THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



635 



subject to overflow,ffivesmea vast and 

 diversified rautre. The banks of the 

 liver, four miles distant, are sl\irted 

 with timber of various kinds, and 

 soft maple, willow and button-brush 

 intervenes ill hundreds of acres from 

 there to tillable lands. It is in this 

 direction that the attention of the 

 honey-bee has been drawn during the 

 entire season. 



My surplus arrangements were all 

 put on by ^lay 10, and my bees were 

 in prime condition to reap the clover 

 harvest. How happy I was on May 

 10. when the first white petals began 

 to show above the ground, and I 

 prided myself of soon being in pos- 

 session of the nectar suitable for the 

 gods. Tlie hillsides and the valleys 

 became white, and my bees labored — 

 but where ? Not to hillsides and val- 

 leys, but to the bottom lands ; and 

 when my hives became burdened, I 

 excavated some of the sections that 

 were nicely sealed. We sampled one, 

 and our verdict was similar to that of 

 the Editor's, when he saw fit to terra 

 it " vile stuff,'" etc. Our brilliant 

 anticipations were blasted, and we 

 consoled ourselves with our brethren's 

 and sister's experience— Mrs. Harri- 

 son for instance — for misery likes 

 company, you know. 



Basswood bloomed on June 2S, and 

 no benefits resulted therefrom. The 

 unruly little laborers still preferred 

 the regions of the honey-dew to that 

 of the basswood bloom. I would like 

 to know if this honey-dew is likely to 

 stay with us from year to year ; if so, 

 we want recipes to manufacture vine- 

 gar at 7.5 cents per gallon, or hunt a 

 new occupation. 



It was, perhaps, the middle of July 

 ere they ceased to carry in the " vile 

 stuff," and their attention turned to a 

 more legitimate channel, since which 

 time the quality is much better, 

 though the quantity not so gi-eat. 



Our Spanish-needle harvest has 

 been good, and the general condition 

 of the bees on the bottom-lands was 

 never better ; but after one reaches 

 the uplands, three miles back from 

 the niinois bottom, the situation is 

 quite the reverse, and which is the 

 dark picture mentioned in the head- 

 ing of this article. 



There has been no harvest for the 

 bees duriu<j the entire season, save 

 the white clover, and that yielded but 

 a scant supply. During the balance 

 of the long season they have remained 

 inactive, and were compelled to draw 

 on their own resources for sustenance. 

 Demoralization from protracted idle- 

 ness, or something else, has caused 

 " spring dwindling." or something 

 akin to it, till many which were strong 

 colonies at the close of the clover 

 harvest, at present can scarcely mus- 

 ter a queen's retinue. One man in 

 Mt. Sterling, this State, with 7-5 or SO 

 colonies, thinks that but few of them 

 will survive the winter. 



The bees appear inactive when they 

 attempt to fly, and fall to the ground ; 

 and after futile attempts to regain 

 their wings, they crawl about and die. 

 Dead bees are found over tlie side- 

 walks quite a distance from the hives. 

 Feeding is the order of the day, 

 where the colonies are sutliciently 



strong to justify it, as what little 

 they accumulated in the spring is 

 about consumed. Has this occurred 

 in other localities V and am I right in 

 my conjectures as to the cause V I 

 have examined the brood, and so far 

 as I can see, it is in a healthy condi- 

 tion. The trouble seems general 

 throughout the uplands. 

 Versailles. HI. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Comments on Several Subjects. 



JOSEPH M. WISMER. 



I beg to state that the Bee Jour- 

 N.\L has been carefully perused, 

 searching for the long-felt want, in- 

 formation, to enable me to substan- 

 tiate my experiences in producing 

 honey in its different forms. On page 

 215, Mr. Wm. H. Balch, in the second 

 paragraph of his article, concludes 

 that all animals have their peculiar 

 scent, which exactly expresses my 

 sentiments. I well remember, but a 

 few years ago, a neighbor of mine 

 had a small quantity ot butter packed 

 and ready for market. During the 

 night the dog killed a skunk under 

 the veranda of the house, just outside 

 of the cellar ; the following morning 

 the butter, milk, and part of the eat- 

 ables presented a greenish hue, and 

 were unfit for use. 



On page 485, Vol. XVIII. Mr.Heddon 

 gives a good description of the effects 

 ot the odor of the honey-bee,when dis- 

 turbed, has upon the body of man ; 

 and even when in the apiary, bees 

 flying around within smelling dis- 

 tance, would create such a tinkling 

 sensation in the head so as to produce 

 asthma. 



On page 5G7, present volume, is an 

 article from Dr. Tinker, concerning 

 poisonous honey. I do not wish to 

 undermine the Doctor's practical pro- 

 fession, or to interfere with the Hed- 

 don-theorv, but merely to present to 

 the readers of the Bee Journal my 

 experience as a honey-producer. In 

 my youthful days I could not eat 

 honey without causing severe colicky 

 pains. Being a lover of bees and 

 honey, I coidd not abstain from the 

 sweets which the bees had stored in 

 their well-made cells. 



For more than 20 years as a bee- 

 keeper in the old-fashioned way, I 

 have suffered from its effects, not 

 knowing the reason why such a sweet 

 as honey, so highly spoken of in the 

 lioly writ as wholesome food, should 

 be poisonous, until I commenced 

 keeping bees on the new or modern 

 plan, and following the instructions 

 of the Bee Journal. I noticed that 

 extracted honey, when eaten, would 

 be more mild than comb honey in my 

 stomach, thereby proving that honey 

 ripened by the bees was where the 

 cause existed. This extracted honey 

 is impregnated with this same dis- 

 charged poison as Mr. Pleddon speaks 

 of. 



Observation induced me to make 

 further investigation in this matter. 

 On one morning in 1882, when clover 

 and basswood honey was at its best, 

 I extracted all the honey which 2 col- 



onies had, and then in the evening, 

 again, in order to get this vegetable 

 sweet in its natural state and ripened 

 by evaporation. This honey I found 

 tbat I could eat with safety, and with 

 pleasant sensations. 



Not being satisfied with this experi- 

 ment, I knew of three friends who 

 used the same precautions as I had in 

 eating honey. I persuaded them to 

 eat of this prepared honey, and with 

 the same results. So that led me to 

 believe that honey ripened by the bees 

 contained enough of the so-called 

 poison to produce colic to some peo- 

 ple, and, again, to others premature 

 death. With this prepared honey I 

 healed or cured my delicate or weak 

 stomach so that I can with safety eat 

 any kind of honey. In order to more 

 fully substantiate these facts, I would 

 ask the Doctor a question : Why 

 does the sting of a bee. produce 

 greater pain with some people than 

 with others V 



On pfige 536, jSIr, A. A. Fradenburg 

 asks. " Can any bee-keeper who reads 

 this, show that a singe colony of bees 

 has ever had diarrhoea when they have 

 had no pollen at all ?" which I cannot 

 pass without relating a few facts in 

 my own experimenting with bees to 

 winter successfully. Last fall I pre- 

 pared 20 colonies in four different 

 ways, all equally in good condition ; 

 5 colonies were in natures own way ; 

 5 with pure granulated sugar and 

 without pollen ; 5 with sugar and pol- 

 len ; and the remainder with pollen, 

 sugar and honey. I was very anxious 

 to winter at least a part of my bees. 



I found tliat they were doing well 

 until Jan. 20. when the thermometer 

 indicated \tp below zero, and the bees 

 on the summer stands began to show 

 uneasiness, and continued so until 

 Jan. 22, when the mercury was 24^ 

 below zero, which was uncommonly 

 cold for this locality. The colonies 

 prepared with sugar and pollen were 

 the first ones to spot their hives and 

 die. On opening the hive to see their 

 condition, I thought to ■ myself, 

 " There 1 pollen cannot always be the 

 cause of bee-diarrhoea." For instance, 

 Mr. F., on the same page, in the first, 

 paragraph, quotes this : " I (Heddon), 

 this morning, received a letter from 

 Mr. Shuck, and he suggests the idea 

 that vegetable matter is the cause of 

 the trouble, etc." The case that I 

 had last winter goes to show that 

 sugar or honey in their best forms, is 

 vegetable matter as well as pollen, 

 which I conscientiously believe will, 

 in a certain condition, or in a low, wet 

 temperature, produce diarrhoea in its 

 worst form . 



On page 550, Mr, S. J. Youngman 

 writes : " Upon close inspection I 

 saw that it was fine liquid spray or 

 fine drops which was ejected from the 

 bees." Nature has so constructed or 

 devised the honey-bee as to have 

 means to separate the water from the 

 sweets contained in the nectar in its 

 raw state, which I will try to explain. 

 Four years ago last spring, I fed my 

 bees in order to stimulate breeding, 

 and I found that sweetened water fed 

 outside of the hive, would induce the 

 queen to lay with a good will. I also 

 noticed a similar phenomenon as that 



