AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



183 



Combed and Extracted. 



Salt for Bees. 



On account of the avidity with which 

 bees take salt, I had supposed it as 

 necessary to salt them as to salt ray 

 horses, hogs and cattle. If one does 

 not keep a salt trough for the bees they 

 are apt to swarm about his stock and 

 well troughs, and many are drowned ; 

 but so long as salt water is given to 

 them, they do not go or bother any- 

 where else. But aside from this ques- 

 tion of mere convenience, I have found 

 it safest to be guided by nature ; and 

 since bees show such a love for salt, it 

 would seem that it is necessary for them, 

 and hence" should be our practice to 

 give it. 



Where there are streams or ponds 

 convenient, bees, especially if not salted, 

 will resort to these for water ; but even 

 then there are certain spots that seem, 

 to yield mineral or brackish water where 

 they go to suck. This shows their need 

 of something more than ordinarily pure 

 water, and since they leave all other 

 watering places for a salty one, we can 

 fairly conclude that it is best to give it. 

 — Wm. Camm, in Bee-Keepers' Guide. 



Another Way to Preserve Combs. 



Many bee-keepers like myself have 

 not a suitable cellar to hang up our 

 empty combs in. The way I care for 

 them is as follows : 



I use the Bristol hive. I put a sheet 

 of tarred paper, one inch larger than 

 the top or bottom of the brood-box, on 

 floor of the honey-house ; set a brood- 

 box on it, and fill it with combs, and 

 then another sheet of paper, and then a 

 brood-box of combs, and so on, and on 

 the upper brood-box put a honey-board 

 to hold the paper down tight to the 

 brood-box. 



The above is for combs I know are 

 free from moths, or have been exposed 

 to a temperature of zero — combs, as I 

 bring them in from the yard, that are 

 liable to have some moth-eggs in. I put 

 only 8 combs in a brood-box 1% inches 

 apart, and then look them over in about 

 a week ; and if I find any moths in the 

 combs, I put them into some of the hives 

 for the bees to care for, and clean them 

 out. Should a moth chance to hatch in 



any of the combs between the tarred 

 paper, it cannot get out. 



I have combs I have thus taken care 

 of for three years that I have not looked 

 at except the. first year, to see that the 

 tarred paper would preserve them, 

 packed in brood-boxes, from mice, 

 moths, bugs, dust, and ants, until I want 

 to use them. — H. B. Isham, in Glean- 

 ings. 



Bees Carrying in Honey and Pollen. 



Having moved two of my hives during 

 the winter to a wooden bulding close to 

 my house, I can watch the bees through 

 a glass coming in and going out, and 

 though I am not quite certain, I think 

 the old bees mostly bring in the honey, 

 and the young ones the pollen. It was 

 certainly so during the colder weather 

 we have had, but now many of the 

 younger bees are beginning to be mid- 

 dle-aged, and the difference is not so 

 marked. 



A young bee has a good deal of down 

 on its body, and may be called a " brown 

 bee." The old bees have less down, and 

 when full of honey, the body is swollen, 

 black and bright, and looks almost as if 

 honey would spurt out if the bee were 

 pricked with a pin. 



A bee, loaded with honey, trails its 

 body along the floor, while an empty 

 bee, or one bringing in pollen only, 

 scarcely touches the floor, and even 

 only with the tip of its tail. I feel very 

 sure that an old black bee will not be 

 seen bringing in pollen. I send you a 

 rough drawing, showing the difference. 

 We all know that a bee, full of honey, 

 does not sting in the same way as an 

 empty bee, and it is possible the change 

 of shape may render it more difficult to 

 put out the sting. 



[Our own observations incline us to 

 believe that young bees also bring in 

 honey, and that both young and old bees 

 frequently bring in honey and pollen at 

 the same time. We agree with our cor- 

 respondent as to the reason bees laden 

 with honey do not sting. — Eds.] — British 

 Bee Journal. 



Doolittle's Queen-Rearing: 



book should be in the library of every 

 bee-keeper ; and in the way we offer it 

 on page 165, there is no reason now why 

 every one may not possess a copy of it. 

 Send us one new subscriber for a year, 

 and we will mail the book to you as a 

 present. 



