64 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



TREES FOR HONEY 



By EHas Fox 



In the December issue, "Best Trees 

 for Shade and Honey," by accident or 

 otherwise, the box elder is omitted. 

 It is one of the very best from the 

 beekeeper's standpoint. It is a fast- 

 growing tree, with spreading 

 branches and dense foliage, providing 

 a quick and beautiful shade. Since it 

 is a species of maple it can be tapped 

 in early spring and will provide a lib- 

 eral How of sap, which can be boiled 

 down to a delicious syrup, or even to 

 sugar. It requires an expert to de- 

 tect it from maple sugar cr syrup. 



The tree blooms profusely and yields 

 as much pollen and nectar as the ma- 

 ples. Sometimes a liberal supply of 

 honeydew is secured from the foliage. 

 Pollen, nectar, honeydew and sap pro- 

 vide really four crops in the season. 

 Blooming early, it furnishes very ma- 

 terial aid to the bees for brood-rear- 

 ing, thus providing a field force to 

 gather the surplus crop later in the 

 season. 



A SERIOUS MIS-STATEMENT 



L. A. Schott, a Missouri reader, 

 sends us the following clipping, which 

 is reported as coming from the Jour- 

 nal of Agriculture, published at St. 

 Louis : 



Honey From Grapes 



"In the vicinity of Jefferson C'ty, 

 Mo., during the past season, beekeep- 

 ers obtained a much larger yield of 

 honey than usual, but did not know 

 from whence the surplus came, as the 

 supply 'of nectar-bearing plants was 

 not in excess of former years, until 

 owners of Concord grape vineyards 

 went out to gather their fruit and 

 discovered that most of their grapes 

 \vere not as plump and juicy as they 

 should have been and they were at 

 loss to account for it until they kept 

 a watch and noticed that bees 

 swarmed into tlie vineyards and set- 

 tled on the grapes. 



"Beekeepers also soon discovered 

 that they were getting more honey 

 than usual. The result was- that 

 grape owners had but little left with 

 which to make jams, jellies and grape 

 juice, while the beekeepers had mot 

 only a surplus of honey, but will in 

 future be able to profit by the ex- 



perience and obtain an additional 

 nectar supply for their bees by the 

 cultivation of grapes as a sideline of 

 their business. 



"When the fact is considered that 

 the value of the increased production 

 of honey from the grape juice far ex- 

 ceeds the reduced value of the grapes, 

 it will be seen that grape raising in 

 connection with beekeeping cannot 

 fail to be very profitable." 



The Journal of Agriculture, should 

 refer articles similar to the above 

 quotation to some practical man be- 

 fore allowing them to appear. Grape 

 juice has never made anything but 

 wine, and has at all times caused dis- 

 ease and winter losses among bees. 

 W'c know this by experience. Dam- 

 aged grapes are originally injured by 

 birds, or cracked open" by wet 

 weather, and when the bees come and 

 get the remnants, the juice is usually 

 already fermented and causes them 

 to die, often before they, can reach 

 the hive. \\"e have had hundreds of 

 colonies of bees and 12 acres of vine- 

 yard at the same time. The season o,f 

 1879 was the hardest we ever saw on 

 bees and grapes, and we positively 

 know that there is no profit for bees 

 in feeding from the damaged grapes. 

 Tlie shape of their tnandibles prevents 

 them from puncturing whole berries. 



THE BOX ELDER BUG HEARS 



In regard to "How Butterflies 

 Hear" on page ill. No ember issue. 

 Late last summer I noticed box elder 

 bugs clustered in knots on the bot- 

 tom of the trees, so shouted at them 

 one day, and, to my astonishment, 

 they scattered. 



Several days ago I captured one in 

 the house and made a sh'arp sound 

 at him, and he jumped. So I de- 

 prived him of his antennae and re- 

 peated the sounds, at which h : 

 would not move. Another thing that 

 must go to prove the antennae con- 

 tain the organs of hear.ng is that the 

 bee and box elder bug gener-iUy live 

 in clusters, and the butterflies, spiders 

 and moths do not live in clusters. 



The reason it cannot be proven that 

 the bee hears is because it is not as 

 cowardly as the box elder bug. 



M. Earl Townsend. 



Nebraska. 



Apiary of Frank IJ^art. of Linc.ln. 111., in doulik-w.ilU-cl liivi-s. He reports good wintering 

 with little trouble in these hives. 



WINTER JOBS 



By Arthur C. Miller 



For the fortunate few who can 

 toast their shins before the crackling 

 wood fire, let me suggest a few 

 things worth doing. They may scoff 

 now, but when hot summer comes 

 they will wish they had listened and 

 heeded. Get ready to make more 

 money next year, or, in other words, 

 to save labor, trouble and stings, to 

 be able to do more in the hours at 

 your command or to do all you have 

 to do and time left over to loll in 

 the hammock and enjoy that fine 

 smoke — from your bee smoker, of 

 course. 



It is surprising the amount of lost 

 effort which is due to out-of-order 

 hives and other apparatus and to ap- 

 pliances which do not match or fit. 

 Let me tell you specifically some of 

 the things to look for and correct. 



First, overhaul your smokers, clean 

 out accumulated creosote and soot, 

 renew the bellows leather if cracked, 

 or moisten and soften with water 

 if it is hard and stiff, and while it is 

 soft and damp, rub in a liberal dose 

 of neatsfoot oil, mutton tallow, or 

 any good oil or grease. The smok- 

 ers are the most important tools the 

 beekeeper has, and the inspectors 

 find many more poor and ineffective 

 ones than good ones. If you need 

 new smokers, order them at once and 

 get good big ones, the little ones are 

 only toys, and like the Yankee's raz- 

 ors, are good just to sell at a low 

 price. 



Next buy, or have made, several 

 good hive tools, enough so you can 

 keep several in each yard. One fully 

 realizes what a useful article a good 

 hive tool is when one has lost it. 



Another essential is a good bee- 

 veil, and one made of wire cloth is 

 the most satisfactory in the long run. 

 One something like the Alexander 

 veil is good, but is much better if a 

 hat forms the top, then it does not 

 slip about on the head. Better have 

 the wire cloth wide before the face 

 and narrow at the back of the head, 

 then if you tip your head up to gaze 

 into a tree top the hat does not piish 

 down over your eyes like an extin- 

 guisher. And be sure and have the 

 cloth "skirt" below the wire ainply 

 long, so it will tuck in under the vest 

 or coat securely, or fasten with a 

 tape, as your fancy dictates. Keep 

 one or more veils in each yard. Bet- 

 ter more than one. 



Go over all the empty hives, supers, 

 honey-boards, escape-boards, etc., 

 rcnailing where necessary, and in the 

 ■naughty corners," put screvi-s. While 

 going over these things cast aside 

 lor kindling all odd-sized things. "A 

 waste," you say. Not nearly as, much 

 waste as the time lost in busy mo- 

 ments of summer, trying to adjust 

 misfits and plug up leaky corners and 

 edges. . 



When all hives, etc., are repaired, 

 s.rape out all propolis. Enough of it 

 accumulates in one season without 

 carrying over any from the last. The 

 delay in handling bees due to a mass 

 of propolis is scarcely appreciated 



