AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



113 



were searching thickly all over the 

 combs and amongst the bees. Thousands 

 were taking honey from cells. These 

 ants are so small and quick in move- 

 ment that bees can do nothing with them, 

 and seem to be entirely at their mercy. 

 After thinking over the matter for a 

 few moments, I concluded that burning 

 oil or straw was entirely inadequate for 

 so extensive a case, so I bundled to- 

 gether a quantity of greasewood brush 

 with wire, and when it was well on fire 

 dragged it sidewise over the ground, and 

 I find by this plan that I can destroy in 

 a half hour all the ants that can accu- 

 mulate in a week. 

 Pasadena, Calif., June 30, 1893. 



Bee-Keeping^ in East Tennessee 

 — ]Von>§\varniin8:. 



Written Jor the American Bee Journal 



BY H. F. COLEMAN. 



After an almost unbroken honey-flow 

 here for nearly three months, the season 

 is now drawing to a close. The season 

 has been better than an average, but 

 -the honey crop is rather small. The 

 bees were so weak in the spring that 

 they did not build up in time for the 

 poplar, which afifords our greatest sur- 

 plus. The increase from natural swarm- 

 ing has been very great. In many in- 

 stances first swarms have cast swarms, 

 with the usual propensity to after- 

 swarming, and the old colonies that 

 swarmed early have swarmed again. We 

 now have as many, or more, bees than 

 we had before the disasters of last 

 winter. 



East Tennessee, especially the moun- 

 tainous parts, is one among the finest 

 honey localities in the United States, 

 but it takes great care and attention to 

 produce large yields of comb honey here. 

 Our seasons are so long, that with the 

 high pressure necessary to produce 

 comb honey, there is too much swarm- 

 ing and too great increase of colonies. 



THE LANGDON NOX-SWARMEE. 



We have waited and watched with in- 

 terest for reports of experiments with 

 the Langdon non-swarming device, but 

 have fears as to the result. Rambler's 

 report, as published in Gleanings, has 

 added to our fears, with reference to the 

 loss of queens in using that device, and 

 there are other objections to it equally 

 as serious, in my opinion ; but for the 

 want of space and other reasons, they 

 will not be mentioned just now. For 



the present, we know of nothing better 

 than the plan practiced by Mr. Doolittle, 

 and the jumping plan, to prevent or 

 keep down the swarming fever at a time 

 when not wanted ; but neither of these 

 plans works perfectly where the seasons 

 are as long as ours. 



Bee-culture in East Tennessee is now 

 on a higher plain than ever before, and 

 in my opinion great results may be ex- 

 pected from this locality in the future. 



Sneedville, Tenn., July 11, 1893. 



Experiments in Apieulture Hade 

 in 1§92 at tlie Michigan Ex- 

 periment ^Station. 



Beported to the Department of Agriculture 

 BY J. H. LARRABEE. 



(Coutinued from page 53.) 

 THE EVAPORATION OF HONEY. 



Nectar of flowers taken into the 

 stomach of the bee undergoes certain 

 chemical changes before it is finally de- 

 posited as honey in the cells of the 

 honey-comb. The recent analyses, by 

 direction of the United States Govern- 

 ment chemist, and those instituted at 

 the Michigan State Experiment Station, 

 prove that there is no chemical change 

 made in the honey by the bee after it is 

 deposited in the comb. There, however, 

 remains much water in this honey that 

 must be evaporated by the hive and the 

 current of air through the hive caused 

 by the fanning of the bees. It is well 

 known that this labor of evaporation 

 and the room occupied by this thin 

 honey interferes greatly with the rapid 

 gathering of nectar. In this opinion I 

 am confirmed by a study of many records 

 of colonies placed upon scales during the 

 honey-flow. 



It is often desirable to extract all of 

 the honey gathered from one species of 

 honey-plant before the flow from other 

 sources begins, and before the former 

 has ripened to the usual consistency of 

 good honey. The property of granula- 

 tion in honey is so troublesome that its 

 prevention would be very desirable. The 

 experiments in this line have plainly in- 

 dicated that the " water of crystalliza- 

 tion " can be easily expelled by a proper 

 artificial heat and the product sealed, so 

 as to preserve it in a liquid state for an 

 indefinite time. For these reasons it 

 was thought best to experiment in this 

 direction with various forms of artificial 

 heat in the effort to devise some cheap 



