1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



237 



To European Bee-Keepers. 



The following letter from President 

 Allen, sufficiently explains itself: 



Editor Bee Journal :— Allow nie 

 through your columns to extend the 



following' fraternal invitation to the 

 bee-keepers of the Old World, with a 

 request that all bee periodicals copy 

 the .same : 



To the /»'• i - Ki i /» rs "» England, France, 

 Germany, Italy, and elsewhere, greet- 

 ing: 



The time is fast approaching when 

 the North American Bee-Keepers' So- 

 ciety will convene at Lexington. Ky. 

 An exhibition of bees, queens, hives, 

 honey boxes, implements, etc., will be 

 one of the features during the session 

 of the Convention. We invite you to 

 participate in the exhibit. No gold 

 medals or money premiums are of- 

 fered, but awards will be made by a 

 committee. All exhibits you may 

 send will be properly attended to. We 

 cordially invite you to be present, and 

 take part in the discussions. Essays 

 upon any topic in bee-culture will be 

 highly appreciated. 



Articles may be forwarded, charges 

 prepaid, to Wm. Williamson, Lexing- 

 ton, Ky., Vice President for Kentucky. 

 Hoping to meet many of our European 

 friends. I am fraternally yours, 



N. P. Allen, 

 Pres. N. A. B. K. Society. 

 Smith's Grove, Ky., July 12, 1881. 



8^" In noticing the reception of the 

 Indiana State Fair Premium List, we 

 stated that we only found a premium 

 of $5 for comb honey, in 5-pound 

 boxes. The Indiana Farmer calls at- 

 tention to some other premiums, on 

 page 27 of the pamphlet. We there 

 find the following premiums, and 

 gladly make a note of them : " Best 

 10 pounds of comb honey in packages 

 of one pound or more, §5 — second $2 ; 

 best 10 pounds, or more, one-pound 

 packages of extracted honey, $5— 

 second 82 ; best crate of honey in the 

 comb, in the most marketable shape, 

 $6 ; best display of honey, both comb 

 and extracted, $5; best display of wax, 

 $2 ; best machine for extracting 

 honey, diploma; best display of bee- 

 keepers' supplies, diploma." 



The Prairie Farmer also adds : "Our 

 Honorable Board of Agriculture 

 deemed it best to leave the bees out of 

 the list until a greater interest was 

 shown in this department. We are 

 sure they are willing and anxious to 

 do all in their power to assist any and 

 all departments in which any interest 

 is shown." 



Getting Used to Glucose.— The West- 

 em Rural remarks that " A writer in 

 a certain paper says that apiarists 

 must get used to seeing glucose honey 

 in the market. They are used to it, 

 but do not propose to stand it if they 

 can help it." And the Bee Journal 

 would add that apiarists "can help it," 

 and do not propose even to try to "get 

 used to it!" It is a nefarious swindle 

 to use the trash for the purposes of 

 adulteration, and bee-keepers will 

 fight it to the " bitter end." 



Complimentary.— The New Sharon 

 (Iowa) Star, makes mention of the 

 Bee Journal thus : 



It is the standard authority in its 

 particular line, and ought to be in the 

 homes of every individual who is en- 

 gaged in bee-culture. You have only 

 to send S2 to Thomas G. Newman, of 

 Chicago, and you will receive one of 

 the handsomest weeklies published 

 in this country. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Dividing for Increase.— Mr. Geo. M. 

 Hawley, in the Nebraska Farmer, says : 



All who have kept bees have seen 

 swarms coining from the hives, rushing 

 or tumbling out, or any way to get out, 

 the queen coming after most of the bees 

 have left the hive. After circling around 

 for some time they alight on some tree, 

 shrub or prominent object near the hive, 

 waiting for their master to provide a shel- 

 ter. After which, if it is acceptable, they 

 go to work with a good will, in kind appre- 

 ciation of his attention, and if nature is 

 lavish in her stores of sweetness, they will 

 abundantly pay him for services rendered. 

 It he he negligent, however, and allows 

 them to hang long in the cluster, uncared 

 for, they "take matters into their own 

 hands," and send out scouts in search of a 

 suitable abode, to which, when found, 

 they go. This is nature's plan of increase. 



That "dividing" the colonies can be 

 done by the careful and intelligent apiarist 

 with equal if not better results than na- 

 ture performs it, there is no doubt ; but 

 that as good results are not obtained by the 

 majority, speaks rather against the apiar- 

 ists than the system. If we observe 

 closely we will see that bees make prepa- 

 rations for swarming only when they are 

 gathering honey, and the hive is crowded 

 with bees. They start the queen from the 

 egg, not taking larva? of several days' 

 growth around which to form their queen 

 cell, as is usually the case when acciden- 

 tally or intentionally deprived of their 

 queen. Therefore, the queen is fully de- 

 veloped, being reared while they were 

 gathering honey. The queen was made 

 much larger, and the larva? much better 

 supplied with food than if reared at other 

 times. 



Having seen the demands of nature we 

 can now imitate her and by careful selec- 

 tion in the colonies from which to rear our 

 queen, can make improvement much faster 

 than if they were left unaided. If we de- 

 prive a colony of their queen, and they 

 have brood in their hive, they will form 

 from 5 to 20 or more queen cells of larvae, 

 and by a greater amount of food develop 

 those that would have hatched worker 

 bees into queens. In other words, a worker 

 is an undeveloped female, by growing her 

 in a queen cell, and furnishing her with 

 more food she will be fully developed. 



We have already seen that queens are 

 raised naturally, during a How of honey. 

 If, then, we wKh to rear them at any other 

 time, the colony should be fed. Also to 

 secure her fullest development, she should 

 be started from an egg and not after the 

 egg has hatched. Therefore, all brood 

 should be taken away, and combs of new- 

 laid eggs put in their place. Queens are 

 so hostile to one another, that as soon 

 as one hatches, if not taken away, she will 

 destroy all the others. If it is desired to 

 save the queen cells, nucleus colonies 

 of one or more combs of brood and bees, 

 taken from strong colonies, should be put 

 in hives constructed with a division board; 

 on the ninth day, all the queen cells but 

 one should he cut out, putting a cell in 

 each of the nuclei. After the queens have 

 hatched and commence to lay, the nucleus 

 colony can be built up by giving it frames 

 of brood from the stronger colonies, put- 

 ting empty frames, or frames with comb 

 foundation, in their places. 



Work for August.— In the American 

 Agriculturist Mr. L. C. Root says : 



During the month of August take 

 care not to add too many boxes, or to 

 extract too freely, in localities where 

 fall forage is scarce. I would advise 

 every bee-keeper to leave a few hives 

 without extracting all of the combs. 

 In fact, where boxing is practical, it is 

 well to arrange a few hives with extra 

 combs to be filled and capped over. 



I have frequently known seasons in 

 which the brood combs were so en- 

 tirely filled with brood that all the 

 honey was stored in boxes ; then the 

 yield of honey closing abruptly, but 

 little or no honey was stored for win- 

 ter. At such times it is most desirable 

 to have heavy cards of sealed honey 

 that may be furnished to such colo- 

 nies. In a word, we should not be so 

 eager to secure a great surplus as to 

 run the risk of starving our bees, 

 which is sure to be the result of im- 

 proper management. 



The Danger of Procrastination.— 

 Mrs. L. Harrison gives the following 

 good advice on this subject in the 

 Prairie Farmer: 



The late Prince Napoleon lost his 

 life by his habit of procrastination. It 

 had always been his habit from ear- 

 liest childhood to plead for a delay of 



10 minutes, when requested to per- 

 form some duty, such as retiring to 

 bed or arising in the morning, and it 

 became fixed— as it were a part of his 

 being. When bis command desired to 

 return to camp, his characteristic re- 

 ply was : " No, let's wait 10 minutes;" 

 and at the expiration of this time the 

 Zulus came. Do every duty as soon 

 as it can be done, is the only road that 

 leads to success in temporal and moral 

 affairs. 



A few days ago. while visiting at a 

 farm house* we noticed a colony of 

 bees, that were clustering on the out- 

 side of the hive for want of room in- 

 side, and on our remarking to their 

 owner, that he should give them more 

 space, by putting on surplus boxes, 

 his reply was : " I'm going to do so 

 as soon as I get my corn planted." 

 As he had but one colony, it would not 

 have taken him much more time to 

 have laid back the duck, and put on a 

 box, than to have said so. Those per- 

 sons who wait to plant, and work 

 their corn, sow buckwheat, etc., be- 

 fore supplying their bees with surplus 

 boxes, will find in the fall that they 

 have no honey for their cakes. The 

 proper date for supplying boxes varies 

 with the climate, strength of colonies, 

 and yield of honey. Inexperienced 

 persons are apt to put on boxes too 

 soon, and too many at a time. If too 

 much space is given it cools the hive 

 too much, and bees cannot manipu- 

 late their wax. A person, to be a suc- 

 cessful apiarist, should become famil- 

 iar with the habits of these industri- 

 ous insects, and then use his judg- 

 ment in their management. A farmer 

 told us recently that during fruit 

 bloom his bees built comb in the por- 

 ticos of their hives, and be thought 

 that they would swarm sooner if he 

 did not put on boxes. In this locality 

 bees sometimes store in boxes during 

 fruit bloom, but it is rare, but if they 

 have been well managed, they are 

 ready to go to work in them at the 

 commencement of white clover bloom. 

 Care should be exercised to secure all 

 the white honey attainable, and in 

 the best marketable shape. 



Bee-Keeping in the South.— Mr. A. 



F. Moon, Rome, Ga., reports as fol- 

 lows in Our Home and Science Gossip : 



Some apiaries have, with little care, 

 yielded 100 pounds to the colony on an 

 average, the present season, and where 

 there has been care, little swarming 

 has resulted. There is no cold weather 

 here, and the bees fly almost every 

 day during the winter, but where this 

 freedom is allowed them they consume 

 more honey than when properly 

 housed. They are, however, more 

 healthy and vigorous when privileged 

 to fly, than when confined to their 

 domiciles. 



again before swarming, they must 



have yet more room given to them ; 



for bees should never be allowed to 

 remain idle ; many pounds of honey 

 are often lost to the bee-keeper in this 

 way. 



Beautiful Honey.— The Orange llulle- 

 tin, of Cincinnati, ()., very truthfully 

 remarks as follows : 



Extracted honey is certainly the 

 perfection of the product, though 

 honey in the comb as yel brings the 

 higher price. People say because it 

 is more beautiful to the eye, but, this 

 cannot be true. Served in a stand of 

 crystal, extracted or clear honey, gol- 

 den in color and as transparent as the 

 crystal itself, what object is more 

 beautiful upon a well-appointed tea- 

 table V 



Bees Hanging Outside the Hive.— 



The Home Farmer remarks as follows 

 on this subject : 



The next care that comes after 

 swarming is the honey harvest. In 

 view of this it is always advisable to 

 give additional room at the top of the 

 hive, and sometimes even below the 

 hive when the season happens to be 

 exceedingly good. The bees will of- 

 ten fill a cap (or super) of beautiful 

 honeycomb before they swarm. There- 

 fore be on the look-out, and when the 

 season is good, the weather fine, and 

 the bees show signs of want of room 

 by hanging ever so little outside of 

 the hive entrance, lose no time. Open 

 the bole at the top and let them into 

 the super. You must cover this well 

 over, so as both to keep in the warmth 

 and to protect them from a too hot 

 sun as from wet. If their numbers 

 still increase, and they hang out 



Honey and Beeswax Market. 



BUYERS' QUOTATIONS. 



CHICAGO. 



HONEY-But little comb honey is yet upon the 

 market, and the quotations are rather premature. 

 New extracted honey is quite plentiful, and in good 

 demand. 



We quote light comb honey, in single comb 

 boxes. 1 HIS; line ; in larger boxes 2c. less. Extracted 

 7@9c. 



BEESWAX-Prime quulily, 18S20C. 



NEW YORK. 



HONEY — New honey in 1 or 2 lb. boxes will bring 

 good prices, but as yet there is none on the market, 

 though it is daily expected. 



White extracted. omiOc; dark. 7@8G. 



BEESWAX.-Prime quality, 1S822C. 



CINCINNATI. 



HONEY.— A few small lots of comb honey have 

 made their appearance on our market, which I 

 bought at 1 4<" loc. per lb. I have very many offers, 

 but there being no demand yet, 1 have not com- 

 menced to lay in my supply. Extracted honey 

 ranges from 7(S9c, on arrival. 



BEESWAX— 18@22c. C. P. MUTB. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



HONEY— A small amountof new extracted ison 

 the market, held at lie. For choice old the above is 

 now the bottom price with holders. There is a fair 

 inquiry. Several sales have been effected within 

 the week. 



We quote white comb, i:i@ir,c.; dark to go >d,lo@ 

 I2c. Extracted, choice to extra while. '" loc; dark 

 and caudied.se. BEESWAX— 23®25c. 



Steakn* & Smith. i'i:\ Front Street. 



San Francisco. Cal.. July Hi. 1881. 



<ST The time selected by the Execu- 

 tive Committee for holding the Na- 

 tional Convention, at Lexington, Ky., 

 is October 5, G, and 7, 1881. All bee- 

 keepers'are invited to attend and take 

 part in the deliberations of the Con- 

 vention. As Lexington is a central 

 point, the Executive Committee hope 

 to have a large attendance from the 

 the North, South, East and West, and 

 from Canada, and that the 12th annual 

 meeting of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society will be the most in- 

 teresting meeting that the bee-keepers 

 of the United States have ever held. 



The National Convention will be 

 held during the time of holding the 

 St. Louis Fair and the Expositions at 

 Cincinnati and Louisville, and that all 

 passing- through those cities can get 

 the benefit of excursion rates. 



N. P. Allen, Pres. 



lgg*The Northwestern Lee-Keepers' 

 Association will meet in Chicago, on 

 Tuesday and Wednesday, October 25 

 and 2H. All bee-keepers are cordially 

 invited to attend. It is desired to 

 make this one of the most interesting 

 conventions ever held in the United 

 States. C. C. Miller, M. D., Pres. 



C. C. COFFINBERJIY, &VC. 



gg" The Northwestern Illinois and 

 Southwestern Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its next meeting 

 Aug. 30, at Rock City, Stephenson Co., 

 111. Jonathan Stewart, Sec. 



<@T The Northern Michigan Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 fourth Annual Convention at Maple 

 Rapids, Clinton Co.. Mich., Oct. 11 

 and 12, 1881. O. R. Goodno. Sec. 



l^ The Southwestern Wisconsin 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will hold its 

 next meeting in Platteville, GrantCo., 

 Wis.. Nov. 30. 1881. 



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



