204 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOTTBNAL. 



June 29, 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN. 



Editor and Proprietor. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JUNE 29, 1881. 



The Care of Comb Honey. 



Mr. John Crawford asks the following 

 questions : " Will you, through the Bee 

 Journal, inform me how to take care 

 of comb honey ? What kind of a house, 

 temperatnre, light *r dark, dry or moist, 

 should be used ? " 



The following is good advice on the 

 subject from one of our most successful 

 comb honey producers: "Filled sections 

 or boxes that have been removed from 

 the hives, should be examined every 

 few days. If the combs show signs of 

 worms, the honey must be fumigated 

 with sulphur. Care must be taken not 

 to give them too much, or it will dis- 

 color the honey, giving.it a greenish 

 cast. The amount used will depend, of 

 course, on the size of the room or box 

 you are using. It requires but very 

 little of the fumes of sulphur to destroy 

 life either animal or vegetable. Fumi- 

 gation will not destroy the eggs, so it 

 may be necessary to give them a second 

 dose, after all the eggs have had time 

 to hatch. By close watching you will 

 be able to discover the worms before 

 they have done any material damage. 

 They are very small at first, but you 

 will notice their presence by seeing a 

 small thread-like streak of a mealy 

 looking substance on the cappings or 

 aronnd the edge of the combs in the 

 partly filled cells. Comb honey should 

 be kept in a warm, dark place. It 

 should never be allowed to stand where 

 the'sun will shine directly on the combs, 

 especially when behind glass. The 

 cappings will soften in a very few mo- 

 ments and settle down on the honey, 

 giving it a dark appearance. The ob- 

 ject should be to keep the honey as 

 white and clean as possible all the time. 

 Comb honey will bring 2 or 3 cents 

 more per pound, when nice and white, 

 than that of the same quality in soiled 

 or discolored packages." 



W This number of the Weekly Bee 

 Journal completes the first six months 

 of its existence. We are more than 

 pleased with the mamner in which it 

 has been received, and the welcome 

 everywhere accorded to it. 



Several thousands have only sub- 

 scribed for six months, and their sub- 

 scriptions expire with this number. 

 To all such we desire to remark that 

 by sending on their renewal at once, 

 they will not only prevent the annoy- 

 ance, to themselves, of missing the 

 regular visits of their old friend — the 

 Weekly Bee Journal, but they will 

 save us much trouble in taking their 

 names off from our mailing lists, and 

 then re-entering them within a short 

 time. We hope all will renew at once 

 or else send us a notice, by return mail, 

 if they desire its visits continued. 



^" We have received from Saallield's 

 Music Store, 839 Broadway, N. Y., the 

 monthly "Ten Cent Library of Music,'' 

 containing 16 pages of the most popular 

 music for 10 cents. It is astonishingly 

 cheap, for the music is first-class. 



Black Bees and Bee-Culture in Texas. 



We have received the following let- 

 ters and articles clipped from Texas pa- 

 pers. They will explain themselves as 

 fast as read : 



Dear Editor : The following arti- 

 cle was sent me from Texas, taken from 

 a paper of that State, on the subject of 

 bees. Perhaps you can give the people 

 of Southern Texas some information 

 on bee-raising, by making up an article 

 from this little jocose piece for your 

 Journal. Porter H. Snow. 



Bee-Cnlture in Texas. 



The culture of honey- making bees is 

 a new industry which has sprung into 

 prominence in Texas within the last 

 few years. The magnificent bottoms of 

 the Brazos and Colorado rivers, car- 

 peted with thousands of wild flowers, 

 afford magnificent ranges for the honey 

 bee, and several farmers in that section 

 of the State, realizing this fact, have 

 secured swarms of wild bees and, do- 

 mesticating them, made money by the 

 experiment. Quite a number of enter- 

 prising men have given it their sole at- 

 tention, finding the industry vastly 

 more profitable than cotton-raising. 

 To make a success out of the business 

 a person must have a talent for domes- 

 ticating wild bees. 



The wild bee is a small black institu- 

 tion, but fearfully loud, and, being 

 chivalrous to a fault, he tilts at every 

 one who intrudes upon his domain. 

 The fellow who struck Billy Patterson, 

 hit quick and hard, but Billy's eye never 

 did look as bad as that of the man who 

 has been boxing with a wild bee. The 

 statement that they never sting but 

 once, is false, as hundreds of persons 

 who have enjoyed the fun of cutting 

 down a bee tree will testify. The black 

 bee skims along the surface of the 

 ground feeding on the blossoms, but al- 

 ways with his rudder end in first-rate 

 shooting order, and if there is a Sunday- 

 school picnic in the neighborhood, he 

 will be there to participate and help on 

 the fun. There is, no doubt, a great 

 deal of money to be made by shipping 

 thousands of gallons of honey to a mar- 

 ket every year, but there is but little 

 solid comfort in raising wild bees, 

 whose only aim in life is to put a head 

 on every mortal they get a chance at. 



Mr. M.M.Camp, of Navasota, Texas, 

 sends us the following article, also cut 

 from a Texas paper, and adds : "Please 

 publish and comment upon the writer's 

 ignorance).'' Here is the article : 



the black bee defended— antece- 

 dents AND HABITS OF THE BUSY 

 LITTLE WORKER. 



Seeing an article, some time since, 

 headed " Bee-Culture in Texas," I wish 

 to defend the little black bee, which the 

 writer so abused. 



The black bee is a native of Africa. 

 The first discovery made of the black 

 bee was in the year 1342. In May, 1410, 

 a small hive left the southern coast of 

 Africa, and struck a due course for 

 Cuba. In the same year, 1410, in the 

 month of November, a hive of bees 

 was found in the mountains of Cuba. 

 In the year 1572 the black bee was very 

 numerous in Cuba. The next year, 

 1573, they nearly all emigrated in the 

 direction of North America. The first 

 black bee that was ever seen in Amer- 

 ica was in the swamps of Lousiana, in 

 the year 157.5. This is fair proof that 

 this was the same bee that left Cuba, 

 for there were several hives found in one 

 Colony. 



Right here was the first instance we 

 have of the black bee being handled. 

 He fought desperately for a few years, 

 but careful handling proved a perfect 

 success. From that time up to the 

 present time the black bee has been a 

 favorite with bee-raisers. 



I find, by experience, the black bee is 

 worth more than any other bee. They 

 can make more honey than any other 

 bee, and at the same time can live on 

 V less than any other bee. They are 

 fine workers, protect their hives better, 

 and live longer. In fact, they can live 

 and thrive where other bees will starve 

 to death. If my bees (the black bee, 

 for I would not have any other kind) 



happen to be robbed too close, I feed 

 them. 



They will live through the winter on 

 most anything. I feed on boiled corn, 

 potatoes, bread, mush, turnips, pump- 

 kins, slops from the dairy, dried apples 

 or peaches boiled down, or old wet 

 brown sugar mixed with dough. Any- 

 thing of the above kind will keep the 

 black bee through the winter. I have 

 seen my bees 5 miles from home; they 

 are not afraid to leave home like most 

 bees. My bees seem to know me ; they 

 will fondle around me when I am about 

 them. 



I have now on my premises 3S5 hives 

 in fine condition. I have got them so 

 completely under my control that all I 

 have to do is to make gums or hives 

 and set them up above the hives, so 

 when a new hive comes out they go into 

 a new box, gum or hive, as you are a 

 mind to call them. Will anybody show 

 me any other bee that will do as much? 

 I have been handling the black bee for 

 nearly 50 years, and I find them to pay 

 better than any others. The black bee 

 has, on an average. 365 bees to the hive. 

 Each bee will make, on an average, a 

 half pound of honey a year. So a man 

 can tell what he is doing. You can 

 take at least J^ from them, then they 

 will have plenty to keep through the 

 winter. James Braken, M. D. 



Mr. J. W. Henderson also sends the 

 same extract, and remarks as follows : 



Just think of it ! Prof. Cook, in his 

 " Manual" (of which we think so much) 

 says that it takes from twenty to forty 

 thousand bees to make a good colony— 

 but this "M. D." asserts that it only 

 takes 365 bees to make a good colony of 

 his magnificent " black " stock. Let us 

 send for Mr. Frank Benton ; it is no 

 use to try anywhere in the world to find 

 such bees as this " M. D." has. 



We thank our friends for sending us 

 these extracts. Now that we have a 

 flourishing Bee-Keepers' Association in 

 Texas there is a fine opportunity to im- 

 prove the Italian bees which we already 

 have. Such progressive apiarists as 

 Judge Andrews, Dr. Howard, Mr. M. M. 

 Camp or Mr. F. F. Collins, will do well 

 to get some of the unrivalled stock of 

 "James Braken, M.D.," and cross them 

 with the Italians, so that they may have 

 40,000 or more bees to the colony, and 

 with this " cross" they can easily "beat 

 the world." 



" Just think of it "— " each bee will 

 make, on an average, a half pound of 

 honey every year — so a man ran tell 

 what he is doing," says the Doctor ! 



"Just think of it!"— with 40,000 to 

 60,000 bees in a colony we shall have the 

 magnificent yield of from twenty to 

 thirty thousand pounds of honey from 

 each hive ! 



The Doctor says he has 385 hives— 

 with this improved stock, and a yield 

 of say 25,000 lbs. per colony, the Doctor 

 will have a honey crop of nearly ten 

 millions of lbs. each year, without 

 counting on increase, for " a man can 

 tell what he is doing," when each bee 

 makes a half pound of honey each 

 year 1 " Prodigious results I astound- 

 ing revelation I ! marvelous race of 

 bees I ! ! 



With such bees, and the additional 

 extensive practice that an "M. D." of 

 such erudition must command, the 

 Doctor will soon be a millionaire, for 

 that amount of honey alone would 

 bring a million of dollars each year !_ 

 Oh 1 "there's millions in it— millions in 

 it!" 



Unfortunately, our " M. D." has 

 placed the date (1410) when his favorite 

 stock of bees were introduced into this 

 country before America wasdiscovered! 

 Columbus did not land till Oct.. 1492. 



His race of bees must be hogs — for he 

 says he feeds them witli " boiled corn, 



potatoes, bread, mush, turnips, pump- 

 kins, slops from the dairy, dried apples 

 and peaches boiled down, or old wet 

 brown sugar mixed with dough." 

 Either the Doctor is writing about some 

 kind of hogs or he is a lunatic ! 



Again, he says he "makes hires and 

 sets them up above the hives so that 

 when a new hive comes out they go into 

 a new hive or box." What supremely 

 ridiculous nonsense ! In the " back- 

 woods " they sometimes get things very 

 much mixed — something like that! 



A hive is a box or house where a col- 

 ony of bees reside ; the stand is the 

 place where the hive is located ; the 

 family of bees is, when organized, a 

 roloity ; the bees leaving the colony with 

 a queen to form increase, is a moesrm. 



One man will say that he has had to 

 feed his stands (the frame that supports 

 the box or hive); another that his hives 

 (or boxes) Hew away to the woods ! How 

 funny it would be to see boxes Hying 

 through the air ! 



Another that a new hive (or box) came 

 out of his old gum, and settled up in 

 the top of a tree ! 



Another that his stands (the frame- 

 work or ground under the hive) all died 

 last winter ! 



How necessary it is to use proper 

 terms in order to be correctly under- 

 stood by the common reader. The Doc- 

 tor's foolish use of terms should con- 

 vince all of the desirability of using 

 correct names for every thing appertain- 

 ing to the apiary ! 



We lately heard of a man ordering 

 " sash " from a supply dealer when he 

 wanted frames; another ordered frames 

 when he wanted section boxes, etc. 

 Calling things by wrong names leads to 

 endless trouble and vexation. 



Test of Purity for Honey.— Mr. II. 



Richey, Sing Sing, N. Y., says he has 

 made further tests with the receipt that 

 we published some months ago, and now 

 says: "I know I have struck the key- 

 note. This test will not color syrup 

 made from corn, potatoes, grapes, or 

 any other glucose syrup, but will color 

 honey. Some kinds of honey will turn 

 darker than others, owing to the bloom 

 from which it is gathered." This is the 

 recipe : " 1 teaspoonful of honey put 

 into a wine-glass, with about the same 

 quantity of water to dissolve it ; then 

 put in a few drops of tincture of iron. 

 This turns pure honey black." 



Parthenogenesis.— W. B. makes the 

 following inquiry : " Will the drones 

 from a pure Italian queen be influenced 

 if she is mated with a black drone ? 

 Please answer in the Bee Journal." 

 No; they will not. Huber. Dzierzon, 

 Langstroth, Cook, Quinby, and, in fact, 

 nearly all the learned modern bee au- 

 thorities are united in this opinion. It 

 is not even necessary that a queen 

 should mate with a drone to enable her 

 to lay eggs ; but these will always de- 

 velope into drones, no matter what kind 

 of combs or cells they may be deposited 

 in. Even the eggs laid by fertile work- 

 ers, when batched at all, are drones; 

 but we are not fully convinced that these 

 latter have power to properly impreg- 

 nate a queen. 



With this number several thousands 

 of subscriptions expire, and we hope 

 all will renew at once or else send us 

 notice by return mail if they desire its 

 continued visits. 



