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(pT ^OLDEST BEE PAPErYaY 7 

 IN AMERICA -^ 



iSt* ■ 



DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



vol. xvn. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JUNE 1, 1881. 



No. 22. 





Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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Entered at Chicago post office as second class matter. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Glucose, Foul Brood and Absorbents. 



S. MACDONNELL. 



I am much pleased by the attention, 

 characteristic of Americans, which bee- 

 keepers are giving to seeking special 

 legislation for the benefit of those en- 

 gaged in the " noble hobby." The em- 

 ployment of glucose (a material alike 

 deleterious, as food, to man and bee) in 

 the adulteration of Nature's delicious 

 and wholesome sweet, should be sup- 

 pressed by the strong arm of the law, 

 and your conventions will not have ex- 

 isted in vain if they are the means of 

 gaining this end. The regular commu- 

 nication, which of late years has been 

 opened up between San Francisco and 

 this city, has caused large quantities of 

 California honey, delicious to the eye 

 and with most attractive packing, to 

 come into our market. Since the adul- 

 teration by glucose has been ventilated 

 so freely in your Journal I have 

 looked on all American honey with sus- 

 picion, and have eschewed it in favor 

 of the more homely looking Colonial ar- 

 ticle, for home consumption. 



The necessity of seeking legislation 

 for the suppression of foul brood shows 

 that many bee-keepers with you are ig- 

 norant of the value of the many books 

 and journals devoted to bee-culture. 

 The suppression of foul brood is, I 

 think, a matter which legislation alone 

 will not effect. It may remedy the real 

 evil of ignorance by compelling bee- 

 keepers to acquire the knowledge nec- 

 essary to combat the ailment and to 

 treat rt according to rule, a point which 

 would, perhaps, be gained as easily by 

 a greater diffusion of bee-literature. 



Theexperi ments in absorbing mois- 

 ture in bee hives, referred to in your 

 number of the 16th of February, are 

 very ingenious. It seems to me, 

 though, that not only is it advisable to 



find some material to absorb moisture, 

 but also one to absorb carbonic acid, 

 the product of the respiration of the 

 bees. This slaked lime will do, but 

 slowly. If my knowledge as an ama- 

 teur chemist is not in error, I think that 

 caustic potash would do so more readily, 

 and also absorb moisture. For absorb- 

 ing moisture alone, chloride of calcium 

 would be effective, perhaps to such an 

 extent as to keep the interior too dry, 

 if such a state be possible. 



I have much pleasure in adding my 

 acknowledgment to the many which 

 you have already received of the value 

 of the Weekly Bee Journal. It is 

 marked not only by the variety and ex- 

 tent of its subjects, but also by the 

 fairness and fearlessness with which all 

 matters of controversy are treated. 

 The change from a Monthly to a Weekly 

 is a great benefit to subscribers. 



These Colonies afford a splendid op- 

 portunity for the cultivation of bees, 

 but unfortunately only a little is known 

 of the scientific management. Our 

 farmers and fruit growers keep bees in 

 boxes, in some cases in considerable 

 quantities. They are alive to the ben- 

 efit of robbing by driving the bees into 

 an empty box, in preference to using 

 sulphur, but beyond this no step in ad- 

 vance has been attempted, with but 

 one exception, that of a gentleman hav- 

 ing a bee-farm within 7 miles of Syd 

 ney. where 250 colonies in frame hives 

 are to be found. Here, however, the 

 progress has stopped with the frame 

 hives, as no superiority is attempted be- 

 yond the use of large bell-glasses. 



The summer now drawing to a close 

 has been unusually bad for bee-keep- 

 ing, owing to the severe drouth which 

 withered up all honey producing flow- 

 ers, with others. So ruinous was the 

 dry season to plant life that our horti- 

 cultural societies were obliged in most 

 instances to abandon their exhibitions 

 on account of their being nothing to 

 show. 



Last winter was unusually warm dur- 

 ing the days, but the nights were suffi- 

 ciently cold to cover the water in my 

 fowl troughs with a thin coat of ice. 

 Generally we have weeks together of 

 fine, dry, sharp weather, with frosts 

 frequently at night. When rain sets 

 in, the temperature rises and the rain 

 is accompanied by a driving, searching 

 wind. During fine weather it is seldom 

 too cold for bees to fly and gather honey 

 and pollen, although in but small quan- 

 tities. Mignonette bloomed through 

 last winter, when it was continually 

 made merry with the hum of bees. 

 The bulk of the bees remained in a 

 cluster in the center of the hives, breed- 

 ing being evidently abandoned. 



I imported a quantity of wired foun- 

 dation from Mr. A. II. Newman. Be- 

 fore its receipt I made a few sheets of 

 plain foundation by dipping a plaster 

 mould into molten wax. The home- 

 made article was rough and clumsy — 

 the imported was beautifully finished, 

 nevertheless I found that when a sheet 

 of each were placed side by side in a 

 hive, the bees invariably commenced 

 operations on the home-made unwired 

 article. I have been unable to tell 

 whether it was the wire or the material 

 used to prevent the wax sticking to 

 the roller, to which the bees objected. 



Sydney, Australia, April 14, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Cleansing Moldy Combs. 



Thinking some of the readers of the 

 Bee Journal may be troubled with 

 mildew and mouldy combs which they 

 have stored away, I send the plan I pur- 

 sued to cleanse them. 



Placing upright a plank, 2 inches 

 thick and about 6' feet long against a 

 building, I put a frame of comb upside 

 down upon it, the whole side of the 

 comb toward me with the cells slanting 

 upward. Then taking a Whitman's 

 Fountain Pump with the sprinkler 

 attachments, I " dose " the comb. 



In this position of the comb, you get 

 the pump at the same angle as cells, 

 and throw water to the bottom of them. 

 On the empty comb and those contain- 

 ing fermented honey, I throw the water 

 hard, washing the cells out clean. 

 With sealed honey I do not squirt so 

 hard. After washing one side, I turn 

 the other and treat it the same way. 



The cells not sealed will now be full 

 of water. Taking the bottom of the 

 frame in the right hand, and the top in 

 the left, hold it flat before you. Then 

 give the frame a succession of upward 

 jerks toward the left, when nearly all 

 the water will be removed. Leave 

 them upside down for half a day or so, 

 until dry, when they are ready to use or 

 store away. This may seem tedious, 

 but it surely saves the bees considera- 

 ble work, if in fact they could do it at 

 all, as some of my combs were covered 

 so with mould the cells could not be 

 seen. 



Working as well as it does in this 

 case, I believe the pump would do 

 splendid service in washing dead bees 

 out of combs, at least it will do to try. 

 It would also be a good means for 

 introducing salicylic acid, sulphur etc. 



Danville, 111., May 21, 1881. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



How to Prepare Bees for Shipping. 



J. HOPKINS. 



Having just received 2 colonies of 

 Italians from Mr. R. Wilkin, San 

 Buenventura, Cal., I have thought 

 that by stating how they were packed, 

 the condition they arrived in, etc., 

 the knowledge might be valuable to 

 others. 



I have read your editorial, page 12, 

 vol. xvii, on the above subject, and 

 think on one or two points an improve- 

 ment might be made. 



The hives my bees came in were 8 

 framed " Langstroth." tin rabbets, bot- 

 tom board flush with entrance nailed 

 on to body of hive, cover flat with 1 

 inch strips, \% inches wide, nailed 

 across the top at each end : from one 

 end of cover toward the centre, over the 

 middle frames, a piece about 9x5 inches 

 sawn out, and 1 inch strips \% inches 

 wide nailed round the edge on upper 

 side. This hole was covered with wire 

 cloth on under side, a sponge laid on 

 that, and then covered with wire cloth 

 on upper side, and the cover screwed 

 down. The frames contained old tough 

 comb, and where they had not been 

 built right down to the bottom bar 

 strips of wood were joined in between 



the comb and bar, making it secure. 

 Two wire binders were put round each 

 frame, % from each end, and in one of 

 the centre frames a flat bottle contain- 

 ing water was fastened with wire, for 

 which a part of the comb had been cut 

 away next to the end bar; this, of 

 course, was neck downward, corked and 

 some lampwick communicating with 

 the water. The frames rested in a 

 notched strip on bottom board the 

 width of the hive (not nailed), and two 

 notched strips secured them on top, the 

 cover going down on these, held all 

 firmly. The entrances were covered 

 with wire cloth, and directions for giv- 

 ing water on the sponge were pasted on 

 each hive. 



The bees, by date of letter received, 

 must have been confined in the hives 

 about 6 weeks. On arrival, I found one 

 to be in splendid condition, although 

 there were a large number of dead bees 

 in the hive; the other was not in quite 

 so good a condition, owing to insuffi- 

 cient ventilation, caused by the entrance 

 being clogged with dead bees; both 

 were suffering slightly with dysentery, 

 from which, however, they are recover- 

 ing. About a gill of water had been 

 used from each bottle. There was no 

 sealed brood in the hives on arrival, but 

 both queens had commenced to lay, as 

 there were hatched larvae in some of 

 the cells. They are now working away 

 splendidly. The hints gained by this 

 shipment are : 



1. Do not tack wire cloth over the 

 entrance, but use a hive with a portico 

 and tack wire cloth over that. This 

 allows the bees to drag out their dead 

 and clean the hive ; and I have no doubt 

 would tend greatly to prevent dysentery. 



2. Do not neglect the bottle of water 

 inside the hive, as by this means they 

 are not so dependant on the water from 

 the outside, which is liable to be neg- 

 lected. 



3. Arrange the sponge so that it may 

 be taken out and wetted, instead of 

 water being poured on. 



I believe that bees packed in the 

 above way with plenty of sealed brood 

 and honey at starting, would travel 

 safely round the world. 



New Zealand, April 10, 1881. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



The Three Bands of Italian Bees. 



DAVID RICE, SR. 



My father kept bees, and in my youth 

 I was familiar with their management. 

 For the past 25 years I have kept bees, 

 and I have a mania for line bees. 

 About 13 years ago I bought the 

 first Italian bees I ever owned, giving 

 $10 for a fine queen, but her progeny 

 did not come up to my expectations ; 

 they showed only 2 yellow bands be- 

 sides the connecting segment. I have 

 bought many since in the hopes of get- 

 ting those that would .produce the 3- 

 banded workers, but I have so far been 

 disappointed. Last summer I went to 

 Mr. Dadant's apiary and examined his 

 •bees, and bought a Cyprian queen, but 

 I did not see any there with 3 full 

 bands, though they had some of the fin- 

 est I ever saw. Mr. Dadant said, in 

 the Weekly Bee Journal, No. 12. that 

 in Italy and Germany they count but 2 

 yellow rings ; they do not count as a 

 ring the first segment to which the 



