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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 16, 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN. 



Editor and Proprietor, 



CHICAGO, ILL., MAB. 16, 1881. 



Watchman! Tell us of the Night. 



Can you not recommend some reliable 

 prophet, who will prophesy good weath- 

 er soon ? The storm is terrible ; not a 

 road in the county is passable for half a 

 mile ; the drifts are as high as the fen- 

 ces, and the snow full three feet on the 

 level. 



Bees are getting uneasy, and must 

 have a flight soon. Many report heavy 

 losses, even now ; others complain that 

 all are sick with dysentery. In my home 

 cellar, out of about 275, 4 are slightly 

 affected, the baiance are apparently in 

 good condition. My outside apiaries 

 fare worse. Two weeks ago quite a 

 number had the dysentery slightly, I 

 should judge about 8 or 10 per cent. 

 How they now are I cannot tell ; cer- 

 tainly, no better. I believe that they 

 can stand it a month longer, and my 

 home apiary 6 weeks, but that is the 

 limit. 



We are all afraid that Vennor's proph- 

 ecy of 11 feet of snow will yet be real- 

 ized, unless some one can be found to 

 contradict it. Eleven feet of snow now 

 would last us until all our bees had died 

 a natural death from old age. Help us 

 out of our trouble, if you can. 



Geo. Grimm. 



Jefferson, Wis., March 3, 1881. 



It was with much pleasure we noticed, 

 in last Thursday's Associated Press dis- 

 patches, evidences of Prof. Vennor's 

 reformation. He undoubtedly has be- 

 come convinced that the realization of 

 the eleven feet of snow attributed to 

 his prophecies, would not only cause 

 much suffering and privation with the 

 majority of humanity, but work serious 

 and permanent injury to the country 

 itself. He has relented, or probably 

 been bribed by Mr. McColm's liberal 

 offer in the Bee Journal of March 2, 

 page 69, and now promises us better 

 weather in the future. His latest pre- 

 diction is a reasonably early, warm, dry 

 spring, cool, pleasant summer, and late, 

 dry fall, followed by a mild and pleas- 

 ant winter. Of course, he promises 

 abundant crops, and a satisfactory and 

 remunerative harvest. 



But without any further reference to 

 Prof. Vennor, and without laying any 

 claim to the " spirit of prophecy," we 

 believe the coming season will be a very 

 satisfactory one to those bee-keepers 

 who may be prepared to profit by it, and 

 who have the industry and intelligence 

 to make the most of it. The winter of 

 1879-80 was very mild and open, the 

 scarcity of snow left the earth's surface 

 exposed alike to the freezing tempera- 

 ture of night, and the pleasant sunshine 

 of the balmy days ; spring-like showers 

 were of frequent occurrence, and heavy 

 rains accompanied with thunder were 

 so numerous that they ceased to create 

 surprise ; while the weird spring-music 

 of the frogs was a familiar sound every 

 month, and nearly every week, through- 

 out the winter. The alternating cold 

 and heat " threw out" the roots of the 

 perennial plants, breaking off the long, 

 deep-reaching taps and killing the root- 

 lets ; hence the frequent expression, 

 " but little white clover in bloom, and 

 no honey in the blossoms." The honey- 

 producing annuals done but little bet- 

 ter, owing, we presume, to the germi- 



nation of the seeds in mid-winter, and 

 the frequent frosting of the tender 

 sprouts before spring set in. Thus, the 

 summer and fall bloom was limited, and 

 no provision having been made to sup- 

 ply the short-comings of nature, bees 

 entered upon an unprecedented winter 

 with a poor supply of good— or a good 

 supply of poor— honey . The many empty 

 hives in the country this spring is the 

 result. 



The past winter, whatever else may 

 be said of it, has been propitious for the 

 honey plants. Cool weather in this lat- 

 itude set in during October ; vegetation 

 was checked in the perennials and bi- 

 ennials ; the ground was frozen in No- 

 vember, and it was overspread with a 

 mantle of snow quite early in the sea- 

 son, which has constantly held the roots 

 of the perennials in position, and pre- 

 vented the seeds of the annuals from 

 unseasonable germination. The stand 

 of white clover last fall was good, and 

 mostly of quite recent growth, which 

 should bloom profusely this season, and 

 will only need heat and favorable sun- 

 shine to develop the nectar. The causes 

 enumerated will also tend to confine the 

 vitality of the linden trees to the roots, 

 to be drawn out in profuse foliage and 

 bloom by the genial rays of the summer 

 sun. The numerous variety of flowers 

 we believe will gratify the eye of every 

 lover of the beautiful in nature, and 

 well reward the labors of the painstaking 

 bee-keeper. That the price of honey 

 will be remunerative next fall no one 

 can doubt, in view of the lessened com- 

 petition, owing to the heavy losses the 

 past winter and the many who will 

 utilize the bees they have left to refilling 

 their empty hives. 



It would take more space than we can 

 give a single article, to explain why we 

 have much confidence in Prof. Vennor's 

 latest prediction, referred to above- 

 though perhaps " the wish is father to 

 the thought." We feel confident many 

 of our readers will cordially unite with 

 us in welcoming the better time coming. 



Migratory Bee-Keeping. 



Why do not the enterprising bee- 

 keepers of these parts go South with 

 their bees, and wait till the March 

 " blizzards ' areover ? Seems to me the 

 bees and honey saved would about pay 

 the expenses of the trip. How much 

 does a colony need in those parts to win- 

 ter on ? Would there be any prospect 

 of obtaining any surplus down there 

 before the season opens here ? These 

 and a dozen other questions I am vainly 

 speculating upon. Are Messrs. Bing- 

 ham and Perrine the only ones that 

 have tried the migratory plan. I be- 

 lieve neither of them was successful ; 

 at any rate, they have abandoned it. 

 Probably they could not give it the nec- 

 essary attention. The loss of larvas in 

 shipping seems but trifling compared to 

 the gain in young bees. Considerable 

 damage may be done by combs breaking 

 down, but wired frames would obviate 

 that difficulty. Is not wired foundation 

 (wired in frames) the only kind that can 

 be depended on under all circumstan- 

 ces ? You report in the October num- 

 ber, 1880, page 468, that the Northwest- 

 ern Convention disapproved of wired 

 foundation. There were but few pres- 

 ent that had given wired foundation a 

 fair trial, and if I am not mistaken, 

 they were strongly in favor of it. 



H. W. Punk. 



Bloomington, 111., March 5, 1881. 



The first question is difficult to an- 

 swer, as enterprising bee-keepers, like 

 the balance of humanity, are generally 

 governed by motives of convenience 

 or profit. There are very few but have 

 other business connected with bee-keep 



ing, and this would suffer if close atten- 

 tion was given the migratory system. 

 The amount of honey required to win- 

 ter in the South is much less than in the 

 North, but the quantity is governed by 

 contingencies, as would be the question, 

 How much honey will a colony obtain 

 in the South in a season ? Usually bees 

 obtain considerable surplus in April and 

 May, in some localities. Mr. Bingham, 

 we believe, abandoned the migratory 

 system on account of excessive freights, 

 while Mr. Perrine met with a series of 

 disasters from the first which would 

 have discouraged any one. Mr. W. O. 

 Abbott was engaged last season with a 

 floating apiary on the Mississippi river, 

 from which large returns were antici- 

 pated ; but as nothing definite has been 

 made public since the close of the sea- 

 son, we suppose it was not a success. 

 Others have tried Southern wintering, 

 but we have no data upon which to base 

 conclusions, except the fact of its aban- 

 donment. The trouble has not been 

 so much from destruction of combs, as 

 the expense attending the removal. 



A private letter from a gentleman 

 with several hundred colonies of bees, 

 located a short distance below Memphis, 

 Tenn., dated March 5, says : " My colo- 

 nies are mostly very strong ; they are 

 bringing in 5 kinds of pollen ; many are 

 clustering in front of their hives ; most 

 of them had large quantities of honey 

 leftover, and I could extract an average 

 of 15 lbs. per colony with profit to the 

 bees. Bees here are given no attention 

 in the fall, but are left on the summer 

 stands, sometimes with the second story 

 over them, and often with only a honey- 

 board. Frequently there are entrances 

 at front and rear, and wide cracks in the 

 sides from which bees pour out, but dis- 

 aster never overtakes them except from 

 starvation." 



If a necessity exists for wires in foun- 

 dation, then perhaps the wired frames 

 are best. That but few of those in at- 

 tendance at the Northwestern Conven- 

 tion " had given wired foundation a fail- 

 trial," was undoubtedly owing to the 

 fact that the great majority of those 

 present had never experienced the neces- 

 sity for using wires; and it might be 

 difficult to convince a considerable mi- 

 nority of the bee-keepers in the country 

 that wired foundation is even desirable 

 for general use. Of course, for special 

 purposes, such as migratory bee-keep- 

 ing, shipping in summer, etc., where 

 not to be transferred from the frames, 

 wired-frames might be very desirable. 



are in the trunk of course, and are very 

 small. I have obtained three hives only 

 of the small bees, having also spent 

 some time fixing up the bees I brought 

 with me, and trying to find the large 

 bees, to say nothing of searching for 

 some place where bees could be pur- 

 chased in hives or pots. The natives 

 are far worse than Cypriotes to get along 

 with and accomplish anything. They 

 seem to tell lies simply for the sake of 

 giving an answer, where no pecuniary 

 gain could come to them. Again, they 

 seem to wish to avoid saying " I do not 

 know," when the Lord knows it would 

 be the most appropriate thing for them 

 to say in ninety-nine cases out of a hun- 

 dred. The result is that it is hard work 

 to sift the statements made by the na- 

 tives, and Europeans — nearly all Eng- 

 lish—know absolutely nothing of value 

 to us. 



The new bees, which I think are also 

 found in India and many of the East 

 India Islands (in which case East India 

 bees would seem to me an appropriate 

 name), are real beauties. The workers 

 are y & of an inch long, and build worker 

 comb % of an inch thick, 36 cells to the 

 square inch. The drone comb is exactly 

 the size, and like workercomb made by 

 the bees already in Europe and Ameri- 

 ca. The workers are brown with a very 

 ringed abdomen, the bands to the tip of 

 the body being broadly marked with 

 yellow, and thorax very fuzzy, with a 

 large shield between the wings ; the 

 drones are black, inclining to a blue- 

 black, and are V.i of an inch long ; the 

 queens are leather-colored, and large 

 compared with the workers. These bees 

 are very active, wonderful breeders, reg- 

 ular little beauties, and can be handled 

 without the least smoke, scarcely ever 

 offering to sting. It is a pity I cannot 

 get more of them during my stay. 



I am determined to find out whether 

 Apis dorsata is to be found here, if time 

 will permit, and if two more races I 

 have heard of here really do exist. I 

 am nowwlrerea few shillings of railway 

 fare will bring me to the interior of the 

 Island. More by next mail, with sam- 

 ples of bees and comb. 



1 have had a horrible time getting 

 stung with large hornets while in the 

 jungles. It laid me up for one whole 

 day. These are fearful fellows, worse 

 than those in Cyprus. F. Benton. 



Colombo, Ceylon, Jan. 24, 1881. 



Interesting Letter from Ceylon. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. D. A. 

 Jones, we are permitted to publish the 

 following letter. Anything relating to 

 the peregrinations of Mr. Benton in the 

 far East, and any discoveries of new 

 races of bees he may effect, will possess 

 a great attraction for our readers. His 

 next letter, from Singapore, will be 

 awaited with interest. 



I found on examination that every 

 queen was alive upon my arrival in 

 Pointe de Galle, though some of the 

 nuclei were greatly depopulated, owing 

 to the death of many bees, and would 

 not have lived to reach Java had I not 

 gotten off in Ceylon. By the nextsteam- 

 er I go to Singapore. I have made 

 every effort to secure bees here, but 

 none are kept in hives in those ports I 

 have visited", and I do not think in any 

 port of the Island. 



Of those found in trees few can be se- 

 cured, because the trees are valuable 

 cocoanut palms, and the entrance holes 



$&" There are five Wednesdays in 

 March — hence, the next number sent to 

 Semi-Monthly subscribers will be No. 14. 



g"We can supply but a few more of 

 the back numbers to new subscribers. 

 If any want them , they must be sent for 

 soon. 



. — i m »~* 



t^" One letter sometimes makes quite 

 a difference in the meaning of a sen- 

 tence. Mr. L. James calls attention to 

 an error in his article on page 34, in the 

 4th line from the bottom— the word 

 hiving is there given as " hiding." As 

 the sense indicated the word required, 

 perhaps it was not generally noticed. 



t^ The past week has been noted for 

 snow storms, not only in America but 

 also in Europe, where a winter of unu- 

 sual severity is reported, with deep 

 snows and steady frosts for months to- 

 gether. This winter will have a place 

 in history, as being among the most se- 

 vere as well as of the longest duration. 

 Not alone have the bees suffered by it, 

 but cattle, sheep, hogs, etc., have per- 

 ished by the thousand from the preva- 

 lence of blizzards and deep snows. 



i®" Several bee-keepers in this vicin- 

 ity are considering the feasability of 

 holding a convention in Detroit this 

 spring. The law in regard to foul 

 brood, which is about to be passed, 

 makes an organization necessary. It is 

 desirable to know how many would fa- 

 vor the enterprise. Will such please 

 send me their address. A. B. Weed. 



No. 75 Bagg street, Detroit, Mich. 



