AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



119 



Combed and Extracted. 



Inoculation Against Bee-Poison. 



Fifteen years ago, when an English 

 gentleman began the culture of bees, he 

 suffered severely from stings, but they 

 have now lost their force. For several 

 years past they have caused only a 

 slight and rather pleasurable sensation, 

 and that lasts only for a few minutes. 

 But this thorough inoculation against 

 bee-poison leaves him as susceptible as 

 ever to the sting of a wasp. — Northwest- 

 ern Agriculturist. 



Don't Disturb the Bees. 



With new honey and pollen coming in 

 at a rapid rate, one is inclined to want 

 to see what is going on inside the hive, 

 and while a few examinations each 

 week may not injure the bees, it is a 

 better plan to give them time without 

 too much interruption. The brood is 

 easily chilled, and the hives cool off 

 very quickly while standing open. With 

 the bees confined to what frames they 

 can cover nicely, and with plenty of 

 stores in close proximity to the brood- 

 nest, but little is to be done except to 

 wait until they grow stronger. — Indiana 

 Farmer. 



Why Bees Work at Night. 



Bees work at night in the hive and 

 build comb as perfectly as if an electric 

 light shone there all the time. It has 

 often been asked why they prefer to 

 work in the dark. 



Every one knows that honey is a 

 liquid without any solid sugar in it. 

 After standing, it gradually assumes a 

 crystalline appearance, or granulates, 

 and ultimately becomes a solid mass. It 

 has been stated that this change is due 

 to the same agent which alters the 

 molecular arrangements of the iodine of 

 silver on the excited collodian plates 

 and determines the formation of cam- 

 phor and iodine crystals in bottles. 



Honey has been experimentally en- 

 closed in well-corked flasks, some of 

 which were kept in perfect darkness 

 while the others were exposed to the 

 light. The result was that the portion 

 exposed to the light soon became crys- 



tallized, while that kept in the dark re- 

 mained unchanged. 



Hence, we see why the bees are so 

 careful to obscure the glass windows 

 which are placed in their hives. The 

 existence of the young depends on the 

 liquidity of the saccharine food pre- 

 sented to them, and if light were allowed 

 access to this, it would, in all proba- 

 bility, prove fatal to the inmates of the 

 hive. — Pearson's Weekly. 



Poultry and Bees. 



I am a farmer on a small scale, but 

 make a living all the same. I do not 

 plant cotton nor sugar-cane, nor corn 

 nor oats, nor wheat, but I always have a 

 crop, rain or shine. Last year I raised 

 600 bushels of potatoes, 200 dozen 

 cabbage heads, 400 dozen eggs, 600 

 spring chicks, and nearly 3,000 pounds 

 of honey. My principal crop this year 

 will be poultry and honey. I sold 22 

 colonies of bees, for which I received 

 $66, and 2,440 pounds of honey for 

 which I have realized 8 cents per pound, 

 or $195. Up to July 1, I had sold 360 

 young fryers at an average of 15 cents 

 each, and 364 dozen eggs at 10 cents 

 per dozen. I have done all this, and 

 tended to a pasture of 250 acres. — 

 Farmer's World. 



Common Sense in Fruit-Raising. 



Common sense is a great requisite in 

 the making of a profitable orchard. Do 

 not expect a healthy, thrifty growth of 

 young trees from land which you have 

 been continuously cropping in grain and 

 grass for years, and from which you 

 continue to take off exhausting crops 

 after the trees are planted. The trees 

 must have something to feed on if they 

 are to grow, and if the land does not 

 supply their need, you must furnish 

 fertilizers. Another important point 

 about starting the trees is in regard to 

 the pruning at time of planting. The 

 roots should be cut back one-half, and 

 the top pruned in due proportion. The 

 branches of a tree as it comes from the 

 nursery are often not where they are 

 wanted. If opposite each other there is 

 danger that the tree will split as it 

 grows older. It is a good practice to 

 take off the top entirely, leaving only 

 buds on the main trunk, and these can 

 be allowed to develop into branches 

 where wanted. All that are not wanted 

 should be removed with the thumb and 

 finger before becoming large enough to 

 require the knife. — American Fanner. 



