THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



619 



Bee Lice.— I liave seen siicli liouble 

 as described by Win. Glennon, on 

 page oS7()f the Uee Jouknal, Ciuised 

 by a red spider-like louse, which 

 affects the abdomens of pupa gener- 

 ally, but sometimes larvie. tiet a 

 piece of p\ipa brood 5x6 and examine. 

 Sometimes large patches are infested; 

 at otlier times only a cell or two in a 

 place. H. L. Jeffrey. 



Washington Depot, Conn. 



[The louse to which our correspon- 

 dent refers is probably Branla cceca, 

 which will be found fully described in 

 " Cook's Manual," page 268, or. per- 

 haps, Mdoe barbariis. a delineation of 

 which is given in this number of the 

 Bee Jouunal, on page 614. We do 

 not think anything of this kind was 

 the trouble with Mr. Glennon'scolony. 

 The bees were, from some cause, un- 

 able to lay in ample stores, and des- 

 troyed the defenseless to save the 

 vigorous. The queen may have been 

 nnprolilic previous to honey flow, or 

 the bees lacked energy and industry. 

 —Ed.] 



Protracted Drouth. — I commenced 

 the season with 20 colonies, most of 

 them in fair condition, but 2 or 3 very 

 light, these I soon brouglit up bv giv- 

 ing them frames of capped brood 

 from strong colonies. I always aim 

 to get my colonies uniform as early as 

 possible in the spring ; bees did noth- 

 ing in March and next to nothing in 

 May. The season was cold, dry and 

 backward, fruit trees blossomed the 

 last of May and first of June, but 

 tliey seemed to secrete very little 

 honey ; red raspberry and white clover 

 yielded very little honey, I had to feed 

 my bees with frames of honey kept 

 over from last season, or I do not be- 

 lieve I should have had half a dozen 

 colonies left alive. About tlie middle 

 of July most of my colonies had not 

 an ounce of sealed honey, and many 

 of them it seemed had hanlly enough 

 to last them overnight ; but they were 

 strong in bees and brood. The boom- 

 ing time finally came the last week in 

 July and first in August. It was dur- 

 ing sumach bloom, and lasted about 

 ten days. Most of the time being 

 favorable for the bees and they im- 

 Ijroved it, for during the time they 

 tilled all spare room in the brood 

 frames, some of the outside frames 

 they sealed solid to the bottom, and 

 also filled 175 two-pound boxes, or 3.50 

 lbs. of box and 100 lbs. of extracted, 

 all nice white honey, and all collecteil 

 in about 10 days, besides what was 

 stored in tlie brood frames, which 

 must have been twice as much more. 

 Since sumach has gone the bees have 

 barely made a living, but tliey are at 

 work some on goldenrod now. and bid 

 fair to obtain ample stores for winter. 

 I ke|>tback swarming as much as pos- 

 sible by letting the swarms return 

 when they came out. I clip all my 

 queens' wings, and remove 2 or 3 

 frames of biood and replace with 

 empty combs or foundation. These 

 frames of brood from two or more 

 hiTcs I unite with bees and all, and 



from other colonies. After a day or 

 two I introduce a laying queen, and 

 they very soon makegood strong colo- 

 nies. My increase was from 20 to 30, 

 with a few nuclei for queen-rearing. 



1 do not claim to be a scientific bee- 

 keeper, as 1 make it oidy a secondary 

 business, faruiing being my principal 

 occupation. I get 25 cents a pound 

 for nearly all of my honey, and a good 

 share of "it is sold" riglit' at my door. 

 We have had one of the most severe 

 drouths this season that I ever knew. 

 Prom the 19th of July to the 10th of 

 September we had less than half an 

 inch of rainfall, and most of the time 

 the weather was very warm, with 

 drying winds. Nearly all vegetation 

 has dried up except in low, swampy 

 places. Many animals have suffered 

 for want of food and water, and the 

 poor honey bee with the rest. We had 

 a fine, welcome rain last Monday, over 



2 inches of water falling, for wliich 

 we feel thankful. R. Downs. 



Naugatuck, Conn., Sept. 14, 1882. 



Sngar Syriip for Wintering.— Some 



experienced bee-keepers say that 

 white sugar synip is equally as good 

 as honey for wintering bees. If so, 

 why is it not advisable to extract all 

 the honey late in the fall, and insert 

 empty combs in the brood department 

 to be filled with sugar syrup by the 

 bees for winter use y If this were 

 done, there would not be likely to be 

 enough pollen stored to harm tlie bees 

 and tne syrup would, I should think, 

 be more economical than honey for 

 bee feed. Has this mode been suf- 

 ficiently tested to determine its feasi- 

 bility V J. McKlNSTRY. 

 Nelson, 111. 



[Many bee-keepers have advocated 

 and adopted the practice of extracting 

 closely in the fall, then feeding sugar 

 syrup for winter stores, with very 

 satisfactory results. — Ed.] 



Honey Mnlherry.— Bees are doing 

 very well here for the last few days, 

 but are storing but little honey in 

 boxes, their time being principally 

 occupied in filling empty spaces in 

 the brood chambers, where the brood 

 has hatched out. This has been a 

 poor year for honey in tliis section. 

 May, June, July and August is the 

 time when bees store nearly all their 

 surplus honey here. From the 1st of 

 May to the 10th of June was so cold 

 and wet bees did nothing ; then came 

 a drouth which lasted till the 10th of 

 July, during which time nearly all the 

 suri)lus honey was stored tliat we 

 have taken this season. Since that 

 time it has been too wet until the 1st 

 of tliis moiitli, and it seemed to take a 

 week or 10 days' dry weather to renew 

 the secretion of honey in the blossoms 

 which had been so long and repeat- 

 edly drenched with rain. Dry weather, 

 if not protracted too long, is most pro- 

 pitious for the secretion of honey, 

 more especially in the river bottoms. 

 As there has been a good deal said 

 about negro bee-keepers, I can say I 

 am acquainted with 6 or 7 negroes 

 who are keeping bees, and own from 

 2 to TOO colonies, some of whom are 



realizing large yields of lioney, and 

 are making it quite as profitable as 

 their white brethren who keep bees 

 in the same style — that is, in old log 

 and box hives. A young man who 

 has 17 colonies at my apiary, and my- 

 self, are the only persons iii all my ac- 

 quaintance who keep bees in movable 

 comb liives, but several speak of 

 transferring next spring. I had a 

 talk with an old bee man vvlio lives 

 near Longview, Tex., who told me he 

 had the best honey plant extant. He 

 calls it the houey mulberry, and says 

 it grows to the usual size of the com- 

 mon mulberry. He promised me some 

 sprouts from it. I would like to have 

 your opinion of this plant as a honey 

 producer. 1. Do you know any plant 

 by this naineV 2. Do you know of 

 any other species of mulberry that is 

 valuable as a honey plant V 3. Are 

 hybrid bees more irascible than the 

 blacks "i* Do virgin queens very often 

 meet with drones whose hives are a 

 mile away, or is it in exceptional 

 cases ¥ B. L. Clements. 



Queen City, Tex., Sept. 17, 1882. 



[1. We do not know any such shrub 

 or tree. 



2. There are two or three species of 

 mulberry, but none especially valua- 

 ble for honey, though all yield more 

 or less. 



3. If Italian queens are mated with 

 black drones, they are much more iras- 

 cible than the pure blacks; if black 

 queens mate with Italian drones, then 

 the traits of disposition are most likely 

 to be reversed. 



4. They do so very frequently, un- 

 less they are very numerously sur- 

 rounded with drones.— Ed.] 



A Partial Report.— So far I have ob- 

 tained 990 lbs. from my 17 colonies 

 spring count besides increasing to 38. 

 They are hybrids. The season up to 

 July 1st was cool and unfavorable but 

 since that time there has been an 

 abundance of bloom. I consider Al- 

 sike clover the best of honey plants. 

 F. A. BOHL. 



Summum, 111., Sept. 16, 1882. 



Solidago.— Please say what the ac- 

 companying plant is? I have never 

 seen bees on it, but I am told they do 

 visit it. VV. P. Taylor. 



Fitzroy Harbor, Ont. 



[It is a solidago, to which family 

 goldenrod also belongs. We have 

 seen bees gathering honey from 

 this species this fall.— Ed.] 



Amber Syrnp for Wintering.— Will 



it be safe to feed bees syrup made 

 from early amber sugarcane, for win- 

 ter use y James F. Johnson. 

 Salem, Mo., Sept. 17, 1882. 



[We have never known of its Iiav- 

 ing been tried, but doubt its utility 

 for that purpo.se ; however, it is worthy 

 of a trial with one or two colonies. — 

 Ed.] 



