54 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



follows: It feeds upon the leaves of 

 butter cups and otlier plants, on the 

 groiuid beneath which the female 

 deposits her eggs, several hundred in 

 number. These hatch into very 

 minute, but surprisingly active larvic, 

 scarcely larger than a hyiihen on this 

 page. They inmiediately crawl up 

 the stems of neighboring plants, and 

 nestle among the blossoms. I have 

 seen large numbers of them in a sin- 

 gle flower. Beneath the magnifying- 

 glass tills tiny creature is seen to pos- 

 sess sly long legs. They are given to 

 tlie grub only at this stage of its exis- 

 tence and for a special and remarkable 

 purpose. It is not in quest of honey 

 that this little atom seeks the blossom, 

 but merely as its lair, in which to lie 

 in wait for its victim. Presently it 

 comes in tlie sliape of a bee that 

 alights on the flower. In an instant 

 the agile meloe jumps ui)on the body 

 of the intruder, to which it clutches 

 tightly, with tliose six clasping legs. 

 Thus clinging it is carried into the 

 hive, and when the bee reaches its 

 cell, the meloe releases its liold, an<l 

 creeps into its new home, wliere it 

 flnds the plump, white bee grub a 

 ready breakfast. By the time the 

 young bee is devoured or several of 

 them, the meloe casts its skin and 

 assumes the form common to the larva 

 of many beetles, in which those long 

 legs are no longer seen. Henceforth, 

 it feeds on the pollen or bee-bread 

 stored by its duped foster-mother, 

 imtil when fully grown it passes into 

 the pupa state and soon appears again 

 as that guileless innocent in our toot- 

 path." 



Is not the connection between the 

 two accounts quite marked, and is 

 not this worth looking into, during 

 the coming season, t)y our sharp, 

 quick, wide-awake apiarists? espec- 

 ially in that section of our country 

 wliere the loss of bees in the manner 

 described by Mr. Fisher occursV 



JSelleville. 111. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Moving Bees in Winter. 



and put them into the cellar next 

 morning. They remained in tlie cellar 

 until April 20, 1881, when I put tliein 

 out, and found live bees in every liive, 

 although one was queenless, and had 

 but few bees, but this was not caused 

 liy moving, I do not know but they 

 wintered just as well as 10 others, put 

 in about the middle of Nov. None of 

 the 10 purchased had any dysentery. 

 The best colony cast 4 natural swarms; 

 the first gathered 92 lbs. of lioiiey 

 which I extracted, and cast a swarm, 

 making .5 swarms and i)2 lbs. of honey. 

 All are alive at present. 



I would not have you think that I 

 advocated moving bees in winter 

 wlien you cannot give them a flight 

 afterwards, but it worked all right in 

 my ease, and I should try it again if I 

 wanted to move bees under similar 

 circumstances. I also know of two 

 other trials at moving bees in winter; 

 both came out well excepting one tip- 

 over which smashed up some of the 

 combs. 



The colonies I moved last winter 

 were in Langstroth hives, which, by 

 the way, I do not like very well. 



Johnson, Vt., Jan. 14, 18S2. 



O. I". CODDING. 



I bought in Jan. 1868, two colonies 

 in box hives; they were to remain in 

 tlie cellar where they were until 

 spring, but sometime in March 1 got 

 uneasy about my bees and brought 

 them liome,put tliemin the cellar and 

 they remained there until the last of 

 April, when I put them out. They 

 were all right, gave two swarms each, 

 and gatliered some box honey. 



Again, in Nov., 1880, 1 went to St. 

 Albans, a distance of about 28 miles, 

 and purchased 10 colonies of hybrids, 

 but the roads were so rough tliat I 

 did not dare to move them. About the 

 middle of Dec, when it was good 

 sleighing I brought them home safely, 

 starting about day-light, and arriving 

 home about dark.' I stopped about one 

 hour at noon, to feed my team and 

 for dinner. I opened the entrance of 

 all the hives, to give the bees fresh 

 air; they were all as quiet as they 

 would have been in the cellar. I then 

 closed the entrances and drove home. 



For tue American Bee Journal. 



Section Honey Boxes. 



E. A. THOMAS. 



This is an old subject, and one that 

 has been thoroughly discussed in the 

 Journal, but for tlie benefit of tlie 

 hundreds of new subscribers 1 will 

 express my views in regard to the 

 various sections now on tlie market. 



I will first divide sections into two 

 classes, those holding about one 

 pound, and those holding two pounds. 

 In regard to the relative value of these 

 two classes, much dejiends upon the 

 state of the market. The sooner bee- 

 keepers realize this necessity of pro- 

 ducing honey in good packages as the 

 market demands, the better it will be 

 for them. 



At the present time the tendency of 

 the market is towards pound pack- 

 ages, not only for honey, but for all 

 light groceries. A careful examina- 

 tion of the honey markets for the 

 past year should convince every one 

 that honey in one pound boxes brings 

 a higher price and quicker sales, than 

 any other package. It has been my 

 experience that bees will not store as 

 much honey in one pound boxes as in 

 two pound, as it takes them just as 

 long to finish up a pound box as it 

 does a larger, and in the honey season, 

 time is lioney with bees. But the 

 deficiency in the amount of honey 

 stored in these boxes is more than 

 balanced by the difference in the 

 price of such packages and those 

 liolding two pounds or more ; so we 

 have the advantage of quicker sales 

 in favor of the one pound sections. 



Of the two pound boxes, I prefer 

 the "prize box,"' which makes a very 

 attractive package for the market. 



In regard to the dovetailed vs. one 

 piece section controversy, I will say 

 that I have not fallen in love with the 

 one-piece section ; it may be the best, 

 but I fail to see it. Perhaps it is owing 



to my obtuseness that I am unable to 

 appreciate its value. I have found 

 the box faulty in the following 

 respects : 



1. They cannot be bent into shape, 

 without cracking the corners, as 

 rapidly as the dovetailed boxes can be 

 driven together. That they can be 

 bent into shape all right, I do not 

 question ; but it takes time and care 

 to do it. Skillful workman may after 

 long practice bend them very rapidly; 

 but it must be remembered that the 

 bee-keeper who only uses a thousand 

 or two does not get the requisite 

 practice to enable him to do it rapidly 

 and without cracking the corners. 



2. They do not make as strong a 

 box as the dovetailed. Do not pass 

 over this point as one of minor im- 

 portance, for it is of great iniiiortance 

 to the bee-keeper, the grocer and the 

 consumer. I do not doubt but that if 

 handled with care they will cause no 

 trouble, and the bee-keeper, who un- 

 derstands how they should be handled 

 and packed for market may have no 

 troubled with them. But when the 

 honey falls into the hands of the 

 grocer, what thenV A customer 

 comes in and calls for some lioney ; he 

 takes out a section from the crate and 

 puts it into Ills scales, not as gently 

 as he might, weighs it, and sets it in 

 a decisive way on the counter in 

 front of his customer, perhaps hitting 

 one corner on the counter first and 

 thus racking the box. The customer 

 pays for the honey and goes to pick it 

 up, and says : " Here, this honey is 

 leaking all over me." The grocer 

 looks, and sure enough, it is ; he has 

 cracked the comb in racking the box. 

 He has to give him another box, and 

 either consume the broken honey 

 himself, or sell it at a discount. The 

 lesson teaches him to be more care- 

 ful for a time, but by-and-by he gets 

 in a hurry and cracks anotlier. 



The result is that when the pro- 

 ducer or commission man comes 

 around again, a conversation some- 

 thing like the following will take 

 place : 



" Good morning, Mr. Blank ; is that 

 honey all sold V" 



" Yes, sir." 



" Well, how did you like it V 



"I don't like it; the boxes are so 

 weak that every now and tlien I criick 

 a comb, which spoils the sale of the 

 box, and honey daubs my counter, 

 floor and myself." 



'• Is that so V" 



" I'es." 



" Well, now we never have any 

 trouble with it, suppose you try 

 another crate V" 



"Don't want it. If you have got 

 any honey in boxes strong enough to 

 hold it, I will take some ; but I don't 

 want to handle any more like the last 

 at any price." 



Those who favor using the one-piece 

 section may say that if the grocer 

 would use proper care, there would 

 be no trouble. Now, friends, please 

 remember that "if" is the biggest 

 word of its size in the whole English 

 vocabulary, and that grocers do not al- 

 ways use proper care. They are not, 

 as a general rule, bee-keepers, and do 

 not know all about the one-piece sec- 



