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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



A Curious Circumstance.— Yester- 

 day evening I was examining a 

 nucleus containing fertile workers, 

 and while lidding the comb in my 

 hands looking at several workers lay- 

 ing, they all— bees and all — at once 

 flew off, and after flying a few minutes 

 in the air, they settled on a plum tree 

 close by. In fear that they would not 

 return, I took the same comb and 

 hung it against the cluster. I liad 

 hardly done that when they all ran on 

 the comb and the fertile workers went 

 to laying in a few moments. I 

 counted as many as 1.5 laying at the 

 same time, and others performing the 

 same operation in their turn. After 

 ■catching 8 or 10 and pressing their 

 abdomens, I had 4 to show the egg, 

 and in fear that I might lose the op- 

 portunity, I sent one of my assistants, 

 ■ who was present, to my drag store 

 for a vial of alcohol, and on his re- 

 turn I caught several in the act of lay- 

 ing and put them in the alcohol. I 

 send them to you by this mail. This 

 is almost incredible, but it is the fact, 

 and I a,m glad 1 had an eye witness. 

 I intend bringint; two bee-keepers of 

 the neighborhood, in a day or two, to 

 show tliem the workers laying while 

 holding the comb in hand. My opin- 

 ion is that every bee in that nucleus is 

 capable of laying, as I saw at least .50 

 of them laying, and others simulating 

 the act. I am almost inclined to send 

 you that nucleus by express, at my 

 expense, but will not confinement de- 

 stroy their propensity of laying V 

 What do you say y 1 trust that this 

 may be of some interest to you, and 

 liope to hear of the result of your ex- 

 amination of tliese fertile workers. I 

 ought to mention that there are but 

 about }^ pint of bees in the nucleus. 

 Paul L. Viallon. 

 Bayou Goula, La. 



[The above is very interesting. The 

 bees sent were no way peculiar, ex- 

 cept that some of them had very large 

 but rather short abdomens. I have 

 carefully dissected six of them. In 

 all I lind eggs. The ovaries instead 

 of being multi-tubular as are the 

 same in the normal queens, have only 

 two or three tubes, and the eggs in- 

 stead of being indefinite in number, 

 are so few that it would be an easy 

 matter to count them. There was no 

 sign of a spermatheca, and the poison 

 sack was large, as in the workers, and 

 not as in the queens. — A. J. Cook.] 



A Failure. —My bee business is al- 

 most an entire failure this season. 

 11. Wilkin. 

 San Buenaventura, Cal. 



Jiot so Bright. — I see by last week's 

 Bee Journal, you say prospects are 

 brighter. Not as far as my apiary of 

 100 colonies is concerned. White clo- 

 ver here is scanty, small and no honey 

 in it; bees killing off drones and 

 scarcely gathering enough to live on. 

 In fact, there has been no honey com- 

 paratively in fruit bloom, locust, or 

 willow. Two rainy days would starve 



?| of my colonies. Let us hear from 

 other points of Canada. 



J. C. Thom, M. D. 

 Streetsville, Canada, June 29, 1882. 



Foundation Slaking. — 1. Would it be 

 advisable for a man with 0-5 colonies 

 of bees to invest in a foundation 

 machine V 2. What hive would you 

 recommencl V 3. Can an apiary be 

 run to advantage without foundation V 

 I find it ditticult to get bees to build 

 straight on the combs. 



John Sherretts. 



Norfolk, Oregon. 



[1. With the present spirited com- 

 petition in manufacturing and selling 

 foundation, we do not think it would 

 be advisable to invest in a first class 

 machine, even with more than G.5 

 colonies. Many propose to work up 

 wax at 10 to 1.5c. per lb. 



2. At present we would recommend 

 the Langstroth hive, and until a stan- 

 dard frame is adopted. There may 

 be other hives just as good, or per- 

 haps, a trifle better ; but we will 

 recommend it because it is quite as 

 capable as any of all desirable manipu- 

 lations. 



3. It cannot. If the apiarist has a 

 surplus of nice, straight combs suffi- 

 cient to meet emergencies, then he 

 can dispense with foundation ; but, 

 otherwise, he loses half the utility of 

 his movable frames unless founda- 

 tion be used. Again,no loss is entailed 

 in the purchase of good foundation, 

 even at a higher price than it is now 

 selling, because with it a prime swarm 

 can fill a 10-frame Langstroth hive 

 with nice, straight combs in 48 hours, 

 and make good headway in storing 

 honey in it.— Ed.] 



Working in tlie Sections.— My Ijees 

 are doing finely at this time. A 

 swarm that issued May 8th, has on 40 

 one-pound sections. I took a peep at 

 them this evening, and found they 

 have several nearly filled, and most 

 of ttie otliers started. I think this is 

 doing pretty well, when they have 

 only been on 6 days. 



Henry Cripe. 



North Manchester, Ind., June '2S. 



Why the Dysentery '}— On the 3d 



iiist., between 10 a. m. and 2 p. m., 

 to prevent swarming I took from 1 to 

 4 frames of brood and bees from each 

 of several colonies. I made one full 

 colony, gave 3 frames to another, 2 to 

 another, and 1 to another, and made 

 4 2- frame nuclei. I mixed the bees 

 from the different hives to prevent 

 their disturbing the queens. On the 

 7th, between 8 and 10 a. in., of the 

 four nuclei I had three cases of dysen- 

 tery, one so plain that the spots on 

 the front of the hive stand as wit- 

 nesses. The weather has been very 

 wet, but the bees have been storing 

 honey every day (perhaps 3 or 4 ex- 



ceptions) since June 1st, with plenty 

 of sealed and unsealed honeV and 

 pollen in the nuclei. Will Mr. Heddon 

 tell us the direct cause of this, and 

 why all four of the nuclei did not 

 have it ? Or, in fact, why they all 

 (all the bees I handled on that occa- 

 sion), did not have it? Or, why did 

 any of them have it ? By 1 or 2 p. m., 

 on the 4th inst., there was no signs of 

 the dysentery except the spots on the 

 hives. S. A. Shuck. 



Bryant, 111. 



[The illustrations given above pre- 

 sent several very interesting problems, 

 chief among which are the bacterium- 

 pollen and the starvation theories. In 

 neither case could there have been 

 time for the development of bacteria, 

 in no case was cold so intense as to 

 place food beyond and jiollen within 

 their reach, nor was starvation so im- 

 minent that bees abstained from eat- 

 ing to eke out their stores for a more 

 distant day. At all events, if bacteria, 

 or pollen, or starvation, or all of these, 

 are the prime causes of dysentery 

 sometimes, they certainly are not at 

 all times ; and when the question is 

 finally settled, it may be found that 

 an undue disturbance, inhalation of 

 too much moisture, and too rigid con- 

 finement are conducive to it. — Ed.] 



Immense Beginning. — The main 



honey harvest" is over with us ; the 

 horsemint is drying up ; weather dry 

 and hot. Bees are getting some honey 

 from mesquit. From 27 colonies 

 (spring count) I have had 51 natural 

 swarms, have taken 4,3.59 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted and 200 1-lb. sections, and 

 could extract to-day at least 1,.500 lbs. 

 more, but do not want it — no time to 

 take care of it. J. S. Tadlock. 



Luling, Texas, June 29, 1882. 



The Verdict of the Jury.— We have 



just received a copy of the most popu- 

 lar piece of music ever published in 

 this country, called the " Verdict 

 March," comjiosed by Eugene L. 

 Blake and published by F. W. Hel- 

 mick, 180 Elm St., Cincinnati, O. It 

 is written in an easy style, so that it 

 can be played on either piano or 

 organ. The title page is very hand- 

 some, containing correct portraits of 

 Hon. Geo. B. Corkhill, Hon. J. K. 

 Porter, and Judge \V. S. Cox ; also a 

 correct picture of the twelve jurymen 

 who convicted the assassin of the late 

 President. 40 cents. 



i^Macmillan & Co. will publish 

 immediately a little book entitled 

 " Rules of Sinii)le Hygiene, and Hints 

 and Remedies for "the Treatment of 

 Common Accidents and Diseases," by 

 Dr. Dawson Turner, revised and cor- 

 rected by twelve eminent medical 

 men connected with hospitals in Lon- 

 don. It is reprinted from the eighth 

 London edition, with additions. Price 

 50 cents. 



