THE AMERICAjS BEE JOURNAL. 



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567 



all grass does not yield honey), get the 

 horse and cow-breeding theories out 

 of his head, and go to raising honey to 

 sell to support his family, his practice 

 would soon reverse his theories, which 

 tell him that traits of character which 

 fully, yes, even more than duplicate 

 themselves at the first cross, do not 

 all run out at the second and third. 

 There is no reason in such a theory, 

 and if practice with thorough-bred 

 cattle says such is a fact, it says right 

 the reverse with bees. This I know 

 from six years' experience. I have 

 theory, reason and facts on my side of 

 the problem as regards bees, and feel 

 able to maintain them by reasoning 

 as well as by demonstration to all those 

 who visit my apiary. 



Thanks to Mr. Hutchinson for his 

 frank acknowledgment of the correct- 

 ness of my plan of transferring. Tliat 

 sort of a man is generally correct in 

 most things. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



Iowa Homeate.ld. 



How to Manage Robber Bees. 



.1. .J. KIZER. 



Next to starvation robbing is the 

 worst trouble with the bee-keeper. 

 Many a colony of bees has been de- 

 stroyed by others carrying off every 

 particle of their stores, leaving them 

 either to follow the robbers home, or 

 starve in tlie hive, in either case caus- 

 ing the loss of a colony of bees to the 

 owner. Even then the trouble does 

 not stop, the robbing colony becomes 

 very strong, either by accession of the 

 robbed bees, orby an increase of brood- 

 rearing, or both. When so strength- 

 ened , no ordinary colony can withstand 

 their attack. They also become very 

 cross, sometimes stinging and hghting 

 apparently just for the fuuof the thing, 

 whicli is always a symptom of some- 

 thing wrong, but not invariably a sign 

 of robbing, but an effect. 



iSigns.— First stage.— Grent commo- 

 tion in front of hive ; bees lighting and 

 some trying to effect an entrance to 

 inside of liive. Second stage. — Bees 

 rushing out of hive, running to edge 

 of aligliting-board, arising from there 

 withdithculty, caused by being heavily 

 loaded. If you do not recognize rob- 

 bing by these symptoms to a certainty, 

 catch one of those heavy fellows leav- 

 ing the hive, pull him apart and see if 

 his honey sack is hlled ; if so, set it 

 down as a case of robbing in its second 

 stage. 



Pi-ecentions. — As usual with nearly 

 all our troubles, an ounce of preven- 

 tion is better than pounds of cure. 

 First contract the entrance of each 

 colony according to its strength ; very 

 weak colonies just so that what few 

 bees fly from the hive can pass. See 

 that the size of the entrance is regu- 

 lated on the inside of the hive by a 

 stick that will pass under the whole 

 thickness of the hive, so the point of 

 attack which is on the inside shall be 

 narrowed down to the minimum, but 

 see that they do not become stopped. 



Under no circumstances let any bee 

 get a taste of honey outside of its 

 hive, either by leaving honey about 



the house, or by leaving frames ex- 

 posed while working with the bees, or 

 by access to hive in which the bees 

 have died, leaving honey. This is im- 

 portant any time in the season. 



J?e?)tc(7i/.— There are many ways to 

 stop rob"bing, sometimes one way is 

 best, sometimes another. Some re- 

 commend carrying the attacked colony 

 into the cellar, 1 do not like this plan 

 for reasons too tedious to state. Some 

 prefer to put straw, hay or grass over 

 the entrance, and throw water into the 

 entrances ot the robbing hives, also 

 giving the robbers a shower at the 

 attacked colony, this will generally 

 have a good effect. I prefer to tack a 

 wire screen two inches wide and as 

 long as the width of the hive over the 

 length of the entrance, leaving only a 

 very small hole for the bees to pass. 

 This screen will admit air, so the bees 

 will not come out and cluster on the 

 outside of the hive, giving the robbers 

 full sway. If this arrangement does 

 not answer, stop even the small hole 

 in the wire screens until dusk, then let 

 out robbers, stop the small hole again, 

 and leave it so two or three days, when 

 you may consider the colonies rea- 

 sonably safe. It may be necessary to 

 say that smoke will have to be used in 

 these manipulations. 



Des Moines, Iowa. . 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Golden Honey Plant. 



DR. G. L. TINKER. 



The bees did not get down to busi- 

 ness upon the golden honey plant un- 

 til about the 20th. They are now 

 storing in the sections rapidly, and 

 work fully as well, and are carrying in 

 as much honey as they did when the 

 white clover was at its best. So far 

 this season it has been wet and unfa- 

 vorable for a large yield of nectar in 

 any plant. The tact that the bees are 

 now getting honey in large amount 

 from it, as they did last season when 

 it was extremely dry, will remove all 

 doubt as to its reliability in this sec- 

 tion. I find that the bees get very 

 little pollen from it. For five miles 

 down the river there are scattering 

 plants* along the roadside. In passing 

 along I have not failed to see bees 

 upon nearly every plant. There is no 

 other plant here in bloom at this time 

 that the bees get honey from to 

 amount to anything. 



1 am receiving many inquiries in 

 regard to the golden honey plant, and 

 desire to say to those living in north- 

 ern sections that it is perfectly hardy 

 here at 30 degrees below zero. Its 

 natural habitation is on moist soils, 

 and it is spread to other locations 

 mostly by high water in the river 

 every spring. Owing to the seeds be- 

 ing broadly winged, they readily float 

 and are carried away. I have often 

 seen it growing upon high ground, 

 and think it would spread everywhere 

 if there was a natural way, except by 

 water, of scattering the seed. 



It will grow in low thickets, among 

 large trees in deep shade, and in most 

 any location. It often also grows very 

 thick upon the ground, when it crowds 



out all other kinds of weeds and grass ; 

 yet it is not a very troublesome weed 

 here, nor is it likelv to be anywhere. 

 It will grow upon any kind of moist 

 soil, clay, saiul or loam, and upon up- 

 lands if sown in the fall upon plowed 

 land and brushed or dragged in. As 

 the plant yields a large amount of 

 seed, a small i)lat will furnish enough 

 the first year to go a long way in fur- 

 ther seeding. 



The plants from the seed bloom 

 from one to two weeks later than 

 those coming up from old roots. 



The compound flowers are yellow, 

 the rays extending about 2 inches, the 

 head being about ?4 inch in diameter. 

 The period of bloom extends from 

 tlie 1st of August to the middle of 

 September. 



No kind of stock feed upon it or 

 injure it in any way, except to make 

 paths through it in pastures. It is a 

 weed of no known value except to the 

 honey bee. The honey made from it 

 is somewhat balsamic, and will, un- 

 doubtedly, i)rove to be a superior pec- 

 toral remedy for some affections of 

 the lungs. "The flavor is aromatic, 

 rich, very sweet, and is preferred by 

 many to that of the white clover ; it 

 is also less apt to derange the stom- 

 ach. The color is a fine amber, and 

 section boxes soiled with it are stained 

 yellow. 



New Philadelphia, O., Aug. 24,1882. 



Prairie Farmer. 



Selling Honey to Advantage. 



MRS. L. HARBISON. 



There is nothing a bee-keeper en- 

 joys more than ^)lenty of " clear cash " 

 at the close ot the season. This is 

 what he has been aiming for, work- 

 ing and toiling early and late during 

 the year, and the jingle of it is pleas- 

 ant. 



Some apiarists are good producers, 

 but have poor faculty in disposing of 

 the product ; others, again, are natural 

 born peddlers— you may push them 

 out of the house, tell them to take 

 their traps and be gone, while they, 

 not abashed, will return and sell you 

 the identical articles you refused to as 

 much as look at, at a good price. Last 

 year we purchased, a few miles from 

 home, beautiful white clover honey, 

 as white as the whitest, for 10 cents 

 per ttj., while at tlie same time, if that 

 honey had belonged to other parties, 

 they would have charged 25 cents per 

 lb. and obtained it. Recently a lady 

 called and inquired how we sold 

 honey. We told her that we had no 

 white clover honey this year, but yel- 

 low fall honey, which we were selling 

 at 20 cents per lb. With a toss of her 

 head, she replied, " Mrs. Bragg bought 

 20 pounds of a farmer lately for 10 

 cents per lb." 



The farmer who keeps a few bees, 

 obtaining them, most likely, by catch- 

 ing a runaway swarm, gives them no 

 attention except hiving them at 

 swarming time, and putting on sur- 

 plus boxes, considers that what honey 

 they make is clear gain, as "they 

 work for nothing and board them- 

 selves." Wlien he takes off his honey. 



