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^— — ^»— ^^ ^^^ ^0^ ^'ir* <'<f**^f^ ^ 

 DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PU HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 19, 1881. 



No. 3. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL, 



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Entered at Chicago pout office as second class matter. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Stingless Bees of South America. 



REV. L. JOHNSON. 



I received, a few days ago, a copy of 

 Mr. Hawley's circular upon the sting- 

 less bee, mentioned in the American 

 Bee Journal of January 5th. As I 

 suppose thousands of these circulars 

 are distributed among the bee-keepers 

 of America, many of wkotn are yet 

 inexperienced, it is well to notice this 

 new advocate for public favor. 



1st. I think the introduction of an 

 entirely new variety of bee at this time, 

 whose merits are yet untried, is exceed- 

 ingly injudicious. Only last year we 

 received the Cyprian which is still on. 

 trial. We do not yet know their true 

 merits in their purity, much less when 

 crossed with other varieties. We all 

 know the difficulties we have encoimted 

 with mixtures in the past. Let us not 

 increase them, by introducing, to any 

 great extent, new families, until we 

 thoroughly test our present importa- 

 tions. Think of approaching a hive of 

 "bees we thought stingless, yet in which 

 one-fourth or one-eighth are vindictive 

 hybrids, armed with "venom-tipped 

 javelins I" The very thought settles it. 



2d. From the testimony of Mr. Wag- 

 ner and others, who years ago investi- 

 gated the merits of all these new 

 claimants, their honey gathering quali- 

 ties are uncertain, and their ability to 

 endure our vigorous winters is exceed- 

 ingly questionable. In truth from Mr. 

 Hawley's statements, some of these 

 bees produce a honey which is unfit for 

 use. 



3d. We consider the stings of our 

 blacks and Italians an actual advantage. 

 The bee-keeper who is careful and in- 

 telligent in the management of his bees, 

 need not be stung, and even if stung, 

 in the course of a year or two he be- l 

 comes so inoculated with the poison, | 

 that he is no longer affected by it. : 

 Thieves we know are prevalent every- 

 where, and nothing often protects our I 



hives against their depredations, except 

 the fear of being stung. Let it but 

 once be generally known that our bees 

 cannot sting, and our honey will be 

 pilferred as constantly as our mellons 

 and fruit. A big dog, and shot-gun, 

 and a faithful guard must then occupy 

 the place of the smoker, bee-vail and 

 guantlets. As for myself I think the 

 latter preferable and decidedly the 

 cheapest. While we all want the best 

 bee the world affords, we should not, 

 increase our present difficulties by 

 grasping at the near shadow of these 

 untried rovers of the tangled wilds of 

 Brazil. 

 Walton, Ky., Jan. 3, 1881. 



hive begins to drive the bees to the out- 

 side for air, say when the mercury 

 stands at about 90° to 100 lJ in the shade. 

 Work in hives thus treated will usually 

 go on without interruption, when hives 

 that are not suitably ventilated are 

 almost wholly idle. On the approach of 

 cool weather the ventilator should be 

 closed until preparations for winter. 



About November 1st in this latitude, 

 (better October 1st) the hives should be 

 suitably packed for winter, when the 

 ventilator in the bottom may be opened, 

 and coarse straw or litter stuffed under 

 the hive to prevent the cold air entering 

 the hive until sufficiently tempered by 

 its passage through the straw. 



to the seasons alluded to, will entirely 

 prevent the closing of the ventilator 

 with propolis, and at the same time 

 prove the value of " lower ventilation 

 in winter " and in summer. 

 Des Moines, Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Rocky Mountain Bee Plant. 



d. s. GRIMES. 



Cleome integrifolia, or Bocky-Mountain Bee Plant. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Lower Ventilation in Winter. 



.T. M. SHUCK. 



The ventilator in the bottom of the 

 hive, recommended by the lamented 

 Quiuby. seems to be misunderstood by 

 some of our bee-keepers (see article by 

 Wm Camm in American Bee Jour- 

 nal of Jan. 5, 1881.) 



This hole in the bottom of the hive 

 was doubtless intended, originally to 

 ventilate the hive during the heated 

 term of the honey season, and was 

 afterwards found to be useful in winter. 



In use, the ventilator should be closed 

 from March 1st until the heat in the 



It may not be known upon what 

 theory this ventilation is beneficial in 

 winter, but long continued use and 

 frequent tests have proven its value, 

 which is of more importance than the 

 mere theory. 



.Some eminent apiarists, advocate 

 that the bottom ventilator be open and 

 unprotected during the entire winter. 

 While this latter practice seems ex- 

 treme, some very fine results have at- 

 tended it, but nothing equal to the more 

 conservative practice of opening the 

 ventilator for winter and protecting 

 with straw in the way indicated. 



Strong wire-cloth should be used, that 

 cannot be cut by rats or mice, and not 

 more than ten meshes to the inch. 

 Such wire-cloth as this, with the care as 



Some of the descriptions of this plant 

 — Cleome integrifolia— hardly do it justice 

 as a honey-producer. It grows to the 

 height of four or five feet, with hard 

 woody fibers like mustard, often meas- 

 uring more than one inch in diameter. 



The seeds are borne in pods much the 

 size and appearance of the black mus- 

 tard. It blooms early in the spring, 

 and continues in bloom until frost. As 

 the season advances the spikes of the 

 beautiful flowers continue to grow in 

 length, with seeds and flowers in all 

 stages of growth from the full pods to 

 the new opening bloom. The leaves 

 throw off a very offensive odor when 

 handled. 



As a honey-producing plant it is 

 second to no other. In our apiary we 

 have forty colonies of bees, and although 

 we are located among vegetable and 

 fruit gardens our bees prefer this plant 

 to all others. 



It is not troublesome in cultivated 

 grounds, but prefers the roadside or 

 waste places. We value it highly, and 

 without doubt, is worthy the attention 

 of bee-keepers. 



Denver, Col. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My Report for 1880. 



W. D. WRIGHT. 



I have to report the poorest season 

 since 1869 in this section. Last fall I 

 placed half of my bees in a bee-house, 

 above ground ; they were in good con- 

 dition when put in, and wintered quite 

 well, considering the warm weather we 

 had. As I was building a shop, with a 

 bee cellar underneath, the rest of our 

 bees were left upon the summer stands, 

 until the cellar was ready to receive 

 them, which was much later than I ex- 

 pected; and as they were totally unpre- 

 pared for wintering out of doors, they 

 suffered considerably from cold snaps 

 in the early winter. When removed to 

 the cellar quite a number of them 

 showed signs of dysentery. The weather 

 was so warm after placing them in the 

 cellar, that I could not keep it at the 

 requisite temperature, consequently 

 they were very uneasy. The cellar was 

 also quite damp, which of course did 

 not help matters any, and the result 

 was that I lost quite heavily. As the 

 weather turned out, they would proba- 

 bly have wintered quite as well if they 

 had been left on their summer stands 

 the remainder of the winter. 



The spring was one of the worst for 

 bees that I have ever experienced. 

 There were but few pleasant days on 

 which bees could flv with safety ; cold, 

 bleak winds, and cloudy weather pie- 

 vailed most of the time, when it was 

 almost sure death to the little workers 

 to venture beyond the entrance of their 

 hives. Instead of increasing as usual 

 in May. they were at a stand still, or 

 even decreasing in numbers, 



