114 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 13, 



bleaching. The honey is stored in clus- 

 ters of cups, about the size of pigeons' 

 eggs, at the bottom of the hive ami al- 

 ways from the brood cells. The brood 

 cells are hexagonal ; they are not deep, 

 and the young ones when ready to burst 

 from their casement, just Oil the whole 

 cavity. The mother bee is lighter in 

 color than the other bee, and elongated 

 at the abdomen to double their length." 

 Smith also states that the female of 

 this genus has the abdomen greatly 

 distended, reminding one of the gravid 

 female of the white ant. 



The Meliponas were known to Iluber, 

 who experimented with them and made 

 drawings of their cells. 



From the above it will be noticed 

 that the proposition to send queens to 

 the members of the" Stingless Bee As- 

 sociation of America," that should the 

 valuable queens arrive safely, they 

 would certainly be somewhat like the 

 negro's banjo without strings. They 

 could not be introduced in with our 

 common hive bee any more than you 

 could a bumble bee into a hornet's nest, 

 and besides, if the bees were sent in full 

 colonies the honey, as Mr. Langstroth 

 suggests, would be so far from the 

 brood nest that they never could reach 

 it ; and were this not the case we never 

 could make the management of them 

 anything like successful or satisfactory; 

 and while right here let me quote an 

 article from the British Bee Journal on 

 the subject of 'lrigonas, referred to by 

 a correspondent of the Guide : " Al- 

 though Trigonas cannot sting, an apia- 

 rist would be compelled to beat a hasty 

 retreat if he sould attempt to meddle 

 with their nest." (Hives you see are 

 dispensed with). "For such an offense 

 the little fellows will make a terrible 

 attack on any person, and in an instant 

 the hair and clothes of the attacking 

 party are filled with an offensive squeak- 

 ing. They cut off his hair." The corres- 

 pondent further remarks that, " this 

 thing might be tolerated by lady apia- 

 rists that possess an extra "switch or 

 two. but for those who can hardly af- 

 ford a wig at all, it would be a little ex- 

 pensive unless the price of wigs should 

 decline. Perhaps the importation of 

 this variety of bees might prove a great 

 aid to the barbers, to help them in 

 ' peeling.' As these bees do not use 

 wax, but mud or resin, a new industry j 

 might arise in connection with the man- 

 ufacturing of tile, viz : the making of 

 honey cells for the said Trigonas to fill 

 with honey." 



Kingston, Tex., March 11, 1881. 



(or glucose as I suppose it to be) before 

 me. I recognize in it an article that if 

 mixed with honey, would not in all 

 probability offer any impediment to the 

 hardening process in pure honey. A 

 trial of the mixture of the stuff with 

 honey would alone be the true test as to 

 this point. Heretofore I have recog- 

 nized in the above, standard a correct 

 test of purity in honey ; but this stuff 

 sold at a high price as the best silver 

 drips, or some other kind of drips, 

 causes me to call in question our reliance 

 on the above test as an infallible one. 



I send by express a sample of this 

 syrup for your inspection, and if it is 

 not exposed to sufficient warmth to 

 liquify it, I think you will agree with 

 me that it will require a good eye and 

 an expert to detect the adulteration. 



Atlanta, 111., March 3, 1881. 



|The sample received is quite nausea- 

 ting in smell, but in skillful bands could 

 be manipulated with honey to a degree 

 of perfection well calculated to deceive 

 any but an expert. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Side-Storing for Surplus Honey. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Have we a Reliable Test for Honey ? 



L. JAMES. 



About a year since I purchased a 

 quart of glucose syrup, knowing it to be 

 such, to try it, for household use. As 

 we did not like it, the fruit-jar contain- 

 ing it was set on a shelf in the pantry 

 exposed to a bright light, yet not to the 

 direct rays of the sun. Sometime dur- 

 ing the past winter I had occasion to use 

 some extracted honey, and going to the 

 pantry to get it I mistook the jar con- 

 taining the syrup for candied honey ; 

 but on attempting to get it from the jar, 

 a waxy or taffy-like adhesiveness quite 

 different from that of honey in a like 

 condition excited my surprise at its ad- 

 hesiveness, and to settle the question 

 I was induced to appeal to the sense of 

 taste to assist in deciding the matter. 

 This did not recognize it as honey, and 

 upon inspection the eye readily detected 

 the lack of granulation noticeable in 

 honey, but in its place a waxy or salve- 

 like appearance. When purchased it 

 was of a beautiful color and rather pleas- 

 ant taste, but now, after having assumed 

 a taffy-like appearance, it has lost its 

 pleasant taste and assumed one quite 

 different with apparently little sweet in 

 it, as if it stood in need of honey or 

 sugar to help it go down. 



Having read the proceedings of the 

 Northeastern Convention, on page 70 of 

 the Bee Journal,, current volume, I 

 find that body adopted Mr. Root's reso- 

 lution, that all liquid honey will granu- 

 late, candy, or become hard at the ap- 

 proach of cold weather, and that this 

 quality is a sure indication of its purity, 

 etc. Having this sample of corn syrup 



As intimated in the last number of 

 the Bee Journal, I will resume my 

 friendly talk with Mr. Heddon. He 

 says in the Weekly Bee Journal, on 

 page 33, Feb. 2d : " To me, an argument 

 in favor of side-storing is an admission 

 that the shape or construction of the 

 hive of the advocate is faulty." 1 take 

 it he cannot mean exclusive side-stor- 

 ing, for I know of no such hive, or any 

 person advocating such a hive. From 

 the expression, " I prefer a top-storing 

 hive exclusively." I understand that he 

 means that " an argument in favor of a 

 hive which admits of both side and top 

 boxes, like Quinby's, Betsinger's, Doo- 

 little's, etc., is an admission that the 

 shape or construction is faulty." If I 

 am correct, Mr. Heddon uses the "tier- 

 ing-up" plan in working for box honey ; 

 i. e., as soon as the first set of boxes are 

 two-thirds full, they are raised up so as 

 to take a second set between those partly 

 filled and the brood chamber below. I 

 hardly think he would recommend but 

 a single tier of sections on top of each 

 hive, for in such a case a strong colony 

 of bees would not have room enough to 

 work to advantage. 



Well, I do not know that I can prove 

 to him that he is making a great mis- 

 take in using and advocating "top- 

 storing exclusively " in any better way 

 than to give my experience, ami the 

 causes which led me to believe right 

 contrary to what he does. The year 

 1870 was the first really good honey 

 season that we enjoyed after commenc- 

 ing bee-keeping. At that time we used 

 the Langstroth frame and practiced the 

 tiering-up process. At the end of the 

 season we found we had taken from our 

 best colony in the apiary, 140 lbs. of box 

 honey. This I thought a large yield, 

 till I found that Mr. Betsinger had gone 

 considerably ahead of it with side-stor- 

 ing hives. " Two poorish seasons fol- 

 lowed, during which Mr. B. nearly 

 doubled us in quantity of honey per 

 colony, and in 187.'! we made a few side- 

 storing hives to test the matter. Al- 

 though we found we had over-reached 

 the mark by putting too many boxes at 

 the sides, still we could see an advantage 

 in favor of side and top-storing com- 

 bined, for the reason that our bees would 

 build comb much faster at the side than 

 on top, while they would store honey 

 much more rapidly on top than at the 

 sides. Thus we were not slow to learn 

 that if we wished to secure a good yield 

 from our bees, we were to raise the sec- 

 tions built full of combs (or nearly sol 

 at the sides, to the top, as fast as full 

 boxes of honey were taken from the 

 top, and placing our empty sections at 

 the sides every time. Thus we worked 

 till 1877, using top and side-storing com- 

 bined, and the tiering up process, about 

 equally. At the close of the season of 

 1877, we found that 1*5 lbs. was the best 

 done by any of our colonies which had 

 been worked on the tiering-up plan, 

 while of those worked on theside-storing 

 we found that three, collectively had 

 given us the large amount of 890 lbs.— 



one producing 309, another 301, and the 

 third 286, while our whole lot of side- 

 storing hives gave an average of over 

 200 lbs. each. This was a clincher in fa- 

 vor of side-storing, and. in his lan- 

 guage on page 66 of the Weekly Bee 

 Journal, ■■ I was not prejudiced in its 

 favor because I adopted it,"' but " I 

 adopted it because I was prejudiced in 

 its favor," and to-day all tienng-up ap- 

 pliances are out of date in our apiary. 

 Candidly, did Mr. Heddon ever, with- 

 out partiality, try the combined plan of 

 side and top-storing '( If he has, I can 

 but wonder at his words first quoted in 

 this article. If not, they show his ex- 

 pression was a little premature. 



I see Mr. Heddon has adopted 8 Lang- 

 stroth frames as his standard as regards 

 the number that should be used in a 

 hive. We have adopted 9 Gallup frames, 

 which is about the same as 7 Langstroth 

 frames, and if I was using the Lang- 

 stroth hive, 7 frames would be all that 

 I would use, for this reason : If we wish 

 to make a success of producing box 

 honey, the frames in the brood apart- 

 ment must be full of brood (not honey 

 nor empty comb) at the time the honey 

 harvest commences ; if not, the first 

 storing will be done in the space unoc- 

 cupied with brood, instead of the bees 

 going immediately into the boxes, and 

 I have found by experience that if there 

 is room in the brood chamber for the 

 bees to store from 6 to 10 lbs. of the first 

 honey gathered, they are very loth to 

 enter the boxes, thus crowding out the 

 queen with honey, for they will keep 

 crowding her to more or less extent, if 

 such conditions are present, to the end 

 of the harvest. But let them have every 

 available cell full of brood, and the first 

 honey gathered will go into the boxes, 

 thus inciting an ambition to store in the 

 boxes rather than in the brood chamber. 

 I do not wonder that Mr. Porter (see 

 page 73 of the Bee Journal) failed 

 with " Doolittle's plan," as we see he 

 used 10 Langstroth frames. If 10 Lang- 

 stroth frames are used (as a rule) the 

 two outside frames will be filled with 

 honey, and bees will not travel over a 

 sealed frame of honey to go into boxes 

 at the sides while those on top come 

 close to the brood in the center of the 

 hive, at the top of the frames ; but let 

 the brood come as close, to the side boxes 

 as it does to those on top, and our expe- 

 rience is they will enter the side boxes 

 first, unless coaxed into the top boxes 

 with full sections of empty comb, as we 

 always do. 



In 'the next Weekly Bee Journal I 

 will give my experience with separators. 



Borodino, N. Y., March 29, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Discharge of Feces in the Hive. 



A. A. BALDWIN. 



To the question, " Ho bees willingly 

 discharge their feces in the hive i " 

 I say, no ! A number of apiarists claim 

 that during the confinement of winter 

 they discharge their feces in a dry state 

 or form. Now if this is so, they must 

 be endowed with reason to decide 

 whether they are in a perfectly healthy 

 condition or not. Every apiarist knows 

 that bees when affected with dysentery 

 are very loth to discharge their excre- 

 ment in the hive, choosing, rather, to 

 leave the hive, even amid the piercing 

 winds of winter. We have many dem- 

 onstrations of this fact in almost every 

 apiary after this long cold winter. We 

 li i id some colonies quite badly distended 

 as they come out for their first flight, 

 but on looking into the hive find the 

 combs clean. Now if it was natural for 

 them to discharge their feces in their 

 hit es we should not have a clean hive 

 or comb after such a long confinement 

 as they have had in many sections of 

 the country this winter. It is evident 

 that cold and moisture are the two main 

 causes of dysentery among bees; too 

 much dampness, either in their food or 

 in the atmosphere which surrounds 

 them. My experience is that bees will 

 endure a confinement of 5 months or 

 longer and come out in good condition 

 if all things are favorable. I had my 

 bees in the cellar one winter, 5 months 

 and 8 days, and they came out in good 

 condition and did well the next season. 

 Let us talk up the subject of absorbents. 

 Sherman, N. Y., April 6, 1881. 



North-Eastern Wisconsin. 



At the North-Eastern Wisconsin 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, held at Osh- 

 kosh. the following topics were dis- 

 cussed : 



Different Races of Bees. 



Mr. Winslow. I decidedly prefer Ital- 

 ian bees, the purer the better. 



Mr. Potter. I prefer Italian bees, de- 

 cidedly ; they protect themselves much 

 better. I have 180 colonies and got 

 1,500 lbs. surplus. 



G. S. Church. I have only black bees ; 

 I have kept them for 20 years. 



Geo. T. Sanford. I found less difficulty 

 in wintering black bees. 



M. A. Gill. I have no choice as to race, 

 but consider as superior those of any 

 race that are vigorous and have ragged 

 wings, which denote hardiness and 

 longevity and that bear their loads to- 

 the hive entrance without lagging. 



Conrad Dippel. I certainly prefer 

 Italian bees on account of gentleness. 



C. Grimm. I keep black, Italian and 

 hybrid bees. 



Jacob Childs. My 20 years experience 

 gives preference to Italian bees. On a 

 scale of 7 they mark 7 on swarming ; 6 

 for docility and gentleness, and for 

 beauty. 



John Dickinson. I have had no ex- 

 perience with black bees. Hybrids be- 

 gin work more readily in sections, the 

 leather-colored Italians coming next. 

 As to industry and general working 

 qualities, Italians have given proof of 

 their superiority. Hybrids come out 

 stronger in the spring and get through 

 a cold winter better, but Italian bees 

 build up more rapidly. 



Best Method of Wintering Bees. 



John Hodgson. I tried different ways 

 each year for 8 years and decided the 

 cellar the best. It should be built on a 

 side hill and kept at a temperature of 

 35 with a pipe to carry off foul air. 



Mr. Potter. I favor the cellar. I 

 have tried chaff hives and have lost all. 

 I have 90 colonies in a room 14x22 : have 

 no trouble with mice ; put chaff over 

 the hives. 



Fred Badger. I have wintered bees 

 in Iowa, never here till now. My bees 

 are now standing out and in good con- 

 dition. I use chaff boxes inches deep 

 over the frames. 



Mr. Potter. Bees will stand temper- 

 ature at 45 and live. 



Fred Brooks. My brother found a 

 bee-tree a week ago and found the bees 

 very lively. 



Mr. Winslow. I keep my bees en- 

 tirely on summer stands packed in 

 wheat chaff and burlaps. I have had 

 unsatisfactory experience with cellars. 



L. Fatzinger. My bees invariably 

 succeed best in the cellar. 



D. Abott. After various experiences 

 I prefer the cellar, with a temperature 

 0185 to 40 , with ventilation from with- 

 out and up. 



Jacob Childs. I never tried anything 

 except out-door wintering packed in 

 chaff— oat, wheat and buckwheat — 

 with equal success. 



Christopher Grimm. I favor cellar 

 wintering. 



Conrad Dippel. I favor chaff hives 

 on summer stands. 



Geo. T. Sanford. I favor chaff hives. 



M. A. Gill. 1 maintain that north of 

 parallel 40, a cellar if perfectly pure and 

 dry, and all light excluded, is preferable. 



John Dickinson. I winter % in the 

 cellar and H out-doors packed in pine 

 sawdust or chaff. Those out-doors are 

 placed with backs to a terraced wall 

 and covered with factory cloth and 

 straw and old hay. In this way they 

 winter rather better than in the cellar. 



C. J. Henniugs. The best method of 

 wintering bees is to bury them. 



Is Upward Ventilation Necessary in Winterl 

 Mr. Potter. I uee upward ventilation. 

 C. J. Hennings. Give them ventila- 

 tion at one end on the lower part and at 

 the other end upwards. 



M. A. Gill. In cellars upward ven- 

 tilation more than a quilt would give is 



