THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



379 



Boiling Honev.— My bees bred up 

 very fast in fruit bloom season, and 

 some time after that it set in cool and 

 cloudy, witli bad weather to gather 

 honey to keep up brood rearing. I 

 feared very much that I would liave 

 to feed largely, but now they are mak- 

 ing a living, and have commenced to 

 fill up with brood. Will Mr. Low- 

 master please give a description of 

 his drone trap, as I lind it very hard 

 to keep down black droiiesV I have 

 58 colonies of blacks, hybrids and 

 Italians, and do not use any black 

 drones ? My bees wintered well on 

 their summer stands in Mitchell 

 hives. How will it do to let extrac- 

 ted honey stand 10 or 15 days, tlien 

 bring it to the boil in large kettles, 

 skim, put up in 2 to 4 pound tin cans, 

 and solder while hot ? 



J. T. Bruton. 



Joplin,Mo.,May24, 1SS2. 



[Without exceeding great care is 

 used, the honey will be deprived of 

 much of its flavor by bringing to the 

 boiling point. Let it stand several 

 days in tubs, pails, or barrels, covered 

 only with thin, coarse cotton cloth, 

 in a hot, dry room, or exposed in the 

 sun. Protect against rain and night 

 dews. — Ed.] 



AuOpen Letter to Prof. Cook.— Dear 



Sir : While you are under the firm 

 conviction that the breeding of bees 

 must follow the same laws as the 

 breeding of cattle, etc., and that I 

 concur with the opinion of Mr. Doo- 

 little, who says in a late number of 

 Gleanings, that from his practical ex- 

 perience he has been led to believe 

 that the breeding of bees is not analo- 

 gous to that of swine, sheep, etc., I 

 would like for you to tell us in which 

 way we are able to come to the same 

 result with bees as with cattle, etc. V 

 If it is possible to select the male and 

 female with the different breed we 

 wish to improve, how is this possible 

 with bees? We certainly can select 

 the female, but what about the male ? 

 Now, we suppose that all the progeny 

 from a pure queen to have similar 

 qualities, now why is this not so with 

 the improved breed of cattle, horses, 

 etc. y The breeders of the selected 

 stocks are continually weeding, as 

 from their best selected couple they 

 breed from there are but a few which 

 come to the standard. Now, if this is 

 the case when we are able to select 

 and manage the male, how can we 

 attain such results, when we can only 

 have drones and not one, unless all 

 the drones from the queen we select 

 for tliat purpose have all the good 

 similar qualities required ; then, if 

 this is the case, why should all the 

 males from a female bee have all the 

 same qualities and not so in all the 

 different improved breeds of cattle, 

 horses, sheep, fowls, etc. V Trusting. 

 sir, that you will not think that I op- 

 pose the working towards the im- 

 Erovingofour present bee. though I 

 ave been working in that light for 

 several years without result. 



Paul L. Viallon. 

 Bayou Goula, La., May 30, 1882. 



Late Spring.— The spring has been 

 very late ; cold north and northwest 

 winds are prevailing yet, so bees can- 

 not work much more than half of 

 their time. I received a large swarm 

 May 26, which is doing well consider- 

 ing the chance. I expect more soon 

 as the weather permits. 1. How is 

 the best way to move a colony a short 

 distance ; it is standing under an ap- 

 ple tree, and has too much shade '? 2. 

 In putting tin tubes in the brood 

 chamber, for winter passages, should 

 they be removed in summer? I am 

 delighted with "Cook's Manual of the 

 Apiary." I think there is no book 

 like it for the bee-keeper. Do not 

 stop the Bee Journal, if my sub- 

 scription should expire ; I am a novice 

 at bee-keeping, and cannot get along 

 without it. S. C. Frederick. 



Coal Vale, Kans., June 4, 1882. 



[1. Close the entrance at night; in 

 the morning remove the colony to 

 where you wish it to remain ; let the 

 entrance remain closed ; about 11 

 o'clock jar the hive pretty roughly, 

 and leave it for about 5 to 10 minutes; 

 slant a board in front to nearly ob- 

 struct the entrance, and take away 

 the entrance blocks. Let the board 

 remain in front for several days. 



2. Why use tin tubes at all ? Shave 

 a.}4 0T ^ inch round stick gradually 

 to a point, and pierce a hole through 

 each comb just a little above and for- 

 ward of the center. If done in the 

 fall, the bees will not close them 

 again, and in the spring they can 

 easily do so, as this is the most valua- 

 ble portion of the brood-nest. — Ed.1 



Beetles.— I send you this day three 

 dark-colored bugs that frequent my 

 bee-hives, and annoy the bees. Will 

 you please let us know what they are, 

 and their habits, if known, and do so 

 through the Bee Journal. 



J. A. P. Fancher. 



Fancher's Mills, Tenn. 



[The " dark colored bugs " received 

 from J. A. P. Fancher, Fancher's 

 Mills, Tenn., are not bugs, but beet- 

 les. They are not found in Michigan, 

 but are in our cabinet. The scientific 

 name is Euryomia sepulchrulis. Fab. 

 Two near relatives, E. inda and E. 

 melancholis, are found here, and are 

 often found eating into ripe fruit, 

 especially apples and peaches. Possi- 

 bly this one has a sugar tooth, and 

 seeks to satisfy its longings by pilfer- 

 ing the honey from the hive. I can- 

 not think, from the habits of the beet- 

 les of this genus, that they could do 

 any other injury. We might think 

 from the name that they were after 

 dead bees, but it is hardly possible. 

 They doubtless seek the honey, and 

 will not be in sufficient numbers to do 

 much harm. — A. J. Cook.] 



Hiviiiff, Etc.— 1. To hive a swarm, 

 should I turn the hive top-side down 

 over the swarm, after the frames have 

 been fastened in place by cleats laid 

 on the ends, and fastened by screws 

 driven through the cleats into the rab- 

 bets? 2. My tliin foundation is cut into 

 sheets 5>^x'l2 inches, to till the 1 pound 

 section, should I cut it into sheets 

 Z}4ri% inches, and have a lot of 

 small pieces left over, or had I better 

 cut it into pieces Zx2,% inches? 3. I 

 use cotton rags in my '2li inch Bing- 

 ham smoker, and like them much 

 better than pinik ; what objection is 

 there to using rags V 4. According to 

 Mr. Ileddon's theory, I wonder if bac- 

 teria are in cider and honey vinegar ; 

 if not, what causes fermentation ? In 

 an 8-frame Langstroth hive, I should 

 think we might adjust a super for ex- _ 

 traded honey, and after the bees are 

 well at work raise this super and put 

 under it a super of 24 one-pound sec- 

 tions, with foundation and no separa- 

 tors. The weather is very backward 

 here. Fruit trees are just leaving 

 out. F. M. Cheney. 



South Sutton, N. H., May 27, 1882. 



[I. To hive a swarm, place a hive- 

 where intended to stand, with foun- 

 dation frames properly adjusted; 

 slant a broad board in front, on which 

 the bees can crawl up to the en- 

 trance ; now shake the cluster into an 

 empty box or keg, and pour them 

 down in front of the prepared hive. 

 There are two or three other good 

 methods, but this is, perhaps, as little 

 trouble as any. 



2. Cut into pieces 3x2?| inches. 



3. There is no objection to cotton 

 rags in the smoker, except that they 

 burn out quite soon. 



4. ^es ; bacteria prevail in every- 

 thing that ferments or decays. 



By using additional stories, tiering 

 up is practiced to a considerable ex- 

 tent, both for extracted and comb 

 honey.— Ed.] 



Bees Doing Well in Califoniifi.— Our 



bees are storing honey very fast, and 

 the prospects for a booming good 

 yield of honev are much better than 

 last year at this time. Sage, honey- 

 suckle and California coffee are all in 

 full bloom, and the weather is mild, 

 enabling the bees to work all day. 

 Wild buckwheat is just coming on, 

 and other bloom in rotation. We feel 

 safe to say that our honey harvest will 

 be larger than for the past two years. 

 Bray & Seacord. 

 Warthan, Cal., May 29, 1882. 



Prospect was Never Better.— The 



season lias been very cold and wet 

 here. White clover is beginning to 

 bloom, and the bees are making good 

 use of it, as they did not get much 

 honey from fruit bloom. Bees win- 

 tered well, and are doing finely now. 

 The prosviect for a good clover crop 

 was never better, I think, than now. 

 Daniel Brothers. 

 Sarahsville, O., June 3, 1882. 



