THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



533 



For the American Bee Journal- 



Reversible Frames, etc. — X Visit. 



G. W. DEMAKEE. 



Tlie 3d of August found me at Emi- 

 nence, Ky., where some business mat- 

 ters required my presence. Having 

 to wait for the evening train to return 

 home, I improved the time by visiting 

 the man of •' reversible '" frames, bees 

 and plants — the well-known apiarist, 

 W. T. Stewart, of Eminence, Ky. I 

 found Mr. Stewart sitting in front of 

 his photograph gallery perusing a 

 copy of the American Bee Journal, 

 right fresh from the mail bags. The 

 old-fashioned hand-sliaking that fol- 

 lowed will certainly be pleasantly re- 

 membered bv me. Dr. Ed. Drane, 

 President of the Union Bee-Keepers' 

 Association was sent for, and soon 

 joined us, and now having that high 

 functionary present, we went into a 

 " Committee of the whole " on the 

 " state " of the present, or rather past 

 honey season. Mr. Stewart reported 

 that iie had not been favored with a 

 single "bait" of honey this season, 

 but still had sanguine hopes. He said 

 the season had been contrary all along, 

 and he would not be surpi'ised if it 

 did not take a turn and still be con- 

 trary, and give us a flow of honey in 

 August. 



Dr. E. Drane "really" did not ex- 



Eect much honey this year, therefore, 

 e went in mostly for "increase," 

 especially as ne.xt "year is " bound to 

 be a splendid honey season." The 

 Secretary (that's me) had " slung out " 

 about as much honey as he fed syrup 

 to stimulate last spring, but it was 

 "awful thin," and tasted decidedly 

 "weedish." Dr. Drane thought the 

 Secretary had "glucosed" his honey 

 to make it go further. Mr. Stewart 

 suggested that the bees, in their ex- 

 tremity, had licked up tlie honey and 

 left the Secretary the water pure and 

 simple. 



The contents of the last issue of the 

 Bee Journal were examined to see 

 if any " fault could be found with it." 

 Dr. Drane wanted some of the stock 

 of those drones which Mr. Carroll 

 (page 490) saw " working the wax ; 

 yes, building comb." The doctor said 

 that he was acquainted with Mr. Car- 

 roll, and that he is reliable : lie wanted 

 the drones. Mr. Stewart insisted that 

 "drones don't do anything— cmp/w<£- 

 ically, they don't." 



At this juncture, the bell rang for 

 dinner, and I "demurred," but Mr. 

 Stewart "overruled." It is a real 

 pleasure to be entertained by so noble 

 a pair as Mr. Stewart and his estima- 

 ble lady. Mrs. Stewart, vv-ho enjoys a 

 good joke, says that her liege lord 

 ought to store away " 900 lbs. of lioney 

 for his own use," and I did not think 

 her extravagant, after seeing him 

 " get away " with things at the table. 

 After dinner we repaired to the apiary 



to discuss reversible frames, bees and 

 honey plants. 



Mr. Stewart's frame is reversible, 

 and no mistake. It is an exceedingly 

 ingenious contrivance, presenting the 

 novel feature of being a fixed and a 

 movable frame, at the will of the 

 operator. Such a frame would be 

 very convenient to those who keep 

 bees on the migratory plan ; but just 

 why anybody should ever have rea- 

 sons to turn the brood-nest topsy- 

 turvy I imagine tliat no one knoweth. 



Such a collection of bee plants I 

 presume was never seen on one small 

 tract of land, as may be seen sur- 

 rounding Mr. Stewart's apiary. From 

 the huge sunflower down to the little 

 feeble creeper, with its wee bit of blois- 

 soms, can be seen there. It is a pleas- 

 ure to see the yellow bees tugging at 

 the figwort. motherwort, catnip, sweet 

 clover, milkweed, and a list too long 

 to be mentioned here. Mr. Stewart 

 and Dr. Drane are exceedingly par- 

 tial to the Italian. The former was 

 once a student of the latter, and they 

 agree amazingly well. I accuse thehi 

 of letting their prejudice get the ad- 

 vantage of their usually good judg- 

 ment, when they condemn so unspar- 

 ingly the " new races '' of bees with- 

 out giving them a fair trial. It is not 

 generally known that the Doctor is ttie 

 identical " able bee manipulator," on 

 whom Col. Nail, of the Farmers^ Hovie 

 Journal, got off that tough joke about 

 a colony of Cyprians " flaxing him 

 out," taking possession of a hole in 

 the crown of his hat, and utilizing 

 another hole in the unmentionable 

 part of his pantaloons. The Doctor 

 now lavishes his affections on the 

 gentle Italians. 



By the way, these well-informed 

 bee culturists have a fancy for nice 

 bees, and spare no pains or expense to 

 improve their stock. They take much 

 the same grounds that I have taken 

 in my published article concerning 

 the Italian race. They admit that 

 " high grade '' stock— borrowing the 

 term from Kentucky short-horn 

 breeders— such as many of the dealers 

 and breeders are now " writing up " 

 and selling under the flexible nomen- 

 clature of "dark'' or "leather-col- 

 ored " Italians, make good, profitable 

 workers, but they would no sooner be 

 found breeding from such stock than 

 a short-horn breeder would be found 

 breeding from " high grade," instead 

 of thoroughbred stock. Every intelli- 

 gent breeder knows that it is simply 

 impossible to keep up " high grade " 

 stock by breeding from " high grades," 

 because the tendency is downward, as 

 long experience has proven. If time 

 shall prove that high grade stock is 

 most profitable. \vhy, still pure blood 

 on one side of the parentage will be 

 essential to success. As for myself, I 

 have lost much confidence in the 

 ability of the present generation of 

 apiarists to perfect a satisfactory 

 strain of bees possessing all the good 

 qualities desired. There is no concert 

 of action; too much diversity of 

 opinion, and, perhaps, some selfish- 

 ness. All these things are in the way 

 of success. 



The 7th of August is here, and we 

 liave no surplus honey. There has 



not been so complete a failure in 20 

 years. Time and again have our bees 

 entered the surplus apartments of the 

 hives, as though they were about to 

 reap a bountiful liarvest, but the work 

 had scarcely begun, when it was 

 abrui)tly brought to an end by bad 

 weather. We had some nice days be- 

 tween the 20th and 28th of July, and 

 things began to look flattering, even 

 at that late date, but there was a 

 change for the worse, and since then 

 it has rained nearly every day, and 

 some days two or three times. I sim- 

 ply report these things as facts. We, 

 who accept an overruling Providence, 

 and are able to bear adversity, be- 

 cause we know that all things will 

 work out for the best by-and-by. No 

 grave is deep enough to bury our 

 hopes. " So mote it be." 

 Christiausburg, Ky. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My Strain of Leather-Colored Bees. 



jame.s hedden. 



I have written some about my strain 

 of leather-colored bees, crosses be- 

 tween the long Italians and brown 

 German bees ; I have also sent you 

 one queen that not only produces such 

 bees, but bees that are gentle to han- 

 dle, and will surpass any bright Ital- 

 ians as honey-gatlierers, as far as my 

 experience goes. Look at her care- 

 fully ; she is not large, but she lays 

 largely, and her workers are large and 

 long, and work on red clover as freely 

 as on the white. 



Last year most all sorts of bees 

 worked on red clover more or less, but 

 this season the weather has been 

 favorable for a long growth of the 

 honey-tubes, and yet nearly every 

 colony in my apiary are at work on 

 both first and second crops of red clo- 

 ver — the mammoth red clover as well 

 as the smaller variety. Basswood is 

 now over, and yet there is no robbing 

 nor stinging in our apiary of 275 col- 

 onies. The work on red clover is the 

 cause. 



All this is the effect of 6 years' 

 breeding for business, instead of 

 bands. In this locality there are many 

 other flowers besides red clover, that 

 have tubes that strain the bees to 

 reach. No one can breed from the 

 best honey-gathering colonies without 

 lengthening the proboscis of the work- 

 er, wliether he aims at this point, or 

 knows he is doing so, or not. As I 

 stood in a patch of mammoth red clo- 

 ver yesterday, and counted four of 

 these dark, leather-colored Italians on 

 the heads of one stalk of first growth, 

 slowly drawing in the long draughts 

 of nectar. I said to myself : "Verily, 

 for my new departure I am reaping 

 my reward ; our 10,000 lbs. of comb 

 honey, in 1 lb. sections, now so nearly 

 finished, will soon be nicely sealed." 

 I did not ask to be forgiven for feeling 

 jubilant over my success. This suc- 

 cess is not at the expense of any one's 

 failure, but vice versa. A bountiful 

 crop blesses both the producer and 

 the consumer. Right in the midst of 

 my pleasant reverie came thoughts of 

 the arguments of those wlio stickle 



