1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



277 



cage, in which he put ;i line Italian 

 queen, with a fen workers, and mailed 

 to my address. When the package 

 came to hand the workers were all 

 dead and the queen died soon after. I 

 reported the arrival and ill success to 

 Mr. L.. who contrived a cage differ- 

 ent from his first, and sent it with a 

 queen to me by mail. His second at- 

 tempt proved as successful as my first 

 was. Such is I he history of the origin 

 of transporting queens through the 

 medium of the post office department. 

 Hiehford.N. ST. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Cyprian and Palestine Bees. 



A. W. OSBORN. 



The accompanying letter from Mr. 

 G. M. Doolittle. whose judgment we 

 respect, will, I think, be of general in- 

 terest : 



Borodino, N. Y.. July 2-~>. 1881. 



As to Holy Land queens and bees I 

 know nothing, but will say that I be- 

 lieve the I". 8. would have been just 

 as well off without them. You will 

 see that as the Holy Land and Cyp- 

 rians are so nearly iike the Italians as 

 to color, that should they prove infe- 

 rior, they cannot be separated, as can 

 the blacks and Italians. Let me pro- 

 phesy : Five years from now. but few 

 persons in the United States will be 

 able to tell of what their stock con- 

 sists; for just as soon as Palestine 

 and Cyprian drones are plenty, who 

 can tell by the workers or queens 

 whether their queens have mated 

 with an Italian, Cyprian or Palestine 

 drone? Hence you will see, that 

 should these last two prove inferior to 

 the Italians, we are in a dilemma. I 

 know the rush generally goes for 

 something nm\ but I am content, at 

 present, to let others try these bees. 

 . G. M. Doolittle. 



Thus far, I have not found the Holy 

 Land bees superior to the Italians. I 

 handled over 400 queens this sum- 

 mer, both Italian and Holy Land, and 



1 watched them closely. Perhaps 

 the Palestine bees are not suited to 

 our dry seasons, and under the most 

 favorable circumstances would make 

 a better showing. With us the honey 

 season is over. The yield has been 

 very light, not more than 1 apiary 

 in 10 that has taken any surplus. The 

 remaining!) will have to be fed, to 

 keep the bees from starving. But we 

 live and work on. cherishing the hope 

 that next year will make up for this, 

 and in fact, bee men have come to be- 

 lieve that it is impossible to obtain 



2 good crops in succession. 



I wish the best of success to all the 

 bee-keepers of the East, and pros- 

 perity to the Bee Journal, which 

 comes to us every week, tilled with 

 good things. 



Los Angeles, Cal., Aug. 13, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Calendonian Apiarian Society. 



J. D. HUTCniNSON. 



This society held their 8th annual 

 exhibition at Sterling, on July 26, and 

 3 following days, and as hi former 

 years under the patronage of the 

 Highland and Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland. 



Owing to the very wet weather 

 which we have experienced here all 

 this summer, there was only a limited 

 display of honey ; but this was more 

 than made up by the fine appearance 

 of the " observatory hives," which, as 

 usual, was a great attraction, the 

 queen being eagerly sought after. In 

 this department the competition is 

 getting keener at every show. The 

 first prize was awarded to Mr. D. 

 Woods, of Benmore, whose hive was 

 much noticed for its ingenuity and 

 beauty. It is made to serve two pur- 

 poses, that of an ordinary observatory 

 hive, and is adapted for both summer 

 and winter use. The frames, 4 in 

 number, are arranged in 2 perpendic- 

 ular rows, and. above this is placed a 

 number of small section boxes, which 



the beea lill with comb honey : jusl as 



if they were in an ordinary bee-frame 

 hive. This hive can be all closed up 



in a few seconds, anil the bees can be 

 kept in it throughout the winter in 

 perfect safety. The second prize was 



awarded to Mr. Young, of Perth, who 

 exhibited an ordinary <> bar Wood- 

 bury hive. Both these hives were 

 weli Stocked with beautiful bees. 



(ileal interest was also manifested 

 in class 2, for the best colony of Cyp- 

 rian, Ligurian, or any other foreign 

 bees exhibited in an observatory hive. 

 1. James Johnstone, of Touch. 2. 

 William Sword, of Falkirk. There 

 was a large number of entries in the 

 competition for the hives, but as there 

 was nothing of any particular note, 

 I need not trouble you to enumerate 

 the awards. 



In class n, Mr. Johnstone carried oil 

 1st honors with his samples of comb 

 foundation, and wax in cakes of 2 lbs. 

 each. 



The competition in the honey classes 

 were very few, and the only exhibits 

 of any interest was a few magnificent 

 Stewarton boxes from Ayrshire, and 

 a number of small 1 and 2 lb. section 

 boxes of tine comb honey. The fine 

 display of run or extracted honey 

 which is yearly seen at this show was 

 greatly missed. Class 23, for the best 

 liquor or wine made from honey. 1. 

 D. Wood. 



For the best cakes made with honey. 

 1. Win. Sword. The above exhibits 

 were very tasty, but oh ! how quickly 

 they did vanish. In the miscellane- 

 ous classes there was a good display of 

 hives, supers, bee-furniture, bee-gear, 

 honey extractors, etc.; and amongst 

 the principle hive winners in this class 

 were Messrs. Young, Wood, and Kin- 

 near. 



The driving competition for the 

 Highland and Agricultural Society's 

 silver medal, took place on the last 

 day of the show, in the large manipu- 

 lating tent belonging to the Bee Soci- 

 ety. There was a large number of 

 competitors, and after a very keen 

 contest, the judges awarded the first 

 prize to Mr. W. W. Young, who cap- 

 tured the queen in transit in I 1 * min- 

 utes, and finished the driving of the 

 bees in the same time. Miss Stewart, 

 of Sterling, came second, and was 

 awarded the society's own silver 

 medal ; she took 4 minutes to capture 

 the queen, and other 3 to finish the 

 driving. The judges were Messrs, An- 

 derson and Muirhead. During the 4 

 days of the show, the weather was 

 very showery, and at times rained very 

 heavily ; but the visitors seemed to en- 

 joy themselves to the utmost extent. 

 Altogether, the show was a great suc- 

 cess, both fiancially, and otherwise, 

 and much credit is due to the commit- 

 tee for the way in which the arrange- 

 ments were carried through. 



On the Thursday night, a large com- 

 pany of the principal bee-keepers at- 

 tending the show, dined together in 

 McAlpine's hotel. The party spent a 

 very enjoyable evening, which was 

 greatly enlivened by the songs and 

 speeches of the various members. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Another Way of Swindling, etc. 



W. II. STOUT. 



Partie3 in this vicinity have taken 

 lessons in bee-keeping from a profes- 

 sional, who charges So. for instruc- 

 tions, and gis'es the following receipt 

 for feeding : 



5 lbs. A sugar, 1 teaspoonful line 

 dairy salt, % lb. essence of lemon, 1 

 knife-point full cream tartar, 3 pints 

 of water, to which add 1 i tea cup full 

 of vinegar, if you wish comb built. 



The following for spring feeding : 



2 bushels of rye, 5 lbs. A sugar. .'! 

 spoonfuls of dairy salt. 1 teaspoonful 

 essence of lemon, i 4 spoonful of cream 

 tartar. 



This is, of course, a kind of private 

 mixture, but as the Jottrnal read- 

 ers are entitled to all the valuable dis- 

 coveries, I take the liberty to have 

 you publish it, perhaps for the first 

 time. 



It is a little rough on foundation man- 



ufacturers, I know, but you see a lit- 

 tle vinegar will save us all that ex- 

 pense. HOW the little fellows arc to 

 appropriate the rye does not appear. 



For the present we are satisfied with 



A sugar and water, and rye and oats 

 ground together for spring feeding. 

 The other articles we would prefer 

 mixed with Hour for cakes. 



We are disappointed in our honey 

 crop ; so far obtained only about 300 

 lbs. in sections from li) colonies in 

 spring, and increased to 32, of which 

 several are yet only nuclei. During 

 June it was very wet, yet white clover 

 was plentiful, but as our bees cannot 

 swim, to gather the honey, we got 

 very little of it. Since June' we had it 

 dry enough, so that corn and potatoes 

 will not make 14 of a crop and the 

 grass looks as if scorched. We sowed 

 some early buck-wheat for bee-forage, 

 but it yields scarcely any honey, and 

 less grain. We also have some of later 

 sowing which may do a little better, 

 if we get rain soon. On the whole, 

 we had a season of extremes, the cold- 

 est winter, the wettest spring, the hot- 

 test and dryest summer that is re- 

 membered — "well, by the oldest inhabi- 

 tant. We have a colony of bees now 

 having 2 queens ; the old queen has 

 her wing clipped, and the bees 

 swarmed out twice ; each time we 

 caught the queen, removed cells, and 

 returned the colony; but they did not 

 seem satisfied, but raised a young 

 queen lately, and both were in the 

 hive on one comb a few days ago. 

 Another colony had a queen with de- 

 fective wings ; they also swarmed and 

 returned twice, then superseded the 

 old queen, and came out with 4 young 

 queens at one time. We caught 3, 

 gave them to nuclei, and left them 

 1; since, they have done well. From 

 these instances, we infer that bees are 

 sometimes averse to having queens 

 that cannot fly. 



Pine Grove, Pa., Aug. 22, 1881. 



The British Bee and Honey Show. 



The seventh Exhibition of this 

 Association in the gardens of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society at South Ken- 

 sington, London, has been rather con- 

 spicuous for the quantity and excel- 

 lence of the honey than for evidences 

 of progress among appliances. The 

 total entries numbered 274, while the 

 attendances have been on the whole 

 satisfactory, and the interest in the 

 subject evidently growing. In Class 

 2 the Carniolan bees were very distinct. 

 This variety, though sombre in hue, 

 should be encouraged, since they are 

 good workers, not persistent s warmers, 

 and extremely mild in temper. Ob- 

 servatory hives brought out one or two 

 impracticable novelties, and we were 

 glad to see that the mistake was not 

 repeated of giving prizes where large 

 flight space involved wholesale death 

 to the bees, being a necessary part of 

 the construction. Mr. Holland showed 

 a pretty and ingenious observatory, 

 which at present partly involves this 

 indicated defeat, which without diffi- 

 culty he could remedy. Mr. Scott 

 showed a hive in which the frames fit 

 together, but have glass between the 

 combs. These can be independently 

 lifted for observation. In our opinion 

 the old form of observatory, in which 

 the combs are visible constantly and 

 without interference, .yet remains to 

 be excelled. 



The display of honey has not hith- 

 erto been equalled. The total weight 

 was nearly 3 tons, while the flatness, 

 finish, and color of the sections seemed 

 to leave but little room for progress in 

 this direction. The extracted honey 

 was bright with hardly an exception, 

 and must constantly have sorely puz- 

 zled the Judges in making their 

 awards. For the best exhibition from 

 one apiary Mr. Thorn was to the front 

 with a magnificent lot of 3S4% lbs., 



which with his other entries brought 

 his total up to ">2S lbs., by far I he 



largest amount of English honey yet 

 staged by one exhibitor. Mr. Walton 



Came second with 227 lbs., and Mr. 

 Hooker third with II doz.m I lb. sect- 

 ions, all of admirably even quality. 

 The next class for supers not sections 

 was on the whole poor, and calls for 

 I it lie remark. The glass si ipers, hand- 

 some but unsalable, are clearly giv- 

 ing way before the handy sections. 

 The cost and risk of transit, without a 



chance of sale, will ill the end banish 

 these ornaments from our exhibition 

 benches. 



Class 1.".. best t weul y-four 2 lb. sec- 

 tions. — Mr. Walton 'surpassed Mr. 

 Thorn with boxes that can only be 

 equalled. MissGuytonandMr. Thorn 

 were second and third in a class in 

 which to win is an event. 



The silver medal for foundation was 

 replaced at the desire of the Judges 

 for 2 of bronze, one for Mr. Kaitt for 

 thick foundation, and the other to Mr. 

 Abbott for thin. A silver medal was 

 awarded to Mr. Abbott, Jr., who 

 showed Faris' method for making 

 foundation by dipping. In this he dis- 

 played considerable dexterity, nearly 

 if not all the sheets being turned out 

 perfect. Mr. Cowan again won in the 

 class for extractors. The machine in 

 principle is that of last year with an 

 additional movement by which the 

 combs can be more readily put in po- 

 sition. Mr. Abbott showed an expedi- 

 tious way of sealing honey jars. 

 These are first coated with wax on the 

 lip; waxed paper is then, after filling, 

 pressed upon the glass ; and the two 

 surfaces of wax unite, and a complete 

 closure is effected. 



The Baroness Burdett Coutts distrib- 

 uted the prizes on Thursday, July 28th. 

 The Rev. H. R. Peel has sufficiently 

 recovered from his severe illness to 

 allow him, to the delight of all, to be 

 present during a part of the time the 

 Exhibition was open, Mr.T. W. Cowan 

 kindly taking general oversight dur- 

 ing the whole week. 



O* The bee-keepers of Ontairo will 

 hold their annual convention Tuesday, 

 Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, 

 second week of the Industrial fair, 

 13th, 14th, 15 September, thus allow- 

 ing those attending the convention to 

 see the exhibition when it is at its best 

 and also the convention, which prom- 

 ises to be of such importance that no 

 bee-keeper can afford to miss it. 

 Ladies are especially invited to attend. 

 Notice as to place of meeting will be 

 given in due time. D. A. Jones. 



^F The Southern California Dis- 

 trict Bee-Keepers' Association will 

 hold its annual meeting in Los Angeles 

 City, Sept. 8, 9, and 10", 1881. All per- 

 son's interested in bees and honey are 

 respectfully invited to attend. 



J. E. Pleasants, Pre*. 



Anaheim, Cal. 



®"Tlie North western Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will meet in Chicago, on 

 Tuesday and Wednesday, October 25 

 and 26. 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. Coffinberry, Sec. 



Igg" The Eastern Michigan bee-keep- 

 ers' Association will hold its fall meet- 

 ing in Detroit, Oct. 4, in the Y. M. C. 

 A. hall, at 10 o'clock a. m. 



A. B. Weed, Sec. 



81° The Southwestern Wisconsin 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will hold its 

 next meetingin Plafteville, Grant Co., 

 Wis.. Nov. 30, 1881. 



N.E.France, ike., Plafteville, Wis. 



®° 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. Gooixno. Sec. 



