1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



67 



summer stands. The bees in the single 

 hives will lly when it is too cold, while 

 those in the double hives will not. This 

 is owing to the bees having been con- 

 fined to their hives so long, as they 

 would not attempt to fly from any hive 

 if confined only a month. 



It is nearly three monts since my bees 

 saw daylight until to-day, when they 

 had a good (light. They are all out of 

 doors. This is the hardest winter in all 

 my experience for bees— it being two 

 winters in one. 



I have made a new double-wall hive, 

 on the Langstroth principle, for winter- 

 ing bees in on the summer stands, which 

 I may describe in a future article. 



Wenham, Mass., Feb. 21, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Apiarian Melange in General. 



DR. J. P. II. BROWN. 



Mr. Editor : — In most things I am 

 very conservative — never care to give 

 up an old and tried friend for a new one. 

 I was familiar with the old American 

 Bee Journal, from the days of the 

 polished and gifted Wagner. I looked 

 upon it as an old steadfast friend ; and 

 wnen you proposed to change it into a 

 weekly, I received the announcement 

 with anything but favor. I have now re- 

 ceived 5 numbers of the "transformed" 

 Journal, which are sufficient to stamp 

 its character. I must congratulate you 

 on your success. In subject matter, in 

 general get up, in neatness, beauty and 

 clearness of typography, the world can- 

 not beat it. 



Comb Foundation again ! After read- 

 ing our friend John Bourgmeyer's crit- 

 icism of my article on comb foundation, 

 I felt, perhaps, that I had unwittingly 

 committed what Bro. Clarke terms an 

 "Irish bull."' If I did, I can't see it. 

 I discussed foundation, not machines; 

 and I cannot conceive how any one 

 could misapprehend my remarks. 



There is no doubt, Mr: Editor, that 

 much newspaper debate could be saved 

 if persons would avoid reading by the 

 rule of distortion, abstain from thinking 

 by the rule of tvnstification , and stop 

 speaking by the rule of inflation. 



Our winter : — The winter has been 

 the coldest for many years. As bees 

 are wintered out, with no protection, 1 

 fear all weak colonies will suffer, and 

 probably die before the 1st of March. 

 Box-hive bee-keepers will lose heavily. 

 Those who use the frame hive can save 

 many colonies by liberal feeding. 



Augusta, Ga. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Size of a Colony of Bees. 



E. A. MORGAN. 



In the February number of the Bee 

 Journal, E. B. Southwick speaks of 

 my report, and thinks my statement 

 that 3 pecks of bees make a good strong 

 colony, and that my 24 would make that 

 amount, a little large. He thinks that 

 bee-keepers generally consider 1 peck a 

 large colony, 4 quarts a fair colony, and 

 2 quarts a small one. We might agree, 

 if he had said on the 1st of April ; but 

 if he means during the honey yield, I 

 do not agree with him, neither will any 

 bee-keeper wbo has studied the business 

 and found what it takes to secure a large 

 surplus. This idea of a colony would 

 ruin beginners ; they could never win- 

 ter a colony, and would never get any 

 surplus. Nothing is more correct than 

 that large colonies give the surplus. 

 This is the essence of all profitable bee- 

 keeping. I think all successful bee- 

 keepers will say with me, that I peck of 

 bees is a very small colony, and 4 quarts 

 or 2 quarts are nuclei for queen-rearing. 

 and should be united. If surplus is the 

 object, certainly if hived after June 1st 

 they would not be expected to go into 

 the sections, and would not go into 

 them if expected to. I have bred 

 queens for two years from two colo- 

 nies which proved the most hardy, most 

 prolific, and the best honey-gatherers. 

 I have beheaded many queens because 

 they could not keep up a colony, and 

 have succeeded in getting a race which 

 are profitable. Several of my colonies 

 were worked in 10-frame 2-story Lang- 



stroth hives, and filled them with bees 

 from June until frost. Any one of them 

 would measure 3 pecks. They flew in 

 one continuous stream, and a colony 

 such as Mr. Southwick speaks of, could 

 be shaken from 4 frames any time dur- 

 ing the season. His frame— 12x13 in., 

 n in a hive, could hold 28,800 bees, while 

 •50,000 is considered a good colony ; thus 

 his large colony is 21,200 bees short of a 

 colony— .50,000 dead bees measure 3 

 pecks. I s have under-estimated, for I 

 think some colonies will reach 60,000 

 bees. 



My plan is to keep prolific queens, 

 which will fill the hive and surplus ar- 

 rangement full of bees, and then with 

 hard work, constant watching and 

 proper manipulation, we can secure a 

 large surplus. My best colony gave me 

 2451bs. of comb honey this season, while 

 the parent colony gave 185 lbs. 



I do not think my mode of packing 

 expensive. The outer case is 8 feet of 

 " cull " lumber ; the entrance is left 

 open, only one thickness of duck is put 

 over the frames, then the upper story is 

 put on and filled with dry chaff. The 

 gases escape at the bottom, the moisture 

 passes up through the packing, and the 

 heat is retained. My bees, put away as 

 described in the article in December 

 Bee Journal, have passed through 

 the most severe winter ever known in 

 Wisconsin this far, and every one is in 

 the best possible condition, not losing a 

 gill of bees apiece. They have flown 

 for the last two days. If nothing unusual 

 happens them hereafter, I intend to im- 

 prove upon last year, if possible. 



Arcadia, Wis., Feb. 10, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Chips from Sweet Home. 



D. D. PALMER. 



It is doubtful about there being any 

 plant that will pay to cultivate for honey 

 alone, although there are many which 

 will pay to cultivate for fruit and honey. 

 Which one will pay best, will depend 

 upon how the owner is situated. 



The raspberry affords considerable 

 honey and blooms with white clover, 

 being of value especially when we have 

 wet weather as the bees will gather 

 honey from it when the rains wash the 

 nectar out of the clover. I have been 

 unable to notice any difference in the 

 amount of nectar yielded by the black, 

 red, or yellow raspberries, there is a 

 difference in the time of blooming, cor- 

 responding to the time of ripening the 

 fruit. Of the yellow varieties, I have 

 not yet found any worthy of cultivation. 



Of the red, I would cultivate Brandy- 

 wine for market ; it is productive, of 

 uniform size, bright red color and firm, 

 and bears handling well. For home 

 use I would prefer the Turner, as it is 

 a better flavored berry, but too soft to 

 bear handling. 



Of the black raspberry there are sev- 

 eral varieties, the berries of which dif- 

 fer less in flavor than the red ; as to 

 which of them is best to cultivate, would 

 depend upon what we wanted them for. 

 The Davidson's Thornless is free from 

 thorns, and is 2 to 3 days earlier in rip- 

 ening, but of small fruit, and only a few 

 plants will make good strong bushes. 

 The Doolittle ripens within 2 or 3 days 

 of the above, grows upright and stocky, 

 and an abundant bearer of good sized 

 berries ; for an early raspberry it is my 

 choice. Lumb's ever-bearer, Dears the 

 usual crop, and then continues to shoot 

 up suckers which bear till frost. It is 

 not a profitable berry, forthe usual crop 

 is light, and to have a dish of fresh 

 raspberries after all others are gone, you 

 would need a large planting. The Mi- 

 ami and Seneca are good, if we did not 

 have better to fill their place. The Hoo- 

 sier is a new variety just being intro- 

 duced, a good bearer of good sized uni- 

 form berries of a glossy black color. 

 The Gregg is also new, but more thor- 

 oughly introduced than the Hoosier; a 

 good bearer of berries, of uneven size, 

 running from small to very large. For 

 a late bearer, the Mammoth Clusterhas 

 remained the standard for many years, 

 grows upright and stocky, productive, 

 berries large, and make strong plants. 

 The Sweet Home is another new one 

 originated in 1873 ; the bush grows up- 

 right and stocky, very productive, bear- 



125 bushels per acre, while from 50 to 

 75 bushels per acre is considered a good 

 yield for other varieties ; the berries 

 are uniformly large, and continue so till 

 the last picking. It is a late bearer, 

 from which 2 or 3 pickings can be had 

 after blackberries. The above are all 

 hardy. 

 New Boston, 111. 



For the American Bee Journul. 



Bee Notes from Mississippi. 



OSCAR F. BLEDSOE. 



I began the last season with 25 colo- 

 nies ; lost 8 or 10 that " went west ;" in- 

 creased to 76, mostly by natural swarm- 

 ing ; have now about 55 colonies. I ex- 

 tracted about 600 lbs. of honey. My 

 error was in allowing them to swarm 

 too much. This season I shall try to 

 repress all swarming, and bring each 

 hive up to the largest capacity, to wit : 

 2 stories containing 4,000 cubic inches, 

 well filled with bees. I could, with the 

 start I have, easily increase into the 

 hundreds ; butasldoubt the pecuniary 

 profit of bee-culture here, I do not de- 

 sire more than I have at present. 



Wintering is easy here. Any hive 

 with a moderate supply of honey, will 

 winter well on its summer stand. It 

 greatly assists wintering, to fill a frame 

 of the lateral dimensions of the top of 

 the hive, 2 inches deep, the bottom cov- 

 ered by coarse cloth, with cotton-seed, 

 and set it on top of the hive under the 

 cover. All the honey gathered up to 

 Aug. 1st is of excellent flavor. There 

 is little sale for bees or honey here. 



I have received many inquiries from 

 Northern men as to this section. It is 

 good for cotton, corn, wheat, potatoes, 

 fruit, etc. All the hill portions of Mis- 

 sissippi are healthy. Northern men 

 could do well here. All are welcome 

 who propose to help us till the soil or de- 

 velop the country. Land is cheap and 

 easily obtained. The best way is to 

 come and look for yourself ; make a se- 

 lection, and send for those left behind. 



Grenada, Miss., Jan. 27, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Those Stingless Bees. 



L. L. LANGSTKOTH. 



In his prospectus of the " Siingless 

 Bee Association of America," Mr. Haw- 

 ley says :— "On the 15th of September 

 last, the undersigned published in an 

 Albany newspaper an article on the sub- 

 ject of ' Stiugless bees,' which, so far 

 as I am aware, was the first intimation 

 the bee fraternity of the United States 

 had that there existed anywhere on the 

 habitable globe, a species of the honey 

 bee that had ho stingers." 



For the benefit of Mr. Hawley and 

 others, who through his ignorance on 

 this matter, may be at much expense, 

 which will result only in disappointmet, 

 I will give you some facts as to the sting- 

 less bees ot South America. 



The stingless bees belonging to the 

 genus Melipona, have been long known 

 both in Europe and in this country. 

 Notices of them will be fonnd in works 

 on bee culture. Before the death of 

 Huber, a colony was presented to him. 

 In 1860, a colony presented to Mr. Judd, 

 of the American Agricidturist, was sent 

 to Mr. Parsons' apiary, at Flushing, L. 

 I., and placed under the care of Mr. Ca- 

 ry, of Coleraine, Mass., who that year 

 had charge of Mr. Parsons' apiary, Mr, 

 Cary told me that they all died after the 

 first cold weather. Their honey was 

 stored in waxen pots shaped like the 

 half of an egg, and entirely separated 

 from their brood combs. Retreating, 

 on the approach of cold weather, to 

 their brood combs,they starved to death. 

 Even with honey stored in brood combs, 

 we find it often difficult in very cold 

 weather, to save our bees ; how utterly 

 impossible would it be to do it, if the 

 honey stores were outside of the brood 

 combs where the bees must cluster for 

 warmth ? 



Mr. Newton, when Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, had a colony of stingless 

 bees placed in the botanical garden at 

 Washington. The late Samuel Wagner 

 and myself examined these bees, or 

 rather saw them flying in and out of the 



hollow log in which they were brought 

 from South America. This colony also 

 died as soon as the weather became 

 cold. 



I believe that Mr. Hawley would be 

 as successful in raising oranges and ba- 

 nanas in the open air where the mercu- 

 ry sinks below zero, as in rearing these 

 bees anywhere in the U. S., Southern 

 Florida perhaps, excepted. 



One word more : — " These bees," I 

 quote from Mr. Hawley's circular, "are 

 indigenous to Brazil, south of the equa- 

 tor, inhabiting a climate similar to that 

 of Italy, and with surroundings very 

 like those of that country." Does Mr. 

 Hawley suppose that in Italy, no part 

 of which is exempt from occasional 

 frosts and snows, the climate is similar 

 to that of Brazil ? 



If Mr. Hawley will refer to the back 

 volumes of the Bee Journal, he will 

 find that before the Italian bees were 

 carried to Brazil, the honey interest 

 there was of small account. The Ger- 

 man who carried that bee there, and 

 who, by disseminating it among the na- 

 tives, after showing what could be done 

 with it, seems to have had no fear or 

 reverence for any or all of the 18 varie- 

 ties of Brazilian bees described by Mr. 

 Hawley. And yet he does not seem to 

 have crrried coals to Newcastle. 



I will close by referring to an extract 

 from vol 5, of the Bee Journal, p. 179, 

 " Bees in Yucatan," which was printed 

 on page 5, of the Journal for this year. 



Oxford, O., Feb. 21,1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Perforated Zinc to Confine Queens. 



CHAS. DADANT. 



At the National Convention in Cin- 

 cinnati, Mr. Jones announced that he 

 had made an important discovery. This 

 discovery consists in a sheet of perfo- 

 rated zinc, to prevent the queen from 

 laying in the upper story, or in part of 

 the combs, as well as to hinder the bees 

 from swarming, by preventing queens 

 from going out of the hives. 



This device was described by its first 

 inventor, Mr. Collin, 16 years ago, in a 

 French book entitled, Guide du Proprie- 

 taire d'Abeilles, 1865. I find it also in 

 the French bee journal, VApiculteur, 

 for March, 1866, with engravings, Per- 

 forated zinc sheets are advertised in two 

 French bee journals, and by G. Neigh- 

 bour & Sons, in every number of the 

 British Bee Journal. 



Although knowing this device for 16 

 years, I have not presented it to the 

 American bee-keepers, because I con- 

 sider it as a poor way of preventing 

 queens from laying in the combs des- 

 tined for the table ; for there is more 

 loss of time, for the bees, to cross the 

 perforated zinc, than profit in prevent- 

 ing the queens from soiling a few cells 

 with brood. 



As to the prevention of bees from 

 swarming, the final result, obtained by 

 the use of this implement, would be the 

 killing of the queen by her own bees. 



Several years ago the lamented Mr. 

 Quinby had invented a queen-yard, to 

 prevent swarming. The queen, who 

 had her wings clipped, was hindered 

 from following the swarm by bands of 

 tin, which were nailed all around the 

 yard, and the bees were compelled to 

 return to the hive. 



I tried this device on 14 of my colo- 

 nies. In 3 hives I saw the queens at- 

 tempting in vain to follow the swarms, 

 while some angry bees pinched them, as 

 they do the drones when they want to 

 get rid of them. The colony which had 

 tried swarming first, killed its queen at 

 the third attempt at swarming. 



As I saw both of the others continue 

 their attempts, with the same violence 

 towards their queens, which they would 

 have killed also, I hastened to satisfy 

 them, by making swarms; then took 

 out all the other bee-yards, never to use 

 them again. 



Of course, the same results would fol- 

 low the use of these perforated sheets, 

 I therefore advise all the bee papers to 

 copy the above article for the benefit of 

 their subscribers ; for the opinion of a 

 man so well known as Mr. Jones, would 

 lead a great many of them to try this 

 obnoxious device, and reap loss and dis- 

 appointment. 



Hamilton, Feb. 7, 1881. 



