374 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



sian a very good race of bees, which 

 deserved to be introduced into Ger- 

 many; but wlietlier they will stand 

 our winter well and pro ve satisfactory 

 in every respect, the future alone can 

 show. 

 Eystrup, Germany. 



For tte American Bee JournaL 



The Dry Feces of Bees. 



WM. F. CLAKKE. 



I wish to call attention to the fact 

 that three eminent apicultural authori- 

 ties haverecently given their evidence 

 tdfere effect that bees when tlioroughly 

 healthy, void their excrement in a 

 dry, powder form. 



Tlie first is Mr. Abbott, the editor of 

 the British Bee Journal. In Gleanings 

 for May, he expresses himself as Ije- 

 ing " rather amused at the apparent 

 uncertainty "which exists in America 

 as to whetlier bees void dry excreta, 

 and says, that a " swarm-box " in 

 which bees can fly, will be found 

 after their confinement therein for 24 

 hours without comb, with thousands 

 of grains of bee excreta, about the 

 size and color of coarse gunpowder, 

 on its bottom. He adds that "when 

 bees travel with combs the case is 

 different. They ajipear too cleanly 

 to foul them, and hence protracted 

 confinement produces wliat, for want 

 of a better term, we call 'dysenteric 

 symptoms.' " 



Mr. A. I Root in some editorial 

 comments on this communication, 

 says, " it occurs to me that bees that 

 have beensentto us almost invariably 

 show something on the bottoms of the 

 boxes that both sight and smell would 

 have little difficulty in pronouncing 

 excrement." 



Mr. Gallup, in the same number, 

 adverts to this matter when speaking 

 of the manner in which bees would 

 winter in old style hives, with a crack 

 from top to bottom. Even " when 

 the thermometer was 40-^ below zero, 

 blow in the hive, or jar it, the bees 

 would fly out as quickly and readily 

 as bees do in the heat of summer, and 

 yon know, Mr. Editor, that when a 

 bee flies outand is blinded with snow, 

 he alights on his back, kicks up his 

 heels, and just before lie dies, dis- 

 charges the contents of his abdomen. 

 I luive seen 'em do it in thousands of 

 instances, and it was dry and powdery 

 like, so much so, that it would not 

 adhere to or smear anything." etc. 



While I consider this third witness 

 a highly credible one, I must confess 

 that there is a dash of bigotry in his 

 testimony which I do not admire. He 

 goes on to say that " any bee-keeper 

 in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 Nortliern New York, or Canada, who 

 has not seen bees discharge dry, 

 powdery excrement under the above 

 conditions, is not and cannot be a 

 very close observer." I am glad 

 Michigan was omitted from this 

 enumeration of localities, for do we 

 not know that there are those in that 

 State who not only can be but are very 

 close observers, yet they have never 

 seen what Mr. Gallup describes. 

 This matter is not one of curious 



interest merely, but highly practical. 

 When we have discovered the condi- 

 tions under which bees discharge dry 

 feces only, we shall have solved the 

 problem of successful wintering. For 

 I do not believe with Mr. Abbott, that 

 "protracted continement" produces 

 "dysenteric syniiitoms" if the bees 

 are'in such a state that they can void 

 dry excreta. These appear, I have 

 little doubt, only when the digestive 

 apparatus of the bee has become, from 

 some cause or other, disordered and 

 diseased. 

 Listowel, Out., May 19, 1882. 



Iowa Homestead. 



A Few Hints to Beginners. 



HENRY WALLACE. 



In these days of adulteration one of 

 the most essential requisites of the 

 farmers' home is pure, unadulterated 

 sweets. It is to be hoped that in the 

 near future amber cane grown on 

 Iowa soil will furnish the sugar and 

 syrups— not only for home use but for 

 export. In the meantime, the prudent 

 and skillful farmer can partially sup- 

 ply the want from the bee hive. Un- 

 numbered tons of honey go to waste 

 year by year in Iowa, for the reason 

 that farmers do not provide workers 

 to gather in the harvest. One great 

 obstacle to success in bee-keeping is 

 the popular superstition that some 

 persons have luck with bees, and 

 others have not. In this, as in all 

 other matters, " good luck " follows 

 close on good management, whilst 

 all kinds of bad luck accompany bad 

 management. Another, and great 

 difficulty, is the fact, that few farmers 

 will take the time to study the sub- 

 ject of bee-keeping. The native bee 

 in a common box hive or a bee gum is 

 a foredoomed failure. 



Two or three things are essential to 

 success. First, some kind of hive 

 m ust be provided with movable com bs. 

 It is just as important that the bee- 

 keeper have access to the hive and 

 any part of it at pleasure, as it is for 

 the farmer to have access to his farm 

 and any individual animal on it. The 

 shape and size of the hive are small 

 matters. Give patent hives of all 

 kinds a wide berth. The hive may be 

 a cube or a square or rectangle ac- 

 cording to fancy or convenience, but 

 the frames must be movable. 



The bees must be Italians, either 

 pure or hybrids, or more correctly 

 grades, and as all other kinds of live 

 stock, the purer the better. 



The beginner should have no more 

 than one hive at first and make that 

 a matter of special study. In the bee 

 business it is well to make haste 

 slowly. If a farmer cannot make one 

 hive a success it is useless to attempt 

 more. A little observation will teach 

 him more in a few weeks than all the 

 books that have ever been written, 

 without the observation. He will 

 soon learn where to look for the 

 queen, how to divide the hives and 

 when, the time to put in honey boxes 

 and how. The bee requires but little 

 attention, but it must be given just in 

 the nick of lime. All she asks of us 



is a house to live in for herself and a 

 place to store our share of her labors. 

 She boards herself, keeps her own 

 house in addition, and presents her 

 contribution to our table in a shape 

 that no human wisdom can improve. 

 She gathers in sweets that would else 

 be wasted, and in so doing fertilizes 

 flovi'ers that would else be barren— in 

 robbing flowers of sweets, she enriches 

 them. Her home is the model of 

 neatness and order. In industry and 

 skill and cleanliness, and good gov- 

 ernment, and willing obedience there 

 is nothing like it iu all the earth. It 

 is the ideal repubTic— excelling that of 

 whidi Pluto dreamed. Its queen is 

 not the ruler, but the servant, to be 

 dethroned when her usefulness is 

 past, but honored and served so long 

 as she fulfills properly the duties or 

 her station. To any farmer who has 

 brains and will use them, we say, 

 keep bees, keep them for your own 

 sake ; keep them to teach your child- 

 ren lessons of tlirif t, cleanliness, cour- 

 age, order, and subjection ; keep them 

 to supply your table with one pure 

 sweet, fresh from the hand of God — 

 for bees do not make honey; God 

 makes it and they gather it. 



But we have not told our readers 

 how to keep bees. When Joshua Rey- 

 nolds was asked by one of his pupils 

 liow to mix paints, lie answered " with 

 brains, sir !" So it is with bee-keep- 

 ing. Get a hive with movable frames 

 and a good swarm of Italians. The 

 rest is brains. It you have them and 

 will use them, you'don't need asking 

 further. If you have not, give or sell 

 them to your neiglibor who has. 



Winterset, Iowa. 



For ttie American Bee Journal. 



The Coining Market. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



The editorial in the Bee Jouknal 

 " Silver Lining of the Clouds," comes 

 home to every bee-keeper of experi- 

 ence. Every good calculator is now 

 doing just what is therein advised. 

 But there is one vital point iu this 

 season's operations that it behooves 

 us all to look well into. In last week's 

 issue, I notice that Messrs Thurber & 

 Co. quote " comb honey 11 to 16c." 

 Here times are good. Labor is in 

 good demand at advanced wages. All 

 sorts of produce are very high ; every 

 time we turn around we are surprised 

 at the advanced cost ; comb founda- 

 tion is 5c. higher ; lumber is more 

 than 20 per cent, higher ; nearly all 

 our supplies have advanced in price, 

 and of those that have not, the mater- 

 ial of which they are made has, 

 though the vender stands the extra 

 cost. The honey crop of last season 

 was light and the markets are bare. I 

 have received solicitations for honey 

 from far and near, and I remember of 

 no season coming in with clearer 

 shelves than this one of 1882. 



Now what is the meaning of " comb 

 honey 11 and 16c. V" How many lbs. 

 of tfiis honey does it take to buy a 

 bushel of potatoes, a ton of hay, a 

 busliel of corn, or a pound of glucose ? 

 If honey gets much lower, and corn 



