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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 24, 







jfisror 7 



The Fall Honey Yield.— Bees are 



doing well here now ; they are work- 

 ing on buckwheat. I received a good 

 crop of clover honey, and I think we 

 will of buckwheat and other fall flow- 

 ers. I attribute my success to the 

 Journal and Cook's " Manual of 

 the Apiary." Success to each. 



A. Rhinehart. 

 Corning, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1881. 



My Season's Report. — In the spring 

 of 1880 I had 24 colonies of bees- 

 blacks and hybrids. I obtained 2,000 

 pounds of comb honey and 800 pounds 

 of extracted, and increased to 45. In 

 October they were packed in chaff on 

 their summer stands. On March 1 

 all were alive except 2 that starved, 

 and nearly all were apparently strong 

 and in good condition. As they were 

 nearly out of stores, I opened the hives 

 frequently and gave them honey and 

 sugar candy over the frames. This 

 disturbance, combined with the long, 

 cold spring, caused them to dwindle, 

 and only 15 colonies survived ; 11 col- 

 onies swarmed out, abandoning brood 

 in all stages, 2 leaving as late as the 

 middle of May, when they were ap- 

 parently prosperous. The queens in 

 these colonies were given to strong 

 ones that were queenless. I lost 10 

 queens in 4 colonies ; they would lay 

 a few days and then disappear. Out 

 of 50 colonies in box hives, unpro- 

 tected, belonging to different fami- 

 lies, there are 6 alive. Mr. Stanton, of 

 Sheridan, had 56 colonies last fall ; 20 

 were in the winter hive; of these only 

 one died ; 36 were in single-walled 

 hives, with chaff in the caps ; of these 

 only 151ived, and they were very weak. 

 The bees in the winter hive did not 

 dwindle. I had one chaff hive, but 

 that one did not have a pint of bees. 

 I like those hives ; they have all the 

 capacity for side-storing or extracting 

 that can be desired, or the side spaces 

 can be used for queen-rearing, and 

 storing given above, and they are the 

 nearest approach to a non-swarming 

 hive of anything I have seen. One 

 man at Ionia, 14 miles from here, had 

 22 colonies, packed the same as in the 

 winter hive, and he only lost 2, and 

 they came through in good condition. 

 I purchased 10 of these colonies, and 

 have now 57. I have 2 natural swarms 

 that have gathered 80 pounds each of 

 comb honey ; I have 600 pounds of 

 comb honey (clover and basswood), 

 and the same of extracted. The bees 

 are getting honey now from buck- 

 wheat. A few weeks ago, as I was 

 cutting out queen-cells, one hatched 

 in my hand. I caged her and placed 

 the cage in a nucleus ; in 2 days I re- 

 leased her ; she crawled onto a com!) 

 and immediately attacked a worker 

 bee and stung it to death ; in a few 

 days she was laying. What a diver- 

 sity of opinion there is on the subject 

 of bee-keeping. I wonder why it is 

 that men who are eqnals in intelli- 

 gence, ability, experience and success, 

 should differ so much in regard to the 

 successful management of the apiary! 

 In the face of all these conflicting 

 theories the beginner has to use his 

 own judgment, and learn by experi- 

 ence. Mrs. A. M. Sanders. 



Sheridan, Mich., Aug. 12, 1880. 



[Men differ on every conceivable 

 subject — on science, politics and re- 

 ligion just as much as on theoretical 

 bee-keeping— though they are "equals 

 in intelligence, ability, experience and 

 success.''— Ed.] 



Irresponsible Supply Dealers. — I am 



out $10 for attempting to deal with ir- 

 responsible parties, besides the loss 

 sustained by not having the section 

 boxes ordered early, until late in the 

 season. I think that when dealers 

 prove unreliable or dishonest they 

 should be exposed, so that others need 

 not suffer loss by dealing with them. 

 Bees are doing finely here now on 



white clover ; it was getting dry, but 

 we have had a fine shower which will 

 give clover another start. Success to 

 the Weekly Bee Journal. It is sup- 

 plying a need long felt by apiarists, 

 and when changed to the new form 

 for next year, it will be better than 

 ever. S. H. Mallory. 



Decatur, Mich. 



Milkweed. — I send a bee with what 

 appears to me a fungus growth upon 

 its neck and the lower part of its legs. 

 I find the workers of their own hive 

 dragging a number of them out. This 

 is taking place among other bees be- 

 sides my own. This is among the 

 black bees exclusively. I have Pales- 

 tine and Italian bees, but it does not 

 occur among them. I have put them 

 under a 1-5 power glass of my micro- 

 scope, but cannot tell what it is. 



I. R. Gast, M. D. 



Mifflinburg, Pa., Aug. 10, 1881. 



[The bee sent was weighted down 

 with pollen masses of the milkweed 

 (Asclepius).— A. J. Cook.] 



Ants. — To drive ants from bee hives 

 take a handful of tansy leaves and 

 rub and scatter them about the part 

 infested, and the ants will leave. Try 

 it. If you have none growing plant 

 some near the bee yard, to have it 

 handy. J. M. Valentine. 



Carlinville, 111. 



Dry Weather and no Honey. — Bees 

 are not doing very well ; the 'weather 

 is dry and I have no surplus up to this 

 time. I put on top story and sections 

 with foundation starters about a 

 month ago, but the bees do not seem 

 to take to it. C. W. Fisher. 



Lewis, Iowa, Aug. 9, 1881. 



The Basswood Yield.— Basswood has 

 come and gone ; for 2 years before this 

 the yield of honey from it has been 

 very light, and this year was no ex- 

 ception to what is getting to be the 

 rule, in this section ; but perhaps the 

 fact that a steam mill within one mile 

 of my place is sawing it into lumber, 

 at the rate of 500,000 feet per year, 

 has something to do with the yield of 

 it. Bees are now doing the best I ever 

 saw them, at this time of the year, 

 from the second, crop of white clover. 

 They hardly pay any attention to 

 buckwheat," although there is plenty 

 near. N. F. Case. 



Glensdale, N. Y., Aug. 9, 1881. 



[The axe has more to do with it than 

 many think. We must plant for honey 

 or get none, after a short time.— Ed.] 



Well Done.— My bees have done 

 well this season. I commenced with 

 16 colonies in the spring and trans- 

 ferred 9 of them from the box hive 

 into the Jones hive, and increased to 

 32. I bought 3 colonies, making 35 on 

 hand now. and I have taken about 

 2,200 poundsof honey since the spring, 

 mostly extracted. We had a good 

 season for honey. W. G. Russell. 



Millbrook, Out, Aug. 15, 1881. 



Honey-Dew. — I would like to ask 

 through the Bee JouiiNAL,where does 

 honey-dew come from V My bees were 

 quite busy this spring on an oak tree 

 that stands close by my shop. Some 

 say it comes from a little insect ; oth- 

 ers, that it is dew which falls on the 

 tree, but this oak tree stands under a 

 big sycamore tree, and not a particle 

 of the dew was on the sycamore tree, 

 while the oak swarmed with bees every 

 day for weeks, and other trees close by 

 had none of the dew on them . I think 

 it is the overflow of sap from the tree. 

 John Boerstler. 



Gilead, 111., Aug. 13, 1881. 



[The origin of honey-dew is a ques- 

 tion of doubt among scientists. Some 

 hold that it is an excrement emitted 

 by Aphides, a small species of insect ; 

 others claim that it is the exudation 

 of sap through the surface pores of the 

 leaves.— Ed.] 



Large Bee Hives.— I bought my first 

 colony of bees in a hive 12x12 and 10 

 inches deep. Of course I made all of 

 my hives of that size, until I became 

 tired of it. I made different styles of 

 hives and frames after that, and 

 this spring I made one 18 inches from 

 front to rear, 20 inches from side to 

 side, 9 3 4 inches deep, and 2 stories 

 high. In this hive I put a good col- 

 ony that wintered on 3 Langstroth 

 frames ; the spaces between the combs 

 were % inches, and they contained 

 sealed honey from top to bottom. 

 Those frames were not only covered 

 with bees, but crowded, and were win- 

 tered in a cellar. I never thought 

 that a good colony of bees could be 

 put on 3 combs, but it can be done. 

 Bees never rear brood when crowded 

 like that ; but by giving them the 

 whole hive and combs, bringing the 

 honey from the outside combs to the 

 center, they will rear brood and get 

 uneasy. I was induced to make this 

 large hive by Mr. Langstrotlf s article 

 in Gleanings, in which he said a hive 

 18 inches from front to rear, and 18 

 inches from side to side, gave the best 

 results. My hive is 20 inches from side 

 to side and takes 28 frames, 14 below 

 and 14 in the upper story. The queen 

 in this hive had 10 combs well filled 

 with brood all the time, until I took 

 one of brood away and gave it to a nu- 

 cleus ; then she kept 9 full. I tried to 

 make her lay in another frame, so as 

 to have 10 again, but she would not do 

 it. This colony did not swarm, and 

 gave the best results I ever had. I 

 shall make all my hives of that size 

 for the coming year. I have a num- 

 ber of queens that will be 2 years of 

 age next June ; they have been good 

 layers all summer, and I thought of 

 getting young queens in their place — 

 will they be as good next spring as 

 they were this spring V 



Wsi. Fritze. 



Duluth, Minn., Aug. 14, 1881. 



[As your queens will be but 2 years 

 old next June, they should be good 

 yet ; good, robust queens are thought 

 to be better the second season than 

 the first.— Ed.] 



Suitable Size for Nuclei.— In reply 

 to Samuel Coulthard I would say that I 

 do not claim to be an extensive queen- 

 breeder, although I have been rearing 

 queens, more or less, for the past 12 

 years. I prefer making nuclei boxes 

 to suit the frames of the hive I use. I 

 would make them large enough to 

 hold 2 or 3 frames ; if the nuclei is to 

 contain but one frame, the remaining 

 space can be filled with 1 or 2 division- 

 boards, as the case may be, and then 

 it is an easy matter to add a frame of 

 unsealed brood, as such is sometimes 

 necessary. A full-sized hive answers 

 as well for nuclei, only they cost more. 

 In making boxes for nuclei I allow 

 1 7-16 inches for each frame. I have 

 taken the Bee Journal for a num- 

 ber of years, and must say that I am 

 well pleased with the change from 

 Monthly to Weekly. I could not well 

 do without it. James P. Sterritt. 



Sheakleyville, Pa., Aug. 12, 1881. 



All Dried Up.— Bees did very well 

 here the first part of the season, until 

 the present excessive drouth com- 

 menced. We still have no rain — pas- 

 ture and all kinds of flowers are com- 

 pletely dried up. We can only get 

 our bees through bv heavily feeding. 

 J. B. R. Sherrick. 



Mt. Zion, 111., Aug. 17,1881. 



Melilot or Sweet Clover.— I bought 

 some of this because you recommended 

 it so highly as a honey producer. I 

 sowed early in the spring, on a rich 

 wheat field, as a test I before sowed a 

 little with spider plant ; that sowed 

 with spider plant has grown from 2 to 

 6 feet high, and bloomed finely. On 

 one stalk from one seed, branching 

 out in every direction like a peach 

 tree, I counted 31 blossoms, and this 

 present great drouth does not affect 

 it, while everything else is dead, and 

 bees are starving. I wish I had put 2 

 acres of this in good rich soil, and 



tilled it well. I think it would have 

 been $200 to me this summer. The 

 question is, what is Bokhara clover V 

 is it an annual ? if so, I have lost all 

 my seed and labor sowing with wheat. 

 My wheat was planted on very dry 

 land. Spider plant done moderately 

 well. The drouth has killed a part of 

 the alsike clover ; I had one acre, 

 sowed last year ; in the early summer 

 it was literally covered with bees all 

 day. Success to the Bee Journal. 



ASBURT MCKNIGHT. 



Bible Grove, 111., Aug. 13, 1881. 



[Bokhara, melilot and sweet clover 

 are virtually one and the same ; at 

 least we can see no difference. It is 

 a biennal, and that planted with the 

 wheat is not lost. — Ed.] 



Large Crop of Honey in New York. 



—The yield of honey in this section is 

 very good. The largest yield of ex- 

 tracted honey for a single colony I 

 have known here has been 306 pounds. 

 My largest (the largestl have weighed 

 but I think equalled or excelled by 

 1 or 2 others) has been 218 pounds, 

 with about 30 pounds of buckwheat 

 still to extract. C. M. Bean. 



McGrawville, N. Y., Aug. 16, 1881. 



Rearing Pure (jueens.— Please give, 

 through the Bee Journal, the best 

 way to rear pure Italian queens, from 

 a pure queen, among a hundred colo- 

 nies of black bees? I have a very fine 

 queen I received, a year ago, of A.H. 

 Newman ; she is the finest I ever saw. 

 Her progeny is perfect. I have some 

 red clover queens, from a queen pur- 

 chased of A. I. Root, but they breed 

 all colors front a light colored Italian 

 to a black ; they work on red clover in 

 preference to white clover or anything 

 else, except basswood (which amounts 

 to nothing here this season) and gold- 

 enrod. My bees done splendidly 

 early in the season, but since July 1 

 all they have done is breeding, which 

 has been immense. It is favorable for 

 a good crop from this on. I shall en- 

 deavor to rear pure queens next sea- 

 son, and want the Ibest way, under 

 the circumstances. The Journal 

 would be welcome daily, or as it is. 

 A.J. Norris. 



Cedar Falls, Iowa, Aug. 18, 1881. 



[It is of no use to try to rear pure 

 Italian queens among 100 colonies of 

 native bees. By removing the colony 

 of pure bees to some remote part of 

 the farm you may accomplish it.— Ed.] 



Foul Brood Again. — There is no 



doubt that boiling hives, frames, etc., 

 is a sure cure for foul brood, for I have 

 the authority of Mr. J. S. Harbison, 

 who, when at Sacramento, was trou- 

 bled so much that he made a tank to 

 boil his hives in. If we could heat 

 the wax to the same point there would 

 be none of the foul brood germs left 

 in it, but it is almost impossible to do 

 it. I render all of mine under glass 

 in my honey tank, at about 15CP or 

 160°, and could melt my wax and make 

 foundation in the summer time, never 

 using fire heat, if I wanted to ; so, for 

 one, I do not want any foundation 

 made from foul brood wax. 



S. S. Butler, M. D. 

 Los Gatos, Cal., Aug. 10, 1881. 



[We doubt whether any insect life 

 could withstand, for any considerable 

 time, the amount of heat necessary to 

 transform comb into foundation ; nor 

 would contagious influences. What 

 Dr. Butler might do without fire heat, 

 is not the method pursued by founda- 

 tion manufacturers ; they find a much 

 greater amount of heat necessary to 

 do expeditious work.— Ed.] 



®" 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. 



