THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



265 



as many well-know, and I have three 

 very much dissatistied customers, and 

 I wish it was not out of place to give 

 a history of the origin of their dis- 

 satisfaction ; also of their Christian 

 spirit in reporting the same, together 

 with the direful things they are going 

 to do, but never commence. It is also 

 true that some dealers have not aimed 

 to do justice, and under this head I 

 will try to answer the questions, as 

 best I can. 



1. The Langstroth and Simplicity 

 frames are calculated by their makers, 

 to be one and the same frame. The 

 words Langstroth and Simplicity 

 apply to the styles of the hives, and 

 not the frames. 



2. No, sir. 



3. Bees do not die of foul brood. It 

 is a disease of the brood, and the col- 

 ony would " peter out " in the fall if 

 the disease was well under way, and 

 of a malignant type in the previous 

 spring. This is as I understand it ; 

 though I have never seen a case of 

 foul brood. 



4. I should. 



5. Very little, if any, I should say. 



6. I am not a lawyer, but as laws 

 are based upon reason and justice, I 

 would guess that damages could be 

 collected in a civil court, if the parties 

 were collectable. The distance the 

 parties are usually a part, and the 

 financial worthlessness of many small 

 dealers, makes the legal course usually 

 impracticable. The exposure course is 

 in order, but there is no place, except 

 in apicultural periodicals, through 

 which to do it, and the nature of the 

 complaint and defense are incompati- 

 ble with the purposes for which said 

 papers are published and read. 



not to buy frames filled with founda- 

 tion, but wire their own frames and 

 put the heavy foundation on by the 

 method above referred to ; it is safer 

 and cheaper. 



Wired Frames. 



1. Will bees build comb in wired 

 frames and have the wires in the cen- 

 tre of the combs y 



2. Will they do it readily. 



E. Sanford. 



Answers.— Yes ; if you properly 

 press the wire into the foundation. 

 If you do not mean to use foundation, 

 do not use wire at all ; it will not work 

 on that plan. 



2. Nearly all now know the advan- 

 tages of tlie wires when used with 

 foundation, and I have used them for 

 years, and find them in no way detri- 

 mental. The Given press puts them 

 to place more perfectly and quickly, 

 but the hand method is excellent, and 

 perfectly practical when done as I dis- 

 cribed it in the February number of 

 the Kansas Bee-Keeper. I advise all 



Shipped His Bees. 



I left Delta, Ohio, for this place on 

 April 20, with 43 colonies of bees, and 

 arrived here without the loss of a 

 comb. Miles S. Pray. 



St. Johns, Mich., May 10, 1883. 



Looking for a (Jrand Honey Harvest. 



My bees have done well so far, and 

 are in fine condition. I have had one 

 swarm on May 2. Prospect are boom- 

 ing for white clover, hnd we are look- 

 ing for a grand honey harvest. 



J. G. Norton. 



Macomb, 111., May 14, 1883. 



Moving Hees in Cold Weather. 



My 9 colonies of bees came through 

 the winter all right. I bought 40 col- 

 onies more, which makes me 49 to 

 commence with. Those which I win- 

 tered came through very strong. 

 They had drones flying on the 10th of 

 May. The 40 which I bought are not 

 so strong, covering from 6 to 9 of my 

 frames, which are IQ'^^xVi^ inches, 

 outside measure. A neighbor of 

 mine bought S colonies of bees in 

 what is termed the "patent" hive; 

 he put them into a cave last fall. 

 They were doing very well in the cave. 

 Mr. M. told him that his bees would 

 all be dead before spring, if he did not 

 take them out of there ; so he took 

 them out and hauled them on a sled 

 one-quarter of a mile, in the coldest 

 part of winter, to an old house, and 

 there buried them up with oats, as if 

 they were ice. Long before spring, 

 his bees were dead, and now he has 

 only the old boxes and combs (for 

 some one stole the honey) for the $20. 

 The fruit trees are in bloom, and we 

 expect a full crop of honey. 



J. F. Sellers. 



Reynolds, 111., May 12, 1883. 



Apiary Destroyed by a Tornado. 



May 9, about .5 p. m., this section 

 was visited by a terrible tornado, 

 which laid my apiary in ruins. I had 

 40 good colonies, and not a hive es- 

 caped the fury. They were carried 

 up in the air, through the woods, and 

 the hives smashed into "kindling- 

 wood," combs and frames carried over 

 a mile and dashed to atoms, and the 

 bees drowned. You can imagine my 

 feelings, for there is nothing I think 

 so much of as my bees (except my 

 family). I was just starting an apiary 

 anew, after my disaster in Iowa. This 

 was my first season here, and my 

 apiary is my only dependence. I 

 have 17 queens left, that I picked up, 

 and bees enough for 5 or f> colonies ; 



the unhatched brood was nearly all 

 chilled in the combs I saved, so it is 

 dead and the bees are dragging it out. 

 The tornado also damaged my house, 

 twisted it out of shape some, and 

 took about 20 feet off one of the side 

 walls out of my bee cellar, so I had to 

 get help and prop up the house, to 

 keep it from falling over. The house 

 is a frame one, just built, last Octo- 

 ber. I think the elements have been 

 hard on me, but it might have been 

 worse as none of my family were 

 killed or hurt. E. J. Scofield. 



Hanover, Wis., May 12, 1883. 



Parasitic Bees. 



Enclosed I send a specimen of a fly, 

 which I discovered among my bees. 

 Please describe and explain through 

 the Bee Journal what they are. 

 They seem very lively among the 

 bees. I think they destroy eggs, and 

 do mischief. Geo. D. Freshour. 



Canandaigua, N. Y. 



[The insects are parasitic bees. Three 

 specimens were received, of which 

 one belonged to a distinct species 

 from the other two. I should be glad 

 to get more of each. These cuckoo- 

 bees have not been known to infest 

 the cells of the honey-bee, so far as I 

 am informed, but are well-known dep- 

 redators upon various wild bees. 

 Their eggs are laid in the cells, and 

 the strange larvas are fed like those 

 belonging to the host. It is not at all 

 probable that these adult bees destroy 

 the eggs already laid by the hive 

 queen ; though careful observation on 

 this point would be valuable.— T. J. 

 Burrill, Champaign, 111.] 



Bee-Keeping in Florida. 



I have spent the past winter in 

 Florida, and will hazard the opinion 

 that bee-keeping in that State will 

 not be a success to any great extent, 

 except in a very few localities where 

 there is a plenty of mangrove, palm- 

 etto, etc. A few bees could probably 

 be kept in almost any locality. 



Bonair, Iowa. G. W. Webster. 



Bees Prospering. 



My bees came through the winter 

 with very little loss, and are now 

 doing well, notwithstanding the cold 

 and backward spring. 



G. W. Zimmerman. 



Napoleon, O., May 15, 1883. 



That Apiarian CoUege. 



I noticed an article on page 6 of the 

 present volume of this Journal, en- 

 titled " Another step in advance." 

 The writer. Dr. Besse, says that it 

 would be advisable to start an apiar- 

 ian college under the auspices of the 

 American Bee-Keepers' Society ; each 

 graduate to pass an examination be- 

 fore that society. I would like to 

 ask the Doctor or Mr. Ileddon to sug- 

 gest a number of the leading ques- 

 tions for a person just starting to keep 

 bees to ask himself, and be able to 



