446 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



will not be a week before tbey want 

 wo pounds. I think boney, if man- 

 aged riglitly^ will be readily sold at 

 paying prices. D. 11. Hosebkouoh. 



Casey, 111., Aug. ^7, 1883. 



Spiked Loose-Strife Plant. 



I send a box of flowers which I 

 would like you to name in the Bee 

 Journal. It appears to be an ex- 

 cellent honey plant. It grows in our 

 marshes and low lands, and grows 

 from 6 to 8 feet high. I find the bees 

 working on it all day long. I found 

 fiome growing in the centre of a large 



Eatch of sweet clover, and as many 

 ees working on it as the sweet clover. 

 It commences to bloom in June, and 

 continues to blooai until frost. 



Wm. K. Lawson. 

 Cold Spring, N. Y. 



[This is the spiked loose-strife 

 (Lythrum salicaria). It is an excellent 

 honey plant, and worthy of cultiva- 

 tion for this purpose, as well as for 

 its beauty. The arrangements for 

 cross fertilization by bees are most 

 curious and wonderful. — T. J. Bur- 

 kill, Champaign, 111.] 



€>ood Season for Honey and Increase. 



Notwithstanding the very severe 

 winter, and unusually backward and 

 wet spring, we have had a very good 

 summer, both for honey and increase, 

 in this part of Ontario. Some bees 

 here swarmed as late as the 16th of 

 August, and we extracted until the 

 20th ; then robbing commenced, and 

 we stopped extracting, with most of 

 the hives full of honey. I commenced 

 the honey season with 29 colonies, 

 and will have about 3,500 pounds of 

 extracted honey, when it is all taken 

 off, and increased to about 60 colonies, 

 by natural swarming; and then up to 

 about SO, by taking down top stories. 

 I have not seen any drones killed yet. 

 We had our first frost last night. 

 Bees are working strongly on golden- 

 rod now. W. G. Russell. 



Millwood, Ont., Aug. 29, 1883. 



it, I hope some day to indulge myself 

 in the luxury of bee-keeping. I shall 

 not be able to attend the meeting of 

 bee-keepers in Toronto in September 

 next, but I trust our friends from the 

 United States will be generously en- 

 tertained by their bee friends in 

 Ontano. 1 shall be much disap- 

 pointed if the meeting is not of the 

 most pleasing character. 



Lewis VValbbidge, 

 Chief Justice of Manitoba. 

 Winnipeg P. O., Aug. 16, 1883. 



[This plant produces little or no 

 honey. The species is not confidently 

 recognized, but it belongs to the 

 great sunflower family (composite), 

 however unlike a sunflower its ap- 

 pearance. Its nearest relative, known 

 to me, is the gi-eat ragweed (Ambrosia 

 tnfida), not uncommonly found almost 

 everywhere along water courses and 

 in rich, low grounds. The amount of 

 pollen produced by this Manitoba 

 plant is prodigious, and it was doubt- 

 less this that attracted the insects. 

 The flowers are, when taken singly, 

 very inconspicuous. — T. J. Buurill, 

 Champaign, 111.] 



a hole in the end of a stick three or 

 more feet long. On the wire hoop 

 sew a bag-shaped net of mosquito- 

 netting, or some similar stuff. Let 

 the bag be about 12 to 15 inches deep. 

 With this one may soon learn to 

 catch these desperadoes, swinging the 

 net in one hand.— T. J. Burrill, 

 Champaign, 111. 



Mlhiit and Itoiu. 



AN3WKR3 Br 



JSnnitoba Bee Plant. 



I send you part of a plant which 

 grows here wild, in the streets, and 

 attains from 3 to 4 feet in height. It 

 branches out very largely. If this be 

 a bee plant, it may be of service to 

 bee-keepers, as it will fill up the time 

 between basswood failing and the 

 autumn flowers. If it should be de- 

 sirable as a honey-producing plant, 

 the seed can be had in any quantity. 

 It is a vigorous grower. It seems 

 filled with insects, either sucking trie 

 honey or the juice of the i)lant itself. 

 White clover grows here well, and the 

 prairies are a regular bed of wild 

 flowers. Bees are not kei)t here yet, 

 but I think ought to thrive well. 

 Trees here are very scarce, except 

 along river banks, but the land will 

 produce anything, being very rich 

 and productive. Wheat, at present, 

 is the great staple. I am at present 

 so situated that 1 cannot indulge in 

 my favorite hobby, but I take an in- 

 terest in it, and from the mere love of 



Robber Flies. 



Enclosed find two insects which I 

 would like you to give me the name 

 of through the Bee Journal, to- 

 gether with any other information of 

 them you may have. I will give the 

 heaviest and largest as No. 1, which 

 I find to be very destructive to bees, 

 killing them all day long, and it seems 

 that it only kills bees when return- 

 ing with their load. 1 have killed as 

 many as five in one day, among my 

 bees. 



No. 2, the sharpest, bills a great 

 many, but not as many as the other. 

 The cause may be it does not take so 

 much to do it. 



Bees have done very well in this 

 country, considering the most of them 

 are in box hives and hollow logs. A 

 neighbor and myself are all that keep 

 bees in movable comb hives, and we 

 began this season, and some of the 

 old bee-keepers tell us we will do no 

 good, as this country will not produce 

 Ihjd honey, but we have many honey- 

 producing plants and shrubs. 



Br. S. L. Yotiiek. 



Brush, Tenn., Aug. 4, 1883. 



[They are both species of robber 

 flies. No. 1 is the one often called the 

 bee killer ( Trupanea apivora). One of 

 these insects, watched during one 

 day, was known to have killed 141 

 bees. As the juices only of the prey 

 are sucked, the number may not ap- 

 pear so surprising, supposing the 

 purpose of catching the bees is for 

 food. 



No. 2 is another species of the same 

 family (^si'tes.scncew^), and has similar 

 habits. Make a hoop of wire bent so 

 as to form a circle 9 inches across 

 I with the two ends so bent as to enter 



James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Bees with Hairy Feet. 



Enclosed I send you several dead 

 Holy Lind and Italian bees. Please 

 examine them and tell me what you 

 know of bees having such feathery or 

 hairy toes, and did you ever see such 

 bees before V 1 have thousands of 

 them in all my crosses with the Holy 

 Lands, Italians and blacks. They are 

 good workers. I want to know if 

 they have longer tongues than the 

 original or not V They are very docile 

 and gentle. We have had a fine rain 

 for the past 4S hours, 4 inches of water 

 fell, and white clover is blooming 

 again. My bees have taken a fresh 

 fever to swarm. I had one swarm to- 

 day, and all of mv hives are full of 

 bees and honey. "The sun shines very 

 hot, 90° in the shadfe at noon to-day. 



R. M. OSBORN. 



Kane, 111., Aug. 26, 1883. 



Answer.— The bees enclosed in 

 your letter were so mashed that one 

 could discern only that they once 

 bees. None of the peculiarities you 

 mention were distinguishable. 



li^May we ask you, dear reader, to 

 speak a good word for the Bee Jour- 

 nal to neighbors who keep bees, and 

 send on at least one iieto subscription 

 with your own V Our premium, " Bees 

 and Honey," in cloth, for one neio sut>- 

 scriber to the Weekly, or two for the 

 Monthly, besides your own subscrip- 

 tion to either edition, will pay you for 

 your trouble, besides having the satis- 

 faction of knowing that you have 

 aided the Bee Journal to a new 

 subscriber, and progressive apiculture 

 to another devotee. 



Bee Pasturage a Necessity. — W e have 



just issued a new pamphlet giving our 

 views on this important subject, with 

 suggestions what to plant, and when 

 and how. It is illustrated with 26 en- 

 gravings, and will be sent postpaid to 

 anv address for 10 cents. 



