520 



THE AMERICA!? BEE JOURNAL. 



well supplied with brood for the last 

 two months. I piled them up for the 

 producing of extracted hone}% and 

 every time I took ofE the upper two 

 stories, I found brood enough in each 

 one to make a fair sized colony for 

 winter quarters, and also honey 

 enough to winter them ou. Xo\v 

 (Aug. 3) they are hea\'y again, and out 

 at all of thethree door-ways. On the 

 other hand, I once had a queen whose 

 bees did not seem to care to swarm at 

 all, their main impulse being for 

 honey the season through. In tlie 

 latter part of the season, I could 

 hardly get eggs enough to rear some 

 queeus, by putting combs in their 

 hives, as they would till them with 

 honey ; but she kept her hive well 

 stocked. They were Italians. 



Now. I have a question to ask : 

 Will those bees which I got from the 

 farmer, in tlie spring, develop a strain 

 more hardy for wintering than the 

 average V or was the same condition 

 accidentally overlooked that favored 

 their coming through without pro- 

 tection, while all the others within i 

 miles died? and nearly all the others 

 in the same kind of hive, and put up 

 for winter in the same way, i. e.. 

 simply left on tlie summer stands V 

 The inixed-hybrid's motto seems to 

 be, in substance, the same* as the 

 dying miser's advice to his son : "Get 

 niouey (honey) my son. get money 

 (honey) ! Honestly if you can, bat 

 any way get monev"(honey)." 



Kew Eichmond, ^Mich. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



An Enemy to Borage. 



CLARENCE M. WEED. 



On account of the length of its 

 period ot blooming, and the fact of 

 its secreting nectar during wet 

 weather, borage justly ranks among 

 the first of honey-producing plants. 

 The enemy of wliich I wish to speak, 

 is the caterpillar of one of our most 

 beautiful butterflies, the Painted 

 Lady or Thistle Butterfly [Pi/romers 

 cardui). This butterfly is very gen- 

 erally distributed over the Tnited 

 States, and lias long been known, 

 although not heretofore considered 

 a serious pest on account of its 

 rarity, and its habit of feeding on 

 thistle and other noxious plants. "But 

 we can never tell what insect will be 

 the next to multiply to such an ex- 

 tent as to become injurious. 



Description :— There are two 

 broods of the worms in a season, the 

 first appearing in _May or .June, and 

 the second in August. The small 

 blackish catei'pillais'are covered with 

 branching spines, a portion of which 

 on the back are yellow, the rest black. 

 When full grow-n, they are about an 

 inch and a half long, and black with 

 a greenish yellow line on each side, 

 above which is a less distinct brown 

 line. The head is black, and on eacli 

 ring of the body are seven manv- 

 branched spines, yellow tipped with 

 black. They protect tliemselves tv 

 spinning a white silken web by which 

 they draw two leaves or the sides of 

 one leaf together, thus forming a 



tent. The ehrysalids vary a good 

 deal, but are usually of a golden 

 brown color with slate-colored mark- 

 ings. 



In about ten days after becoming 

 a chrysalis, the butterfly emerges ; 

 the latter expands about 2l{ inches. 

 The upper surface of the wings are a 

 pinkish red near the body, and black 

 toward the outside. In the outer 

 angle of the front wings, are five 

 irregular white spots. On the under 

 surface of each posterior ring is a row 

 of live, colored, circular spots. Prof. 

 Cook informs me that lie has never 

 seen these butterflies so common as 

 they are at the present season. Be- 

 sides borage, the caterpillars have 

 appeared oh hollyhocks in many parts 

 of the State. 



Remedies :— Pyrethrum will prob- 

 ably be found effective in destroying 

 them, if applied with sutficient force 

 to penetrate the web. It would not 

 be advisable to apply the deadly 

 arsenical compounds when the plant's 

 are blooming, but at other times this 

 metliod would doubtless be found 

 practicable. 



Lansing, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Bees as Comb Builders. 



GEO. n. HOYLE. 



The positions taken by some of our 

 leading bee-keepers, and the results 

 of their exper.ments being so differ- 

 ent, I hope, by the aid of others, to 

 find wherein the difference lies. I 

 will Hrst state my experience. On 

 May 3, I hived a swarm of hybrid 

 bees in a Simplicity hive, and gave 

 them 10 half-sheets "of comb founda- 

 tion. A vi'eek afterward I put on 

 another story with 10 half-sheets of 

 foundation, "and 2 weeks a^ter that I 

 gave them a third story and 10 empty 

 frames with wax comb-guides. These 

 frames I placed alternately between 

 the others, to insure straight combs. 



When I commenced extracting, I 

 gave them 4 more half-sheets of foun- 

 dation, and two more empty frames. 

 The result was that I got ii good 

 combs from half-sheets of foundation, 

 and 12 from empty frames with wax 

 comO-guides. I have extracted 94 

 pounds of honey from them, and there 

 is yet upwards of 20 pounds in the 

 hive. 



The queen of the above mentioned 

 bees, is an Italian, and was fertilized 

 by a black or German drone. I tried 

 to make one of my Italian colonies 

 build comli in the same manner, and 

 wlien I gave them half-sheets of foun- 

 dation, they would draw it out. fill it 

 with honey, and seal it. but they 

 would add very little comb to it. 

 When I extracted the honey, I gave 

 them good combs, and gave the half- 

 combs to hybrids to build on. I tried 

 them with wax comb-guides, and it 

 did not work at all. After o oy 6 days 

 I took the frames out, and they liad 

 started a piece of comb on one frame. 

 What little they had built, you could 

 plainly see, was" of old wax and had 

 been taken from some other comb. 



The Italians and hybrids rank 

 about the same, as honey-eatherers. 



Mr. Doolittle savs that he can have 

 combs built cheaper than he could 

 buy comb foundation to put into the 

 same number of frames. Xow. Mr. 

 D. is a successful bee-keeper of ex- 

 cellent judgment, which his articles 

 in the bee-papers prove, and it is not 

 likely that he is very far wrong. 

 Some bee-keepers say. '"' How can Mr. 

 Doolittle know, as he never used 10 

 pounds of foundation in his life V I 

 will venture to say that Mr. D. is 

 very familiar with the results of other 

 apiaries in which foundation is used. 



If Mr. Doolittle would tell us what 

 kind of bees he had. and the bee- 

 keepers who have written in favor of, 

 as well as those wlio have written ad- 

 verse to. his plan of having combs 

 built, would do the same, I think it 

 would give some light on the subject. 



Mr. H. V. Train, on page 278, writes 

 under the head of " Italians vs. Brown 

 Bees." The object of the article is to 

 show how badly his brown bees out- 

 did his Italians. Xow we, who use 

 foundation and extractors, all know 

 that the Italians are as good honey- 

 gatherers as has yet been discovered. 

 Please tell us, Mr. Train, if you used 

 foundation at the time. 



Morgan, Texas. 



Philadelphia Times. 



Philadelphia Bee-Keepers' Picnic. 



In a beautiful glen surrounded by 

 woodlands and close to the rippling 

 Wissahiekon, stands a quaint old- 

 fashioned farmstead. Here were con- 

 gregated on July 26, on a space cleared 

 around the house, some thirty ladies 

 and gentlemen, whose conversation 

 was entirely devoted to the relative 

 merits of various kinds of bees and 

 their culture, while one of their num- J 

 ber introduced them to his large colo- i| 

 ny of honey-collectors. It was the 

 special summer meeting of the Phila- 

 delphia Bee-Keepers' Association. 

 The farm was Vice-President Todd's 

 bee and poultry farm at Kitchen's 

 Lane. Germantown. He ir. from the 

 old country and has been in America 

 only a few years, but has already 

 identified hiuiself with apiarian inter- 

 ests in this country. In his yard are 

 arranged more than eighty hives, 

 some of theiu three stories in height. 



"Xow. ladies and gentlemen." said 

 Mr. Todd. '• if you will step this way 

 we will look into some of the hives. 

 Put on your veils if you have them, 

 I do not think it will be necessary, 

 but you may be nervous, and if you 

 should be rough witli the bees, they 

 are apt to get angry." 



Mr. Todd, without any covering to 

 face or hands, lifted the lids of the 

 hives, took out the combs swarming 

 with bees, handled the little creatures, 

 allowed them to crawl over him and 

 showed no trepidation of any kind. 



'•Do they never sting you V" he was 

 asked. '-"Very seldom. Sometimes 

 when honey runs short and they are 

 hungrv, they are not so quiet and 

 amiab'le ; but they are exceptionally 

 good-humored to-day. You see, I 

 blow a little smoke into the hive ; 



