278 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 31, 



su^^am^. 



>uK : £k**m 



Thoronghwort. — I send by this mail 

 :i specimen of a weed that grows here 

 in wet land, about waist-high, and 

 which blooms from the middle of Au- 

 gust until frost. It has a small white 

 Sower, on which the bees work steady 

 all day long. What is it ? Some here 

 call itbonesel ; the tea of it will vomit 



a pers [Uickly. My bees worked on 



it so industriously last fall, I thought 

 maybe the impure.sour honey came 

 from it that caused dysentery, it is 

 very dry here now, and the bees that 

 had plenty of stores the first of July 

 have used at least one-half in rearing 

 brood, and have gathered none since. 

 I observed in last week's Bee Jour- 

 nal, that men differ greatly on the 

 value of the Cyprian bee. While Mr. 

 Dadant condemns them, Mr. Muth 

 and others praise them, so that begin- 

 ners hardly know which to purchase. 

 I have four as line queens as I ever 

 owned, of the Cyprian variety, bred 

 from imported mothers : they breed 

 faster, and their progeny are as gentle 

 and easy to handle as Italians, and 

 just as good workers. 1 prefer the 

 Cyprians. Success to the Bee Jour- 

 nal. D. S. Kalley. 



Mansfield, Ind., Aug. 23. 1881. 



[The specimen sent is thoroughwort 

 or boneset [Mupatorium perfoliatum), 



and is au excellent honey plant.— Ed.] 



Weather Scorching but Sweet Clo- 

 ver Yielding Honey.— I have read Dr. 

 Keene's letter in a late Journal about 

 Rocky Mountain bee plant and sweet 

 clover. I have had 75 to 100 large 

 plants of sweet clover in bloom in our 

 garden this summer, the bloom upon 

 which was immense. It bloomed in 

 June, and when at its best, the bees 

 were very busy upon it about a week, 

 when to my great surprise, they aban- 

 doned it and let it alone for over a 

 month, and I concluded it was worth- 

 less for this locality. Then came the 

 drouth with no rain for over 3 weeks, 

 when I was again surprised by seeing 

 the bees resume work upon sweet clo- 

 ver, and during the hottest and dryest 

 day we had, with the mercury 101 in 

 the shade, and a dry, scorching wind 

 from the southwest, they worked 

 upon sweetclover from morning until 

 night continuously. Of its value as a 

 honey plant I cannot speak from ex- 

 perience, except that I am sure it can- 

 not be so dry that sweet clover will 

 not yield honey. D. P. Norton. 



Council Grove, Kan., Aug. 22, 1881. 



The Docility of Cyprians.— While I 

 have- no experience with imported 

 Cyprians, I introduced to my yard in 

 June 2 home-bred queens of this 

 strain, presumably fertilized with the 

 Cyprian drone. I am glad to be able 

 to concur in the testimony of Mr. 

 Muth— that I find them not only band- 

 some, but "as gentle as any to han- 

 dle." I certainly think it would be 

 well for us to go on with the infusion 

 of this new blood, notwithstand- 

 ing the exceptionable cases of wrath- 

 fulness reported by Mr. Dadant and 

 others. I cannot believe that they 

 will prove in the average more irras- 

 cible than the blacks, while any im- 

 provement that may result from the 

 cross will not be at the expense of the 

 beautiful marking of the Italians. 



J. S. WOODBURN. 



Livermore, Pa., Aug. 21, 1881. 



Light Honey Crop.— The honey crop 

 will be a very light one here this sea- 

 son, though early in the season it bid 

 fair to be good. We obtained a little 

 surplus honey from basswood bloom. 

 Our bees have swarmed well this sea- 

 son ; one colony gave me 3 large 

 swarms in 4 days. It is so dry here 

 now that there is nothing for bees to 

 work on. If it rains, which it lias not 

 done, in 3 weeks, I think it is too late 

 lor much forage. Everything looks 

 as though it had been scorched. I 

 wish all who have sent money to H. 

 A. Burch & Co., for apiarian supplies, 

 or bees and queens, and have recei\ ed 

 no compensation for their money, in 



the last vcar, could be put in a list, SO 

 we could sec how much money 1 1 n • \ 



have made out of bee-keepers. I will 



add my mite : In April last 1 sent 

 $3.50 for a nucleus, but have no bees 

 yet. They do not correspond any 

 more; they say each will be served in 

 turn. I think it isabout time to class 

 such men where they belong, 



Dai n> Kill.:. Su. 

 Richfield, 111., Aug. io. 1881. 



Cellar Ventilation.— I have read in 

 some of our bee publications that a 

 cellar should have a ventilating tube 

 enter it from below the frost line in 

 the ground, and extending some dis- 

 tance to an opening. Will some one 

 having such a ventilating tube give 

 the size of orifice, and the length nec- 

 essary to secure a uniform tempera- 

 ture during severe weather? 



J. II. Martin. 



Hartford, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1881. 



Much Interested.— I am very much 

 interested in anything touching bee 

 culture ; I therefore find the Bee 

 Journal exceedingly atttactive and 

 instructive, and would not like to miss 

 a number of it. G. E. T. Kyher. 



Green Bay, Wis., Aug. 22, 1881. 



100 lbs. per Colony.— In my report 

 given on page 220, July 20, is a little 

 mistake. I lost 31, or rather 32 colo- 

 nies out of 87. I have now increased 

 to 02, and am getting a fair surplus. 

 I shall get considerable over 100 lbs. 

 of box honey from each of several col- 

 onies in the spring. The honey crop 

 in this part of Wisconsin is very light. 

 The harvest, truly, has been great, 

 but the laborers have been few. 



B. T. Davenport. 



Auroraville, Wis., Aug. 22. 1881. 



other parties he has stated that a suit 

 against me for infringing on his pat- 

 ent is pending in the United States 

 court. C. F. Muth. 



Cincinnati, O., Aug. 24, 1881. 



• [We have occasion to know that 

 this man " Kidder," is a swindler, 

 lie has troubled us the same way. 

 —Ed.] 



Drouth in Texas. — We are suffering 

 from a most protracted drouth. My 

 bees have hardly gathered U of ;i 

 crop. We are all somewhat discour- 

 aged. W. II. Andrews. 



McKinney, Tex., Aug. 10, 1881. 



Another Swindler.— I have received 

 the following letter: 



"Please give me information, if 

 you can, namely : Is there a National 

 Bee Co., if so do they establish agents 

 to sell their goods ? Is there a pat- 

 ented bee hive called Kidder hive ? A 

 man called himself Kirk Kidder, Jr., 

 selling territory to use this patented 

 hive. Was he a bogus or a genuine 

 representive of the. Co.? lie said you 

 was their agent at Cincinnati, O. — C. 

 Haucke.— Greenup, Ky., Aug 20, 

 1881." 



There is a fellow by the name of 

 Kidder. I believe Kirk Kidder, Jr., who 

 makes himself unpleasant, and whom 

 I can prove to be an impostor and a 

 humbug, by a number of letters on 

 hand. As he is using my name in his 

 swindling concern, I am obliged to 

 speak in plain language, as my time 

 is taxed answering letters in regard 

 to that man, a little more than I can 

 stand. The Bee JOURNAL will 

 please publish Mr. Ilaucke's letter of 

 inquiry which I enclose, and my an- 

 swer, as follows : 



Mr. Haucke :— Your favor at hand, 

 asking me if there is a National Bee 

 Co., and a patented Kidder bee hive. 

 You say also that I am the agent of 

 that company, in Cincinnati, as sla- 

 ted by Kirk Kidder, Jr. To this I re- 

 ply that a National Bee Co. may ex- 

 ist in the brains of your Mr. Kidder, 

 but that it does not amount to a row 

 of pins to the rest of the world, just 

 like the patent on his bee hive ; there 

 is no such patent, anil he cannot make 

 you pay anything. If he tells you I 

 am the agent, of anybody, be tells you 

 ;i lii'. and you had best treat that hum- 

 bug as he deserves, i. e., " boot him 

 out doors." I have had so many let- 

 ters in regard to that fellow that I in- 

 tend to use plain language in regard 

 to him, especially since he is using my 

 name in his nefarious business. To 



Distance Between Frames.— In Prof. 



Cook's "Manual," page 136, eighth 

 line from the top, in his instructions 

 about the distance frames should be 

 from each other, he says " }4 of an 

 inch, though a slight variation either 

 way does no harm." Again, on the 

 same page, 2 or 3 lines below, he says 

 "some men prefer nails or wire staples 

 which project just fej of an inch," 

 etc. I would like to have him tell us 

 how he. handles frames and keeps bees 

 in his hives with only M inch spa.ee 

 between the combs. I find, in prac- 

 tice, that not less than% inch will do, 

 and 1 find 9 frames in the Langstroth 

 hive do better than 10. I have used 

 only 9 for 2 years past, and like it 

 much better, but only Jj inch is, 1 

 think,avery great error, and will make 

 bad work for beginners, for I know 

 in practice it will not work with me, 

 and I would like very much to have 

 Prof. Cook tell us, through the Bee 

 Journal, how he manages his hives, 

 when full of bees, with only J4 inch 

 space or less between the frames. 



S. II. Hutchinson. 

 Mechanics Falls, Me., Aug. 8, 1881. 



[I have to thank S. H. Hutchinson 

 for calling my attention to the above 

 mistake in the Manual. I noticed it 

 in the second edition (it was not in the 

 first), and intended to correct it, but 

 by some oversight the correction was 

 not made. I regret the error, as errors 

 are to be deprecated at all times and 

 in all places. Yet the above is not 

 serious, as the advice can hardly be. 

 followed. I always have given i 1 ., 

 inches to each frame, or 12 frames to 

 a hive IS inches long. — A. J. Cook. J 



The Bee Moth.— I see in the report 

 of the proceedings of the convention 

 of the Barren Co., Ky., society, that 

 among other subjects submitted to 

 that body for discussion, was, " Can 

 we manage bees so that the moth 

 worm will not destroy them ?" The 

 answer to that question might have 

 been made up of one word of 2 letters. 

 The " cattle men " of west Texas met 

 in convention, at Fort Worth, in this 

 State, one. day last May. Now, had 

 the question, " Can we manage cattle 

 so that the buzzards will not destroy 

 them ? " been submitted to that body 

 for its decision, the same, answer of 

 one word of 2 letters would have been 

 literally correct, and for the same rea- 

 son. My object is to draw out a dis- 

 cussion upon the (among bee-keepers) 

 •' king of terrors," the greatly misun- 

 derstood, and comparatively harmless 

 little, so called, bee moth. Here in 

 the south a great cloud of ignorance 

 on the moth question hangs over us 

 like a hideous nightmare, and prevents 

 thousands from keeping bees, and 

 worst of all, enables ignorant, or un- 

 scrupulous, moth-trap venders to im- 

 pose on our harmless and confiding 

 people. w. H. Andrews. 



McKinney, Texas, Aug. 22, 1881. 



My Report.— Last spring I brought 

 with me from the Eastern part of the 

 state 12 colonies of bees ; 7 of them 

 had scarcely the strength of good nu- 

 clei prior to May 1st. Being well 

 through with their stores, 30 lbs. of 

 sugar was made into syrup, and fed 

 to them in April and early May, dur- 

 ing which time also the colonies were 

 equalized— SO far, at least, as enabled 

 me to utilize to the full the laying 

 capacities of the queens. As their 

 summer's work, 1 am able to report 

 1,165 lbs. of honey, mostly extracted, 

 and 27 swarms. Counting nuclei, my 

 number to-day is 49; but they occupy 



only 39 stands, and it is to this num- 

 ber I expect to reduce my colonies af- 

 ter the present batch of queens is dis- 

 posed of. As many have quite a sur- 

 plus of honey on them yet, and as all 

 are still storing slowly from the buck- 

 wheat and fall flowers, I am not 

 troubled with visions of having to 

 feed to any extent, to enter them " in 

 good condition " for winter. But 

 should the surplus of my honey gath- 

 erers not prove sufficient for the lack 

 of my queen rearers? I have still 

 some $30 proceeds of queens already 

 sold, and more to come with which to 

 buy a little sugar. Of the 10 colonies 

 devoted to the extractor, 2 gave me 

 193 and one 184 lbs. of honey, and 3 

 swarms respectively. The 2 at the 

 other end of the class gave me 109 and 

 78 lbs. of honey and one swarm each. 

 The credit of this season's handsome 

 yield (the best in my 10 years of bee- 

 culture). I would gratefully and hum- 

 bly accord as follows : 1st. Provi- 

 dence; 2, Italian bees; 3, plenty of 

 empty comb, and 4, management. 

 J. S. Woodburn. 

 Livermore, Pa. 



Sections with Wood instead of Glass. 



— I send a section box protected by 

 wood sides which are fastened to the 

 section by what I call a "hinged la- 

 bel." I commenced the use of wood 

 sides instead of glass some 3 years 

 since, and fastened them to the sec- 

 tion by a light rubber band, till this 

 season, when I happened to devise this 

 label. The rubber band did very well, 

 but I wanted something to cover up 

 the little stain of propolis, sometimes 

 left on to)) of the section, and also to 

 prevent the end of the wood-side slip- 

 ping down into the honey, which 

 sometimes happened when the sec- 

 tions were carelessly handled. This the 

 " hinge label " does very effectually, 

 and also gives the section a neat ap- 

 pearance. I fasten them on with white 

 glue, the same as I use for glassing, 

 only thinner. Our city grocers liked 

 the wood sides fastened by rubber 

 bands, far better than glass, as it is so 

 much less liable to break up by their 

 delivery teams, and now they like the 

 " hinge labels " best of all. To ex- 

 amine the honey, simply raise the lid 

 or side from the bottom, the label act- 

 ing as the hinge. Of course I always 

 glass a few sections for the grocers to 

 put upon counters, in show windows, 

 etc., but they all say, "give us the 

 wood sides for delivery." How do 

 vou like them ? Geo. I.' Goodhue. 

 Danville, P. Q., Can., Aug. 22, 1881. 



[This is a very clean and nice sec- 

 tion, and where it is not desired to 

 glass the sections, and some cover or 

 protection is wanted other than the 

 crate, these "wood sides" are very 

 convenient. — Ed.] 



My Hopes almost Blasted.— My 13 



colonies of bees wintered without loss 

 on summer stands, only I lost 2 old 

 queens in February. I put the brood 



in with others, and then I had 11, in 

 good condition; but the quantity of 

 bees in each hive was small (about 2 

 quarts); they multiplied fast, and in 

 the latter part of May and June, by 

 natural swarming, they increased to 

 21 colonies, and to-day every hive is 

 full of bees, comb, brood in every 

 Stage, and honey. I do not know how 

 much. For S weeks we have had no 

 rain, and with hot and dry weather; 

 a great portion of the time, it was 100° 

 to 110° in the shade in my apiary, and 

 on the 12th inst., it was 112° in the 

 shade, and 150° in the sun, at the en- 

 trance of hive No. 7, at noon. It 

 seems to me that the " blessed bees" 

 are now living on bread and water, 

 although I have 3 acres of silver-hull, 

 golden rod, ligwort, etc. I have ob- 

 tained about 100 lbs. from white clo- 

 ver. I sell all my honey at 30 cts. per 

 lb. Famine is staring my bees 

 squarely in the face. If it rains in a 

 few days, they will be all right. The 

 wheat crop is light ; corn is tolerably 

 good ; vegetables are very scarce, and 

 honey is a failure. R. M. Osboun. 

 Kaiie, 111., Aug. 22, 1881. 



