THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



27 



Cow Pea for Bee Pasturage. 



Will some southern bee-keepers 

 please give their experience with the 

 cow pea as pasture for bees V Such in- 

 formation as 1 have been able to ob- 

 tain concerning its value, is conflict- 

 ing. It is said that, during the sea- 

 son, two crops of peas can be raised 

 in this latitiide. If so, and if the 

 bloom fumislies any considerable 

 quantity of honey, it seems to me that 

 tue cow" pea might me made very use- 

 ful to tlie bee-keeper here in tiding 

 over the July dearth of flowers, to 

 ■which we are subject. 



\Y. C. Preston. 



Rome, Georgia, Dec. 26, 1883. 



Packed in Forest Leaves. 



I have 44 colonies in winter quar- 

 ters ; 12 in the cellar and the others 

 on the summer stands, packed in 

 forest leaves ; all doing well. 



Jacob Bishop. 



Greenwood, Ind., Dec. 27, 1S83. 



Three Years of Bee-Keeping. 



I began bee-keeping in 1881 with 2 

 colonies, one German and one pure 

 Italian ; they increased to 4 ; from 4 

 to 11 in 1882; from 11. with one Alley 

 queen, to 40 in 1883. They are packed 

 on the summer stands, with one foot 

 of fine hay and a shock of corn fodder 

 over this. They were all alive on Dec. 

 24. Some of m>; Syrian and Italian 

 crosses were flying on the 2.3d. We 

 had 2 nights of cold ; 28 and 24-^ below 

 zero. My pure Italians were from 

 Herman Bros. ; their's from Doolittle. 



A. M. FlRJLA-N. 



Quasqueton. Iowa, Dec. 27, 18S3. 



Ancient Bee Lore. 



Can any of the botanical readers in- 

 form me whether or not the term wolfs 

 bladder is another name for the puff- 

 ball ? Old Gervase Markham iu his 

 " Coimtrie Farm," now before me, 

 gives directions for taking honey 

 from the hives or as he calls ft "geld- 

 ing the combs." He advises us to 

 use the " smoake of Neat's dung ; or of 

 a Wolfe's bladder, or galbanum, or 

 wild mallones . and with the juice of 

 this herb must he be annoiuted which 

 shall gather the honey, to keep him 

 that he be not stung." And then he 

 goes on to describe a very good bee 

 dress. Markham's work was pub- 

 Uslied in 1610, just 134 years before 

 the " Female Monarchy " of Rev. John 

 Thorlev ; 1 16 years before Warder's 

 book "The True Amazons," and 24 

 years before the famous work of But- 

 ler, in his " Hive and Honey-Bee." 

 Mr. Langstroth, probably following 

 Bagster, tells us at page 210 that 

 Thorlev first suggested the use of the 

 pufE-ball, but if, as I suspect, wolf's 

 bladder-was at that time the common 

 name of tlie pull-ball, then the first 

 notice of it belongs to Markham, un- 

 less lie took it from some still earlier 

 writer. Many of my old books on 

 bees escaped" the destruction of my 

 library by fire in 1881, and it is very 

 curious to see how the old bee-masters 

 worked. Markham tells us not to kill 

 the drones because they '' hatch the 



small bees," an idea which has been 

 held by modern writers ever since the 

 most important function of the drone 

 has been fully discovered. He also 

 directs us to hang hives in the woods. 

 and tells us how to '• order "' them— a 

 device which under the name of decoy 

 hives has been attributed to modern 

 bee-keepers. My suspicion that wolf's 

 bladder is another name for the puff- 

 ball is supported by the etymology of 

 the scientific name" of the plant tycop- 

 enlmi. The first part is Greek for 

 wolf; the second is not translatable 

 to ears polite. John Phin. 



Cedar Brae, Paterson, N. J., Dec. 25, 

 1883. 



Mlliitt and Hoxir* 



ANSWERS BY 



James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Obstructed Entrances. 



Some bee-keepers say their colonies 

 covered with a snow drift, come 

 through the winter better than those 

 not so covered. AVhat is your opinion ':* 

 Should the snow be swept off the 

 alighting board and dug from the en- 

 trance as often as it gathers '? This 

 is what I do, but it seems to disturb 

 the bees, as they know instantly when 

 the hive is touched. F. H. Dow. 



Corning, N. Y. 



We know- of numerous instances 

 where bees have wintered splendidly 

 when entirely buried in snow, most of 

 the winter ; again, of cases where they 

 have nearly, or quite, all died with 

 dysentery, while so buried. My 

 opinion is, that the main cause of our 

 winter losses, is not to be found in 

 snow drifts, nor the want of them. I 

 do think, however, that the disturb- 

 ance caused by even the most careful 

 methods.of clearing away the snow, 

 often result in damage, by aggravat- 

 ing the difhcvilty. A portion of my 

 hives set very near the ground. I 

 have leaned a Ijoard up over the en- 

 trances, which leaves a vacuiun when 

 the snow covers them over. 



Heddon's Section Case. 



Wishing to have some comb honey 

 this season, I had two cases and honey 

 boards made according to the plan 

 given in the Bee Jouenai,, and 

 placed them on two of my strongest 

 colonies, at the time Mr. H. recom- 

 mended. When they began to build 

 comb between the frames and honey 

 board, I filled the sections with foun- 

 dation and they never entered them 

 for work. I kept them on the hives, 

 one for 2 weeks and the other for 4 

 weeks, while other colonies used for 

 extracting were giving me 12 to 1-5 fts. 

 of extracted honey per week. In the 

 colonies having the cases I found 

 every crack and crevice filled with bits 

 of comb, and the brood chamber filled 



with honey, and only two frames with 

 brood. One of myfriends who had 

 one of Jilr. Heddon's (lueens for busi- 

 ness did not succeed much better than 

 I did. while with extracted honey he 

 was quite successful. What is the 

 matter 'i Is it the bees or the cases ':• 

 DeWitt, Neb. W. F. Ware. 



I was not aware that specifications 

 for the construction of my case, and 

 honey-board, suflicient to work by, had 

 ever beenrgiven in the Journal. I 

 am anxious to have these improve- 

 ments enjoyed by bee-keepers, and for 

 that reason I have declined publish- 

 ing manufacturing descriptions, feel- 

 ing confident that a large majority 

 who might thus be led to make them 

 without a sample to work from, would 

 make a failure, and thus condemn 

 mine, because they failed with their 

 own. 



In reply to the question " What is 

 the matter,'' 1 must say I cannot tell. 

 If ilr. Ware, having made cases and 

 honey-boards like my own, in princi- 

 ple, and his friend having my strain 

 of bees, have both failed in the pro- 

 duction of comb-honey, surrounded 

 by the same conditions with which I 

 best succeed, I am forixd to the con- 

 clusion that the difference is m the 

 management. 



Glassing Honey in Sections. 



I am in a quandary aild look to the 

 " What and How " department for 

 light. My honey the past season {6,000 

 lbs. ) was in 2 ft. sections, unglassed. 

 I had some difficulty in finding a home 

 market, because of that shipped in 

 from other points— honey in glass at 

 less cost than my price for the same 

 quality. I do not wish to order sec- 

 tions until I know what the prevail- 

 ing demand is. Please answer the 

 following questions : 



1. Is it the prevailing practice, and 

 does the market demand that honey 

 in 2 ft. packages be glassed "i* 



2. In honey quotations, is reference 

 made to honey glassed or unglassed ? 



3. To secure honey for glassing, 

 what width of section is best ':* 



4. Do parties who succeed without 

 the use of separators, secure honey in 

 condition to be glassed 'r' 



5. In marketing, what difference in 

 price, if any, is made between honey 

 glassed and imglassed 'i 



E. W. Thosipson. 

 Hinesdale, N. Y. 



1. Eastern bee-keepers and eastern 

 salesmen, tell us, that there is quite a 

 demand for glassed sections, especial- 

 ly for the larger sizes, like yours. 



2. WTierethe matter is not specified, 

 I take it that the quotations mean 

 either way. Some Chicago dealers tell 

 us that their retailing customers ask 

 them for glassed sections, during 

 warm weather, in time of flies. 



