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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



more, as I have plenty of honey, most 

 of the hives containing 10 and 12 

 frames that are well tilled. There was 

 no honey here to work on until the 8th 

 of July, and we have had all we could 

 eat on the table, and there is a fair 

 prospect for quite a surplus of fall 

 crop. This 1 think is quite good for 

 the little time they received. Of 

 course some will say I am an old hand 

 at the business; yes, I am, and, like 

 James Ileddon, I have the leather- 

 colored Italians. I expect to increase 

 to 100 next year, if I do not lose any 

 this winter. 1 like to pack with chaff 

 for winter, with as little upward ven- 

 tilation as possible, with frames about 

 1 foot inside measure. 1 prefer my 

 frames the longest way up and down, 

 I think it the best for extracting or 

 for boxes at the sides and top if I 

 wish. There are nothing but Italians 

 in this vicinity. 



Dr. J. S. McAllister. 

 Columbus, Neb., Sept. 13, 1882. 



Robbing'. — Will bees continue to 

 work while being robbed i* Please an- 

 swer in Bee Journal. 



11. J. KORTHBUP. 



Lauringburgli, N. Y. 



[No ; unless the colony is strong 

 enough to guard itself against the in- 

 truders, and gather honey at the same 

 time.— Ed.] 



Harmless Moth. — I send you by to- 

 day's mail a large miller, which I wish 

 you would describe in the Bee Jour- 

 nal, if not too much trouble. It was 

 found on the alighting board of one 

 of my bee hives. What was it there 

 after y J. W. Gilbert. 



Palmyra, N. Y., Aug. 11, 1882. 



[This moth is one of our most com- 

 mon and beautiful sphinx moths. 

 Deilaphila lineata. It is a tine brown 

 moth, beautifully lined with white, 

 black, yellow and red. The larva? is 

 also handsome, and feeds on the purs- 

 lane. I do not know what it was 

 about the hives for, without it was 

 guided by curiosity — surely it had no 

 sinister purpose, as it is very common 

 here, and never, so far as I have 

 noticed, has it ever peeped into a bee- 

 hive. These moths, as are all of the 

 Sphingidai, are lovers of sweets, and 

 possibly might have a honey tooth ; 

 yet their size would debar them from 

 gratifying any such taste, as they could 

 not enter a hive.— A. J. Cook.] 



On tlic Jump. — I was taken sick the 

 16th of June, and was very ill for 8 

 weeks, so now that I have re<jained 

 my health, I am very busy. 1 have 

 the care of 150 colonies, divided into 

 7 apiaries from 9 to 20 miles distant 

 from my home, and it keeps me on the 

 jump. The honey crop is about one- 

 third of what it should be. No bass- 

 wood and very little sumac, from the 

 effects of dry weather. 



H. L. Jeferey. 



Woodbury, Conn., Sept. 13, 1882. 



Feeding for Winter. — I commenced 

 to keep bees this spring, having pur- 

 chased 4 colonies of Italians. I have 

 attended to them as well as I could, 

 having had no experience and being 

 guided solely by Cook's Manual, and 

 the information contained in the Bee 

 Journal. The bees have increased 

 very well, so tliat 1 have 9 colonies, 

 and they are all full of bees and brood; 

 but what puzzles me is, that there is 

 no honey in any of the combs. I cannot 

 see a single frame with capped honey 

 and I have taken none from them. I 

 am afraid that there will not be enough 

 to keep them over winter, as the sea- 

 son is now pretty well advanced. 

 Sliould 1 commence feeding now, or 

 wait till later V There seems to be 

 plenty of food for them, as the flowers 

 are blooming and everything looks 

 favorable for gathering honey. I am 

 afraid that if I defer feeding till cold 

 weather, they will not take it. 



Hanover, Out. Novice. 



[Better commence feeding soon, 

 and give them sutMcient that two or 

 three days will enable you, when cool 

 weather comes, to give all they will 

 still need. In a northern latitude 

 frost is liable to come with the first 

 clear weather ; besides, the food will 

 be much better, and the bees much 

 more contented if they can get most 

 of their winter stores properly ripened 

 and capped before cold nights are 

 permanently on.— Ed.] 



Doing Well on Fall Bloom.— I like 

 to hear, through the Bee Journal, 

 from those keeping bees, and will give 

 my experience with them ; 1 am but a 

 beginner. I bought an Italian queen 

 and introduced her into a colony of 

 black bees in June, 1880; increased to 

 4 colonies by natural swarming In 

 1881, and obtained 75 pounds of box 

 honey. My bees were strong and 

 hives full of honey for winter. I win- 

 tered on the summer stands, and all 

 came out in good condition last spring. 



I have increased by natural swarming 

 to 11 colonies, all in fine condition. 

 One fine swarm absconded to the 

 woods, and I returned 6 or 8 to the 

 hives they issued from, as I was work- 

 ing for honey and not increase. The 



II colonies have given me about 500 

 pounds of comb honey. I do not ex- 

 tract, as I want honey for house use 

 only, and prefer it in the comb. I use 

 a side opening, movable frame hive, 

 14x131^ inches, and V2}i inches deep, 

 9 frames, with ujiper story for surplus 

 honey. Can use either boxes or frames 

 for surplus. I have never used sec- 

 tions, as I do not expect to sell honey. 

 Locust was a failure witli us, the 

 bloom being killed by late frosts ; 

 white clover did not give a good yield 

 on account of too much rain in the 

 fore part of the season ; basswood was 

 almost a failure, but the 1st of Au- 

 gust we had some good rains that 

 gave us an abundance of honey bloom, 

 and as bees had l>red up well on white 

 clover, they have given us a good sur- 

 plus. If the weather continues favora- 

 ble, we will get a good yield for the 



season. This season has been better 

 than the last for honey. My bees are 

 good workers, but are inclined to 

 swarm too much, which gives me some 

 trouble. John Erwust. 



Louisville, 111., Sept. 13, 1«82. 



Floral Specimens.— I send you to- 

 day two specimens of honey plants, 

 for names, on which bees are working 

 now. No. 1 , the large yellow flower, 

 is found in great quantities along the 

 mountain streams and valleys where 

 soil is wet ; it grows about 5 feet high, 

 bears 6 to 20 flowers on each plant ; 

 stands very thick on the ground, mak- 

 ing the valley look yellow, when in 

 bloom, begins blooming about Aug. 

 1st, just as the crauesuill begins to 

 shed its blossoms, and continues to 

 bloom till frost. Bees, insects and 

 bumble bees cover these flowers from J 

 morning till night in great quantities, I 

 and in the evening after 4 p.m. hun- 

 dreds of bumble bees may be seen 

 sticking to them, in a stupefied con- 

 dition unable to fly, and consequently 

 perish of cold, the elevation here be- 

 ing 8,000 feet above the sea. No. 2, 

 the pink flower, begins blooming 

 about August 20th, and blooms till 

 frost. The plant attains a height of 

 3 feet, and the flowers are found along 

 about one foot of the stem ; grows 

 anywhere in moist soil, and is very 

 abundant. Bees are just beginning 

 to work on it here. Both these plants, 

 like the cranesbill, are found anywhere 

 from the foothills to the snow, thus 

 spreading orer territory whose eleva- 

 tion is from 5,000 to 11,000 feet, which 

 accounts for the long season of bloom. 

 Phil. Rearden. 



Jamestown, Col., Aug. 28, 1882. 



[No. 1 is known as llndbeckia laciniata 

 by botanists, and is sometimes in- 

 cluded in the somewhat large list of 

 sunflowers by the iinscientiflc. It is 

 a vigorous species, preferring damp or 

 wet soils, and occurs throughout Can- 

 ada, and the Northern States. The 

 " compound " flower is large and con- 

 spicuous, its yellow rays often two 

 inches long, spreading horizontally or 

 drooping. These marginal flowers of 

 the head produce neither stamens nor 

 pistils, hence no seed ; their whole 

 duty is to perform the function of an 

 advertisement or sign; but the nu- 

 merous inconspicuous florets of the 

 central part of the head are perfect in 

 their parts, and when properly ferti- 

 lized set an abundance of seed. 

 These, too, are rich in pollen and nec- 

 tar, readily accessible to bees. Curi- 

 ously enough, insect aid is almost im- 

 perative in the process of fertilization, 

 or more properly pollenization, for 

 though each little, tubular flower 

 sends up its pistil through a close ring 

 of the five united anthers (pollen- 

 sacks) when the latter are bursting 

 and exposing the pollen in profusion, 

 not a grain of this reaches the stigma 



