,THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



433 



To Bee-Keepers of North America- 



As one of the oldest of your num- 

 ber, 1 desire respectfully to remind 

 you that the Toronto Convention will 

 afford us all an opportunity of paying 

 a well-earned tribute to tlie memory 

 of our honored dead— Samuel Wagner, 

 Moses Quinby, Adam Grimm. Richard 

 Colviu and others, who did so much to 

 elevate American apiculture to its 

 present high position. 



L. L. Langstroth. 



Oxford, Ohio, Aug. 23, 1883. 



1^" The Cass County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, organized on the 15th of 

 August, will meet on the 10th of 

 October, 1883, in Logansport, Ind. 

 All persons interested in bees and 

 honey are respectfully invited to 

 come. De Witt 13rown, iiec. 



Wihixt and gloiu; 



ANSWERS B? 



James Hcddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Curious Freak of Bees. 



I desire Mr. Hetldon to reply to this: 

 One of my colonies of bees cast off 

 a swarm in the middle of July, and 

 in order to prevent the second, I cut 

 out all their queen-cells (they were 

 hybrids) and grafted in a cell from an 

 Italian colony, and when cutting out 

 the queen-cells from this hybrid col- 

 ony, one cell dropped down unnoticed 

 to the bottom of the hive, and in a 

 few days it swarmed again with the 

 young Italian queen, and, on examin- 

 ing the old hive, I found this queen- 

 cell on the bottom, took it out and 

 cut it open, and to my surprise I 

 found a dead worker bee in it, and an 

 old one at that. The mystery to me 

 iS; Why did the bees seal that cell 

 with that dead worker bee in it and 

 then svifarm. I gave this colony a 

 laying queen, so everything is all 



right. A. RiCKBNBACHER. 



Gahanna, Ohio, Aug. 15, 1883. 



Answer.— I have never had a case 

 like the one above referred to. I do 

 not know as we have any precedent of 

 the kind. I do know that it is one of 

 the traits peculiar to the Italians, 

 especially the golden variety, to cast 

 swarms leaving no cells behind. Such 

 acts are exceptional, of course. Some- 

 times we find worker combs in queen- 

 cells, but they were hatched and 

 grown in the cell, .evidently intended 

 by the bees for a queen. Are you 

 sure the bees sealed up this old dead 

 worker before or immediately after 

 the swarming V But, no matter at 

 which time they did it, their reasons 

 for so doing can be hardly more than 

 guessed at by any of us. 





Rolling in the Buckwheat Honey, 



Last spring we purchased of Mr. 

 Doolittle an Italian business-queen. 

 We reared about 40 queens from her. 

 These young queens were mated in 

 our yard by German drones, and at 

 this date these hybrid bees are just 

 rolling in the buckwheat honey. The 

 weather is all we could wish, and 

 every indication now points to a most 

 bountiful fall harvest. 



A. W. OSBURN. 



Water Valley, N. Y., Aug. 17, 1883. 



Why so Much Extracted Honey. 



As there is so much difference in 

 the price of extracted and comb 

 honey, why not produce more comb 

 and less extracted ? Will we not get 

 as much honey in the aggregate to 

 use lower stories exclusively for brood 

 and winter stores, and use the sec- 

 tion boxes on top of brood frames for 

 surplus honey ? I am inexperienced, 

 but expect to " grow up," with the 

 start I have, to considerable of an 

 apiary, and am anxious to know why 

 so much extrated honey. 



K. A. W. 



East Liberty, Ohio, Aug. 15, 1883. 



[Both comb and extracted honey 

 will be in demand, and all can pro- 

 duce which ever they desire, or have 

 the convenience for doing. The ex- 

 tracted honey is used for manufactur- 

 ing purposes, as well as for table use, 

 instead of syrups, fruit, etc. Both 

 kinds are necessary. Side storing in 

 the brood chamber is priicticed by 

 many, but the tendency is towards 

 favoring top storing exclusively .—Ed.] 



Large Fall Crop Expected. 



I have not obtained any honey 

 since the white clover I extracted in 

 June. The bees have been getting 

 enough honey to keep the queens 

 laying all through the summer. They 

 are now working on buckwheat, and 

 the wheat fields are full of bees, 

 working on the ragweed, which is 

 covered with blossoms. The weather 

 has been very dry since the middle of 

 July, but we had a nice rain last 

 week, and another to-day. I expect a 

 big flow of honey between this and 

 and the middle of September. 



R. GUINSELL. 



Baden, Mo., Aug. 22, 1883. 



Cleome. 



Enclosed please find a plant that 

 grows wild hereabouts. The bees 

 work on it, beginning at daylight. I 

 can, at this moment, see drops of 

 honey in it. Can you name it V 



John R. Ckaio. 



Beatrice, Neb., Aug. 21, 1883. 



[It is Cleome, or the Rocky Moun- 

 tain bee plant— an excellent honey- 

 producer. — Ed.] 



Wintering Bees in Texas. 



Bees have done well in this vicinity 

 since spring opened. Box hive meit 

 lost heavily during the latter uiirt of 

 winter. I put 36 up last fall, 4 of 

 which were weak in stores and bees v 

 to those I gave plenty of honey, by 

 placing full boxes on top of frames,- 

 which was soon taken out by robber 

 bees, and the weak colonies were left 

 to starve, which they soon did. I 

 have concluded never to try to winter 

 a weak colony again. I also bought 

 9 weak colonies in January, which I 

 tried to save by feeding, and suc- 

 ceeded in saving 5 of them. I com- 

 menced the spring with 36 colonies, 6- 

 of which were very weak; they have- 

 increased to 69 by natural swarm ing^ 

 and I hived back and doubled about 

 20 swarms, and lost 15 or 20 more. 

 They swarmed incessantly from the' 

 first of April to the 12of July. There- 

 was a good honey flow from the 20tli 

 of June to the 8th of August; since- 

 which time robbing has been '* the 

 order of the day." I have been 

 watching the Bee Journal closely 

 to find a plan by which this robbing- 

 could be prevented, but have never 

 seen anything that gives satisfaction. 

 It bothers and perplexes me worse 

 than anything I have found in bee- 

 keeping. My bees are mostly blacks ;• 

 I have never seen an Italian robbing, 

 and have never seen a colony of Ital- 

 ians robbed by other bees. I think I 

 shall Italianize them, next spring, for 

 this quality alone. I have taken, up 

 to date, about 2,000 pounds of comtc 

 honey, and everything is favorable 

 for a good fall crop. 



B. L. Clements. 



Queen City, Texas, Aug. 20, 1883. 



Poorest Honey Crop CTcr Known. 



This has been the poorest summer 

 for bees ever known in Sanilac 

 County, Mich. I commenced with 42 

 colonies ; increased by natural swarm- 

 ing to 77 ; we had rain and cold up tO" 

 Aug. 10. White clover was plenty 

 everywhere. Since the August 10,they 

 have been working on sweet clover, 

 still they get but little honey in the- 

 boxes. Some of my neighbors have- 

 not taken off' one box yet. I still hope- 

 for the best. Josepu Lee. 



Farmers, Mich. 



Honey Barometer. 



I have been wondering if there is 

 interest enough in the country to give- 

 short weekly reports from three or 

 four districts in every State, saying 

 what the state of the honey flow is, 

 weather, how bees are working, 

 blooms, etc. In this way we coulo 

 have a barometer all over the coun- 

 try. The idea adopted in the British 

 Bee Jmmnl is what I mean iu 

 "Echoes from the Hives." If this- 

 thing was arranged for now syste- 

 matically, it might be worked next 

 year. Another thing, could not sec- 

 tions of States establish honey depots 

 in the nearest cities, receive the 

 honey of the members and grade it, 

 and so help to keep up the price. 



R. F. Kendall. 



Austin, Texas, Aug. 20, 1883. 



