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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Deserted the Hive.— I had a swarm 

 come out four clays ago ; I clipped the 

 queen's wing, but forgot to put the 

 cloth over the frames. I looked in 

 yesterday and found the bees in the 

 top of the hive, and building comb 

 from the peak of the roof. I removed 

 the bees and comb from the roof, and 

 put on the cloth. Instead of going 

 into tiie hive, tlie bees swarmed out 

 and clustered in a tree, but soon came 

 back into the hive. I found to-day 

 that most of the bees had left and 

 gone into anotlier hive, not the parent 

 colony. The clipped queen and a 

 handful of bees remained in the liive. 

 Tlie forsaken hive had been painted 

 about 10 days. What is the trouble, 

 and what should be done 'i Please 

 answer in the Bee Journal. 



Clakk a. Montague. 



Traverse City, Mich., June 29, 1882. 



[The trouble originated in remov- 

 ing the comb after tlie queen had de- 

 posited eggs in it. Had you given 

 them a frame of brood and eggs after 

 removing them from the roof, most 

 likely they would have remained. 

 There is no remedy now but to 

 strengthen the few remaining bees 

 with hatching brood from tlie parent 

 colony, if you wish to preserve the 

 queen, or return her whence she 

 came. — Ed.] 



Subjects Anticipated. — I have been 

 looking for a change in the weather. 

 It rains every other day, and to make 

 up for the dry day it rains twice the 

 next, so the bees have but little time 

 to work, and what honey is secreted 

 is washed out by the heavy rains. AVe 

 had a storm June 29, uprooting trees, 

 blowing down barns, etc. The pros- 

 liect is gloomy here— gloomy indeed. 

 My bees have" cauglit the swarming 

 fever, notwitlistanding the rain, and 

 have increased from 33 to 74. I selected 

 several subjects to write on, but when 

 I get a new Journal I find each sub- 

 ject discussed to my satisfaction, and 

 much better tlian 1 could have done. 

 I bid the Bee Journal God speed in 

 its onward career. G. W. Ashhy. 



Valley Station, Ky., June 30, 1882. 



Doing Better.— Bees are doing bet- 

 ter since I last reported ; swarming 

 has begun in earnest. I extracted 

 the first honey to-day. Owing to so 

 much wet weather, the lioney is very 

 watery and thin. 1 never saw white 

 clover so full of bloom. If the rains 

 and cloudy weather would cease, I 

 think the honey fiow would be enor- 

 mous. W. H. Graves. 



Duncan, 111., June 30, 1882. 



A Hard Season. — I send you by this 

 mail a sprig of flowers and a leaf from 

 a tree which grows in my yard, and 

 the only leaf or tree of the kind that 

 I remember ever having seen. It lias 

 an army of flowers ; many of the sprigs 

 are 20 inches long, and the bunch of 

 them togetlier is enormous. I am 

 very anxious to know what this tree 

 is, as my bees live on it from morning 



till night. I am a great lover of bees, 

 though I know but little about them. 

 I have colonies in Langstroth hives, 

 which are quite a curiosity in this 

 county, as there are none of tlieni here 

 with us. The season is a very hard 

 one to the industrious little pets. 

 Mine are storing but little honey. 

 Long life to the Bee Journal. It is 

 a perfect gem to a lover of bees. 



J. C. Wilson. 

 Kidgeland, S. C, June 27, 1882. 



[This beautiful tree is a native of 

 China or Japan, in both of which 

 countries it is now grown for shade 

 and ornament. It is sparingly culti- 

 vated in several localities of our 

 Southern States, but probably is not 

 hardy at the North. Linnseus named 

 the trees Sterculia platanifolia, from 

 the resemblance of its leaves to those 

 of the sycamore or plane tree, mostly 

 on account of their large size. As a 

 honey plant it is interesting to note 

 that it is a near relative of the linden 

 or bass wood, every vi'here so well 

 known for the abundance and fine 

 quality of its nectar, as well as for 

 the delightful fragrance of its flowers. 

 It is worth while, also, to bear in 

 mind that there is an intimate con- 

 nection between fragrance, nectar, 

 and insects. Be^s evidently possess 

 a decided sense of smell and may 

 thus be able to find a linden in full 

 bloom from a considerable distance. 

 I do not know, but, from the appear- 

 ance of the flower and the nectar it 

 produces, I hazard the inference that 

 this Sterculia is, when in bloom, 

 highly scented. Perhaps, after all, it 

 is not so much of a hazard, for 

 Sterculius was tlie name of a Roman 

 god, so called (from stercus, manure) 

 because he taught the agriculturists 

 the use of manin-e. In this case, we 

 may suppose Linnaeus had before him 

 a species of the genus not noted for 

 the pleasantness of its odor, though 

 the latter may have been sufl3ciently 

 pronounced. 



The structure of the flower of this, 

 in so many ways peculiar, tree is evi- 

 dently marvellously adapted to the 

 visits of insects and their work in 

 cross fertilization. The nectar at the 

 bottom of the calyx-cup is protected 

 from small insects by a dense plush 

 of hairs, so that such insects as might 

 creep under without touching the 

 pollen bearers, and so plunder the 

 sweet store without recompen.se to 

 the plant, are efliciently excluded, 

 while a larger, long-tongued guest is 

 privileged to help itself (herself V) by 

 pushing aside the fringe of short, 

 matted hairs. The stamens and pistil 

 are borne on a peculiar and altogether 



uncommon prolongation of the axis 

 or stem rising well above the necti- 

 ferous cup of the calyx. The pollen 

 sacs themselves (anthers) are densely 

 crowded upon the upper or outer end 

 of this prolonged axis, which is itself 

 here shaped into a cup at the bottom 

 of which the live-parted pistil is 

 found. Here again I cannot be sure 

 from the specimen at hand, but there 

 probably is secreted in this seqond 

 cup enticing nectar, hid away and 

 hardly accessible to many insects, 

 though quite so to some invited favor- 

 ites. To get it, however, an insect's 

 proboscis must be effectually smeared 

 with the adhesive pollen, to be carried 

 away to another flower. 



Has any attention been heretofore 

 given to the Sterculia as a honey pro- 

 ducer V— T. J. BURRILL. 



It has not, that we are aware of. — 

 Ed.] 



Doing: Excellently.— The honey yield 

 is good here tliis season. I have 

 taken 13-1 lbs. of comb honey, in one- 

 pound boxes up to this date. If the 

 season continues as favorable as it has 

 been the past six weeks, I will get 

 over 300 lbs. of comb honey per col- 

 ony. W. S. Cauthen. 



Pleasant Hill, S. C, June 24, 1882. 



From a Beginner.— I have taken the 

 Bee Journal fur (l months, and have 

 obtained some valuable information 

 from it. My fatlier lias had bees for 3 

 years before this, but kept them in 

 boxes, nail kegs, or anything that 

 came handy, sometimes getting a lit- 

 tle honey, and sometimes none. Last 

 fall he brimstoiied the bees in a nail 

 keg, wliicli I tliink was a cruel way 

 to get lioney, and it was a poor lot in- 

 deed, which set me to thinking there 

 was a better way. I subscribed for 

 the Bee Journal, and now have 8 

 colonies in frame hives, from 4 old col- 

 onies in box hives. The first swarm 

 came on May 20, during apple bloom- 

 ing. The first came out jnst before 

 noon. I got them down from where 

 they had clustered, and they were 

 going into the liive nicely when an- 

 other swarm came out and went in 

 with them, filling the hive full ; the 

 next day 1 put on the sections to give 

 them room, but soon found that 

 would not do ; one of the queens went 

 up in them and went to laying. I 

 captured her and put her with 3 of the 

 frames and adliering bees in another 

 hive. Bees liave been doing well on 

 white clover, of which there is any 

 amount here. I have taken off some 

 sections from the first colony, and 

 more will be ready in 3 or 4 days, 

 while the old colonies have not com- 

 menced storing surplus yet, they liav- 

 ing swarmed too much. Theweatlier 

 has been very favorable here for bees 

 the past two weeks. We have had 

 showers occasionally to keep pasture 

 in good condition. 1. Where can I 

 get barberry seed, and at what price ? 

 2. What kind of a plant is it in size. 



