114 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



a sheet of beautiful l^comb. If the 

 bees are not gathering at the time of 

 this transfer, we must either feed 

 them, or give them a comb containing 

 some honey. We may now watch, not 

 only the wondrous fashioning of the 

 comb, but the laying of eggs, tlie 

 packing of pollen, the tinding of the 

 larval bees, and the many other won- 

 derful manipulations, to be witn^essed 

 in the " Observing Hive." 



My hive, which is correctly repre- 

 sented in the engraving, is neatly 

 made of black walnut, and forms, of 

 itself, quite a pretty ornament in my 

 study ; while, with its wondrous con- 

 tents, it forms an attraction which 

 can hardly be surpassed. It will pay 

 every apiarist to keep such a uni- 

 frame hive, for his own edification, 

 the instruction of his children, and 

 the entertainment of his friends. 



Bees' Tougiie Register.— We have 

 received, from Mr. John H. Martin, 

 one of his improved Bees' Tongue 

 Registers. We notice that he has re- 

 constructed and simplified it during 

 the past year. As it registers by hun- 

 dredths of an inch, it is a very useful 

 article by which te measure the length 

 of the tongue of bees, so as to deter- 

 mine those best fitted for collecting 

 the nectar from red clover or other 

 honey-producing plants which have a 

 deep secreting cell. This is a step in 

 the direction of "breeding the best 

 bees,'' and we welcome Mr. Martin's 

 invention as very useful and emi- 

 nently progressive. 



^° A beginner, J. L. II., fed the 

 bees sugar syrup while they were out 

 for a flight on Feb. 16, and says that 

 they had a fight, some being killed by 

 those of the same colony, and then 

 asks: " Why is this ? " Feeding the 

 bees in the open air close to the hives, 

 is always dangerous, and might have 

 caused " robbing " to such an extent 

 as to have given the beginner a " very 

 dear lesson." He has two colonies 

 each of black bees and Italians, and 

 adds, " the Italians did not come out 

 much." The angered bees were blacks 

 {perhaps, hybrids), and, no wonder 

 that they were on the rampage. They 

 had feasted on the syrup, become 

 angry because there was no more, and 

 then fought over it. 



^° The Baroness Burdette-Coutts, 

 who is. not only the richest lady in the 

 world, but the most liberal one, and 

 who is also the President of the 

 British Bee- Keepers' Association, 

 gave a New Years' dinner to eight 

 hundred of her tenants, and after- 

 wards personally presented a gift to 

 eacli one of her guests. 



Average Intelligence About Bees. 



Mr. H. R. Boardman, E.Townsend, 

 O., sends us the following from Good 

 Words, which is now " going the 

 rounds of the local press :" 



Honey is, as a rule, very sweet and 

 fragrant, but it is sometimes injurious 

 to human beings. Here I may men- 

 tion that no bee can suck honey out 

 of flowers, as is popularly supposed. 

 She licks it out with her tongue, the 

 end of which is covered with hairs, so 

 as to convert it into a brush, scrapes 

 it between the jaws, and so passes it 

 into the crop where it is changed into 

 honey. What property may be in the 

 crop which converts flower juice into 

 honey, we do not at pressent know. To 

 all appearance, the crop is nothing 

 but a bag of exceedingly-fine mem- 

 brane, and yet, after remaining for 

 a little time in the crop, the flower 

 juice undergoes a change of consist- 

 ence, flavor and scent, and whether 

 the insect is a wild or domestic bee, 

 the change is identical throughout. 



Mr. Boardman very aptly lemarks 

 that this demonstrates " how rapidly 

 we are advancing in the knowledge of 

 bee-culture, especially as promulgated 

 by the average newspaper. It is too 

 good to be lost. If knowledge were 

 bliss, 'twere ' folly to be wise.' " 



Honey Wine.— The Clarke Co., Va., 

 Conner has the following : 



Mr. J. Luther Bowers, a bee-keeper 

 of this county, has presented us with 

 a bottle of honey wine, the prepara- 

 tion of which was very simple, the 

 only ingredients being honey and 

 water. It was very palatable. From 

 51 colonies of bees he realized, last 

 year, 1,280 lbs. of choice comb honey, 

 1,200 lbs. of whicli he sold for $240. 

 One colony furnished the enormous 

 yield of 153 lbs., which, at the price 

 he received for his honey (20 cents per 

 lb.), brought $31.60, or nearly as much 

 as two acres of wheat. The value of 

 such a colony reaches beyond $100, 

 and shows what energy and improved 

 methods will accomplish. Mr. Bowers 

 prefers to use the 1-lb. sections, as 

 honey in that form commands a bet- 

 ter price and sells more readily. 



1^" Letters and communications 

 have accumulated so much that we 

 give up the space this week to an ex- 

 tra quantity. Several long reports of 

 conventions are waiting, but we give 

 the communications a chance this 

 week, before they get too stale. 



1^" We have received a copy of 

 " The Simmins Method of Direct In- 

 troduction," a pamphlet of 28 pages, 

 on introducing queens, detailing his 

 methods and management, and may 

 be had of Samuel Simmins, Rotting- 

 dean, Brighton, England, for 15 cents. 



Answering Qaestions. — Mr. Heddon, 



Dowagiac, Mich., writes as follows : 



I desire, and expect to be able to 

 answer all questions pertaining to 

 business transactions ; that I must do 

 as a duty, and I would not like to have 

 it otherwise understood. But I have 

 a host of long, pastime letters, mixed 

 all through with questions regarding 

 bee-culture, but I cannot possibly an- 

 swer them all, and do the other work 

 allotted to me. I will answer all ques- 

 tions sent direct to me, or to the bee- 

 papers, on separate sheets, with spaces 

 left for answers. Jajies Heddon. 



Questions for Mr. Heddon to an- 

 swer, may be sent to us, or to him 

 direct, and they will be promptly an- 

 swered in the Bee Jouunal. 



New Catalogues and Price Lists. 



We have received the following new 

 Catalogues and Price Lists of Bees, • 

 Queens or Apiarian Supplies : 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown, Augusta, Ga. 

 Naramore & Wood,N. Lansing, Mich. 

 Richardson Bros., Port Colborne,Ont. 

 Edward B. Beebee, Oneida, N. Y. 

 Wm. W. Cary & Son, Colerain, Mass. 

 W. P. Henderson, Murfreesboro,Tenn. 

 Wm. Ballantine & Son, Sago, Ont. 

 J. D. Goodrich, East Hardwick,Vt. 



E. T. Lewis & Co., East Toledo, O. 



SEED AND PLANT CATALOGUES. 



Wm. Rennie, Toronto, Ont. 

 J. A. Everitt, Watsontown, Pa. 



F. E. Fassett & Bro., Ashtabula, O. 

 Chas. A. Green, Rochester, N. Y. 

 I. F. Tillinghast, LaPlume, Pa. 



Also, Crawford's Strawberry Cul- 

 ture, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. 



1^ Several correspondents ask if it 

 is essential to write only on one side 

 of the sheet of paper when preparing 

 an article for the Jouknai^ For us, 

 it is just as well to write both sides, 

 and saves postage in sending it. 



Our Premiums for Clubs. 



Any one sending us a club of two 

 subscribers for 1883, for the Weekly, 

 with $4, will be entitled to a copy of 

 Bees and Honey, in cloth, postpaid. 



For three subscribers, with $6, we 

 will send Cook's Manual, in paper, 

 Emerson's Binder for the Weekly, or 

 Apiary Register for 50 colonies. 



For four subscribers, with $8, we 

 will send Cook's Manual in cloth, or 

 Apiary Register for 100 colonies. 



For five subscribers, with $10, we 

 will send the Apiary Register for 200 

 colonies, Quinby's New Bee-Keeping, 

 Root's A B C of Bee Culture, or an 

 extra copy of -the Weekly Bee Jour- 

 nal for one year. 



To get any of the above premiums 

 for the Monthly Bee Journal send 

 double the number of subscribers, and 

 the same amount of money. 



