THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Fi7 



571 



wax. we can easily detect them ; these 

 are laid aside", to be sold eventually to 

 a candle faiton . A second thought 

 should convince any person that 

 whatever is sent out f'loni the Mata- 

 niata Apiary is, as far as we can pos- 

 sibly know, exactly what it is repre- 

 sented to be, for we should have 

 everything to lose and nothing to gain 

 in deceiving our customers ; and we 

 know that the proprietor would not 

 lend himself to any kind of deception. 

 Since we have been connected with 

 the bee-industry, we have done our 

 utmost to promote it in every pos- 

 sible way. sparing neither troutile nor 

 expense" to further the interests of 

 bee-keepers, and we believe that tliose 

 who have known us longest will give 

 us some credit for honesty of purpose 

 in this respect. However, should 

 there be any kind of misunderstand- 

 ing amongst any of our customers 

 with regard to goods obtained from 

 us, wdien notided we shall only be too 

 glad to explain or rectify any mistake 

 that may have been made. 



[We have given the above out of a 

 sense of justice to our many Aus- 

 tralian subscribers, but it should be 

 borne in mind that the Bee Journal 

 decided that the wax sent here for 

 examination was, on page 1.55, pro- 

 nounced a genuine article.— Ed] 





My Report for 1884. 



I began the season with t%8 colonies ; 

 increased them to 117. and took ..51 

 forty-gallon barrels of extracted 

 honey. I have not yet weighed it all, 

 but it will run considerably over 20,000 

 pounds. All of my top sections are 

 full, and I should have taken more 

 honey, but I run out of barrels and 

 had nothing but the frames to hold it. 

 I shall take more after awhile. 



VV. S, Hart. 



New Smyrna, Fla., Aug. 18, 1884. 



Introducing Q,aeens. 



A short time ago I received a queen 

 from Massachusetts, when I removed 

 the old queen and put tlie cage and 

 new queen in one corner of a frame 

 and left her 24 hours. I then opened 

 the hive and found small queen-cells 

 which I removed and left her another 

 24 hours, when I looked and again 

 they had queen-cells which I removed 

 and let the queen out of the cage, 

 when she flew out of sight. In about 

 10 minutes she returned, and several 

 times tried to light on the combs, but 

 the bees flew at her and drove her 

 away, so I caught her and put her 

 into the cage, and then again into the 

 hive. It took .5 days to introduce her, 

 but I succeeded, and she is now laying 

 fast. I tried introducing virgin 

 queens by letting them run in at the 

 entrance when the hive contained 

 capped queen-cells, and lost one-half 



of the queens. I notice in the Bee 

 Journal something concerning the 

 tree-trunk method of wintering bees, 

 and I will say that there is not one 

 colony in lifty that will live •"> years in 

 any tiee in Minnesota. I have known 

 them to live for .'i winters and then 

 die. I wi?iter my bees in the cellar 

 with a temperature of ;i5 and VP 

 above zero, and keep them in as long 

 as possible, I shall try wintering a 

 few colonies on the summer stands 

 during the coming winter. 



Fayet'I'e Lee, 

 Cokato, Minn. 



Thoroughwort. 



Please correct a mistake in my letter 

 on page 523. Y'ou made it read, "The 

 Italian bees are the best bees to 

 gather honey, early and late." It 

 should read, " The Holy Italian bees 

 are the best bees to gather honey, 

 early and late." Please tell me the 

 name of the enclosed plant, and its 

 merits as a honey-plant, to settle a 

 dispute. \Ve have dry and hot weather 

 yet. R. M. Osnoux. 



Kane, 111., Aug. 22, 1884. 



[Nonsense ! There are no such 

 things as hohi or unholy bees. " Call 

 things by their proper names." We 

 suppose you mean hybrids of the 

 Syrio -Italian variety. To call such 

 " Holy Italians" is unholy bosh. 



The plant is thoroughwort {eupato- 

 rium). It is an excellent honey-pro- 

 ducer.— Ed.] 



Bee-Keeping in Scotland. 



Dear Editor :— This has been a 

 splendid season for the bees. The 

 heat at times is most excessive. We 

 hnve also had long intervals of 

 drought during the season. The most 

 of the bees here have now been re- 

 moved to the Heather Hills for the 

 second honey harvest. With the suc- 

 cess of this year, I thitik it will do 

 much foi' the future encouragement 

 of bee-keeping. In fact, apiculture 

 has made rapid progress all through 

 Scotland since you visited us -5 years 

 ago. .John D. Hutchisson. 



Glasgow, Scotland. Aug. 11, 1884. 



Best Honey Season for 6 Years. 



I have sent you a vial containing 

 some of my honey mixed with 

 " honey-dew." This should be white 

 honey gathered during early summer, 

 but it looks more like fall honey, and 

 as for quality, I will let yon pass your 

 opinion. We have had the best honey 

 season that we have had in the past 

 six years. Although the spring was 

 late, since the iioney-flow began there 

 has been no cessation except during a 

 few rainy days when bees could not 

 put in full time. At present buck- 

 wheat is at its best, and the weather 

 hot and sultry, just right for a good 

 yield of honey.. The second crop of 

 red clover, too, is in full bloom, and 

 the bees work on it with a will. I 

 have had quite a number of swarms 

 lately, but have returned all of them, 

 which has kept me pretty busy to add 



frames and boxes and extract from 

 those not worked for comb honey. I 

 got rid of fertile workers in a colony 

 by taking frames of brood with queen- 

 cells from colonies that had swarmed, 

 and they reared a queen, but not until 

 after several tiials, apparently when 

 the young bees which were introduced 

 became numerous enough to manage 

 the household affairs. I market my 

 extracted honey in pint and quart 

 fruit-jars, and to hold them, make 

 boxes with thin partitions, each hold- 

 ing a dozen jars, thus keeping the jars 

 clean and separated in handling, I 

 sell the jars along in nearly every in- 

 stance, as they are used in almost 

 every family. "The boxes are made 

 with handles at each end. 



W. H. Stout. 

 Pine (irove. Pa., Aug. 20, 1884. 



[The contents of the bottle might 

 pass for a very inferior article of mo- 

 lasses, but never f(jr good honey. It 

 was ruined by that honey-dew.— Ed.1 



An Average Season. 



The honey season with us is over 

 for this year, and it has been about 

 an average one. However. I noticed 

 something this season that I never 

 before saw in this part of the coun- 

 try, and that was "honey-dew." I 

 noticed it only on the maples, and it 

 continued for about one week during 

 the mornings. It occurred about the 

 time the leaves had their full size, 

 while they were yet young and tender. 

 It formed on the top side of the leaves 

 in small drops not as large as a pin- 

 head, and soon died away before the 

 morning sun, but the bees would have 

 a lively time while it lasted ; and after 

 all I am not certain that it amounted 

 to ranch. White clover and the locust 

 trees are our main dependence here. 

 The locust bloom was good this sea- 

 son. There is nothing more beauti- 

 ful to me than to see a locust in full 

 bloom, and there is nothing else that 

 I know of which so excites bees t& 

 active work. But few bees are kept 

 in this neighborhood. 



Os.MAN McCARTY. 

 Zollarsville. Pa., Aug. 22. 1884. 



Motherwort. 



I send you parts of a plant to name. 

 The bees worked lively on it alt 

 through a good bass wood yield. 



John C. Gi'lliland. 



Bloomlield, ind. 



[It is motherwort, an excellent 

 honey plant. — Ed.] 



The Season a Poor One. 



I wintered 20 colonies, but the sea- 

 son here has been a poor one. I have 

 had no swarms yet, and took the tirst 

 extracted honey this week. The bees 

 are now gathering honey from buck- 

 wheat and goldenrod, and I expect a 

 good fall crop. The bloom has been 

 abundant, but too much wet weather 

 has prevented the bees from utilizing 

 it. jACon Emmons. 



St. George, Kans., Aug. 25, 1884. 



