THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



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Artificial Comb Honey.— Yesterday 

 one of our grocers, with whom I had 

 frequently disputed in regard to the 

 possibility of making artificial comb 

 honey, triumphantly shoved the in- 

 closed paragraph in my face, with the 

 usual " I told you so " clearly marked 

 on every feature. The article was in 

 the Grocers'' Criterion, published in 

 Chicago. I should like to have the 

 reply come out in the Monthly Bee 

 Journal, so I will get to see it. 



J. H. Hassler. 



De Pue, 111., March 16, 1882. 



[The article referred to was that 

 published in the Bee Journal of 

 Jan. 2.5, page 51. and accredited to 

 Prof. Newton. We liave so often de- 

 nied the probability and possibility of 

 the imposition being practiced, that 

 to do so again at length would be a 

 waste of time and space.— Ed.] 



Prospects Cheering. — What bee men 

 are in this part of Michigan all have 

 the cheerful words to say, "My bees 

 are coming through all right." 1 have 

 heard of but 7 colonies being lost. 

 We have had no zero weather this 

 winter, with warm days every few 

 weeks. Last spring I had 30 very 

 light colonies left out of 101; now I 

 expect to go through with my 70. I 

 see the matter of bee feed is being 

 talked up by many ; well, I feel like 

 falling in that line myself, as I intend 

 putting in 10 acres this spring. Hav- 

 ing sold our place here and bought 

 again at Glendale, Mich, (my corre- 

 spondents will please notice the 

 change), a very good bee location. I 

 intend making bee-keeping a spe- 

 cialty. Your Apiary Register I think 

 is just the thing, but the large size 

 which I have is rather bulky to carry 

 in the pocket. By having a small 

 memorandum, and then copying at 

 your leisure, I cannot see but what it 

 will be a great help in improving the 

 quality of our bees. 1 wish every bee- 

 keeper had one. 



G. VV. Naftzger. 



South Haven, Mich., March 25, 1882. 



The Secret of Success. — We see 

 many ideas as regards bee-keeping. 

 We lind the great secret of success is 

 in well wintering" and the care exer- 

 cised that they do not get too warm, 

 or in too cold a place, so they cannot 

 move. I find that the best tempera- 

 ture for wintering is at freezing, and 

 good ventilation to take off the foul 

 gas. The i)ast winter bees did well in 

 most any place. There are more bees 

 lost from starvation than most any 

 other way. They may starve with 

 30 or 40 lbs. of honey in the hive, i. e., 

 the thermometer may stand from 20- 

 to 30- below zero for 30 to .50 days. 

 The bees are clustered all that time 

 without any food to keep up heat, and 

 thus perish. I am satisfied that I 



have lost bees in this way. When 

 bees are smothered you will find them 

 all through the hive ; when they 

 freeze they are in a compact body ; 

 when they starve, the cluster is loose, 

 with now and then one getting to the 

 cells for supplies. Bees should have 

 as careful attention as stock on the 

 farm. Bee-culture is like any other 

 business— more lose money at it than 

 make money. Bees are in a booming 

 condition here. TnoMAS Pkall. 

 Carlisle, Iowa. 



A Voice from Egypt.— I see in the 



Bee Journal a goocl many communi- 

 cations from Illinois, but none from 

 this part. I wish people would give 

 the county, then when I look on the 

 map I could locate them ; they seem 

 so like neighbors. There is not much 

 interest taken in bee-keeping here. 

 They claim they have no " luck " any 

 more— " the moth eats them up."' 

 "The gude mon " saw a neighbor this 

 morning we had heard was a gieat 

 bee man ; found his bees in all sorts of 

 boxes, but he was quite elated at the 

 prospect before him. He had just 

 lieard of some kind of hive that had 

 frames a person could lift out and 

 look at, also just heard of extractors — 

 was bound to liave both, for he had 

 been informed he could take 8 lbs. a 

 day from each colony. This man is a 

 preacher, and if preachers wake up 

 who knows what will be the result V 

 Well we cannot brag much. I like 

 James Heddon. he says we, and be- 

 lieves in women's rights. I think all 

 the James do. When v*'e came on our 

 farm, two years ago, we did not know 

 a drone from a worker, and never savv 

 a queen, and the first two colonies we 

 bought, one was dead with about a 

 teacup full of dead bees. Instead of 

 8 lbs. a day, we had 15 colonies to feed 

 last summer from the 20th of July to 

 the last of August, when, thanks to a 

 kind Providence, the rain came, and 

 and bees filled their hives and gave us 

 about 100 lbs. of surplus. But I 

 thought we had an elephant on our 

 hands, and did not know but we would 

 have to feed all winter. After tinker- 

 ing one year, we concluded we must 

 have a bee paper. We supposed there 

 must be one somewhere. Acciden- 

 tally we saw a list of bee literature in 

 some paper, and found the country 

 was flooded. We decided on the Bee- 

 Keepers'' Mafjazine, but found a oiice- 

 a-month bee paper too much like the 

 " onct a month " preaching down here 

 in some places — a slow starvation. 

 The Bee Journal fills the bill. To 

 make any business a success, we must 

 understand the whys and wherefores. 

 It seems bee-keei)ing has more whys 

 and wherefores than any other busi- 

 ness. Now I want to ask two or three 

 simple questions— very simple to those 

 who know. 1. Why should frames be 

 hung fnun front to rear V AVe have 

 them both ways ; they were hung that 

 way wlien we bought the hives, and 

 we want ttie best way. 2. When is 

 the best time to divide bees— before 

 tlie white clover or after, to get the 

 most honey y 3. We found a plant on 

 our farm that I have been unable to 

 find a name for. Our atteutiotfwas 



attracted to it the 1st of September,, 

 by the great number of bees on it. 

 We found only five plants, althougti' 

 we looked far and near ; about 5 feet 

 high, branching like mustard, a small 

 pink and white blossom similar to- 

 radish bloom ; applying the tongue, 

 found the blossom very sweet. I do- 

 not know how long it had been in 

 bloom. I found bloom in November, 

 and marked the stalks, but they are 

 all dead, root and branch. I sent seed' 

 to Mr. Stewart, Eminence, Ky., who 

 said it was a stranger to him ; also tO' 

 call it Allison's honey plant. I do not 

 like to blow a horn, so I will call it 

 the silver nectarine plant. I inclose 

 a few seeds, as you may be able tO' 

 throw some light on the plant. 

 Noble, 111. Mrs. C. J. Allison. 



[1. The frames are run from front to' 

 rear because the bees build straighter 

 combs in that manner ; also, because 

 the natural instinctof the beesprompts 

 them to run their combs from the 

 entrance. 



2. After white clover, unless fruit 

 bloom is very abundant and the- 

 weather pleasant. 



3. The seeds are too few and dried 

 to determine the name. Be kind 

 enough to send a twig in bloom this- 

 fall, when we will name it, if possible. 

 —Ed.] 



Honey from Maple Blossoms. — On 



Feb. 18th my wife was looking at the 

 bees working, when she came in and 

 said, " How the bees fall at the mouth 

 of the hive ; they seem to be loaded 

 with honey and pollen." She seemed 

 somewhat excited about the bees 

 working so lively. I went out and saw 

 that they were heavily loaded both 

 with lioney and pollen. The maple 

 trees were plenty, standing all around, 

 the hives, and a good many of them 

 were in bloom. I saw the bees take 

 the honey from tlie blossoms, or, at 

 least, go "through the motions. There 

 was nothing in bloom at that time but 

 the maples. I have watched the bees- 

 work on corn, but never thought they 

 gathered honey from the tassels ; 1 

 know they gather pollen from them. 

 Ed. DeLair. 

 Oketo, Kan., March 26, 1882. 



Brood-Rearing in Wired Cells.— I 



was told yesterday that there would 

 be no brood reared in cells over the 

 wires in foundation, after it has been 

 used 2 years, except in an occasional 

 cell. Is such the case V I used wired 

 foundation (wire No. 36, tinned) last 

 season, and saw no difference in cells 

 with or without wire. I believe if 

 brood is not reared over the wires af- 

 ter two seasons, I will still use the 

 wired foundation ; it is so much 

 stronger and less liable to sag. 



A. B. Mason. 

 Wagon Works, O., March 24, 1882. 



[Can some of our correspoiidents,^ 

 who have been using wired founda- 

 tion, give the information desired ?— 

 Ed. I 



