,THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



237 



a protection against the west winds, 

 and they came out all right this 

 spring, all being very strong but two, 

 which were weak in the fall. Bees, 

 in this locality, are booming this 

 spring ; they are getting such an early 

 start on the elms, etc. ; the peach 

 bloom is just coming in, and the pros- 

 pect is good, 1 dealt considerably in 

 the fur business this last winter, 

 which afforded me a great deal of 

 traveling ; in which I paid the great- 

 est attention to bees and the differ- 

 ent methods of bee-keeping, during 

 the winter. I saw all kinds of bee 

 hives, from the old-fashioned log gum, 

 to the finest movable frames, and 

 among them all, the Langstroth hive 

 is my choice, for it has more advan- 

 tages than any other hive that I have 

 seen. I inquired of all the bee-keep- 

 ers I met, their method of manage- 

 ment, and their opinion of the mov- 

 able frame hives, and found that all 

 who had used the movable frame 

 hive, were well satished there with. 



I fell into company, for a night, 

 with an old man who keeps bees in 

 the old log or st\imp hives. Quite a 

 number of the old log gums were 

 scattered throughout an old half- 

 pruned orchard, which looked like so 

 many stumps or ash gums, and, see- 

 ing no supers or caps, 1 asked the old 

 gentleman how he obtained a surplus 

 of honey from his hives, as I saw no 

 caps. " Caps ! What do I want with 

 caps? I see, young man," said he, 

 " tnat you know nothing at all about 

 bee-keeping and honey taking, and I 

 will tell you something about bees and 

 honey, and ray experience is worth 

 listening to. In the first place, cut 

 down a hollow lime or sycamore tree, 

 saw off 25 or 30 hives ; then cut and 

 nail a clapboard top on each of 

 them, then bore four auger holes 

 about the middle of each ; now, make 

 two tapered pins and drive into 

 them." "Why make the pins tapered," 

 I asked. " I will tell you by-and-by. 

 Chink around the tops with rags, and 

 they are ready for the bees. After 

 the bees have stood in them for four 

 irs, they are old enough to take, 

 take the honey, you must do this : 

 About harvest, take a gum, turn it 

 upside down, set an empty one on the 

 top, draw a sheet around the joint 

 where the two gums meet, drum on 

 the lower gum with a stick, and scare 

 the bees up into the empty one. Three 

 or four can take hold of the gums and 

 lay them upon a couple of good, stout 

 fence rails, laid sloping upon the 

 fence. Now bring a bread tray to 

 catch the dripping honey, pry off the 

 head of the hive, roll up your sleeves, 

 aiid go to work with your smoker and 

 knife, and you will soon have a tub 

 full of honey. After you have emptied 

 the old hive, place the new one, and 

 the bees, on the old stand, and you 

 will be all right. But they will not do 

 to take until they are four years old. 

 You see you can have 8 or 10 to take 

 every harvest, and always have a 

 supply of honey on hand." "E.xactly," 

 said 1 ; " but do you not believe mov- 

 able frame hives would be ahead of 

 all your plans V" Tut, tut," said he, 

 " I have never seen one, neither do I 

 want to ; I have heard enough about 



¥: 



them to know that my plan is much 

 better ; much better, sir. Don't you 

 see that a hive full of drawers and 

 shelves would discourage the bees, 

 and wouldn't be worth a cuss. If 

 you want to raise bees, you take my 

 plan, and you will have lots of bees 

 and lots of honey, and become well 

 satislied that I know all about bees." 

 Malaby, O., April 17, 1883. 



Planter's Journal. 



Bees and Honey in Mississippi. 



O. M. BLANTON. 



The following is a tabulated state- 

 ment of the apiaries of Judge Harri- 

 man and Messrs. Adams and McLen- 

 don, of Chicot County, Arkansas, and 



Mr. Vaught and myself, of Washing- 

 ton County, Mississppi. The labor 

 and shipping cases are not deducted 

 from the proceeds. We consider the 

 season of 1882 as more than an aver- 



age one, but by no means extraordi- 

 narv. 



Judge Harriman's report is excel- 

 lent, when you consider the great loss 

 of swarms ; his apiary is in a grove of 

 forest trees, and he failed to clip his 

 queen's wings, and, besides, he neg- 

 lected his bees, owing to his judicial 

 and plantation duties. 



Bee-keeping is a science, and re- 

 quires a great deal of study. With a 

 reasonable amount of entlmsiasm, 

 hard work and strict attention, one 

 man can attend to 100 colonies. 



With comb foundation as a guide, 

 that the bees may build their combs 

 straight; with the movable frame, to 

 manipulate your combs and bees with 

 ease ; the uiicapped knife and extrac- 

 tor, to remove the honey by centrifu- 

 gal force ; the smoker to quiet the 

 little workers, and the queen cage to 

 control and introduce your queen— 

 with this furniture, so to speak, you 

 are prepared for work ; and without 

 any one of these you will certainly fail. 



Honey sliould be taken from the 

 hives almost as rapidly as the bees 

 gather it, at least every ten days ; and 

 when they are bringing in the nectar 

 rapidly, I extract from every comb 

 that has any honey, even in the brood- 

 chamber, and when not capped over ; 

 running the extractor slowly enough 

 to discharge the honey without throw- 

 ing out the eggs and larvfe. In a few 

 hours there is enough honey stored 

 for feeding the young bees. VVhen 

 the honey flow slackens, go slow with 

 your extractor, and never extract 

 when the flow ceases. I ripen the 

 honey by evaporation in large tanks 

 covered with cheese-cloth. 



I ship in new cypress barrels of 52.5 

 pounds net, and comb honey in 28 

 pound cases. 



We never plant anything for bees in 

 this rich alluvial country. Every tree, 

 shrub and plant yields more or less 

 honey. I have never known bees to 

 be aftiicted with any disease. 



To make a specialty of bee-keeping 

 on a large scale, there is nothing that 

 pays more for the capital invested, but 

 do'not stippose there is no hard work 

 in it. The bee-keeper only goes to 

 church in swarming season, when the 

 sun goes down. 



These tigures seem extraordinary, 

 yet they can be exceeded by the gen- 

 tlemen with their present experience 

 and a good season. 



Greenville, Miss. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



Importing ftueens from the Orient. 



FRANK BENTON. 



It seems, when one is away off, out 

 of the pale of civilization, folks do not 

 always get the stories they hear about 

 him straight, and, I am sorry to say, 

 it looks as though some do not quite 

 want everything to be known just as 

 it is. The item about me on the first 

 page of the Bee Journal for Oct, 18, 

 1882, which, though true, and evi- 

 dently published in good faith by the 

 editor, was very liable to create an 

 incorrect impression among bee-keep- 

 ers. As therein state(|, I was quite 



