THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



459 



country (for I am now satisfied that 

 the Bee Journal is the riglitniediuin 

 to advertise through, since uiy late ex- 

 perience). My bees are booming, and 

 keep me busy extracting and taking 

 off boxes, etc. The prospect at pres- 

 ent is that the wliite clover will last 

 for two or three weeks yet. The sea- 

 son is turning out better than we ex- 

 pected. " H. Besse, M. D. 

 Delaware, O., July 12, 1882.. 



After-Swarming.— Mr. James Ho- 

 bart, of this place, has one colony of 

 Italian bees that have sent out 5 

 swarms. The first one came out June 

 11, and the last one yesterday, July 

 13. Is not that an uncommon occur- 

 ence '? Bees are doing finely ; white 

 clover in great abundance. 



J. C. Marvin. 



Fairchild, Wis., July 14, 1882. 



[After-swarming is not an unusual 

 occurence. \Ve have heard of in- 

 stances where after-swarms came out 

 so numerously tliat the parent colony 

 was ruined, there not being young 

 bees enough left to properly conduct 

 the affairs of the community. As 

 many as 10 swarms from 1 have been 

 reported. Of course, all were ex- 

 ceedingly small.— Ed.] 



Faith in Movable Frame Hives.— 



Since my last letter (June 14), we 

 have had a week of steady rain, do- 

 ing considerable damage to crops of 

 all kinds. On low bottom land our 

 bees seemed to be a little on tlie de- 

 cline during the latter part of June, 

 as there was so much rain fell that it 

 washed all the nectar out of the blos- 

 soms. I have been a reader of the 

 Bee Journal since last March. I 

 ■couldn't do without it, but I tliouglit 

 the movable frame bee hives were 

 humbugs. Being determined to 

 satisfy myself in regard to the mat- 

 ter, I drafted out and built a movable 

 frame hive, somewhat after the pat- 

 tern of the Langstroth. I put doors 

 and glass in the four sides, so as to 

 give me an insight. I gave them 

 starters of comb foundation and put 

 in a swarm the 21st of June, and in 

 14 days they had the hive filled with 

 comb, and had brood capped over. I 

 now see the convenience of movable 

 frames. I expect to use them alto- 

 gether next season. My neighbors 

 worry my patience calling to see my 

 new bee hive, and every one admires 

 it very much. I am puzzled over two 

 late swarms. The first one came out 

 July 1st, clustered, and was hived. 

 In the evening they swarmed out and 

 went back into the old hive, leaving a 

 small bunch of bees not more than a 

 tea cup full in the hive. These re- 

 mained six days, when they swarmed 

 out and clustered on a willow tree. I 

 examined them and the queen bee 

 was with them. I brought her to the 

 house and caged her, and the bees 

 then went back to the old hive and 

 •went in, only to be dragged out and 

 killed. The second swarm came 

 forth July 2, and was a small one. I 

 hived them with considerable trouble. 



They remained about 3 hours and 

 swarmed out and went back to the 

 old hive, staying 4 days and swarmed 

 again. There were about twice as 

 many as at first. I hived them again, 

 and in about one hour and a half 

 they swarmed out and went back 

 again, staying 2 days, and swarmed 

 again (being the third time). There 

 were four times as many as at first. I 

 had now resolved to try an experi- 

 ment. I spread down a clean table- 

 cloth upon some boards I had pre- 

 pared, and placed the hive at one 

 edge. After shaking the bees down 

 in front of the liive I sprinkled them 

 cleverly with water, clipped my cap- 

 tured queen's wing, and dumped her 

 into the middle of the pile, then 

 drummed them all into the hive to- 

 gether. After they all went in, I 

 gathered up the cloth in front of the 

 hive and wound up the hive com- 

 pletely, leaving it remain until dark, 

 when I carried it to tlie stand where 

 I wanted it to remain, and took off 

 the cloth. They are now working 

 splendidly. Will you tell me the 

 causes why did the first colony swarm 

 out and the queen remain, and why 

 did the second colony swarm and re- 

 swarm so often, and then be forced to 

 stay y Frank B. Rife. 



Mala by, O. 



[In the first instance mentioned, 

 after the bees deserted the queen in 

 the hive leaving but a cup full, they 

 became discouraged with the pros- 

 pect of rearing brood in a hive so 

 much larger than they could properly 

 warm and fill. At the end of six days 

 the bees had become strangers to the 

 parent colony, and going in with 

 empty honey-sacs, were mercilessly 

 slaughtered. • 



In the second case, the bees led by 

 the queen swarmed and re-swarmed 

 in each case to get reinforcements. 

 They finally remained because the 

 queen was clipped and could not go 

 with them. There are many anoma- 

 lous cases of swarming which are 

 almost inexplicable, and require a 

 careful study of the circumstances to 

 account for it.— Ed.] 



Done Notliing.— Bees have done 

 nothing here. The honey harvest is 

 now over. I do not know of a box of 

 honey being made in the county. The 

 weather has been very fair for queen- 

 rearing. We have had plenty of rain 

 the past week, and that has prevented 

 queens from mating. 



Henry Alley. 



Wenham, Mass., July 6, 1882. 



But Little Honey from Clover. — Bees 



have not done much thus far this sea- 

 son. White clover has been in full 

 bloom for about a week ; but it has 

 given but little honey as yet — too cold 

 and wet. 1 do not look for a large 

 crop of honey in this section the 

 present season'. C. Butman. 



Plymouth, Me., July 6, 1882. 



Honey at Glucose Prices.—" The 



Coming Market," is the title of an ar- 

 ticle written by James Ileddon, which 

 appeared in the Bee Journal, page 

 374, June 14, 1882, and is a timely 

 warning to the honey producers of 

 our land. It is an able article, and 

 should be read and well considered by 

 every one interested in the production 

 and sale of pure honey. I, for one, 

 most heartily indorse the language 

 contained in Mr. Ileddon's article. It 

 seems to me that if every bee-keeper 

 considered this matter in the same 

 light that Mr. Ileddon does, pure 

 honey would not be sold at glucose 

 prices. Last season our comb honey 

 sold at wholesale for 20 cts. per lb., 

 and our extracted at 15 cts. per lb., 

 the majority of it being consumed in 

 the village of Ashtabula. I believe 

 the bee-keepers of the Eastern and 

 Middle States should use every effort 

 to stimulate and improve their home 

 market, and then such men as Thur- 

 ber & Co. would not have a chance to 

 speculate on our honey by mixing it 

 with glucose syrup, thus reducing the 

 price of honey down to starvation 

 prices. Our bees are doing well on 

 the white clover. I think, by the way 

 the bees work to-day, they have 

 struck a new lield of labor. Perhaps 

 it is the basswood just coming into 

 bloom. Our forests in this local- 

 ity are lined vi-ith this lioney-produc- 

 ing tree. I am very much pleased 

 with the Weekly Bee Journal. 



V. II. Ormsby. 

 Pierpont, O., July 6, 1882. 



Honey Prospects in Kentucky. — 



Honey prospects are very poor here. 

 Acres and acres of white clover in 

 bloom, but the weather is not propi- 

 tious for the secretion of honey. This 

 month has been very cold so far. I 

 received a letter to-day from C. F. 

 Muth, of Cincinnati, and he says he 

 will not get as much honey as he fed in 

 the spring, l)ut, as he also remarks, 

 "as good Christians we shall console 

 ourselves with the hope of better pros- 

 pects in the future." 



W. T. Clary. 

 Clarysville, Ky., July 7, 1882. 



Prospects for Remainder of Season. 



—Bees are doing well here now, and 

 the i)ros\)ects are good for the remain- 

 der of the season. White clover bids 

 fair to yield well for two weeks yet. 

 The great amount of rain that we 

 have had will make a great abund- 

 ance of bloom from wild fiowers. 

 Ilartsease andsmartweedare in many 

 cornfields to the annoyance of the 

 farmers, but to the benefit of the bee- 

 keeper. An unusual amount of buck- 

 wheat has been sown about here. 

 Bees are working well in boxes, and 

 we are busy extracting from a part of 

 our apiary, which is run for extracted 

 honey. VVe are very busy. 



F. A. Snell. 

 Milledgeville, 111., July 10, 1882. 



Supers Full of Honey. — Bees have 

 done finely here. Ilives and supers 

 are chock full of honey. 



A. Benedict. 



Bennington, O., July 12, 1882. 



