1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



it is a question whether nature, in the 



coarse of her pruning processes, does 

 not frequently perpetuate an undesira- 

 ble feature at the expense of more de- 

 sirable instincts and powers: for in- 

 stance, in developing tbe physical tor- 

 mat ion of bees, during a long period of 

 time, to withstand the hot, scorching 

 winds and frequent drouths of Cyprus 

 and Syria, may it not have been at the 

 expense of physical developments to 

 enable them to withstand our northern 

 climate, unless crossed with a hardy 

 race, or acclimated by careful breeding 

 through several generations ? Or, may 

 not nature, in the course of fitting bees 

 to survive months of starving drouth, 

 deprive them of that ambitious instinct 

 to store large amounts of honey during 

 a long and bountiful season of bloom ? 

 With the Italian bees, our honest breed- 

 ers have perpetuated the best ; many 

 breed for certain charteristics— some to 

 develop longer tongues,others to encour- 

 age amiability, a few want an increase 

 in size, and the specialist would have 

 bees that can gather honey all summer 

 long ; but the progressive bee-keeper 

 of to-day wants all these qualities com- 

 bined in the same bee, and what with 

 omimproved Italians, and perhapsafew 

 features borrowed from the best of the 

 Cyprian anil Syrian bees, he trill realize 

 tin. fruition of his wishes. 



The wise bee-keeper will buy the 

 best home-bred, or breed from what he 

 finds best ; do not depend upon " na- 

 ture's severe pruning," for her hand is 

 indeed relentless. Tbe dogma of "the 

 survival of the fittest," is antagonistic 

 to civilization and progress, is fatal to 

 education and science, and calculated 

 to encourage slothfulness and barbar- 

 ism. No successful stock-breeder, far- 

 mer, poultry-raiser or bee-keeper will 

 be satisfied with what is left after nature 

 has completed her pruning. 



At the last session of the National 

 Convention, M. Hayes, Esq., offered 

 the following resolutions, which were 

 unanimously adopted : 



Besolved,Tba,t the importation of pure 

 Italian, Cyprian and Holy Land bees 

 into North America, ought to be en- 

 couraged for the sole purpose of adding 

 new and different strains of blood to 

 that we already have. 



i. That the strain of Italian blood 

 we now have has reached a higher 

 standard of excellence than is to be 

 found in the native home of the Italian. 



3. That queens reared from pure se- 

 lected home-bred Italian mothers, 

 should command at least as high a mar- 

 ket value as those bred from imported 

 mothers, where pure Italian stock is the 

 sole object desired. 



The resolutions met our hearty appro- 

 bation at that time, and we have had no 

 occasion to change our opinion since. 

 —Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Stingless Bees of South America. 



JOHN F. D1PMAN. 



I am highly pleased with the new 

 Weekly Bee Journal and think every 

 bee-keeper should try to give the 

 Weekly a good support. Allow me to 

 congratulate you tor the enterprise you 

 have displayed. 



On page 5 of the last Journal is an 

 article on stingless bees of South 

 America. Are the bees of South and 

 Central America alike ? Are our bees 

 inferior or superior to the stingless bee 

 of Central America ? If not, it will 

 not pay Mr. Ilawley to import them, 

 he will only lose his money. Mr. A. O. 

 Moore, of New York, imported sting- 

 less bees from Central America, about 

 1860, and had them on exhibition in the 

 office of the American Agriculturist in 



September. I860; hut they were found 

 dead after the first cold weather. 



In tbe American Agriculturist, Mr. 

 Moore gives a full description witb 

 several illustrations of the bees anil 

 their combs, He says, that they cannot 

 be kept witb other bees on account of 

 having no sting for self-defence. Mr. 

 Moore was about :i months in Central 

 America and paid particular attention 

 to these bees. 



Fremont. Ohio. 



[In reference to this scheme the Arm r- 

 ican Agriculturist "says : 



" It is proposed by W. S. Ilawley to 

 introduce the stingless bees of South 

 America as soon as a sufficient number 

 of subscribers warrant the enterprise. 

 Tbe circular states that an article in an 

 Albany paper in September last ' was 

 the first intimation the Bee Fraternity 

 of the United States had that there ex- 

 isted anywhere on the habitable globe 



Side View. 



a species of the honey bee that has no 

 stingers.' It was because the ' Bee Fra- 

 ternity' did not read the American Ag- 

 riculturist, as we, in 1S01, not only fig- 

 ured and described the stingless bees, 

 but had a colonvof the bees themselves 

 on exhibition at our office when it was in 

 Water street. Figures 1 and 2 represent 

 different positions of the queen bee of 

 the Jicote variety of the stingless bees. 

 Figure 3 is one of the workers." 



Mr. Ilawley was unfortunate in many 

 expressions in his circular. Gleanings 

 for January imagines that he stated that 

 the Rev. W. F. Clarke was killed by a 

 bee-sting on the back of his tongue, 

 and having written to Mr. Clarke to 

 know whether he was dead or not, re- 

 ceived a long reply stating that he was 

 alive and well, and that he "hoped to 

 do a little more good in the world before 

 leaving it." This was the result of Mr. 

 Hawley's awkward manner of express- 

 ing himself. He did not intend to say 

 Mr. Clarke was dead, but a man who, 

 later, accidentally got a bee in his mouth, 

 which stung him, etc. 



Then, again, Mr. King, in the Bee- 

 Keepers' Magazine, complains of Mr. 

 Hawley's bungling way of expressing 

 himself, carrying the idea that Mr. King 

 endorsed his project, which Mr. K. 

 emphatically denies. 



Now comes another circular from Mr. 

 Ilawley, stating that he will stay in Bra- 

 zil two or three years, in tbe employ of 

 the Brazilian government, " to intro- 

 duce the mysteries of American bee- 

 keeping" into that country.— Ed.] 



From the Prairie Farmer. 



Bee-Keeping as Woman's Work. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



Some women love to be dependent 

 and to be compared to clinging vines, 

 which are lifted into air and sunshine 

 by sturdy oaks ; there are others again 

 who scorn dependency, and can stand 

 erect guided by light from heaven and 

 true womanhood. This kind of woman 

 loves to be a producer, and in olden 

 time found abundant range in manu- 

 facturing cloth. Solomon says : " she 

 seeketh wool and flax, and worketh wil- 

 lingly with her hands ; she layeth her 

 hands to the spindle, and her hands 

 hold the distaff." The use of steam 

 has almost entirely dispensed with spin- 

 ning wheels and looms from the house- 

 hold, so self-reliant women are prying 

 into every nook to discover some other 

 avenue where she can develope her 

 mind and energy. 



Scientific bee-culture is an open field 

 to all women of energy and brains ; here 

 is a free range for discovery, improve- 



ment, and production. Why I we do 



not even have to pay one cent to be ad- 

 mitted to the membership of bee con- 

 ventions, being regarded as superior 

 beings or asornauients of enough value 



to pay all admission fees, badges, etc. 



If we compete with the other sex in 



making pants or in teaching, we will be 

 obliged to accept less pay than they do; 

 but who ever heard of a pound of honey 



bringing less because it was produced 

 by a woman ? No " vines" bail better 

 embark in the business, or women of 

 means, who know nothing practically of 

 bee-culture, but purpose to hire tbe 

 bees eared for by others, and expect to 

 reap a rich reward from their invest- 

 ment; but any woman who can make 

 good bread, pick a goose, milk a cow, or 

 harness a horse, can make bee-keeping 

 a success. 



We know a woman who is going out 

 to wash by the day in order to earn 

 money to purchase a colony of bees. 

 We opine that she will make bee-keep- 

 ing a success as she is bright, smart and 

 self-reliant. She has tbe misfortune to 

 have a paralytic husband, and thus 

 exerts herself to make a comfortable 

 living, and educate a feeble son. All 

 honor to her and other brave women 

 who never shirk the burdens of life. 



There is nothing connected with bee- 

 keeping but what a woman can do as 

 well, as tbe other sex. She should not 

 be expected to manufacture her hives 

 any more than a house-keeper to build 

 her own house ; but as hives, frames, 

 and surplus boxes can be purchased 

 cheaply in the Hat, we know no reason 

 why slie cannot learn to nail them to- 

 gether. We should have tried our hand 

 at it long ago, if we had not a partner 

 who is an expert at it. 



No one should engage in the business 

 expecting to find a " Bonanza," but any 

 woman may reasonably expect fair re- 

 turns for the money and time expended. 

 One or two colonies is sufficient to com- 

 mence with, if your knowledge increases 

 in like ratio w'ith your bees, all will be 

 smooth sailing and a prosperous voyage. 



Peoria, 111. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Spring Feeding— Spring Dwindling. 



1V1I. S. BARCLAY. 



These two subjects, although appar- 

 ently so different, are so nearly related 

 that we consider it not at all improper 

 to treat of them together, some of our 

 fraternity having gone so far as to insist 

 that the former is even the cause of, or 

 productive of the latter, assigning as a 

 reason that feeding causes an undue 

 flight of the bees in such seasons, as in 

 many cases they are unable to return to 

 their hives, and many being prevented 

 from so doing, produce a decline in the 

 population of the colony, and thus they 

 account for spring dwindling. However 

 we may dissent from this view of the 

 case, it occurs to us that this unseason- 

 able flight, as it is termed, may be the 

 means of saving us from that other dis- 

 aster so much dreaded— dysentery— 

 which I cannot look upon as a disease, 

 but, as Mr. Doolittle well disposes of 

 the subject, the unnatural condition of 

 the organs of the bee consequent upon 

 long confinement to the hive. 



As to spring feeding, opinions do not 

 differ so much on the subject itself, as 

 to its time of commencing ; how it shall 

 be conducted ; for what purpose it shall 

 be resorted to ; how long it shall con- 

 tinue, etc. When we have concluded to 

 feed, it will be our first purpose to see 

 that the hive and the bees are in proper 

 condition for giving the feed. Our 

 practice in the past has been like the 

 following : We make our hive perfectly 

 comfortable for the bees to go to any 

 part of it when necessary, by the use of 

 proper packing,sui table division boards, 

 etc. We place the bees in the west side 

 of the hive (hive standing to face the 

 south), first having placed a chaff divi- 

 sion board next the side-wall of the 

 hive. As to this division board, it may 

 not be amiss to say, that it is made by 

 taking an empty frame and tacking 

 thick pasteboard or paper on one side, 

 lay it flat and fill tightly with wheat 

 chaff, then tack on the other side of the 

 frame heavy woolen cloth, such as old 

 comforts or blankets ; the frame is then 



11 



ready for use the same us any other 

 division board, We leave only enough 

 Combs for the bees to cover entirely, 



then insert along side these combs an- 

 other chaff frame; on the opposite side 



of this chaff frame we plact : frame 



containing the honej we wish to feed, 

 or a feeder of suitable kind containing 

 either honey or sugar syrup, and an 

 empty comb, the cells or which have 

 been Idled with water. We may then 

 insert another chaff frame, and if space 

 still remains in the hive, it may be Idled 

 with wheat chaff. Let me here say. 

 that I consider clean wheat chaff as a 



proper absorbent of moisture, superior 

 to any packing 1 have ever used. 



It may be asked why, at the time of 

 feeding, we have given a comb contain- 

 ing water. In reply we say. to prevent 

 the flight of our bees in search of water 

 which they consume very eagerly when 

 being fed. Water may also be given in 

 various other ways, as, for instance, 

 small sponges may be tilled and placed 

 over tbe combs containing the bees and 

 brood ; cotton rags may be saturated 

 with water and hung in the same man- 

 ner. A colony thus treated will be 

 found to adhere more closely to their 

 hives when being fed than they will do 

 in the absence of water. 



When the feeding is to be conducted 

 as proposed, after the food and water 

 have been properly introduced, the next 

 important matter to receive attention is 

 the careful covering of the combs. For 

 this purpose we use a soft woolen quilt 

 or blanket to securely cover the combs, 

 and then place on top of this a box or 

 frame I inches dee)). Idled with wheat 

 chaff, observing carefully that no space 

 is left open for the passage of a current 

 of air through the brood combs. But 

 little fear need be felt of making the 

 bees too warm. Should such be the 

 case, a portion of the top covering can 

 easily be removed. After the hive has 

 been placed in the condition described, 

 all that remains for us to do is to be 

 watchful that at no time the feed or 

 water supply shall be permitted to fall 

 short, and when the condition of the 

 colony and the state of the weather will 

 permit it, place an empty comb for eggs 

 between two of the brood combs, ob- 

 serving carefully that we have enough 

 bees to entirely cover all the combs. 

 The importance of keepingup the feed- 

 ing until nature supplies ample stores 

 for the bees, will be apparent to any- 

 one who will go to the mouth of tbe hive 

 I on a cold morning, and there find the 

 young larva' which have been carried 

 out of the hive during the night. This 

 is also an additional reason why we in- 

 sist that no more combs be given than 

 the bees can protect, in which case loss 

 of brood from being chilled will not 

 take place. 



When, unfortunately, in some cases 

 our bees have suffered from dysentery, 

 we have found the best remedy we 

 could apply was a supply of water inside 

 the hive; especially did we find this 

 was the case when the bees had free 

 access to artificial pollen, such as rye 

 meal or other suitable substance. It is 

 better in all cases where the colony has 

 been severely affected with this trouble, 

 to remove the soiled combs to a popu- 

 lous colony, and in their place furnish 

 clean combs, and to do this even at a 

 I loss of brood combs of the afflicted col- 

 ony. No danger need be apprehended 

 in giving those combs to a strong colony, 

 as they will soon clean them off without 

 being at all affected. This is another 

 reason why we cannot assent that dys- 

 entery is a disease. 



Beaver, Pa., Dec. 21, 1880. 



^° The Rock River Valley Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will hold their annual 

 meeting the second Tuesday in Feb- 

 ruary, 1881. The weather was such 

 that our Secretary was not at our last 

 meeting and our Secretary pro tern hav- 

 ing failed to send in his report, I send 

 the above notice. A. Rice, Pres. 



10" The Nebraska Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation will hold their Annual Conven- 

 tion, on the 10th and 11th of February, 

 1881, at Plattsmouth, Cass Co., Neb. 

 Western Iowa bee-keepers are cordially 

 invited to attend. 



Hiram Craig. Pres. 



