420 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



other, the queen was able, though evi- 

 dently with very great exertion, to fly 

 some distance in a horizontal direction 

 until she had reacbed the hive, in 

 front of which the experiments were 

 made. I allowed her to enter, placing 

 against the hive a shutter reaching 

 to the entrance, and I waited to see 

 what the result would be. 



About noon on one of the following 

 days, I noticed some excitement 

 among the bees of a neighboring col- 

 ony, and when I looked for the cause, 

 I discovered the queen I had operated 

 upon imprisoned by the bees, but for- 

 tunately she was unhurt. There can 

 be no doubt she had been for her wed- 

 ding trip, and on her return had 

 missed the entrance of her own hive 

 again, and a few days after she began 

 to lay eggs, and proved to be normally 

 fertile. Whether she had been im- 

 pregnated on the occasion referred to, 

 or during a subsequent excursion, it 

 is, of course, impossible, for me to say. 



Woidd it not, after this, be possible 

 to restore to a queen hatched with 

 crippled wings, the power of flight by 

 leugtliening the shorter wing? Es- 

 pecially where the latter is very short 

 indeed, instead of shortening the 

 longer wing V 



A solution of this problem does not 

 appear to me impossible, and 1 would 

 suggest, that a wing of another queen 

 should be fixed by means of a well- 

 adhereing and quickly-drying glue or 

 cement, to the stump of the crippled 

 wing, which, of course, should not be 

 too short. 



The experiment might be worth 

 trying by bee-keepers who are pos- 

 sessed of some very beautiful and 

 strong Italian or Cyprian queens, 

 which are unable to fly. I should be 

 glad if bee-masters who consider 

 themselves capable of performing such 

 delicate operations, would attempt the 

 experiment, and give us their ex- 

 perience, although very problemati- 

 cal, are incomparably greater than the 

 reported impregnation of a young 

 queen in a glass globe, or a cask with 

 a hole at the top. 



Kalsmarkt, Germany. 



^tiioTm^i, 



When and How to Feed tlie Bees. 



Extracted honey sells here, for 

 home consumption, at 15 cents per 



Eound, and granulated sugar can be 

 ought for 10 cents per pound, and 

 the Western bee-keepers say that 

 sugar is better to winter bees on than 

 honey. I mean to extract all the 

 honey from the brood-chamber and 

 feed sugar syrup. Which is the best 

 time to extract and feed the sugar ? 

 The honey harvest winds up the last 

 week in August, with the exception 

 of some goldenrod and celandine; 

 the latter has a bitter taste, and 

 sometimes sour, which, we think, is 

 bad honey to winter bees on. Would 

 it be the right time to feed up the 

 first week in September? That 



month here is a mild one, but the 

 nights are cool. About how much 

 .sugar to a 7-frarae Langstroth hive, 

 full of bees ? What is the best way 

 to feed, and how long to do the feed- 

 ing V Please answer the above ques- 

 tions in the Bee Journal. 



Henry Tilley. 

 Castle Hill, Maine, Aug. 4, 18S3. 



[As soon as the honey harvest is 

 over, you can safely feed sugar syrup 

 for winter stores. In the evening is 

 the best time (except when it is too 

 cold for the bees to be out), so that it 

 will all be taken away by the bees be- 

 fore the next day, for if it be exposed 

 in the day time, robbing will be the 

 result ; on account of the absence of 

 honey flora, the bees will eagerly 

 search for any substitute, and become 

 crazy over it. The bees will be better 

 satisfied to have their winter stores 

 capped before cold weather comes. 

 For how to prepare the feed, see page 

 422.— Ed.] 



Giant Hyssop and Milk Weed, 



I wintered safely 15 colonies and 

 nuclei together in sawdust packing, 

 and lost 3 by spring dwindling. 1 had 

 7 effective colonies to extract from at 

 the beginning of the season ; alto- 

 gether 12 run for honey. I obtained 

 673 lbs. of extracted and about 50 lbs. 

 of comb honey. My largest yield of 

 honey from one colony was 226 lbs., 

 and enough left for wintering. They 

 are hybrids. We have had a remark- 

 ably good season, although old fogy- 

 ism did not get much honey, on 

 account of two much swarming and 

 bad management. I have two honey 

 plants for you to name. No. 1, with 

 pink flower, blooms from the 1st of 

 July, and is still blooming some; bees 

 work well on it, and considerable of it 

 is in our section of country, but, as to 

 quality and quantity of honey, I know 

 nothing. No. 2 is a rare thing here, 

 but bees love to work on it wonder- 

 fully well ; the time of blooming is 

 about the same as the above specimen. 

 The bloom is about gone. 



E. M. CosrBS. 



Memphis, Ind., Aug. 1, 1883. 



[No. 1, is Giant Hyssop (Lojihanthus 

 iwpetoides), one of the Mint family, 

 all of which have nectar of good qual- 

 ity. No. 2, Milk Weed {^sctepi'as pur- 

 puTciscens), allied to the milk weed, 

 which kills bees by the sticky pollen 

 masses.— T. J. BurKill.] 



Short Honey Crop. 



The past spring was one of unusual 

 cold, rain and wind, and I do not 

 think that white clover ever promised 

 better, but, after the first week's flow, 

 it gradually slackened up. Mr. Doo- 

 little says that the linden was on its 

 last legs ; it had no legs here to get 

 upon. I have not, at this time, one- 

 half as much honey from 32 colonies, 

 spring count, as 1 had at this date 

 last year from 22 colonies, spring 



count. We have been suffering 

 badly for the want of rain, but lass 

 week we were favored with a beauti- 

 ful rain, though not half as much as 

 we needed. Should everything be 

 most favorable, our corn' crop will 

 only be a partial one, which will be 

 the fourth successive light crop in 

 this vicinity. Our hay crop is good ; 

 oats, good, and rye, fair. I doubt if 

 there are 200 acres of wheat in two 

 townships here ; what little there 

 was, was good. It is probable that I 

 get more consolation out of a small 

 corn crop than any of my neighbors, 

 as I burn cobs in the smoker, and do 

 not have to split them. Mr. Doolittle 

 gives his method of forming a nuclei ; 

 and also tells of some one who has 

 trouble with his. I will, at some 

 future time, give the plan which I 

 have practiced this summer with per- 

 fect success. E. F. Cassell. 

 Illinois City, 111., Aug. 13, 1883. 



Wood Sage. 



Please give the name of the en- 

 closed bloom and leaf, and state its 

 merits as a honey plant. I never 

 noticed it here until this season ; 

 there are lots of it in the low lands. 

 It commenced to bloom July 10, and 

 is 4 feet high. The bees pay strict 

 attention to it all day long. 



Kane, 111. R. M. Osborn. 



[American Germander, or Wood 

 Sage (Teucrium Canad^nse). This is a 

 very common plant in low, wet 

 grounds, occurring throughout the 

 Northern portions of the United 

 States. It is another member of the 

 Mint family, and, like its relatives, 

 produces an abundance of excellent 

 honey.— T. J. Burrill.] 



Legion of ({iieens iu a Hive. 



I see by the Bee Journal of July 

 25, that Mr. Shirley found two queens 

 in one hive. I am 13 on my slate. I 

 have practiced returning the most of 

 my swarms after the first issue, but 

 before doing so I would " go through " 

 the hive and remove all of the queen- 

 cells in this hive. I took out 12 nice 

 yellow queens, and left one to manage 

 the affairs of the family. Can any 

 one of the bee fraternity tell the cause 

 of such a freak of bee nature ? What 

 does Mr. Heddon think ? 



H. B. Hammon. 



Bristol ville, Ohio, Aug. 1, 1883. 



A Bug — Water Boiitman. 



I send you a bug ; please report its 

 name. W. Thoughten. 



Martinsville, III. 



[The large bug is called by entomo- 

 logists Belastoma grandis, and some- 

 times is known by the common name 

 of " water boatman." It lives in the 

 water, feeding on living prey, but also 

 flies through the air in search of other 

 streams, ponds, etc., or to find com- 

 pany. It has a stout, sharp beak, 

 capable of inflicting severe wounds. — 

 T. J. Burrill.] 



