THE AMERICA^} BEE JOURNAL. 



467 



a light stripe in the centre. The re- 

 mainder of the dorsal surface is lead 

 color. The eyes are black, whiie the 

 jaws and legs are light. The fingers 

 and their teeth are brown, tipped with 

 black. The femurs and tibia are 

 brownish. At the base of each pos- 

 terior leg are flue small scales. The 

 specimen I have is a female. The re- 

 productive slit is on the under side of 

 the first abdominal segment ; the anal 

 one on the last. 



Mr. Enas has seen several of these 

 animals killing his bees, and I hope 

 soon to have from him more speci- 

 mens. - 



It is a very interesting group of 

 animals, and it is a sad loss to science 

 that Mr. Putnam did not live to com- 

 plete the admirable work in the study 

 of these animals, which his schorlarly 

 and thoroughly scientific habits fitted 

 him so well to perform. 



The figure shows the jaws with their 

 toothed fingers, a posterior leg, and 

 the animal with the jaws turned a 

 little to one side, so as to show the 

 teeth of the fingers. 



Lansing, Mich., Sept. 11, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Robbing, Fertile Workers, etc. 



JOHN GOCHENOUK. 



I would say for the benefit of Mr. 

 B. L. Clements, on page 433, that I 

 have successfully prevented my bees 

 from robbing by inverting, or rather 

 turning the entrance blocks end for 

 end, so as to form an entrance 3 inches 

 long and an inch wide, or less, accord- 

 ing to the desperation of the robbers. 

 By placing a small block on top, it 

 makes a gauntlet that no robber can 

 safely run, as they will be caught by 

 the sehtinels before they get half way 

 into the hive. Mr. Clements gives 

 Italians more credit for honesty than 

 I can ; when they find a hive unable 

 to protect itself, they are like rats, 

 and quarrel among themselves. I 

 would be pleased to have some one 

 explain why fertile workers get pos- 

 session of the hive, and the best way 

 to get rid of them. Are they consid- 

 ered hybrids because their product 

 are all drones V I have heard it 

 argued by a man that claims that he 

 has been in the bee business for 12 

 years, that the fertile worker is a 

 female drone ; which seems very un- 

 reasonable. I would be under obli- 

 gations to any who will answer the 

 above questions fully ; I would like to 

 hear from more than one, as, perhaps, 

 there are different views and theories 

 upon the question. 



Freeport, 111., Sept. 5, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Iowa State Fair Exhibit. 



EUGENE SECOR. 



At the Iowa State Fair, just closed, 

 the finest display of honey and imple- 

 ments pertaining to the apiary was 

 made which we have seen at any ex- 

 hibition in the State. 



The bee and honey department — 

 assigned to one wing of Vegetable 

 Hall — was under the supervision of 

 Rev. O. Clute, of Iowa City, author of 

 "Blessed Bees." It was a pleasure 

 to witness his enthusiasm, and the 

 willingness and courtesy with which 

 he answered all queries, whether 

 pertinent or not. The eager crowd 

 kept up such a running fire of ques- 

 tions that he was obliged to talk all 

 the time, or dodge the crowd and re- 

 tire to his tent for a few moments 

 rest, I was on the ground three dif- 

 ferent days, and I saw no cessation in 

 the interest taken in this department. 



Mr. Clute made a very attractive 

 display of extracted honey— of which 

 he makes a specialty— and of bee 

 literature and apiarian implements, 

 hives and bees. J. J. Kiser, of Des 

 Moines, also made a good exhibit, in- 

 cluding comb honey. A Fairfield 

 apiary— we do not now recall the 

 owner's name— took first premium for 

 the largest and finest display of comb 

 honey m section boxes. 



A meeting was held at Mr. Clnte's 

 tent one evening during the Fair, 

 and H State Association was formed. 

 Mr. Clute'was elected President. We 

 may, therefore, expect to see even a 

 finer exhibition another year. 



Forest City, Iowa, Sept. 8, 1883. 





Crop Report. 



The honey season for this part of 

 the State is past. Bees have gath- 

 ered nothing since the bassvvood 

 honey harvest. The weather is very 

 cold both night and day, and the 

 stores for winter are becoming less. 

 Bees did well for such a cold and wet 

 season. I had 24 colonies, spring 

 count ; increased to 55, and extracted 

 4,300 pounds of honey from basswood ; 

 some colonies gathering 25 or 30 

 pounds a day. B. D. Scott. 



Ovid Centre, N. Y., Sept. 9, 1883. 



Heavy Frost. 



Last night there was a heavy frost, 

 which, I presume, put an end to the 

 fall flowers in this part of the coun- 

 try. My bees have been on duty 

 about half of the time in the last two 

 weeks. There are several good buck- 

 wheat patches near my apiary, but 

 last night put an end to progress 

 in that line of business. As soon as 

 my bees began to fly this morning, 

 the Italians commenced war on 

 some of my hybrids. The fight lasted 

 about one hour, and the Itahans drew 

 off in good order. There were several 

 hundred killed and wounded. I did 

 not take time to count them, as they 

 were very saucy. They gave me to 

 understand that I was not needed in 

 the fight. A few of my late swarms 

 I shall have to feed. When is the 

 best time and the best way y Please 

 answer in the Bee Jouunal — some 

 one that is experienced in the busi- 



ness. I get the Bee Journal regu- 

 larly, and could hardly do without it, 

 as it is just what every beginner 

 wants. I was up to Columbus, last 

 week, and found a nice display of 

 honey and bees. Found Henry Drum, 

 of Adelphi, on hand with all the im- 

 provements of apiculture. 



R. A. ROSSER. 

 Nelsonville, Ohio, Sept. 9, 1883. 



The Seasou's Work. 



I have just got through taking off 

 the surplus. My apiary consists of 32 

 colonies ; 20 young and 12 last year's 

 qiieens. I wintered 23 colonies in 

 trie cellar ; they all came out alive ; I 

 lost 4 queens in the latter part of 

 April. I have had 2,700 pounds of 

 extracted honey ; it is nearly all sold 

 at 8 cents" per pound, cash ; and about 

 112 pounds of comb in two-pound sec- 

 tions ; this brings 14 cents per pound 

 in trade. This beat me out of 300 

 pounds, if not more, of extracted 

 honey. I shall not try for any more. 

 My greatest trouble is in introducing 

 young queens, this fall. I had to 

 make new colonies for this. I only 

 find fault with the Cyprians ; they will 

 not accept a queen, if there is an old 

 bee in the hive, and in 24 hours you 

 will find drone eggs in several combs. 

 This is a hot game for a novice to get 

 over. I have them all right now, and 

 do not fear the winter, whether it be 

 cold or not. I will not have over 50 

 colonies to attend to next spring ; I 

 had 200 this spring, but this was too 

 much for me to attend to. 



John H. Guenther. 



Theresa, Wis., Sept. 7, 1883. 



Bees in Marshall County, Iowa. 



Our grand prospect for a large 

 honey yield suddenly came to a close 

 early in August ; since then our bees 

 have only gathered enough to keep up 

 a good stock of brood ; so now our 

 colonies are generally strong and in 

 good condition for a Septemoer har- 

 vest, it we have one, and so far they 

 are making a good start, if lively work 

 is any sign. I think a shower fol- 

 lowed by a few warm days and we 

 would be all right for winter stores. 

 If we do not get it we will have some 

 feeding to do. Some of the best 

 honey harvests I have ever seen have 

 been in the first half of September, 

 therefore, I still live in hopes and 

 shall until frost comes. I met with a 

 number of bee-keepers at our County 

 Fair, and all said they got none, or 

 but little surplus during August. 

 All thought it was almost too cold. It 

 seems that good corn weather makes 

 good bee weather. There was a 

 small show of honey at the Fair. S, 

 W. Keeler took the first premium on 

 comb honey, and the writer got it on 

 extracted honey. The president of 

 the Fair promised us a special depart- 

 ment for a bee and honey show next 

 year, if the bee-keepers of the county 

 would meet with the Agricultural 

 Society at the annual meeting in Jan- 

 uary, and help make out a programme. 

 I hope all bee-keepers of Marshall 

 County, Iowa, who are interested, 

 will respond. J. W. Sanders. 



Le Grand, Iowa, Sept. 6, 1883. 



