556 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



have sold 3 colonies for $23.50, and 

 have 9 left. I have not taken over 200 

 lb,s. of honey. It may be we will have 

 a good fall season. 



Joel Brewer. 

 Lincolnville, Ind., Aug. 15, 1882. 



Honey-Dew.— We are having the 

 sweetest time ever known in this 

 county. No honey-dew before this 

 has ever furnished a parallel. The 

 bees are swarming, very rich, and 

 stinging everything within fifty yards. 

 I have been intending to call on you 

 during this month, but will not be 

 able to do so until next month. Please 

 give us the philosopliy of honey-dew. 

 Wm. T. Sturgill. 



Pickering, Mo., Aug. 19, 1882. 



[The cause or origin of honey-dew 

 has been a matter of much discussion 

 and diversity of opinion among scient- 

 ists as well as apiarists, one class 

 holding that honey-dew is a juice or 

 liquid which oozes from the leaves of 

 trees and plants under certain atmos- 

 pheric influences ; opponents main- 

 taining that it is an excretion de- 

 posited by small insects (op/iis, or 

 vine-fretter). Both parties are un- 

 doubtedly correct — i. e., there are 

 probably two qualities of liquid, both 

 termed honey-dew, and each having 

 its origin as given above. It would 

 require much more space than we can 

 devote, to attempt to discuss the 

 "philosophy of honey-dew." — Ed.] 



Eleven CfdonTes from One.— Starting 

 in with one colony of blacks and hy- 

 brids last season late, I divided thehi 

 this spring, and by swarming and 

 dividing since, I now have 11 strong 

 colonies doing splendidly. I have ta- 

 ken off some surplus, and the lioney 

 is superior to any I have ever seen 

 west of the Mississippi. I never knew 

 bees to increase so rapidly as they 

 have the past few weeks. My ex- 

 perience in making the test satisfies 

 me that this is a most excellent locality 

 for bee culture, and if the winter 

 proves as encouraging as tlie past sea- 

 son, I shall devote my whole time to 

 apiculture in future. 



Wm. W. Eastman. 



Yankton, Dak.,* Aug. 19, 1882. 



Corn Tassel Honey.- 1 mail you 

 sample of honey — what is it gathered 

 from ? I think it is corn, or is it buck- 

 wheat, or what V Bees are very busy, 

 but I do not know what they are 

 gathering from. R. S. Ploppek. 



Bartlett, 111., Aug. 23, 1882. 



[It is as pure a sample of corn tassel 

 honey as we ever saw, but is rather 

 thin.— Ed.] 



Not Doing Well. — Bees are not do- 

 ing well in this section, too wet, cold 

 and a scarcity of flowers. White clo- 

 ver seems to'be abundant in the Mis- 

 sissippi bottoms, but too far off for 

 my bees J. Smith Head. 



Benton, Mo., Aug. 19, 1882. 



Cellar for Winter. — I wish to get 

 your advice about wintering bees in 

 my cellar, which I had intended for 

 that purpose. The cellar is 32 feet 

 square ; the part intended for bees is 

 partitioned off 14 feet on the north- 

 side with flooring ; there are two win- 

 dows, one in the north and one in the 

 east. It is ventilated vvitli a pipe r>ui- 

 ning into the chimney. Would this 

 be a good place for wintering bees, 

 and how should they be prepared V I 

 have 34 colonies. Last week, in ex- 

 amining my bees, I found a strong 

 colony queenless, with no brood ex- 

 cept that which was capped. They 

 had several queen cells, some capped 

 and others not. I caged a young lay- 

 ing queen and put her between the 

 frames. The next day I drew the 

 slide, and on the following morning 

 the young queen was lying at the 

 entrance. 1 opened the hive and 

 found fresh laid eggs ; on looking 

 further, I found an inferior queen. I 

 pinched her head and introduced 

 anotlier, and now all is lovely. Where 

 did the queen come from V 



Hebron, Neb. F. E. Roper. 



[The cellar you describe ought to be 

 satisfactory for wintering bees in, if 

 you entirely darken the two v.indows, 

 and if free from jarring. When you 

 put the bees aw;iy for winter, lift the 

 covers entirely oft, spread thin blankets 

 loosely over the top, put one-inch 

 square sticks crosswise, and stack the 

 hives up as high as you can reach con- 

 veniently. It is a good plan to alter- 

 nate the entrances— that is, face one 

 hive one way, and the next face oppo- 

 site alternately tlirough the stack. 



The inferior queen was undoubtedly 

 in the hive when you first looked it 

 through, and the bees nursed the cells 

 with a view to swarming.— Ed.] 



A Sliglit Mistake.— On page .524 you 

 made a'slight mistake in the thickness 

 of the worm I sent you. It should 

 have been i instead of J of an inch. 

 S. C. Erederick. 



Coal Vale, Kan. 



Not so Bad. — Hearing so many poor 

 reports from this State, tliis season, 

 in regard to the lioney crop, I thought 

 I would give you my report up to date. 

 From one colony I have jtlready taken 

 1.30 pounds of choice white clover, all 

 finished complete, besides 12 lbs. more 

 unfinished, and several others have 

 given me over 100 lbs. to the colony. I 

 ran 28 colonies for comb honey, two 

 of which superseded their queens, 

 thereby giving me but little surplus. 

 I have'obtained in all, from this num- 

 ber, 2,000 lbs. of what I call choice 

 honey. G. II. Adams. 



North Nassau, N. Y., Aug. 16, 1882. 



perienced bee men will extract. Bees., 

 generally, are in fine condition. I am 

 looking forward to run an apiary neai' 

 Portland, Oregon. What is your 

 opinion of that country ? 



C. S. NpwsoM. 

 Athens, O., Aug. 20, 1882. 



[We have been informed Portland,. 

 Oregon, is an excellent locality for 

 bees, but know nothing of it personally. 

 -Ed.] 



Sweet Clover. — How many acres of 

 sweet clover will be a fair estimate for 

 ■50 colonies of bees V 



H. J. NOBTHUUP. 



Lansingburgh, N. Y. 



[We have no meansof knowing with 

 any degree of accuracy, as the growth 

 with us is spontaneous and scattering ; 

 but think ten acres would be ample. 

 This, then, could be partly mowed in 

 July, so as to have one-half in bloom 

 while the remainder went into its first 

 seeding, which usually takes place in 

 August.— Ed.] 



Oregon for Bees.— Bees in this lo- 

 cality are very rich with stores in 

 brood chambers, butfew colonies have 

 gathered a surphis in supers. Should 

 fall harvest be good, a surplus in sec- 

 tions will be finished, and some ex- 



Crossing Stock.— Should an Italian 

 queen meetan Italian drone for fecun- 

 dation y Would it make any differ- 

 ence in stock if she sliould meet a 

 black drone '? F. F. Graves. 



Waterville, Me. 



[If an Italian queen meets a black 

 drone, her worker and queen progeny 

 will be hybrids, and hence impure and 

 unfit to breed from. If Italian bees 

 are wanted, she must meet an Italian 

 drone.— Ed.] 



Cleome. — I inclose sample of bloom 

 that our bees have been working on 

 very industriously for over three 

 weeks. By giving its name and v;ilue 

 as a honey plant, you will greatly 

 oblige. A Subscriber. 



St. Joseph, Mo.. Aug. 23, 18S2. 



[It is Rocky Mountain bee plant 

 [Cleome inUyr if olia). As a honey plant, 

 in our judgment, it ranks second only 

 to sweet clover.— Ed.] 



Sowing for Honey.— 1. Will it pay 

 to sow good, high, well-drained grain 

 land for bee pasturage? 2. How much 

 of such land should one sow to keep a 

 hundred colonies V It is a very poor 

 season for bees in this vicinity, and 

 they are not likely to have enough to 

 wiiiter on without feeding. We find 

 the Bee Journal a great assistance. 

 Ira Orvis. 



Pickering, Ont., Aug. 20, 1882. 



[1. Yes; we decidedly think it 

 would, as most of the season it would 

 be valuable for stock pasturage, espe- 

 cially if sweet clover, which would 

 give 3 to 4 weeks of green grazing 

 after everything else is winter-killed, 

 and spring grazing would be a benefit 

 to it rather than damaging. I 



2. Ten to twenty acres.— Ed.] ' 



