18«»2 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



303 



In Vol. 1., No. 3. piiff(> ".', he stiys, '" HiUilIy 

 was our last month's t'diiioii otV tlif ofi'ss hct'ofc 

 we lii-aid a cry of hoiTof that we should have 

 iiisiiiuati'd tiiat the disrasr known as t'oiil 

 hfood was in XfhrasUa: ami, more, that wo 

 shonld say that it was well scattiM'cd ovor tho 

 Stat<>: that we arc ctHnitini; a false and visolcss 

 alarm amoiiLr the boo-kocpci-s of the Slat(>. 

 wliich would ho an injtiiy to its in the fnlni'c. 



. . . . The widt'-aw aki' apiarian can in-v- 

 cr hope to kci'p his o\\ n hi\cs pnrc \\ liilc his 

 careless neiiilihor is allowed to throw tlie refuse 

 from ills old hives on the ground to swelter and 

 rot in the Slimmer sun." 



I shall make no comments on the above state- 

 iniMits. but allow the readers of (;i,i.-..\ninos to 

 draw their conclusions, only adding that, of ;.*3 

 small apiaries within three miles of this city, I 

 know of only one that is free from the disease. 

 Mr. K. E. Leech and myself at one time had 

 more bees than the rest of the county: now he 

 has none and I have one. and that has foul 

 brood. Mr. Leech stated at our society meet- 

 ing in March that he '" went out of the business 

 on account of the wide prevalences of foul 

 brood." I went out and continue to stay out 

 for the same reason. E. A. Butterfiki.d. 



York. Neb.. April 25. 



[We have suppressed tlie names of the bee- 

 keepers mentioned by Inspector Ryon, on the 

 printed page, because by this time they have 

 no doubt cleaned things up. If they have not, 

 they should be summarily dealt with by the law. 

 We are sorry that this matter has assumed the 

 nature of an unpleasant controversy. How- 

 ever, we hope, now that the attention of the 

 bee - keepers of the whole country has been 

 called to it, the disease will be speedily stamp- 

 ed out by the resident bee-keepers if it is not 

 well under way. We can not believe either 

 party in the discussion intentionally misrepre- 

 sented, and we hope it will not be necessary to 

 " talk it out " any further.] 



GRADING HONEY. 



Nos. '.' and 3 dark.- I'oukl be grailed about 

 the same way. This would give the dark honey 

 an e(|ual chance with the light, and tlie price 

 would be governed by the demand. 



Saratoga, Wis. Tiioma.s Em-iott. 



ANOTHER VIEW. 



[This, as it will be observed, was sent to Dr. 

 Miller. As it contains so much of value he sent 

 it to us with the suggestion that we publish it.] 



Dr. C. C. -VHier;— Wishing, like yourself, to 

 see some practical way of grading honey set- 

 tled upon. I can perhaps give you a pointer on 

 the subject. Three things must be taken into 

 consideration. L It must accord with the pres- 

 ent market for "honey; 2. It must be suited for 

 the whole L'nited States: 3. It must be simple. 

 The honey market knows only two kinds — 

 white and dark: and it is on this basis that we 

 must grade. My plan is, to keep them entirely 

 separate, grade the white and dark by them- 

 selves, and our troubles are at an end. I would 

 suggest the following grades: 



No. 1 white. — Pure white, free from travel- 

 stain or propolis: all cells capped except the 

 outside row: no honey protruding beyond the 

 section: sections well tilled. 



No. 2 white. — Pure white, slightly travel- 

 stained, all cells capped except the outside row; 

 may be bulging on one side. 



No. 3 white.— I think honey with a slight 

 shade of dark should be admitted to this grade. 

 It would, of course, take all that would not go 

 in Nos. 1 and 2. 



No. 1 dark. — Of uniform color, free from trav- 

 el-stain or propolis, all cells capped except out- 

 side row; no honey protruding beyond the sec- 

 tion; sections well filled. 



HOW TO SEE BEES WHEN THEY SWARM. 



i;. WILKIN, ONE OF THE I'lONEER CALIFORNIA 

 REt:-KEEI*ERS, TELLS HOW 'TIS DONE. 



In a large apiary, where the extreme limits 

 are four or five hundred feet apart, as is the 

 case with mine, it is dillicult to readily recognize 

 a bee on the wing: y(!t they can be seen further 

 than that whore optical conditions are favor- 

 able; but if most unfavorable, they can not be 

 readily recognized, even ten feet away. Where 

 the bee-keeper docs not wish to spend all his 

 time watching for swarms, and the peculiar 

 hum of the swarm is too far away to l)e heard 

 distinctly, it is economy to have things so ar- 

 ranged that swarms may be recognized from 

 the point where the bee-keeper is most at work, 

 and also from one extreme of the apiary to the 

 other. A strong contrast with the color of the 

 bee seems necessary to see it most distinctly. 



At one of my apiaries, as I stood looking east 

 out of the door of ray house, the mountain ris- 

 ing abruptly four hundred feet in front of me, 

 the apiary lying between me and the rising 

 earth, as the sun arose, not shining on me or the 

 hillside, but lighting up every thing between 

 us, every bee became visible as it arose from 

 its hive, circling, gliding, darting, or grace- 

 fully wending its way far up the mountain- 

 side. The eye could settle on any bee and fol- 

 low it hundreds of feet away, the vibrations of 

 the wings, even, being quite distinct, giving the 

 appearance of a thread of raveled stocking 

 yarn; even silvery spider- threads, like ropes, 

 long and short, perpendicular, horizontal, or 

 curved, could be seen wafted gracefully amidst 

 this scene of insect-life before me. But every 

 one can not have a mountain at his command, 

 and must substitute a makeshift. 



Swarms are best seen when looking in the 

 direction of the sun from 9 to 3 o'clock, as the 

 shadows of trees and other objects are seen 

 most in that direction. I find it very service- 

 able to have a thicket of trees or sage-brush 

 just outside the apiary, especially on the south- 

 east side, and making their shadows close above 

 the tops of the hives. I help this by clearing 

 away underbrush, or piling limbs and leaves in 

 such a way as to shut out the sun. I sometimes 

 set boxes or empty hives on the tops of the hives 

 on the outer ends of the rows, with the open 

 side next to me, so as to make a dark shadow 

 on the inside next to me. This helps some 

 when there is nothing better. 



Last season I purchased a web of black mus- 

 lin and cut it into pieces from one to three yards 

 long, and placed them for backgrounds just 

 outside the apiary at the sides most needing 

 them, and just high enough to be plainly seen 

 above the tops of the hives. I held them in 

 place by fastening them to stakes live or six feet 

 long driven into the ground. I find this a very 

 serviceable device. Visitors ask what the 

 black cloths stretched around the apiary mean. 

 I tell them that, having lost many bees last 

 winter, I drape my apiary as a badge of mourn- 

 ing. When swarming is over I roll them up to 

 keep for other years. 



Who can throw light on this subject? An 

 optician or artist who studies lights and shades 

 ought to be able to help us save our swarms. 

 The blue sky can often be utilized as a back- 

 ground to help see bees. The eyes of the ob- 

 server himself are best if well shaded so as to 



