1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



165 



Boos and Honey Producing Bloom.— 

 At a recent meeting of the Torrey Bo- 

 tanical Club Mr. Thomas Mehan, in a 

 note in the Bulletin, of the Torrej Bo 

 tanical Club, says : 



I find that the behavior of bees is 

 governed by circumstances. When 

 flowers are abundant they Visit those 

 only which they prefer; at oilier times 

 they examine anything that comes in 

 their way. At the time I am writing, 

 (May IS) there is a dearth of garden 

 flowers. Those of early spring are gone, 

 anil the later ones are nut well formed. 

 But columbines in many species are in 

 bloom. The humble bee bores the end 

 Of the nectaries and sucks the honey 

 stored there, and the honey bee follows 

 and sucks from the same hole what may 

 be left, or what may lie afterwards gen- 

 erated from the honey gland. I have 

 often watched closely to learn whether 

 the honey bee bored for honey. Its 

 quick motions are unfavorable to cor- 

 rect observation. 1 thought 1 once 

 caught it boring lilac flowers, but I af- 

 terwards counted all the flowers that 

 had been bored by the humble bee, and 

 then watched tlie work of the honey 

 bee on the cluster, and there were no 

 more bored afterwards than before. 

 The columbines (i/i/m'ta/iVr). with curved 

 nectaries, such as A. Vulgaris and A. 

 Olimpica, are very favorable for obser- 

 vation, as the slit is made on the upper 

 side of the curve and the honey bee 

 can easily be seen following after the 

 crumbs that may have been left on the 

 strong one's table. I have no doubt, 

 however, that it would bore for itself if 

 it had the power, and perhaps it some- 

 times does. The humble bee and the 

 honey bee are evidently not the insects 

 for which the columbine had this beau- 

 tifully contrived nectar cup provided, 

 to induce cross fertilization ; and what 

 particular insect was designed to be 

 the favored one, so that it, and no 

 other, could turn its tongue around 

 those twisted spurs to get at the honey 

 in the end, I think no student has yet 

 discovered. 



Empty Combs and Moth Worms. — In 

 the Prairie Farmer, Mrs. L. Harrison 



says : 



The warm weather of this month is 

 promoting the hatching of moth larva' 

 (Gidleria Cereana) in unoccupied comb. 

 The eggs of the bee moth are very 

 small and white. As soon as they hatch, 

 to protect themselves from the bees they 

 wrap themselves in a silken tube, which 

 they have power to spin. They remain 

 in this tunnel of silk during all their 

 growth, enlarging it as they eat. By 

 looking closely the presence of these 

 larva' may be known by this robe of 

 glittering silk along the surface of 

 comb. 



In 3 or 4 weeks the larva; are full 

 grown, when it spins its cocoon, and is- 

 sues from it in 2 weeks in a moth of 

 the color of old boards. In an aston- 

 ishing short time these worms will de- 

 stroy the comb in a hive. Their anat- 

 omy is very different from ours, for 

 they can digest comb and it makes 

 them plump and fat. These worms 

 breed in weak colonies, and those that 

 are queenless, but we know from expe- 

 rience that a teacupful of Italians will 

 protect all the combs in a hive from 

 their inroads. We have inserted a 

 comb, badly infested with worms, into 

 a strong colony of Italians, and in an 

 incredibly short time they carried out 

 the worms. 



Some apiarists claim that freezing 

 will destroy these insects in all stages. 

 It was certainly cold enough the past 

 winter in the open air for the experi- 

 ment, and we find plenty hatching in 

 unoccupied comb thus wintered, at the 

 present writing— May 11. These in- 

 sects are great cowards, and love 

 warmth and darkness, and we have ob- 

 served that when combs touch they are 

 ■more likely to be infested than when 

 hung separately. If unoccupied frames 

 of comb are hung up in a light, airy 

 room, 2 inches apart, they will keep 

 free from worms until needed. All 

 combs in hives without bees, should be 

 fumigated. We do this by lighting our 

 smoker, and when it is burning sprin- 

 kle on sulphur and set it in a hive. 



^t£^^g^^ 



Si^&E 



Pollen in the Combs.— My report for 

 this year is, 1 lost in wintering 33 colo- 

 nies ; are rather light. I usually have 

 success in wintering my bees. Mr. II. 

 L. Jeffrey, on pages 1411-7 of the Bee 

 Journal, has hit the nail on the head 

 about pollen in the combs for wintering; 

 but I would put it in, in April. I have 

 experimented in feeding in winter 

 largely, and I like it ; it may be the way 

 out of our difficulties in these hard 

 winters. J. L. Davis. 



Holt, Mich., May 14, 1881. 



The Frame for Winter.— Bee-keeping 



is dreadfully set back here ; box alder 

 is in bloom, but not one bud where 

 thousands might have been seen last 

 year. My bees are all nice and busy. 

 One colony shut up out-of-doors from 

 Nov. 1, to April 15, came out to-day, 

 healthy and in a normal condition. I 

 see no reason for changing my method 

 of wintering, except that I would rec- 

 ommend 30 lbs. of honey instead of 25. 

 One point will eventually come out 

 fully and that is that bees must have a 

 frame long enough and deep enough for 

 the cluster to travel on all winter, with- 

 out changing from side to side. Break- 

 ing cluster in winter, especially if pol- 

 len is plenty in the combs, always pro- 

 duces excitement, followed by dysen- 

 tery, unless the cluster is broken by a 

 cleansing flight. I have repeatedly 

 seen the bees, after having exhausted 

 the stores in a few frames, prepare to 

 break and change, and I have noted 

 the results. A frame for wintering that 

 is shorter than the Langstroth is a mis- 

 take ; I prefer them a little longer and 

 nearly 3 inches deeper. Consumption 

 of honey with me was light in 1S73 

 (commencement of my experiments in 

 wintering) till the winter just ended, 

 which has simply been enormous. I 

 have to feed. I am not discomlitted by 

 Prof. Cook's report ; there will be an 

 outcome to that yet. One point I have 

 fully proven, at least to my satisfaction, 

 that is, that bees may remain shut up 

 on pure honey, free from pollen, from 

 Nov. 1 to April 15 without dysentery, 

 and with trifling loss of bees from the 

 colony. I have tested this the last 6 

 winters by trial of one colony each 

 winter. J. M. Shuck. 



Des Moines, Iowa, April 29, 1881. 



The Opinion Prevailed.— In the Jour- 

 nal of May 18, in the report of the East- 

 ern Michigan Convention this sentence 

 occurs: "All agreed that further im- 

 portation was undesirable. " It should 

 be : "'the opinion prevailed that further 

 importion is undesirable. " The opin- 

 ion was not unanimous, but seemed to 

 be held by a majority of those present, 

 as now published the minority are mis- 

 represented. A. B. Weed, Sec. 



Detroit, Mich., May 20, 1881. 



friend living 100 miles away has a small 

 one. I gave my plan of taking comb 

 honey last season. I send you a sam- 

 ple by mail of red clover honey, of 

 which I took a very large surplus in 

 June, before basswood, last year. My 

 bees are in excellent condition ; they 

 began carrying in pollen April 15. and 

 to-day they just roll in witli the little 

 yellow balls. I never saw so much 

 brood at this season of the year, and 

 considerable new honey is coming in, 1 

 think from maple or willow, both being 

 very plenty at short range. 



E. A. Morgan. 

 Arcadia, Wis., April 20, 1881. 



Those Three-Peck Swarms. — In the 



Weekly Bee Journal of April 20, Mr. 

 C. A. Hatch remarks that he fears some 

 novice may be ruined in trying to ob- 

 tain such results as I reported. His re- 

 marks about basswood are all lost to 

 me ; I never wrote a word about bass- 

 wood, neither do I claim any knowledge 

 of it. That article was written by R. 

 A. Morgan, who lives in the next 

 county and makes a specialty of rearing 

 basswood trees for sale from the seed, 

 and ought to know whereof he writes. 

 Those 3-peck swarms trouble him ; and 

 he gives figures to show how they could 

 not get in the hive. Did he ever see 

 one of his peck swarms contract at the 

 approach of winter into a ball no larger 

 than a child's head ? That enormous 

 yield of honey — 24.5 lbs from the swarm 

 and 185 lbs. from the parent colony — is 

 438 lbs. he says ; reader, figure it. I 

 stated that I took 430 lbs., which sold 

 at 20 cents, and it netted me $80. The 

 fact that I live in a, fertile valley, bor- 

 dered by streams abounding in bass- 

 wood, maples, alder, willows, etc., 

 bounded by high bluffs affording fall 

 flowers late,and have at least 8,000 acres 

 of clover range, makes the statement 

 no less true of my yield, even if our 



The Results of the Winter.— I started 

 into winter with 165 colonies; they were 

 strong, and had plenty of sealed honey. 

 After 5J£ months of steady cold weath- 

 er, I had" but 3 very weak colonies. My 

 bees left 3,000 lbs. of sealed honey of 

 the best quality. A few showed signs 

 of dysentery in the hives, on top of the 

 frames, and many more died before they 

 reached that point. My bees died from 

 extreme cold weather, long-continued. 

 They were not sufficiently well packed 

 on their summer stands. I live on the 

 highest ground in Peru, and there was 

 not one day from Nov. 10 until April 15 

 that was warm enough to open a hive 

 with safety. One of our best bee men, 

 at Granville, wintered his bees in the 

 cellar, and lost25 colonies. Another, at 

 Henry, put into winter quarters 200 col- 

 onies, and saved only 40. One in this 

 city had 40 colonies, but now has none 

 left. Our lady bee-keeper on the prai- 

 rie had 60 colonies, but now has only 2. 

 The less we know about bee-keeping, the 

 more we think we know ; the same is 

 true, however, in all other pursuits in 

 life. Box-hive men fared the best this 

 season. One man saved 2 out of lOcol- 

 onies; another, 2outof 18; another, 6 

 out of 20, with no protection whatever. 

 One man had 3 box hives ; he removed 

 the honey boxes from the top, left the 

 holes open, set an empty hive on each 

 one and saved all. I append a state- 

 ment of my 4 years' work. I had but 1 

 colony in 1876. Commenced in 1877 : 



Bought during 4 years. 04 colonies $218 on 



Material for hives, fixtures, etc 222 40 



$440 40 



Sold honey, hives and bees $300 00 



Pleasure with my bees 134 40 



$440 41) 



On hand 3,000 lbs. honey at loc |3O0 00 



" 30i > hives at $ 1 .50 each 450 00 



" extractor, buzz saw, etc 50 00 



$800 00 

 Also, 1,400 straight combs. 



I admit being somewhat at a loss to 

 know what to do to be. saved, but have 

 concluded to go on, if I have to com- 

 mence with one colony. We are about 

 as badly off as the people in Kansas af- 

 ter they were hoppered. 



H. S. Hackman. 



Peru, 111., May 1, 1881. 



Winter Losses.— My loss is fully 50 

 per cent., and the remainder are very 

 weak. Most of them were packed on 

 the summer stands. I placed potatoes 

 on the honey board of 2 or 3 and found 

 sprouts from 3 to inches in length. 

 Those in cellars lost less bees, but the 

 combs were moldy and mice destroyed 

 3 or 4. A near neighbor had 11 and lost 

 all but 2; another had but 3 left out of 

 13 ; another had 16 and lost 8 ; another 

 9 and lost 5 , another 8 and lost 4. One 

 man claims to have wintered 13 in his 

 chamber without loss ; another put 13 

 in a dry cellar and lost 4 ; another had 

 9 and lost all. Others lost heavily but 

 I have not learned to what extent. 



H. B. Rolf. 



Westfield, N. i r .. May 16, 1881. 



A Boy's Experience. — We have 3 col- 

 onies of bees, 2 blacks and 1 Italian, in 

 good condition ; they have commenced 

 storing honey in the boxes very rapidly 

 from the poplar and black gum. The 

 poplar bloom is very rich, there being 

 now more bloom and honey than bees. 

 I believe the blacks will beat the Ital- 

 ians, at any rate, they are working bet- 

 ter in the boxes. My father says he ex- 

 pects 100 lbs. from each colony ; he says 

 I have the "ABC" book but need the 

 Journal also. I am 13 years old anil 

 don't know much about bees only what 

 I learned from the "A B C " and by 

 watching the bees. A. Deaton. 



Carthage, N. C, May 11, 1881. 



Bees in Canada.— By an observant pe- 

 rusal of a letter in the Bee Journal 

 May 4, page 1 12, one would suppose that 

 Ontario is devastated of its bees ; this 

 is not the case ; those put in good cel- 

 lars, or houses built for storing bees, 

 did not have heavy losses. Mr. M. 

 Emigh, living 6 miles from this town, 

 put into a cellar under a dwelling house, 

 last November, 85 colonies, and took 

 them out April 21 ; 5 colonies starved ; 

 temperature in cellar 40 to 50; and to- 

 day some of them have 8 frames of 

 brood. R. Martin, of this town, put 

 away last fall 8 colonies ; now he has 7. 

 [put into a bee-house 100 colonies on 

 Nov. 4, and into a cellar under a dwell- 

 ing house I put 45 colonies on Nov. 10. 

 I did not remove the Bummer quilts and 

 opened the entrances to the full extent. 

 I put .them out April 15 in splendid 

 condition. Losses to May 1, when I 

 take stock for the year, 13 colonies— 3 

 died with plenty of stores, 2 were 

 robbed after being put on the summer 

 stands, leaving 127 colonies ; 4 of them 

 are weak. My bees were never in a 

 better condition at this season of the 

 year than at present. The temperature 

 in the house was 38° to 52° ; in cellar, 

 40° to 50°, well ventilated. At noon to- 

 day, at time of young bees playing, I 

 saw drones flying. J. B. Hall. 



Woodstock, Out., May 11, 1881. 



No more Black Bees.— I have already 

 reported going into winter quar- 

 ters with 27 colonies (all black but 5), 

 and coming out March 1, with 26, one 

 black colony in an odd sized hive not 

 being supplied with honey from the 

 Italians, lived till the last of February 

 and then died. Moving in March, the 

 condition of the roads forced me to 

 leave my bees seven miles away, till 

 April 26, when I moved them up and 

 found that 2 had deserted for want of 

 honey, and 2 had starved. Two others 

 were so weak that they were united, 1 

 being queenless. Five in all were 

 queenless, but that was a slight loss, as 

 all my Italians were full of bees and 

 brood, and drones were hatching. I 

 took stores from them last fall to keep 

 my blacks alive, and now I have taken 

 brood for my blacks to rear queens and 

 to build them up with. I have been an 

 advocate of black bees, or at least slow 

 and cautious to change, but after this I 

 shall doubt the judgement of any bee- 

 keeper who will have them, if he can 

 get Italians at any price. If I have any 

 on the place hereafter, I shall feel 

 obliged to make some excuse or apol- 

 ogy for there being here. Indications 

 with me are for early and profuse 

 swarming, and I would advise all bee- 

 keepers who desire honey, rather than 

 increase, to be on their guard. Mr. 

 Shepherd, some miles northeast, has, I 

 hear, lost 50 out of 100 colonies. Dr. 

 Foreman, of Milton, reports a loss of 

 one out of 33, but gave no details. The 

 Dr. has the brightest bees and the tid- 

 iest apiary I ever visited. I enclose a 

 little plant, or floweret, that I wish you 

 to give the name of, though I am 

 ashamed to ask any one to name a plant 

 so common ; yet the bees seem so busy 

 on it that it would be interesting to 

 know what to call it. White clover is 

 very abundant, and the promise is for 

 an abundant honey crop. I have lately 

 seen a new honey rack, invented by E. 

 Armstrong, in which both ends of the 

 rack act as wedge, while 5J£x6k and 

 4. 1 4'x53^ boxes were so arranged that 

 both or either could be put in the rack ; 

 the same separators answer for both 

 sixes of boxes, and the glass was cut in 

 strips as long as the box was wide, and 

 no glassing of sections was required, as 

 the wedges held all very tightly to- 

 gether. I do not know whether it is 

 patented or not, but it is a very super- 

 ior honey rack, and the inventor de- 

 serves credit for it, as it can he made to 

 fit any hive. One of your correspond- 

 ents says that a dead-air space between 

 double walls will prevent the formation 

 of ice in the hive. Most of my hives 

 are well and carefully made with two 

 7 n walls, and from }£ to % of an inch 

 between them, yet ice forms in them 

 before the thermometer marks zero, 

 though they are tightly fitted on good 

 stands, and no ventilation, except %x2 

 at the entrance Wm. Cajiji. 



Murray ville, 111., May 1, 1881. 



[It belongs to the aster family.— Ed.] 



