1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



235 



with white star in forehead, is very 

 corpulenl and very quiet, unless dis- 

 turbed by a blow upon the nest or a 

 violent wind. These queens did not 



move until the eonibs were taken out, 

 then, after dying around a little, they 

 returned to the hive or nest. 



The drones or males resemble the 

 workers in color, but have the white 

 star like thequeens. lioth the drones 

 and queen have yellow bars upon the 

 corselet, but those of the queen are of 

 a golden-yellow, inclined to azure. 

 The drones are about % of an inch 

 Ions, very corpulent, and apparently 

 very indolent. The workers are very 

 active from sunrise till about 11 o'clock, 

 they then cluster about the nest or 

 branches near the nest. 



The honey is very rich in taste in 

 the spring, but 1 am told that 

 in the latter part of the season it will 

 cause vomiting and purging in certain 

 places, where the wild locust and jes- 

 samine are abundant. 



The bees may be found in the dense 

 forests and chapparals from near Mat- 

 amoras to San Louis l'otosi, and per- 

 haps to the Pacific. I found them at 

 Matamoras near Lago del Muerte, 

 near Beynosa, in the mountains near 

 Monterey ,and in the regions along the 

 route from Monterey to San Louis Po- 

 tosi, also at Monclova. They may be 

 found in the regions around Tampico, 

 in Gautemala, Brazil, and otherSouth 

 American States. The natives some- 

 times bring the nests for sale, honey 

 and all ; the holes of entrance and 

 exit closed with a plug of grass, and 

 the nest swung upon a pole over the 

 shoulder. 



Might not this race of bees be 

 crossed with the Italians or Cyprians? 

 Will they endure our winters V They 

 are very gentle, never even biting 

 unless abused. 



I removed the honey from the nest 

 by simply slitting upon the outside 

 covering or case, turning a portion 

 back and cutting out the part wanted, 

 the bees Hying around making a noise 

 something like that of the common 

 humble bee, though a little sharper, 

 lighting upon the person and crawling 

 around with great activity and ex- 

 citement. These nests are difficult to 

 rind and are always in the deepest and 

 most shaded parts of the forests. 



Chataignier, La., July 12, 1881. 



[We see no object to be attained by 

 crossing the stingless bees with the 

 improved bees we now have, even if 

 it were possible. They are quite small, 

 and not at all suited to our climate. 

 Theirsevere " bite" might prove more 

 objectionable than the stings of Ital- 

 ian bees ; or the crossing might de- 

 velop "business'' qualities at both 

 ends. We do not think we want the 

 stingless bees.— Ed. 1 



For the American Bee Journal 



The Bee-Nuisance Question. 



ruined. If those boys, had been fed 

 judiciously they would have been 

 helpers instead of destroyers. The 

 motive of giving may be termed fear, 

 or selfishness, but we think the little 

 rule : " Do to others!as you would have 

 others do unto you,'' covers thecase. 



When an apiarist gets so penurious 

 that he cannot part with a few ounces 

 of honey, he belongs to that four- 

 footed class above referred to. Not to 

 be misunderstood, I refer only to lo- 

 calities in the country, many miles 

 from large villages. If I were located 

 in such a place where the giving be- 

 came a wholesale transaction, I, too, 

 would choose who should be. the re- 

 cipient of favors. 



In all these cases of nuisance, when 

 applied to bees, one fact is very prom- 

 inent. The bee-keeping business is 

 looked upon by the majority of peo- 

 ple as a small occupation — "fussing 

 with bees" is the usual term applied 

 to it. Our neighbor runs a dairy of 20 

 cows, and who ever heard of a man 

 " fussing with cows ? " His manipu- 

 lation of cows' udders brings him in 

 $400 or $-500; our bees net us as much 

 with less foddering. Still his dairy is 

 a big thing, and is getting to be of so 

 much importance that the Goddess of 

 Liberty should have a roll of butter 

 in one hand, a cheese in the other, and 

 a calf tied to her apron strings. 



We rind, in nearly all cases of nui- 

 sance, it is that which causes injury 

 to people that is complained of. A 

 stench, that carries disease and death 

 with it, from any cause, is soon abated, 

 and when a person gets stung and has 

 to call a physician he does not think 

 of your one or two thousand a year, it 

 is of the danger to himself. Our bees 

 might roar every day, the year round, 

 and no one would call them a nui- 

 sance. 



Those logs Mr. Heddon speaks of 

 are very harmless, but arm each one 

 with a spear, ready to pierce the trav- 

 eler, and the mill and its surroundings 

 would soon be denominated a nui- 

 sance. The same with the steam- 

 whistle, if it caused pain or swelling 

 in the ear you would soon hear no 

 more of it, but as we are a4th-of-July 

 nation, the majority of us like a good 

 deal of noise. In conclusion, we think 

 we are greatly blessed by having our 

 bees located in the quiet country. 

 We have none of those opulent, purse- 

 proud, selfish families for neighbors. 

 We all stand upon a common level, 

 and can interchange courtesies with- 

 out motives of fear or selfishness. 



Hartford, N. Y. 



J. 11. MARTIN. 



I think, in relation to this nuisance 

 question, that Mr. Heddon does not 

 take into consideration the fact that 

 the case I mentioned was located in a 

 little hamlet of half a dozen houses, 

 and only 2 or 3 families were afflicted 

 with bee stings. I think in that, and 

 all similar cases, an interchange of 

 neighborly civilities would have healed 

 all pains. If I give my neighbor a 

 pound of honey he will, in due time, 

 return the favor, unless he belongs to 

 that class of four-footed beasts which 

 once ran down a steep declivity into 

 the sea. 



I not only give to my neighbor, but 

 his family sometimes, during the ex- 

 tracting season, come into my apiary, 

 and I give them of the fruits of the 

 time ; but a few ounces are consumed, 

 and it is a pleasure to us to see them 

 get satisfied. A bee-keeper in an ad- 

 joining town adopted the plan of kick- 

 ing and stoning boys who came near 

 his bees ; the result was that one 

 morning several hives were found 

 tipped over, and the colonies nearly 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering Bees without Loss. 



D. S. BASSETT. 



nice to have one every week, and es- 

 pecially one as good as the American 

 Bee Journal. You may put me 

 down as a subscriber as long as I keep 

 bees, and I wish its editor health and 

 success. 

 Farnumsville, Mass. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Honey Crop in California. 



J. D. ENAS. 



I am well aware that the subject of 

 wintering bees is rather old now, but 

 as we shall soon have to go through 

 with it again I thought no harm in 

 telling you how I have done for the 

 last 4 winters, without the loss of a 

 single colony. I have but few colo- 

 nies, but keep them just as well as I 

 know how. Last winter I had 9. I 

 increased by natural swarming to 19, 

 and did not feed them, either. Now 



1 have 30 from the 9. My bees are 

 very hardy, I think. My first experi- 

 ence in wintering bees was in box 

 hives, and since that in Root's chaff 

 hive, using oat chaff altogether. I 

 put the bees on as few frames as pos- 

 sible, with plenty of sealed honey, and 

 use a division-board made of lath, 

 thin boards nailed on one side and 

 duck on the other. I put the duck 

 next to the bees, in winter, filling all 

 the space between the division-board 

 and the hive with loose chaff. I put 



2 thicknesses of Java canvas over the 

 bees ; then I put a good half bushel of 

 loose chaff on the canvas, and then 



Eut the large chaff cushion on. In 2 

 ives the loose chaff became rather 

 damp in February, and I changed it 

 for dry. Last winter my bees were 4 

 colonies of blacks and 5 of Italians ; 

 now I have 5 blacks and 25 Italians 

 and hybrids. My blacks swarmed 4 

 days before the Italians. I take 6 bee 

 papers, and I like them all, but it is 



About the last that I wrote to yon 

 regarding our honey crop was a fav- 

 orable prospect for a good supply of 

 the nectar ; that was at the beginning 

 of the season. The prevailing idea 

 now among the majority of honey 

 producers is that we shall not have 

 much surplus. In some counties the 

 reports are more favorable than in 

 others. San Diego, for instance, but 

 even there it differs, if near or 

 further from the coast. Frost, cool 

 rains, and cool weather (especially 

 cool nights) have had much to do with 

 poorer returns than last season, al- 

 though the season was one month ear- 

 lier than the season before. Wild 

 flowers did not go to seed ; the bloom 

 was prematurely killed, and at one 

 time neither pollen nor honey was 

 gathered, and the queens stopped lay- 

 ing. 



Some honey is being gathered now, 

 and the queens are laying again. Pol- 

 len from fall flowers is coining in 

 plentifully from the California poppy 

 and doveweed. My bees are working 

 on the azalia. Some melilot, that 1 

 allowed to go to seed last fall, and ap- 

 peared above ground in the spring, on 

 unplowed land or stubble, has en- 

 tirely disappeared. I found a large 

 bed of blue sage that showed the ef- 

 fect of the frost ; it had scarcely any 

 seed in its pods, and most of that was 

 white and had not ripened; although 

 it grows from the root, it does not die 

 out in our winters. I rind that the 

 poplars are shedding their leaves, as 

 well as the almonds. These are signs 

 of early fall weather ; in fact the 

 weather has seemed more like fall 

 than summer. We have had only a 

 few very warm days. As soon as the 

 sun gets down a great change in the 

 atmosphere seems to take place, prob- 

 ably owing to the planets or the comet. 



I increased 50 per cent, by natural 

 swarming, though I kept it back as 

 much as possible. All my colonies 

 are in good condition, though at one 

 time they had a very little honey. By 

 using comb foundation most of them 

 have filled out their hives, besides re- 

 placing some old drone and irregular 

 combs. I gave all partly-built combs, 

 after trimming out the imperfect 

 parts, to young laying quuens in :'.- 

 frame nuclei. I save the empty per- 

 fect comb by tiering up, using false 

 ends to rest the frames on, as they 

 are in the hive, over a 12-inch box, 

 with an iron pan set in it, and burn 

 sulphur in the pan, occasionally, until 

 time to use them again. They must 

 be kept dry or they will mold, and 

 must be often examined. I do not 

 think it worth while to save any but 

 perfect comb, for by using foundation 

 combs' are quickly built in the spring. 

 I hive swarms on empty frames, ex- 

 cept one frame of brood, and 2 outside 

 empty combs or those partly filled with 

 stores. After giving them foundation 

 I have had the lower part built out 

 ready for extracting in one week ; in 

 some cases by returning the bees and 

 old queen. 



It is hard work to rear early queens, 

 as they have many enemies that catch 

 the young queens ; after May there 

 seems to be less risk. 



My bees seem to be all working 

 eagerly, although honey is not coming 

 in very fast, but just enough to en- 

 courage brood-rearing. 



Those bee-keepers that still use 

 twine and sticks, or nails in transfer- 

 ring, should try the wires that I de- 

 scribed in the Bee Journal some 

 time ago, and I think they can do it 

 more easily and quickly, and also more 

 satisfactorily to themselves and the 

 bees. 



I will now describe the form of my 



hiving-box. Wl a swarm comes 



out, the queen's wing being clipped, 

 she remains on the ground ; I pick her 

 up, case her. and fasten the cage to 

 Che pole inside the hiving-box by a 

 siring or wire, holding the box in the 

 middle of the swarm if in the air, or 

 just over the limb or bush where they 

 are clustering, or if clustered, just 

 over them. They will soon find out 

 the queen and cluster on the box; if 

 not, I drive them with a little smoke. 



I have had half a dozen swarms se- 

 cured in this way, with only one box, 

 almost as fast as they came out, and 

 only a few on a limb. Give me a dif- 

 ference of 1*2 minutes, or 2. at most, 

 and I will keep them from uniting. 

 From 6 to 12 are necessary, according 

 to the size of the apiary. When I 

 have a queen that I do not care to 

 save, I use this cage to keep her in. I 

 have kept queens in cages for 2 weeks 

 at a time. The bees will not let her 

 starve. At one time I kept a queen 

 on top of a hive for several days alone; 

 I found a half pint of bees clustered 

 about her and feeding her. She was 

 lively. I use wooden cages so that she 

 cannot be chilled. I use a common 

 starch box, the long way up and down; 

 one side open, the other full of 1-inch 

 holes, one false end, % of the way 

 down, for strength. The pole is \)i 

 inches, and of a length to suit. I have 

 used this for 2 years. 



The Bee Journal is steadily gain- 

 ing ground and influence on this coast. 



Napa, Cal., July 11, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How to Build Wintering Houses. 



F. W. COMINGS. 



Iii the Journal for July 6, the edi- 

 tor asks some one who has a success- 

 ful wintering house to describe it for 

 the benefit of D. S. Kalley, Mansfield, 

 Ind. I built such a one last year, and 

 put 40 colonies into it on Nov. 18. On 

 April 16 I took out as many, minus 2 

 that died of starvation ; we also lost 

 one other by starvation while on its 

 stand. 



The house is 12x18 feet, and studding 

 10 feet. There being no cellar under 

 it, we dug a trench about 2 feet deep, 

 and laid a heavy stone wall in it. Our 

 sills were 6x14 inches. We then set 

 up a set of 2x5 inch studs, and dou- 

 ble-boarded the outside and sided up 

 the inside, filling the wall with saw- 

 dust. Then set up a set of 1x2 inch 

 studs against this wall and sided up ; 

 then another set of 2x5 inch studs and 

 sided with matched spruce, filling the 

 second wall with sawdust. Thus we 

 have two 5-inch stuffed walls, and an 

 inch dead-air space between them. 

 Overhead we put 10 inches of sawdust, 

 and stuffed the floor, using 4 inches 

 for that. We use 3 doors in one end, 

 in winter, making 2 dead air spaces. 

 Have ample ventilations in roof and 

 floor. I have thus given you the main 

 points, which probably will be suffi- 

 cient. 



East Berkshire, Vt., July 13, 1881. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1KSI. 



Time and Place oS Meeting. 



Sept. National, at Lexington, Ky. 



-Kentucky State, at Louisville, Ky. 

 Oct, 6— Union Kentucky, at Shelbyville. Ky. 



G. W. Demaree. Sec, Cbristiansburg, Ky. 

 11, 12— Northern Michigan, at Maple Rapids. 

 O. R. Goodno, Sec Carson City. Mich. 

 11, 12— Northeastern Wis., at Berlin, Wis. 

 12 -Central Ky.. in Exp. B'd'g, Louisville, Ky. 



W. Williamson. Sec, Lexington, Ky. 

 2-">, 26 Northwestern District, at Chicago. 111. 



C. C- Coffinberry. Sec, Chicago. 111. 

 27— Central Michigan, at Lansing. Mich. 



George L. Perry, Sec. 

 27— Western Mich., at Berlin, Mich. 

 Wm. M. S. Dodge, Sec, Coopersville, Mich. 

 Nov. 30— S. W. Wisconsin, at Plattevillo, Wis. 



N. E. France, Sec, Platteville, Wis, 

 1882. 

 Jan. 2.",— Northeastern, at Utica. N. V. 



Geo. W. House, Sec, Fayetteville, N, Y. 

 April 11— Eastern Michigan, at Detroit. Mich. 

 A. B. Weed, Sec, Detroit, Mich. 

 27— Texas State, at McKinney, Texas. 



Win. R. Howard, Sec. 



May Champlain Valley, at Bristol, Vt. 



T. Brookins, Sec. 



$&~ In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— ED. 



