THE AMERICAIT BEE JOURNAL. 



579 



other device that prevents the lateral 

 motion in adjusting stories. We have 

 never had the water go inside our 

 hives. 



Late Breeding, etc. 



Does Mr. Heddon allow his bees to 

 fly at all times, or close the entrance 

 when the temperature is so low as to 

 prevent many from getting back to 

 the hive 'i AVhy does he object to late 

 breeding ? W. L. Gagj:. 



Kane City, Pa., Nov. 5, 1883. 



Answer.— I never imprison my 

 bees at any season of the year, except 

 when moving them. Healthy bees, if 

 undisturbed, are in no danger of de- 

 pleting their numbers by flying from 

 the hives wlien the weather is too cool 

 for them to return. I am not afraid 

 of late breeding when caused by nat- 

 ural gathering and proper tempera- 

 ture, but fall stimulated-breeding in 

 order to produce bees that can gather 

 no honey during that season, simply 

 to winter them, I object to, on the 

 ground that young bees are no better, 

 if as good, to winter healthfully than 

 old ones, because they are more likely 

 to eat bee-bread during confinement 

 and become sick with dysentery. In 

 late fall and early spring it costs a bee 

 to rear a new one, besides cost of feed 

 and labor. Finally, past experience 

 and observation has taught us that 

 bees winter no better after falls of late 

 breeding than when they ceased early. 



No. 2 is Scutularia nodosa, the scull- 

 cap or Simpson's honey plant, every 

 where noted for its great yield of 

 honey.— T. J. Burrill.] 





Hedge Hyssop, etc. 



I send by to-day's mail 2 plants 

 for names. The 1st, No. 1, is a plant 

 having 1 or 2 stalks from the ground 

 up, one of which produces numerous 

 pods, sueli as I send. The stalk is 

 square and has grown this season to a 

 heiglith of 3 or 4 feet. It was planted 

 under the impression that it was 

 Simpson honey plant. 



No. 2 is, I suppose, the true Simp- 

 son honey plant, or carpenter's 

 sq^uare, so often described. Botli grow 

 wild, and from their appearance I 

 should judge them to be good honey 

 plants. 



I have 10 acres sown in alsike clover, 

 which, if mown at the proper time, 

 will come in after white clover. The 

 yield from the latter during the past 

 season was immense, and of excellent 

 quality. The drought has cut every- 

 thing short since the 1st of July, 



N. H. Rowland. 



Keene, Ky., Nov. 17th, 1883. 



[No. 1 is Laphanthus nepetoides, or 

 Hedge Hyssop, a tall growing peren- 

 nial plant belonging to the mint fam- 

 ily, and a good honey-producer. 



The Hodgson Rack. 



Allow me to say to Mr. J. C. Thorn 

 and others, that my time is so fully 

 occupied, professionally and other- 

 wise, that I cannot give a fuller de- 

 scription of the section rack I use, 

 until I get my bees into winter 

 quarters. The cut in the Bee Jour- 

 nal of Feb. 14, page 96, may give 

 some additional information, though 

 there are no boards marked E E E, as 

 in description there. The "Simplic- 

 ity, " or Hodgson rack, is the one I 

 have been using for 3 or 4 years past. 

 I think a cut of the different pieces 

 separately, with an explanation there- 

 of, would be all that would be neces- 

 sary to a correct understanding of this 

 rack, after what was said in my last 

 article in the Bee Journal, page 514. 

 I believe Mr. J. C. Thom will find that 

 when the section next the glass is 

 ready to remove, that all the rest are 

 ready also, almost invariably. 



T. E. Turner. 



Sussex, Wis., Nov. 2, 1883. 



Bee Hawks. 



I send three specimens of the in- 

 sect genus. For the want of a better 

 name, I, in my nomenclature, call 

 them " bee hawks." I do so from 

 their manner of a taking in my bees. 

 I have watched them closely, and 

 noted the precision and fatality of 

 their dart for the alighting board. 

 They will poise themselves upon a 

 twig, near the hive, just as our blue 

 rifle-tail hawk does, ere he makes a 

 dart for his prey. This is the only 

 enemy I have found in my apiary. 

 John A. Emison. 



Mission Valley, Texas. 



[This is one of the bee robber-flies, 

 belonging to the genus Asilus, but it 

 is not either of the two species more 

 commonly observed at such depreda- 

 tions, neither do I know of any ac- 

 count of bee-killing;by this species.— 

 T. J. Burrill. 



From Northern Alabama. 



Almost 2 seasons have passed since 

 I wrote to the Bee Journal, saying 

 that bees were as rich as I ever saw 

 them at that time. That was from 

 tulip or whitewood, (generally called 

 " poplar " here.) The weather turned 

 cold, and continued so until June 10, 

 when the warm weather set in and 

 continued until July 4, and then we 

 had a rainy season until September 15, 

 and then cool weather followed again. 

 I knew the consequences very well, 

 during the coming winter, ol*^ " our 

 little fellows' famine." They consum- 

 ed a considerable quantity of honey 

 during the cold and cool spell, from 

 April 11 until June 10, being nearly 2 

 months. Nearly three-fourths of the 

 bees were lost by starvation, last win- 

 ter and spring. I lost about 40 per 

 cent, of mine for the want of food in 

 due time ; I was sick in the winter. 



and family troubles prevented me from 

 feeding them. I saved only 12 of them. 

 The spring was cool until May 1, then 

 we had a warm spell for 2 weeks, when 

 it became cold again until June 1, 

 when it became warm again. That- 

 was favorable for the linden, which 

 gave a good flow of honey, which, when 

 sealed, looks almost like cream. The 

 bees built a good supply of honey- 

 comb last year, and it was valuable 

 this summer. My 12 colonies stored 

 3G0 pounds of linden honey ; I could 

 have had half as much more if the 

 hives had been uniform in size. I sold 

 my honey at from 10 to 12^ cents per 

 pound. Our local demand for honey 

 is not as good as it was 15 years ago ; 

 but I get as much now from linden as 

 I then got from honey dew. We have 

 not had a honey-dew flow since 1877 ;_ 

 and but 1 from poplar and 3 flows from 

 linden. The fall weeds bloom all 

 through September ; when this month 

 is warm, they collect a great quantity 

 from them. They do tolerably when 

 the weather is warm, for the cool 

 weather arrests the flow of honey from 

 the plants. John M. Ryan. 



Apple Grove, Ala. 



More Asters. 



I send three plants on which the 

 bees work nearly all the time they are 

 in bloom, which is from 3 to 4 weeks. 

 Please give the common and botanical 

 names in the Bee Journal. 



Bunker Hill, 111. Geo. Drew. 



[These are all asters, whose value as 

 honey plants is widely recognized. 

 They are, however, autumnal bloom- 

 ers only, hence cannot afford the bee 

 pasturage that some others do. They 

 are seldom cultivated for this purpose, 

 and in a wild state, only grow where 

 they are undisturbed from year to 

 year, as along the fence rows or in 

 open grounds not closely pastured. 



No. 1 is Aster Imvis 



No.-2 is Aster ericoides. 



No. 3 is also an aster. 



T. J. Burrill.] 



Details of My yield of Honey. 



I see on page 506 a request from T. 

 J. Tiffany for a detailed report of the 

 big yields. To answer his question in 

 full would take too much space, but I 

 will say that I obtained an average of 

 265 pounds of extracted honey from 

 10 colonies in 1882, and 150 pounds 

 average from 20 colonies this season, 

 and I am satisfied that the sequel was 

 in feeding. I use the two-story Lang- 

 stroth hive, 20 frames, for extracted 

 honey. In 1882 I fed sugar, 2 pounds 

 to 1 gallon of water. In 1883 I fed 

 honey, raising a frame from the lower 

 story, uncapping it, Iianging it in the 

 upper story, and putting on empty 

 combs in the centre of the brood nest. ■ 

 If there is no honey in the lower story 

 I uncap a comb that I have for that 

 purpose, and hang it in the top story 

 and turn down one corner of the 

 blanket to let the bees pass up to it. 

 Wm. Malonb. 



Oakley, Iowa, Oct. 15, 1883. 



