THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



385 



'Queen Laying in the Sections. 



My spring yield of honey is over. 

 I took out the last on the hitter part 

 of June. Tlie amount from my 60 

 •colonies is 3,000 pounds of extracted 

 honey. I will probably get lialf as 

 much more in the fall. Is there any 

 way to restrain the bees from making 

 brood in the upper story '{ My bees 

 seem to have a particular fancy for 

 tiiat this season. Please tell meiibout 

 the Bokhara clover, whether or not it 

 is verj desirable as a honey plant. 

 M. M. Lindsay. 



Fulton, Tenn., July Ii4, 1882. 



[Some use what is called queen ex- 

 cluders—sheets of zinc with holes 

 large enough to admit the workers, 

 but through which the queen cannot 

 pass. Bokhara is the imported sweet 

 clover, and is an excellent honey- 

 producer. — Ed.] 



Best Honey Harvest for Years. 



We have had the best honey harvest 

 here for years. The bees are just 

 booming. It is in fact the best we 

 ever had. II. C. White. 



Madison, Ind., July 17, 1888. 



Troubles of a Beginner. 



The Hood of last winter left me 

 with but 3 colonies of bees. They 

 each swarmed about the middle of 

 June; in 7 days I listened for the 

 piping of the queen, and heard it in 

 one of the hives, but not in the others. 

 A swarm followed, and tiie piping 

 went on until 4 swarms came off. In 

 one hive, that night, the piping was 

 as loud as ever, but no swarm fol- 

 lowed, nor have I heard any piping 

 since. The night after, the fourth 

 swarm came out, but tliere was no 

 piping or swarming in tlie others. 

 Tliey put surplus in the upper story 

 (box hives). My dilliculty was this, 

 in hiving a swarm tliat came off on 

 June 10, the cluster was low, on a 

 grape vine. I set a Langstrolh hive 

 on the ground and shook the bees 

 •down, but they clustered on the hive 

 in front, and refused to enter. I 

 brushed them down, and repeatedly 

 clianged thehive, took out some of tlie 

 frames, but to no purpose ; tliere they 

 staid all niglit, and got the benefit of 

 a drenching shower. On the morning 

 of the )7th, I sent for a neighbor of 

 greater experience, not liking to lose 

 the bees (a very large swarm). He 

 put in the frames, also put on the 

 boxes, and went to work with smoker 

 and stick, working faithfully in the 

 rain for an hour, and litterally drove 

 them in. I carried them to the stand 

 and had no further trouble. But, on 

 the 9th iiist., I took off the boxes and 

 found a very few boxes of nice clover 

 honey, the rest were lilled with brood 

 in all stages, young bees, sealed and 

 unsealed brood, and cells with eggs 

 just deposited. Cells that from tlieir 

 color Seemed to have been used be- 

 fore, and from which I am convinced 

 young l)ees had come very lately. 

 After taking tlie combs out, 1 wjitched 

 them for an hour or two, and was re- 

 warded by seeing bee after bee biting 



off the cap and emerging from their 

 cells. I do not knovv' whether I could 

 have saved any of this brood, by 

 placing the combs under a box hive, 

 or whether I was all wrong in putting 

 on the boxes at the start, and as the 

 bees must have entered ihe boxes when 

 hived (only 21 days intervening). Have 

 I probably lost the queen, and how 

 am I to know ? We are having a 

 famous honey season ; white clover 

 covers the land, and bees work pro- 

 digiouslv. Tnos. Martin. 



Coal Valley, 111., July 10, 1883. 



[Had you given the swarm sheets 

 of foundation in the brood-chamber, 

 they would not have gone up to the 

 surplus arrangement to build comb, 

 and use it for brood-rearing. If no 

 comb foundation was given thesv^arm 

 when hived, or old combs, tlie surplus 

 arrangement should not have been 

 put on. If the queen was "lost," 

 where did the brood come from V— Ed.] 



White Houey Harvest Short. 



Basswood, which is very abundant 

 in our vicinity, has just gone out of 

 bloom. From some cause, there was 

 not one blossom to many thousands 

 last year, when the weather was favor- 

 able but a part of the time, so the 

 yield has been very light from it, this 

 year. White clover has never 

 bloomed so abundantly with us, as it 

 has this season ; but the weather has 

 been too cold and wet to give us much 

 from that source, consequently our 

 white honey harvest will be very 

 short. White clover is still in bRiom, 

 and we may get a small amount from 

 it yet. VVe have extracted 2,000 

 pounds, and have taken 400 pounds 

 of comb honey, and still have in the 

 hives enough to make the former 2,.500, 

 and the latter 500 or 600 pounds, from 

 100 colonies, in splendid condition. 

 Last season we got nearly twice the 

 amount from Ml colonies. We would 

 like to inquire of those having had 

 experience with Alsike clover, if 

 cattle pastured upon it are as liable 

 to become bloated as upon red clover. 

 If the Alsike is free from this objec- 

 tion, it can be largely introduced 

 among the farmers, and will be a 

 great benefit to bee-keepers. 



A. J. Hatfield & Son. 



New Carlisle, Ind., July 24, 1883. 



How I Build Up My Colonies. 



, My bees are just booming, and have 

 been most of tlie time since white clo- 

 ver came in, some 4 or 5 weeks ago, 

 and it looks now as if it would last 

 well for 2 or 3 vv'eeks yet. From our 

 present prospects, we will get as good 

 a yield as we did lastseasoii. I began 

 the spring with 11 colonies, all in fair 

 condition except one wliicli proved to 

 bequeenless; but I kept it going by 

 giving it brood from other colonies, 

 until a new queen was reared, so now 

 it IS one of my best. I have bees in 

 23 hives, but do not count all true col- 

 onies until the queen is laying. I 

 make my increase by dividing on the 

 nuclei plan, wliich 1 like best, for it 

 leaves llie main colonies strong for 



making new comb, rearing brood, and 

 storing surplus honey. I usually get 

 nice comb built (when I do Lot have 

 foundation), by putting in 2 or 8 empty 

 frames at a time, near the center of 

 each colony, one frame in a.place. By 

 this plan I build up my young colonies 

 gradually, without drawing much on 

 tlie old ones. Here I will state how I 

 prepare brood sections for the Langs- 

 troth hive, so that they hold either 

 natural comb or comb foundation, 

 without sagging or breaking out when 

 handling the combs, either in the ex- 

 tractor or otiierwise. I take good 

 broom wire and .stretch it tightly x 

 across the middle of the section. To 

 do this, I make a hole in the end 

 pieces, put the wire through, fasten 

 one end, and draw it tightly and 

 fasten it, before cutting the wire. 

 Fasten the ends bv bending over 

 and twisting around the wire, 

 and I find the bees nearly always build 

 the comb with the wire in the center, 

 with perfect cells on each side. I 

 tilled several sections prepared this 

 way last season, with foundation, and 

 itall proved a success witliout trouble. 

 After fastening at the top, lightly 

 press the wire into the sheet of foun- 

 dation, and the liees will draw it out 

 alike on both sides. In sections fixed 

 in this way, you will always find that 

 the comb is strong and wiil stay to its 

 place. I have had them in use several 

 years. From my 11 colonies about two 

 weeks ago, I extracted 200 lbs. of fine 

 white clover honey, and I can take 

 about the same now. and about 100 

 Ibp. of fine comb honey in two-pound 

 sections. J. W. Sanders. 



Le Grand, Iowa, July 20, 1883. 



Abundance of Rain. 



Rain still reigns in this neighbor- 

 hood. We have liad rain nearly every 

 day ttiis month, until about a week 

 ago, when it ended with the heaviest 

 storm of the season, overflowing the 

 banks of tlie river, and caused great 

 destruction and loss of life and pro- 

 perty in the parts of this city lying 

 low. One bee-keeper in this city'had 

 to carry his bees upon the top of his 

 house ; another saved only one colony 

 out of his whole yard, being more for- 

 tunate than some others who lost 

 every colony. 1 am hai)py to say mine 

 are doing very well, and I am satisfied 

 they will pay me a very good interest 

 on my investment. 13asswood has 

 started to bloom, and clover is still in 

 blossom ; so if we liave two or three 

 weeks of dry weather now, we will be 

 all right until fall flowers appear. 



W. II. Weston. 



London, Ont.. July 20, 1883. 



Giant Ladies' Slipper as a Honey Plant. 



I see that the German word, " Rie- 

 sen Balsamine " was translated wrong 

 on page 355. It should have been the 

 Giant Ladies' tilipper. 



L. Knouu, M. D. 



Savannah, Ga.. July 22, 1883. 



[If any of our readers know of this 

 plant yielding honey in America, we 

 should be pleased to hear from them 

 on the subject.— Ed.] 



