598 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



But when defective, or split as the re- 

 sult of a rainy spell, they would then 

 suck out the juices. Being unable to 

 convince otliers of the harnilessness 

 of the insect in any other way, I de- 

 vised for that purpose the following 

 experiment, which any one may try 

 for liimself. 



I placed at tlie mouth of the hives 

 bunches of several varieties of thin- 

 skinned grapes, and for days, although 

 the bees were constantly crawling over 

 them, not a berry was iTijured. 1 then 

 punctured half of the berries on each 

 bunch, and instantly tlie bees went to 

 work on all so punctured, in a short 

 time sucking them dry. The re- 

 mainder of the berries were untouched 

 and remained so until punctured by 

 me, when they in turn were attacked 

 as pi'omptly as the former. 



This experiment demonstrates that 

 it is necessary for tlie grape to have 

 been previously injured so as to allow 

 exudation of juice; otherwise the bee 

 will not molest it. I have not ob- 

 served so carefully in the case of other 

 fruits, but it is my belief that this is 

 tlie modus operandi in all cases. 



Rot, splitting of tlie grape, injury 

 by insects and birds (in this latitude a 

 small yellowish bird is conspicuous), 

 are the causes that render grapes 

 liable to attack by bees. And wlien 

 we reflect tliat the berries thus injured 

 would decay, it will be seen that the 

 bee actually saves to us what would 

 otherwise be lost, by storing it up as 

 honey. 



I have been hurried into this com- 

 munication, by observing that in some 

 quarters legislative action is about to 

 be taken against an insect which 1 

 believe closer observation will demon- 

 strate to be not only innocent of harm, 

 but productive of good. 



Winnsborough, S. C. 



Bee-Keepers' Magazine. 



Understanding a Locality. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



One of the important factors of suc- 

 cessful bee-keeping is a thorough 

 knowledge of the locality in which we 

 reside. Many bee-keepers do not 

 seem to realize the importance of this, 

 as their actions show, for if they did 

 they would not be asking " if the bass- 

 wood had blossomed yet," as did a 

 bee-keeper a few d lys ago. 



All work with tlie bees to be suc- 

 cessfully done, sliould be done vvitli an 

 eye open to tlie probable time of the 

 blossoming of the main honey plants 

 in our locality. For instance, if wliite 

 clover is our main lioney crop we 

 must commence operations witli the 

 bees at least six weeks previous to its 

 blossoming in order to insure a good 

 yield from it, for it takes at least six 

 weeks to build up a colony so it will be 

 able to do the best work on a given 

 field of blossoms. Hence as white 

 clover blossoms in this latitude about 

 June 1.5th, we must commence to get 

 our bees ready for it as early as the 

 first of May. Now, by so doing we 

 get the bees in time for the harvest 

 which means success. But supposing 

 basswood, which opens July 10th 



to 15th to be our main harvest, we 

 having but little white clover, not 

 more than enough to keep the bees 

 breeding, then the commencing to 

 stimulate the bees for this harvest as 

 early as the first of May would be la- 

 bor thrown away, as well as a useless 

 expenditure of honey used in produc- 

 ing bees to loaf around waiting for 

 the harvest. 



What man is there having a field of 

 wheat requiring the labor of 20 men 

 to harvest the same, wlio hires these 

 men two weeks previous to the time 

 the wlieat is ripe '? VVlien shall we 

 learn to use common sense in regard 

 to bees as we do in other things V For 

 a man to talk of getting his bees 

 strong and ready to swarm in April 

 by means of artificial heat in this lati- 

 tude, as some have, shows a lack of 

 good common sense on this point. 



Again, if our bees are weak in the 

 spring and we do not get them ready 

 for that harvest until after the har- 

 vest is over, tliey become merely con- 

 sumers instead of producers, or worse 

 than useless. It would be like tlie 

 man hiring his twenty men to harvest 

 his wheat after it had become ripe and 

 spoiled in the ground. 



Thus it will be seen that to be the 

 most successful we must have a full 

 force of bees just in the right time to 

 take advantage of the harvest. In 

 order to do this we must study our 

 locality and know the time our honey 

 producing flowers open, and thus we 

 shall gain a knowledge that will 

 enable us to reap a rich harvest of 

 honey when honey is secreted in the 

 flowers. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How I Shall Winter My Bees. 



J. A. liUCKLEW. 



I submit for your criticism my plan 

 of wintering my bees the coming win- 

 ter. I ask all who have had experi- 

 ence in wintering bees by Inirying 

 them in clamps, or in tlie ground, to 

 tell me what they think of the follow- 

 ing plan : I will have 40 good colonies 

 and 10 nuclei, all Italians, witli altoiit 

 iiO lbs. of sealed honey to the colony, 

 and the nuclei about 10 tbs. each ; all 

 in Simplicity hives. 



I shall dig a trench two feet deep 

 and three feet wide, in dry sandy soil, 

 sloping to the south; in the bottom 

 will put one foot of dry straw ; one 

 foot from the top I will Jiut two rows 

 of scantling on which to set the hives; 

 will place "hives about six or eight 

 inches apart, leaving them on their 

 bottom-boards with caps off, and a 

 sheet of liurlap over the frames ; be- 

 tween, around and over the liives I 

 will put dry straw, liut not pack tight. 

 Around this I will build a rail pen 

 oommencingone foot from the hiveson 

 each side, and by drawing in, firing it 

 to a point over tlie center of the liives ; 

 over this pen I will put straw six 

 inches thick, and coverall at least one 

 foot thick with earth. At each end of 

 this pit I will have a four-inch pipe to 

 enter the ground at least ten feet from 

 each end hive ; these pipes will extend 



under the bees and terminate about 

 half way to the center. 



At the center of this pit I will have 

 another pipe to start just below the 

 liiTes and extend through and above 

 the pit about six feet ; the ends of 

 these tubes will be made to keep out 

 mice, snow and rain, and still give 

 ventilation. In this shape I propose 

 to.leave my bees until they can gather 

 pollen next spring. 



This has been a very fair honey sea- 

 son with us. After bees commenced 

 work on white clover there was no 

 gap in the honey flow, as is generally 

 the case. White clover lasted at least 

 two weeks longer than general, and 

 the golden honey plant and goldenrod 

 were in bloom before white clover was 

 done. Bees are gathering honey yet, 

 working on red and Alsike clover, 

 buckwheat, Spanish needle and asters; 

 also, on the excrement of aphides or 

 plant lice, and this last means dysen- 

 tery, if they have any of it left to 

 winter on. I believe the coming win- 

 ter 's\ill be almost as destructive to 

 bees as that of 1880-81. Bee-keepers 

 should be prepared for it at any rate. 



Forty acres of Dr. Tinker's golden 

 honey "plant this year would have 

 given me more honey than the thou- 

 sands of acres of white clover on 

 which my bees worked. It is the best 

 honey plant, in my opinion that I have 

 ever seen ; it has grown wild here for 

 many years, but I am sorry to say it 

 is migrating or going down stream, 

 the older plants up stream die out ; 

 the seed is carried down stream by 

 high water, and come up farther down 

 every year. Success to the Weekly 

 Bee Journal. 



Clark's, O., Sept. 11,1882. 



Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



Holy-Land Bees. 



E. U. ROOT. 



It may seem strange to some, tliat I, 

 occupying so favorable surroundings, 

 should hold aloof from the general 

 contribution in common with our 

 many bee friends ; but deeming it bet- 

 ter to " go slow," and give our older 

 and wiser heads the field, I have t.ais 

 far stood back, thereby correcting a 

 few of my hasty conclusions and im- 

 mature opinions. 



Lately my attention has been so 

 greatly drawn toward the Holy-Land 

 bees ttiat I cannot refrain from saying 

 a few things in their favor, although 

 they are surrounded by some preju- 

 dices. That they are very prolific, all, 

 who liave handled them will admit ; 

 from whence it would naturally follow 

 that their generative qualities would 

 tend especially toward raising cells; 

 this, in our experience, has been 

 decidedly tlie case. 



I will mention one or two instances, 

 not because they are remarkable in 

 themselves, but to show that this is 

 one of the characteristics of the race. 

 On the rttb of July we were somewhat 

 sliort of cells, and in taking my usual 

 rounds through the apiary, I came to 

 a Holy-Land colony from which the 

 queen had been sold. The state in- 

 dicated that the bees had killed a dol- 



