298 



THE AMERICAJSr BEE JOURNAL. 



Candied Honey.— I do not think it 

 would dissolve to hang it in the mid- 

 dle of the hive, as the editor says ; but 

 lay the frame tlatin some warm water, 

 then turn over— use a shallow baking 

 pan, for mstance— the smaller the vol- 

 ume of water the stronger the fluid ; 

 don't take a sugar hogshead, it might 

 make it too strong ; uncap of course. 

 We liave fine weather to-dav — SO-' in 

 the shade. I see Mr. Docilittle re- 

 ports cold weather in Xew York. Dr. 

 Dzierzou, early this spring, said the 

 last winter nearly resembled the win- 

 ter of 1834, but wisely remarked, "We 

 do not know what is in store yet for 

 lis." They luid n mild winter in Ger- 

 many, but lately it has turned cold 

 there also. Dr. Dzierzon is nearly 71 

 years old, with a mind still clear and 

 vigorous, and he has an article in 

 every semi-monthly issue of the Bien- 

 eii-Zeitung of Eichstadt. 



T. HULMAN. 



Terre Haute, Ind., May 4, 1882. 



[We must confess w'e do not know 

 what Mr. Ilulman is alluding to in the 

 first part of the above paragraph, but 

 suppose he refers to removing candied 

 honey from combs. We never said 

 candied honey " would dissolve to liang 

 it in the middle of the hive." We 

 said, on page 2G4. " we v/ould recom- 

 mend to sliave off the cappings and 

 put tlie combs one at a tinie in the 

 center of the In-ood nest. The bees 

 will take out the honey, and liquefy 

 and replace it in other combs." Mr. 

 Hulman, however, s\iggests a plan for 

 removing it from the combs, but we 

 very much doubt whether he lias tried 

 it, or knows anything about its feasi- 

 bilitv. Certainly its value, as honey, 

 would be destroyed by the method he 

 proposes, even though successful in 

 removing it. We must question the 

 wisdom of attenii)ting to make correc- 

 tions unless certain that error exists, 

 and consider it almost impertinent to 

 suggest a remedy we liave not tried 

 ourselves, or at least have good 

 authority for presuming to be correct. 

 Bee-lceepers want truthful answers to 

 their queries, or what has been proven 

 satisfactory with others. — Ed.] 



Not Flattering:.— As I have seen no 

 reports ot bees wintered in this sec- 

 tion, in the liEE Jouknal, I will say 

 that, as a rule, they are in fine con- 

 dition. My bees went into winter 

 quarters about the middle of Novem- 

 ber, and the last of them came out 

 April 27th. My loss was 6 out of .332 

 — 4 queenless and 2 deserted in the 

 cellar, after about half were set out. 

 The prospect for honey in this sec- 

 tion is the poorest I ever saw on the 

 1st of May. Clover is nearly all killed, 

 and that is one of the principal honey 

 sources in St. Lawrence'county. Tlie 

 season is about 10 days later \vith us 

 than last year, as there is nothing in 

 bloom at this date but poplars aiid a 



tew willows that stand in warm 

 places. Cloudy weather and cold 

 winds prevail here every day, and 

 freezing nearly every night. 



Iea Baubek. 

 De Kalb Junction, N. Y., May 2. 



Cold in Virjriiiia. — Bees in this local- 

 ity have wintered splendidly, and 

 from April 1st to tlie Sth, they" toiled 

 from early morn till late at niglit, 

 gathering large quantities of pollen 

 and considerable iioney. The weather 

 was very warm and fine, temperature 

 74° to 78^ in the shade, consequently 

 brood-rearing was pushed to the 

 utmost. I believe I never saw bees 

 so crowded with brood in so short a 

 time. But wlio knows what a day 

 will bring forth '? On the 0th we liad 

 a heavy rain, on the 10th snow, and 

 next morning 12^ below freezing, and 

 we have had cold nights and raw 

 winds ever since. Notwithstanding 

 all this, tlie most of the bees are in 

 fine condition, and I feel hopeful of a 

 good honey liarvest, as our main re- 

 liance is on white clover, wliich is in 

 fine condition. Wm. Bitzer. 



Wheeling, W. Va., April 25, 18S2. 



and where honey might relieve the 

 pain and neutralize the poison with 

 one, an entirely different remedy 

 would be required for another.— Ed.] 



Honey for Bee Stings. — Just this 

 evening I read your Navarino sub- 

 scriber's question on page 207 of the 

 Bee Journal, about the harmless 

 insect, and wonder if it be the one 

 I have often thought of writing you 

 about. It is the same shape and 

 build of a bee, but smaller, has four 

 bands, all white, as also are all its 

 markings, while the rest is ,iet black. 

 I have noticed several about iny hives. 

 1. Is it the sameV 2. Has any one 

 tried honey as a remedy for stings ? 

 It acts with me most;satisfactorily, 

 and is always convenient. Imme- 

 diately upon withdrawing the sting, 

 I place a drop over the wound witti 

 the tip of linger. It not only draws 

 the poison, but destroys the odor, and 

 this prevents the bees detecting it. 

 In about a- minute, or less, the pain is 

 gone and the honey may be washed 

 oH. I am surprised that this has not 

 been one among the many recipes 

 already given. The late frosts have 

 stopped the honey flow, but the bees 

 themselves have suffered little, yet 

 those who have neglected to feed rnay 

 have a different story to tell. 



Berlin, Out. G. B. Jones. 



[1. The fly is undoubtedly the same, 

 and their general appearance so nearly 

 resembles the lighter Italians that an 

 unoljserving person might easily mis- 

 take them for bees. While poised on 

 a flower or leaf, however, their wings 

 stand further apart, and are nearly 

 level from tip to tip, instead of lying 

 close to and covering tlie body, as do 

 the bees' wings. Catch tliem and ex- 

 amine closely, they can neither sting 

 nor bite. 



2. We have used honey for bee 

 stings, but have not found it effective. 

 As bee stings affect persons differ- 

 ently, so undoubtedly will remedies, 



Too Cool. — My bees have been un- 

 able to gather either honey or pollen, 

 thus far, this spring. Last year they 

 gathered pollen on April 18. G. M. 

 Doolittle's articles in the Bee Jour- 

 nal contain so much practical 

 knowledge that I find them very use- 

 ful. There is more such knowledge 

 to be found in the Bee Journal than 

 in any other bee-publication I have 

 ever read. Gilbert W. Dunbak. 



Embden Center, Me., May 1, 1882. 



Bee-Kecpiug in Dakota. — I had one 



colony of bees last tall that I packed 

 in prairie liay, and I took them out 

 last Saturday in splendid condition. 

 Last summer I set a hive over the 

 bees, full of honey, in which the bees 

 died the winter before, and when I 

 unpacked them they had both hives 

 filled with bees and brood, so that I 

 separated the liives and now have 2 

 strong colonies. I need your book to 

 help me through with the care of 

 tiiem. My bees find plenty of pastur- 

 age, but I am going to help them to 

 more by sowing alsike clover in my 

 garden. W. ^V. Eastman. 



Yankton, D. T., May 3, 1882. 



Unprecedented. — The state of the 

 weather here is something unusual. 

 We have had frosts 22 niglits in suc- 

 cession. , On the night of April 29, 

 ice formed }4, inch thick on tubs of 

 water, and killed all buds on fruit 

 trees. To-day a cold wave struck us, 

 and at 7 this morning mercury stood 

 2- below freezing, iiud now, at 11 a. 

 m., it stands at 4- below — something 

 never before known here in May. 

 Bees bred up strong in April, bat have 

 not flown for the past 8 days. \Vhat 

 will come of it '? E. A. Moi;gan. 



Arcadia, Wis., May 1, 1882. 



Swarming Commenced^ — My bees are 

 doing finely, and the prospects l>)r a 

 good honey harvest were never better. 

 Swarming has commenced, and if the 

 weather continues favorable, we will 

 have a busy time through the season. 

 W. P. Wemyss. 



Clinton, N. C, April 29, 1882. 



Yery Cold.— The weatlier is very 

 cold here this morning. My ther- 

 mometer indicated 4° below the freez- 

 ing point. Queens cannot be reared 

 while tlie weather is so cold. When 

 April came in we had a few warm 

 days, and then all supposed we would 

 have an early spring. A colder April 

 was never known here, and I never 

 knew it so cold as it is this morning, 

 so late in the month. I fed my bees 

 all through April to induce the bees 

 to rear drones. Have taken some of 

 my hives into my ollice some cold 

 nights so that they would not " draw 

 in '' and leave the drone brood in the 

 cold. Henry Alley. 



Wenharo, Mass., May 3, 1882. 



