456 



THE AMERICA]^ BEE JOURNAL. 



t)f the same place, has about 40. Most 

 of the surplus arrangement had been 

 taken off the hives, in consequence of 

 the honey season having closed, with 

 B, faint hope of obtaining some from 

 iron weed, wliich is said to yield 

 honey some years. 



Some other day I went to Winches- 

 ter, it being about five miles from the 

 Springs, to see the following bee- 

 keepers : Mr. Brown, Mr. Slagle and 

 Mr. Gibbens ; found none of the gen- 

 tlemen at home on account of a pic- 

 nic excursion, but had access to the 

 largest apiary, kept by Mr. Gibbens, 

 who makes a business of it. I was 

 shown around by Mr. Gibbens' son, a 

 very accommodating young gentle- 

 man. Mr. Gibbens works his bees in 

 a very progressive manner. He has 

 used this year, for the first time, the 

 one-pound one-piece sections, using 

 comb foundation starters of a trian- 

 gular shape, one corner of which 

 nearly touches the bottom of the sec- 

 tion. The idea struck me, that comb 

 foundation used in this shape, might 

 keep the bees from building little bits 

 of comb in between, as they have a 

 better chance of clustering than 

 ■where full sheets are furnished ; be- 

 sides that it would be a saving of 

 foundation to the extent of one-half. 

 I may give right here some more of 

 my experience in my own apiary, and 

 what I have seen in others. 



The fact that bees need large 

 quantities of honey to produce a small 

 q^nantity of wax, has led to the inven- 

 tion of comb foundation machines and 

 the use of comb foundation in brood- 

 chambers as well as for comb honey. 

 In order to save the honey. This may 

 be best to some extent, when honey is 

 tiot very abundant, but I rather ques- 

 tion the expediency to give full sheets 

 of comb foundation in sections for 

 this reason : 1 have noticed that, 

 ■when honey is coming in slowly, the 

 bees will draw out heavy walled comb 

 foundation a little ; biit when it is 

 ■coming in fast, they do not touch that 

 heavy wall, but build new comb on 

 the foundation given. I used the 

 heavy-walled foundation made on a 

 tJiven press, and the light-walled 

 made on a Vandervort machine. The 

 light-walled was always drawn out, 

 so that the comb foundation could 

 not be noticed when cutting the comb, 

 but with the other Tuore or less " fish- 

 bone " was left, very often the whole 

 of it. Besides this, I found after the 

 comb was finished, the bees had wax 

 to spare, putting it here and there in 

 little lumps in some empty corner, 

 hut especially on the glass at the ends 

 'or sides of the sections. For the use 

 of full sheets of comb foundation in 

 the brood-chamber, there are other 

 ^nd more important reasons than the 

 saving of honey and wax in its con- 

 struction, which I need notenumerate 

 here, as they are too well known ; but 

 lor sections, I think we can use less 

 to our advantage, using such as can 

 be made on a Vandervort machine 

 only, as far as 1 know. 



Now back to Mr. Gibbens' again. 

 He also had taken most of his sections 

 off the hives, leaving only a small 

 part of those not yet finished, in hopes 

 of obtiiining some honey from iron 



weed. On the whole, I think by what 

 I have observed, that the Shenandoah 

 Valley is a very good bee country, 

 but, perhaps, no more so than many 

 other localities where more fruit trees 

 are cultivated, which are in great 

 deficiency where I have been. 

 Youngstown, Ohio, August, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Honey Crop, Marketing, etc. 



B. T. DAVENPORT. 



I have been much interested in read- 

 ing the columns of your valuable paper 

 this season, and especially the reports 

 in regard to the present and prospec- 

 tive indications for honey. I like 

 the idea suggested by Mr. Kendall, in 

 last week's Bee Journal, of having 

 a barometer, or honey signal- service, 

 a good one, providing We are careful 

 not to exaggerate our reports, nor make 

 out reports tor the whole season at 

 perhaps the very opening of clover, 

 which, if the weather should be pro- 

 pitious, and the bloom as good as it 

 was this season, are apt to be very 

 flattering. It is well to be hopeful at 

 all times, which, as far as I am ac- 

 quainted, 1 believe is a peculiarity 

 that bee-keepers have, but in our pub- 

 lic reports, we want the facts, and 

 opinions should be given as such only. 

 We too frequently see an otherwise 

 excellent report or letter with no date 

 given, or if a honey report, the kind 

 not mentioned, whether comb or ex- 

 tracted ; such articles I mark down 

 about .50 per cent. This was the cold- 

 est morning of the season — mercury 

 41°, but saw no frost. Bees have done 

 fairly here, but too much wet and cool 

 weather for a real good yield of honey. 

 The most of our surplus was gathered 

 during the latter part of June and 

 first half of July from white clover; 

 basswood bloomed considerable, but 

 we obtained no honey from it; it 

 rained nearly all the time it was in 

 bloom, and were the heaviest rains 

 known for years, doing considera|)le 

 damage to hay that was cut, both in 

 the stack and field. I have been work- 

 ing two apiaries this season, 5^4 miles 

 apart. I began with 90 and now have 

 136 colonies, and have taken off 4,200 

 lbs. of honey in IJ^ lb. sections, all 

 white, and think there is enough on 

 the hives of mixed honey to make out 

 about 6,000 lbs. This is probably one 

 of the best locations for honey in the 

 state. I found a drone in my Carley 

 apiary (the one away from home), 

 with one very red eye; I saw him 

 twice, while looking through the hive. 



Auroraville, Wis., Sept. 5, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeping in Utah. 



JOHN DUNN. 



Bees have not had the attention 

 they should have this year. Some 

 never use an extractor. One bee man 

 told me, the other day, that he had 

 not used one, although he has 6 colo- 

 nies and is among the oldest hands at 

 the bnsiness ; but after I had shown 



him what I had done with 2 colonies, 

 he said he would get an extractor; 

 but it was like the boy, as I told him, 

 who bought a penny purse to put a 

 half penny in ; it was too late now, to 

 get much benefit from the extractor. 



Quite a feeling has been made 

 against the use of the extractor, 

 tlirougli the remarks of our assessor, 

 who said that foul brood was caused 

 by extractors, and where they were 

 used, foul brood was sure to exist. I 

 talked with him on this subject, and 

 asked him for his proof. Why, said 

 he, I have read it in a book ; but when 

 questioned in what book, he said he 

 could not tell where, so I told him to 

 come and I would show him, where 

 larvfe was pulled out, that the bees 

 would put it back, when put in the 

 hive ; but I would not advise any one 

 to extract from sections that had much 

 brood in them. 



I have extracted about 50 gallons of 

 honey from 10 colonies up to date — 

 increased to 20 this season, and if I 

 had got my sections full of comb, I 

 could have done better. I have used 

 a good deal of foundation. 



We should have a good flow of 

 honey ; almost every one has an or- 

 chard, and own their own house and 

 garden lot, and since the new fence 

 law was passed, almost every one has 

 a patch of clover and lucern, and in 

 the spring, if you take a walk out in 

 the country, you will see the wild 

 flowers, and in the fall, they shine 

 with splendor. 



I think that many would keep bees 

 if they were not so fond of stinging, 

 but it is the only thing they have to 

 defend themselves with, and it is a 

 wise provision, for, if it was not so, 

 the poor bees would be abused many 

 times just for fancy. 1 found spear 

 mint a good thing to rub over the 

 hands ; they do not like the smell. I 

 did intend to have 1,000 lbs. of extrac- 

 ted honey this season, and I do not 

 know yet but I may get it. Bees work 

 now on clover, squash, lucern and 

 other plants, and are doing splendidly, 

 so far as I have found out in this 

 county. 



Tooele City, Utah, Aug. 15, 1883. 



For the American B«e JournaL 



Cyprian and Syrian Bees. 



B. F. CARROLL,. 



The anathamas hurled against the 

 Cyprian bees by many who have not 

 thoroughly tested them will cause 

 many apiarists to dispose of their 

 Cyprians before they find out their 

 good qualities. 



It is true that the Cyprian bee is a 

 little warlike if not thoroughly un- 

 derstood. I have handled these bees 

 for three years, and I find them su- 

 perior to the Italians in every respect. 

 First, they are more prolific, and 

 hence have their hives always full of 

 bees, and when you have the bees, 

 you can have the honey if there is any 

 to be had. 



Secondly, they defend their hives 

 better ; it being almost impossible for 

 a strong colony of Cyprians to be 



