1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



213 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Bee Notes for July. -Mr. L.C. Hoot, 

 in the American Agriculturist, gives 



tlir following hints for this month : 



It is all important that everything 

 should be in proper condition for se- 

 curing surplus honey during the pres- 

 ent month. Basswood will begin to 

 blossom about the middle of the 

 month in Central New York and sim- 

 ilar localities. We expect our largest 

 yield of best honey from this tree, 

 hence the necessity for abundant stor- 

 ing space, whether box or extracted 

 honey is to be secured. If box honey 

 is desired, supply each box with a 

 starter of either white comb or comb 

 foundation. The amount of honey 

 which can be secured by using full 

 cards of comb foundation will be found 

 much greater than when only starters 

 of natural comb are used. The very 

 great advantage to be gained by the 

 use of comb foundation, both in the 

 brood-chamber and surplus boxes, 

 should be investigated by every bee- 

 keeper who reads these notes. 



If the surplus honey is to be taken 

 with the extractor, a sufficient num- 

 ber of good extra combs must be sup- 

 plied. These may be added at the 

 sides of the brood-nest, or at the top 

 of another story to be added to the 

 hives. Another advantage in the use 

 of comb foundation is seen in case 

 there is not a sufficient number of 

 surplus combs at hand, the frames 

 may be filled with foundation, which 

 will soon be formed into combs and 

 tilled with honey. When these are 

 tilled the honey may be thrown from 

 them by the extractor, and the combs 

 be returned to the hives to be refilled. 

 Boxes should be removed promptly 

 when completed, as the appearance of 

 the honey is injured if left upon the 

 hives, where the bees travel over it. 



Very Little Swarming.— The Texas 

 Patron, published at Crockett, Texas, 



says : 



We are in receipt of the American 

 Bee Journal, a Weekly, published 

 by T. G. Newman, at Chicago, at S2 

 a year, in which we find proceedings 

 of State Convention of bee-keepers, 

 held at MeKinney, Collin Co.. Texas, 

 on the 12th of last May. We have 

 perused this issue with much interest. 

 To a bee-keeper there is no publica- 

 tion more useful and interesting. Af- 

 ter diligent inquiry about bees in 

 Texas we report the following facts : 

 During the past season they have 

 hardly swarmed at all. There has not 

 been an average of a swarm to a dozen 

 good colonies, and in most cases they 

 have gathered but little honey ; not 

 enough to pay for robbing. And sin- 

 gular to tell, all they have gathered is 

 granulated. Most of it is solid — can- 

 died, as it is called. We do not sup- 

 pose there has been one pound of good 

 fluid honey in our market this season. 

 This is a very remarkable fact, and is 

 worth the attention of the scientific. 



Bees Poisoned by "Foxglove." — Dr. 



A. Paterson, in the British Bee Jour- 

 nal, says: 



Last summer I had a large quantity 

 of foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), culti- 

 vated varieties.land very beautiful in 

 bloom, at the same time a quantity of 

 canterbury bells growing near them, 

 and in dower. I was much struck to 

 find that a great number of the work- 

 ing bees were lying dead in the flow- 

 ers of the canterbury bell. Day after 

 day I watched, with much inter- 

 est, the movements of the bees, 

 and found that after they had fed some 

 time on the flowers of the foxglove 

 they became stupid, and after leaving 

 the foxglove they went into the flow- 

 ers of the canterbury bell, and, as a 



rule, died shortly after. Query— Did 

 thej die from the poison got in the 

 foxglove alone, or did it depend on 

 their coming iii contact with the Bow- 

 ers of the canterbury bell V I could 

 not find any dead bees on any other 

 plant or on the ground near by! 



The Honey Crop in Canada. — The 

 Canadian Farmer gives its views on 

 the subject in the following language: 



What the honey harvest of this 

 year will be it is impossible to say. So 

 far the weather has been unfavorable 

 to a heavy honey flow. In many parts 

 of the country nota shower moistened 

 the earth during the proverbially 

 showery month of April; neither were 

 the May flowers stimulated to growth 

 by refreshing rains, and up to the 

 present writing, June 1.5, we have had 

 but one shower this month. To make 

 bad worse, the northern part of On- 

 tario was visited with a scorching 

 frost in the beginning of June, which 

 cut down every tender thing, and 

 some of the more hardy plants and 

 trees suffered not a little from its ef- 

 fects. White clover, the principal 

 source of June honey, was badly 

 blackened, its vigor checked, and its 

 honey producing (lowers doubtless in- 

 jured. All this taken in connection 

 with the immense decrease in bees 

 from winter losses point to the fact 

 that the honey crop of 1881 will be a 

 short one. Nevertheless, if we are 

 yet visited with timely rains, white 

 clover, Canada thistles, sumach and 

 basswood may yield their wonted 

 quota of the nectar. 



TftWdxr 



wsimi 



Bees are just Booming. — I have 

 taken off more honey this season ii]) 

 to date than for :i seasons before, be- 

 ing an average of 41 lbs. per colony, 

 and one swarm from each colony. 

 Basswood is just coining into bloom ; 

 we have an abundance of it and it 

 will certainly be very full of bloom. 

 White clover is plenty, and is rich 

 with honey this season; last year it 

 was a failure. I expect to have a good 

 report to make at the end of the sea- 

 son. M. II. WOI.FEH. 



Richmond, Ind.. June 25, 1881. 



Splendid Honey Season.— Bees are 

 doing well in the sotheastern part of 

 Indiana; they are commencing on the 

 basswood, which is in full bloom. 

 There is a splendid white clover crop. 

 This season is unusually good for 

 white clover and basswood. I shall 

 report the amount gathered at some 

 future time. J. W. Sturwold. 



Haymond, Ind, June 27, 1881. 



Fertile Workers. — The Indiana Far- 

 mer remarks as follows on these pests 

 to the bee-keeper : 



Colonies that are allowed to stand 

 queenless, for any length of time, 

 without brood and eggs from which to 

 rear queens, will be very apt to con- 

 tain fertile workers. The evidence 

 that these pests have taken possession 

 will be found in the promiscuous man- 

 ner in which the eggs are scattered 

 around in the combs, sometimes one, 

 but oftener 2 or 3 in each cell, which 

 will only produce drones; although 

 the bees will build queen cells around 

 them in the endeavor to rear a queen. 

 The only remedy then is never to allow 

 a colony to go any length of time 

 without a queen, or eggs from which 

 to rear one. A colony containing fer- 

 tile workers will neither accept a queen 

 if given them, nor rear one if brood 

 is given them for that purpose. There 

 is no way to distinguish the egg-lay- 

 ing workers from any of the others, 

 unless you should see them in the act. 

 The quickest and easiest way to dis- 

 pose of these pests is to take a frame 

 of brood with adhering bees, and 

 place in an empty hive on the old 

 stand, remove the old hive some dis- 

 tance away, take out the frames, shake 

 all the bees off on the ground, and 

 they will return to the old stand and 

 go to work without further trouble. 



How to Construct a Bee House.— As 



I want to build either a cellar or warm 

 house this fall, for fruit, potatoes, and 

 bees, which will be the best and cheap- 

 est ? If a house, what material is 

 best, brick or lumber, and how thick 

 the walls V Will a warm house above 

 ground do to winter bees in as well as a 

 cellar V I have seen 3 different styles 

 and sizes of hives all called the Lang- 

 stroth hive ; now please state what is 

 the regular Langstroth hive length, 

 width and depth ? Will those who 

 have had experience in building cel- 

 lars and bee houses please give their 

 opinions in the Bee Journal? Suc- 

 cess to the Journal and its editor. 

 Mansfield, Ind. D. S. Kalley. 



[The standard Langstroth hive is 

 l-CgX-lS's inches inside, and 10% inches 

 deep, and contains 10 frames, Q%sfVJ% 

 inches, outside measure. Will some 

 one who has built a winter repository 

 that has been a success during the 

 past winter please give the inquirer 

 the manner of construction.— Ed.] 



Glucose for Wintering Bees. — Our 



readers are well aware of the persis- 

 tent war we have made against the 

 use of glucose or grape sugar for feed- 

 ing bees. Some 2 or 3 bee periodicals 

 have advocated its use, but at last Mr. 

 A. I. Root, its chief advocate, is con- 

 vinced that it works disaster, and in 

 Gleanings for July (page 321) he says : 



As grape sugar seems, without 

 question, to "make many of my 

 brothers to offend," I will, for the 



present at least, drop it In the next 



edition of the "A 15 C," and also in 



our Price List, I will advise against 



the use of grape sugar. 



In our next issue we will give his 

 reasons for coming to this conclusion. 

 Gleanings has come to hand just as we 

 are ready for the press, and we can 

 make no further allusion to it this 

 week. 



Bees Doing Well.— Dear Iournal: 

 Yes; I want you every week, and 

 here is a dollar to pay for your visits 

 the remainder of the year. If I 

 should fail to remit when my time is 

 out, do not take my name off the 

 books, for I want to see you while I 

 live and handle bees. Bees are doing 

 well now ; they keep me busy attend- 

 ing to their wants. There has been 

 plenty of rain through this month, but 

 through the entire month of May it 

 did not rain enough in this place to 

 lav the dust. L. Eastwood. 



Waterville, O., June 28, 1881. 



Liquid Grafting Wax.— As Mr. Case 

 wants a receipt for grafting wax that 

 is not composed in part of beeswax, I 

 will give it. Melt one pound of com- 

 mon rosin over a gentle tire, add to it 

 one ounce of beef tallow and stir it 

 well, take it from the fire, let it cool 

 down a little, and then mix with it a 

 tablespoouful of spirits of turpentine, 

 and after that 7 ounces of very strong 

 alcohol (95 per cent.). The' alcohol 

 cools it down so rapidly that it will be 

 necessary to put it once more on the 

 fire, stirring it constantly. Still the 

 utmost care must be exercised to pre- 

 vent the alcohol from getting in- 

 flamed. The best way to avoid it is to 

 remove the vessel from the tire when 

 the lumps, that may have been formed, 

 commence melting again. This must 

 be continued until the whole is a ho- 

 mogeneous mass, similar to honey. It 

 is very cheap, very easily prepared, 

 and when corked up in a bottle with a 

 tolerable wide mouth, keeps at least 

 months unaltered. It is laid on in as 

 thin a coat as possible, by means of a 

 flat piece of wood. \\ ithin a few 

 days it will be as hard as a stone. In 



addition to all the advantages indited 

 above, it is not in the least affected by 

 the severe cold of our winters; it 

 never softens or cracks when exposed 

 to atmospheric action or changes. 

 There is no better preparation for cov- 

 ering the wounds of trees. Anyone 

 trying this receipt will please report 

 through the columns of the Bee 



JOURNAL; I have never used it my- 

 self. L. A. LOWMASTER. 

 Belle Vernon, O., June 28, 1881. 



Prospect for Abundant Honey Crop. 



—The Journal is a, necessity and I 

 do not want to do without its weekly 

 visits. I lost 3 out of 14 colonies of 

 bees last winter— but about % of all 

 the bees in Iowa County are dead. R. 

 saved only 22 from 80; II. 1 from loo ; 

 and some lost all they had. Bees are 

 doing well now. White clover is 

 abundant, and linden is commencing 

 to bloom. E. H. Norton-. 



Marengo, Iowa, June 30, 1881. 



My Texas and Arkansas Trip.— I 



reached home on June 4. having been 

 absent in Texas and Arkansas 27 da vs. 

 I wrote you last from Honey Grove, 

 Texas, where I visited an apiary of 90 

 colonies of bees. At Clarksville I met 

 Mr. J. W. Baker, a genial, whole- 

 souled bee-keeper, who is doing much 

 to help on the cause of scientific bee- 

 culture. Bees do well here and give 

 large yields of surplus honey. I went 

 to Little Rock, Ark., by way of Texar- 

 kanna, over the Pacific and Iron 

 Mountain Railways. Little Rock, the 

 capital of the State, is pleasantly sit- 

 uated on the west bank of the Arkan- 

 sas river, has a population of 22,000, 

 and tine railroad facilities. There are 

 no large apiaries there, but quite a 

 number of small ones. Prominent 

 among them are E. II. Chamberlain, 

 S. B. Kirby, W. N. Parrish and S. II. 

 Nolin. The latter is editor of the 

 Spirit of Arkansas, a paper devoted to 

 the farm, home, and work-shop. Bees 

 pay a large dividend on the capital in- 

 vested. Little Rock is a beautiful 

 city, and with its superior railroad fa- 

 cilities, will grow. The railways are 

 developing the country. The officers 

 of the Iron Mountain, the Fort Smith 

 & Little Rock, and Little Rock & 

 Memphis Railways have our thanks 

 for courtesies shown, as representa- 

 tive of the North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association. 



Dr. W. W. Hipolite.Devall's Bluffs, 

 Ark., is a progressive bee-keeper, has 

 an estimable wife and children, and 

 has a model apiary. He uses 1 and 2- 

 pound sections, and says lie cannot 

 supply the demand at Litte Rock at 

 20 cents a pound. While here we vis- 

 ited the apiary of Mr. A. W. Sory, 

 who has 70 colonies of bees in Lang- 

 stroth hives, run for comb honey, in 1 

 and 2-pound sections, he ships to Little 

 Rock and Hot Springs, where he finds 

 ready sale at 20 cts. per lb. Mrs. Sorv 

 is well posted in bee-culture, and 

 equally interested in the management 

 with her husband. Arkansas is one 

 of the best States in the Union for 

 honey production. It has excellent 

 climate and rich soil, with many 

 honey producing forest trees. At 

 Memphis we found white clover as well 

 as in Arkansas. Bees do well in the 

 Mississippi Bottoms, but when they 

 swarm are apt to go to the woods, for 

 trees are easy of access. On our way 

 home we passed through Western 

 Tennessee, where bee-keeping could 

 be made quite profitable. On account 

 of poor health we were unable to at- 

 tend the Convention at Mexico. Mo., 

 which we much regretted, feeling a 

 great desire to meet them in council. 

 N. P. Allen. 



Smith's Grove, Ky., June S, 1881. 



How the Bees are Doing.— Last fall 

 I had 74 colonies and lost Y 2 of them 

 during the winter; which "dwindled 

 to 14 in the spring ; li of the best have 

 already gathered 50 lbs of honey each: 

 the others are in fair condition. I hail 

 4 swarms, and 6 more are ready to 

 swarm, being very populous. Bass- 

 wood yields little honey ; white clover 

 is late but good. G. W. Horner. 



Dubuque, Iowa, June 27, 1881, 



