506 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



haiiy caterpiller, but for us tlie honey 

 bee sufficiently " tills the bill." 



As amateurs in entomology, we 

 have found infinite pleasure in the 

 study of other humble creatures of 

 the insect world, but chiefest of all 

 •commend us to the little winged elf 

 that goes about doing so mucli good, 

 that not only aids to fructify the 

 blossom, but '• gathers tioney all the 

 day from every opening tiower." 



it, of all God's beautiful creation, 

 most and best justities its existence, 

 patiently and untiring working tor 

 prosperity, and content with a bare 

 subsistence for itself. 



With it, it is ever work and wor- 

 ship. The merry little thing tells it 

 all in its cheery hum. Does it need a 

 vivid imagination to find in its pleas- 

 ant buzz a doxology ? An anthem of 

 gratitude, welling ever from a sur- 

 charged lieart, for the gift of life and 

 joyous .sunshine? If you think it 

 does, then you have not, as we liave, 

 enjoyed an intimate friendship with 

 the liappy fellow. Its brief life is a 

 sermon (and we know what a good 

 sermon is, for have we not been fortu- 

 nate enough several times to liear our 

 friend and brother farmer, the Rev. 

 Mr. Lightbourn). Yes, the bee's life 

 is a good practical sermon, and its 

 creed should tind ready acceptance in 

 every well balanced mind. 



In it we hnd the realization of 

 our ideal communist. Is it not so, Mr. 

 ■Sharp 'i for its efforts are always for 

 the good of the whole phalanstery 

 and for generations to come after. 

 Its own life is ephemeral, but six 

 weeks at the most, while engaged in 

 active business life; six weeks of 

 ■cheerful toil and its work is ended ; 

 but its "children may well rise up 

 and call it blessed." 



L,et us for a few moments contem- 

 plate its model liome. What does it 

 reveal 'f Contentment, order, im- 

 maculate cleanlifiess, brotherly love, 

 and industry ; no dissipation, no stay- 

 ■ing out o' nights, liah ! we leave this 

 wretch to the enjoyment of his own 

 billious captiousness. 



But true it is that the lady of the 

 house, albeit a lady of liigh degree, is 

 an exemplary wife and mother. A 

 short bridal tour ; this, of course, is 

 the correct thing, en reyel, and then a 

 return to the home of her youth to re- 

 ceive the congratulations of her 

 numerous, admiring friends ; no 

 cards, no cake, no refection but plain 

 bee bread, with honey syrup and an 

 unanimous pasan of rejoicing. Ever 

 after, this ever to be praised royal 

 matron remains at home and attends 

 to the family, with wiioin (and with 

 society in general) she is ever kind, 

 gentle and amiable, wisely or un- 

 wisely, preferring, however, not to 

 have any other ladies in the house. 



To Bee-Keepers In Florida. 



To assist in making out my report 

 to the National Society. I would con- 

 sider it a great favor if bee-keepers all 

 ■over the State of Florida would write 

 down what the general character of 

 the season has been and its effect on 

 the bees of their neighborhood, the 



results of his own and his neighbors' 

 labor in their apiaries since last Sep- 

 tember, and anything else worthy of 

 note connected with the industry, and 

 send the reports to me l)y Oct. 15th, as 

 the National Convention commences 

 Nov. 3rd. and my report must be in 

 Cincinnati by that time. Every thing 

 promises wefl in this section for an 

 unusually large crop of late honey to 

 come in November and December, 

 that can not, of course, be included in 

 the reports. Would be glad, however, 

 to have the prospect for a late crop in- 

 cluded in reports. 



W. S. Hakt, F. p. for Florida. 

 New Smyrna, Fla., July '28, 18S2. 



i^The bee-keepers of Boone Co., 

 Ind., are cordially invited to meet at 

 the office of Barton Higgins, Lebanon, 

 Aug. 10, for the purpose of organizing 

 an auxiliary county bee-keepers' so- 

 ciety, by request of committee. 



s^kB^^^^BQAf 



W^t£WM^^^' 



Fall Transferring.— Please inform 

 me through the Bee Journal, if it 

 will be prudent to transfer bees from 

 old box hives to movable frame hives 

 during the month of August. If you 

 recommend the transfer, please give 

 all the information necessary to insure 

 success. A. D.Daeby. 



Baton Rouge, S. C. 



[If you are certain of honey flow 

 sufficient, after the transfer is made, 

 for the bees to gather winter stores, 

 then you had better transfer at once. 

 You will hnd all the necessary infor- 

 mation in the Bee Journal of July 

 12th, page 437. We have on several 

 occasions practiced a similar method 

 with great satisfaction. — Ed.] 



Hybrid Bees. — I am a mere novice 

 in the bee business. I commenced 

 last spring with 13 colonies, 2 of which 

 were in a starving condition when 

 spring opened ; 5 of those colonies 

 were in movable comb hives and s 

 were in old log and box hives. I have 

 increased by artilicial swarming to 37, 

 and lost 7 or 8 swarms which came out 

 during my absence. I now have them 

 all in movable comb hives, and have 

 taken from them ;j86 lbs of beautiful 

 comb honey in section boxes, and have 

 used no comb foundation. All black 

 bees, except one colony of Italians, 

 which I got to experiment on. They 

 are all in excellent condition, and are 

 storing honey very fast. I am con- 

 gratulating myself on my success as a 

 novice, but, doubtless, I owe a great 

 deal of it to the reading of the Bee 

 JoiTRNAL. I have found several puz- 

 zles, one of which I will mention. I 

 sent for an Italian cjueen in May last, 

 and introduced her in June. I thouaht 

 her to be the only Italian queen with- 

 in 100 miles of here, as I had never 



seen nor heard of any nearer than 

 that to this place. The queen, I sup- 

 pose, was injured in ti-ansit, as she 

 was a long time unfruitful after her 

 arrival, but finally, commenced laying, 

 and has been gradually improving 

 since, but the mystery is, since her 

 introduction I liave found scattering 

 Italian bees in several other hives, 

 and several swarms have been capt- 

 ured, which were mixed with Italian 

 bees, and in every instance that has 

 come under my observation, there 

 were pure Italian bees and pure black 

 bees, and some which appeared to be 

 mixed. Now, will you please give me 

 some light in exp'laining how tliis 

 mixture comes V I also inclose a small 

 piece of a vine which is verv abund- 

 ant here in the bottoms, and blooms 

 nearly all summer. I wish to know 

 its name and rank as a honey plant. 

 B. L. Clements. 

 Queen City, Tex., Aug. 1, 1882. 



[Drones from your Italian queen 

 have met tlie young queens from your 

 black colonies, and those of others, 

 thus accounting for some being ap- 

 parently Italian, some black, and 

 others mixed. 



The vine is called tie-vine, and is an 

 excellent honey-producer. — Ed.1 



Bees in Arlvausas. — The past winter 

 was very favorable with us for breed- 

 ing. We have had no frost since the 

 last of February. Our honey season 

 opened about March 1 . Swarming be- 

 gan the 2.5th, and they are swarming 

 yet. It is of no use to clip the queen's 

 wings, clipped or not they will swarm, 

 and half of them abscond. Our honey 

 resources are maple, willow, red bud, 

 wild plum, peacli, apple, poplar, honey 

 locust, sweet gum, blackberry, per- 

 simmon, and sumac in abundance. 

 Did you ever hear of bees gathering 

 honey from poison ivy'? I think my 

 bees are, as they cluster upon it very 

 thickly. There are quantities of other 

 honey plants, too numerous to men- 

 tion, in which our bees find sweet 

 nectar. I have 80 colonies in Langs- 

 troth hives, and 60 in box liives. I 

 have extracted 3 and 4 times from the 

 upper stories, and taken suiplus as 

 often from the box hives. I never 

 lost a colony in wintering, except by 

 starvation, or dysentery. 



Frank Thiaville. 



Forest City, Ark., July 18, 1882. 



[Poison ivy {rhus toxicodendron) fur- 

 nishes an abundance of pollen and 

 some honey.— Ed.] 



Bees in Colorado. — In a late copy of 

 the Bee Journal I see an article on 

 fugitive swarms in California. In 

 1879 there were only a very few bees 

 in this county or " State, and none 

 known to be in the forest. Now, July, 

 1882, there are bees to be found every- 

 where in the town and on the farms, 

 also every suitable tree in the forests 

 seems to be pre-empted. I know of at 

 least 30 colonies taken from trees and 

 off of bushes where they clustered 

 after swarming, during this and the 

 past season, and many swarms are 



