THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



97 



rather than face financial ruin, sold 

 adulterated articles. It seems to me 

 that we have as much right to avoid 

 financial ruin as anybody ; and putting 

 the matter in the light of self-defense, 

 it is hard to say who, or what class, 

 should not be excused. We must look 

 to legislation for a cure ; but not to 

 repressive legislation. Those who ac- 

 tually till the soil, pay so much, or 

 more, every year, directly or indirect- 

 ly, to get at the land, than would liqui- 

 date the national debt ; this drives 

 tens of thousands from the land into 

 towns, cities, necessities and crimes ; 

 hence the trades and professions are 

 over-crowded, wliile the avocation — 

 agriculture— upon which all depend, 

 primarily and ultimately, has far too 

 few engaged in it ; and those who fol- 

 low it, instead of trying to make one 

 acre produce double, are trying to get 

 two acres where they now have but 

 one. I only hint at the matters we 

 must deal with, to suppress, or rather 

 prevent, adulteration. There is no 

 country in the world, perhaps, where 

 Jaws are more stringent or better exe- 

 cuted, especially with regard to adul- 

 teration, than in England, and yet we 

 are told that London is the paradise 

 •of adulterators. 

 Murrayville, 111. 



[We think our correspondent is in 

 error about London being " the para- 

 dise of adulterators." English laws 

 against adulteration are very strin- 

 gent, and well executed. We wish 

 we could say this of America. — Ed.] 



Translated from Ulustrated Bienenzeitung, 

 by A. R. Kohnke. 



The Giant Balsam as a Honey Plant. 



PROF. DU. MUENTEK. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Ren- 

 ter, of Sanssouci (H. M. court garden- 

 •er), the apicultural exposition of the 

 Baltic Central Bee- Keepers' Associa- 

 tion at Potsdam, in September, 1881, 

 was furnished a specimen of the giant 

 balsam. It is no new plant, but the 

 attention of the bee-keepers was called 

 to it then for the first time as a honey 

 plant. Some few bee-keepers there, 

 knowing the plant and its value, 

 praised it so highly that Von Behr 

 Schmoldow, II. M. chamberlain, was 

 induced to try to cultivate it, with 

 reference to honey-producing and 

 hardiness. Having obtained a small 

 •quantity of the ripe seed, he charged 

 his gardener with the raising of the 

 •plants therefrom. The seeds were 

 planted m September, 1881, in drills, 

 IJI inches deep and about 3^ inches 

 apart. With only a light covering, 

 they endured the winter well, and 

 ■were transplanted in the spring of 

 1882, about 32 inches apart. At the 

 beginning of September, the plants 

 had attained the height of 6 to 8 feet, 

 and were covered with many thou- 

 sands of blossoms ; and, without ex- 

 aggeration, there was a bee on each, 

 so that new comers would hardly be 

 •able to secure one, not in possession 

 of some other. 



Last September, small quantities of 

 ithe seed wesre distributeci among the 



members of the Horticultural Society 

 of Fomerania, to raise as much seed 

 as possible, of which the District Bee- 

 Keepers' Societies will get their 

 share, next year. Many plants have 

 a reputation as good honey producers, 

 but the giant balsam excels every- 

 thing by nir ; the more so as it blooms 

 at a time when there are but few 

 other honey-yielding plants, and 

 these furnish it in very small quanti- 

 ties. It will pay to raise it wherever 

 possible. It blooms in August and 

 September. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Small Packages of Comb Honey. 



ARTHUR TODD. 



In my capacity as delegate to the 

 International Exhibition of 1878, at 

 Paris, for the apicultural interests of 

 Algeria, I called upon Madame Jarrie, 

 a leading box frame bee-keeper, living 

 near Paris, and who has given her 

 name to a certain style of hive nsed 

 in France. Having explained the 

 working of her hive to me, this lady 

 proceeded to show me some of the re- 

 sults therefrom, and one exhibit struck 

 me forcibly at the time, which the re- 

 vived talk upon " small packages " 

 recalls to my memory. 



This exhibit was neither more nor 

 less than a section about the size of a 

 Harbison Oalifornian section, divided 

 by cross pieces of wood into six por- 

 tions, each portion filled with comb 

 honey. " This," said Madame, " is 

 the comb honey package of the future ; 

 a single spoonful can be removed 

 without causing all the rest to bleed, 

 and smear everything it comes near." 



" But will it sell, put up like this V " 

 I asked. " This is an article ' de 

 ha-.e,^ " she replied ; " and people will 

 pay for that. I have sold all I had at 

 •5 francs per pound ($1.00), and could 

 have sold more, etc." 



I went back to Algeria, and fitted up 

 some Harbison sections in the same 

 way— fitted in small pieces of white 

 comb, and had them filled, and perso- 

 nally proved that it could be done 

 without in the least altering the shape 

 or size of the present" one "and " two- 

 pound sections." I have thought out 

 a simple plan for subdividing the 

 same, and inserting the very thin comb 

 foundation all in one operation. I 

 hope, Mr. Editor, you will publish it 

 and so prevent any patent claim being 

 brought out later on upon the same 

 thing. 



To subdivide a section into four 

 parts only requires four (4) pieces of 

 very thin wood cut thus : 



Two of these, interlocked, cut the 

 proper size, and the ends touched with 

 glue, are placed inside a section. 

 Now, upon the cross, formed within 

 the section by these two interlocked 

 pieces, lay a piece of thin foundation, 

 cut to the size of the section. Upon 

 that again place two more of the 

 pieces of wood, interlocked ; the cross- 

 ing of the wood of the uppermost will 

 now press the wax down upon the 



crossing of the first pair, and the ad- 

 hesion of the wax and the wood will 

 be sufficient to keep all in place. I 

 enclose four sample pieces, to illus- 

 trate my method, and it will be easily 

 seen how the increasing the number 

 of interlocking slits in the pieces of 

 wood will increase the number ©f 

 squares of honey in any section. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Returning Swarms, Uniting, etc. 



L. DENSMORE. 



It was the poorest season for bees 

 and honey that I ever knew, in over 

 thirty years. The season opened wet 

 and cold, and although there was 

 plenty of white clover, it secreted no 

 honey, and up to June 25th I had to 

 feed some of my strongest colonies. 

 In July, basswood opened, and such a 

 rush for honey I never saw before. 

 Colonies were strong in numbers : 

 most of my Italians had nine full 

 frames of brood and they were obliged 

 to store their honey in boxes. I started 

 with 27 colonies, increased to 41, and 

 put back 8 swarms. The swarming 

 lasted only while basswood was in 

 bloom. 



Some one was enquiring for a suc- 

 cessful way of putting back swarms. 

 Give them an empty hive and let them 

 stand until just before night ; look 

 through the parent hive, cut out all of 

 the queen-cells and shake the bees in 

 front of the hive. Catch and clip the 

 queen's wing, while returning ; put 

 on an empty crate of boxes, and all is 

 right. I never had a swarm come out 

 the second time. Care should be taken 

 to keep plenty of room for surplus 

 honey. 



I had two colonies of black bees that 

 would not try to defend their stores 

 against robbers. They would let the 

 Italians carry off their honey, so I 

 pinched the heads of the queens and 

 united them with an Italian nucleus, 

 having an Italian queen, and there 

 was no more robbing. 



I have united by the onion process, 

 and it is a success, every time. Give 

 them the onions at least 36 hours be- 

 fore uniting. I have united colonies 

 and nuclei, and, for experiments, ex- 

 changed queens from one hive to an- 

 other, and from nuclei to black 

 colonies with perfect success, usually 

 leaving the onions in the hive, sliced 

 up, 487iours ; and to make everything 

 absolutely certain I gathered the dried 

 bloom and seeds of catnip and used it 

 for fuel in the smoker, giving them a 

 good smoking after uniting. It leaves 

 a strong odor of catnip. By this 

 process I have never lost a queen, or 

 had any fighting after uniting. 



A portion of my Italians and my 

 Holy Lands, crossed with Italian 

 drones, work readily on red clover. 

 My black bees (4 colonies) gathered no 

 surplus and but one of them swarmed. 

 One apiary of 70 black colonies, spring 

 count, gathered but little surplus 

 honey, and, as far as I can learn, but 

 few bee-keepers in this section had 

 any surplus honey. I got 1 ,500 pounds 

 of nice box honey, and sold it for 20c. 



