d. Jas. A. Stone & Son, $3. 



Case of white clover comb honey — Mr. and 

 Mrs. Coppin. $4; 2d, Mr. Becker, $3; 3d, Jas. 

 A. Stone & Son, $2. 



Case of sweet clover comb honey — ist, Mr. 

 Rumler, $4; 2d, Mr. and Mrs. Coppin, $3; 

 3d. Mr. Becker, $2. 



Case of basswood comb honey — 1st, Mr. 

 Rumler. $4; 2d, Mr. Becker, $3; 3d, Mr. 

 and Mrs. Coppin, $2. 



Case of amber comb honey — ist. Stone & 

 Son, $4; 2d, Mr. and Mrs. Coppin, $3; 3d, Mr. 

 Becker, $2. 



Display of samples of extracted honey — 

 1st, Mr. Becker, $5; 2d, Stone & Son, $3; 

 3d, Mr. and Mrs. Coppin, $2. 



Display of extracted honey — 1st, Stone & 

 Son, $20; 2d, Mr. Becker, $15; 3d, Mr. and 

 Mrs. Coppin. $10. 



Honey extracting on the grounds — 1st, Mr. 

 and Mrs. Coppin, $5; 2d, Stone & Son, $3; 

 3d. Mr. Becker, $z. 



Frame of comb honey for extracting — 1st, 

 Mr. Becker, $5: 2d, Mr. Rumler, $3: 3d, Stone 

 & Son, $2. 



Display of candied honey — ist. Stone & Son, 

 $20; 2d, Mr. Becker, $15; 3d, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Coppin, $10. 



Display of beeswax — 1st, Mr. Becker, $15; 

 2d. Stone S Son, $10; 3ii, Mr. Rumler, $5. 



Dark Italian bees — 1st. Mr. and Mrs. Cop- 

 pin, $4; 2d. Mr. Becker, .$3; no other entry. 



Golden Italian bees — ist, Mr. Becker, $4; 

 2d, Mr. and Mrs. Coppin, $3; 3d, Stone & 

 Son, $2. 



Carniolan bees — 1st, Mr. Rumler, $4: sd, 

 Mr. and Mrs. Coppin, $3; 3d, Mr. Becker, $2. 



Honey-vinegar — ist. Stone & Son, $4: 2d, 

 Mr. Becker, $3 ; 3d, Mr. and Mrs. Coppin, $2. 



Designs in honey — ist. Mr. and AJrs. Cop- 

 pin, $15; 2d, Mr. Becker, $12; 3d, Stone & 

 Son, $8. 



Designs in beeswax — 1st, Stone & Son, $20; 

 2d, Mr. Becker, $12; 3d, Mr. and Mrs. Cop- 

 pin. $8. 



The Prairie Farmer reports that the 

 show of honey at the Fair this year was 

 finer ihan that of any preceding year. 

 And that is saying a great deal, for we 

 have seen a number of the former an- 

 nual exhibits made in the bee and honey 

 department of the Illinois State Fair, 

 and they have always been exceptionally 

 good. 



Odor of Bees as Means of 

 Recognition Between Colonies 



BY C. P. DAD.\NT. 



Do bees use the sense of smell in the 

 recognition of one another? Has the 

 odor of the queen anj'thing to do with 

 her acceptance or rejection when intro- 

 duced by the apiarist? The affirmative 



has generally been adopted by bee-keep- 

 ers throughout the world. But some ex- 

 ceptions have been taken to this, and it 

 is for the purpose of considering the 

 matter broadly that this article has been 

 prepared. 



That bees have very efficient and acute 

 organs of smell is not to be doubted. 

 Their flight to the honev harvest is al- 



