634 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 3, 



its affairs from the control of those who join the organization 

 when a convention is held in their locality ? Then it will not 

 matter in what part of North America one lives, he can send 

 his membership fee, and vote, and feel he is doing something 

 towards 'dignifying our profession and maintaining our in- 

 alienable rights,' as Mr. Heddon puts it. Conventions can be 

 held so as to give us a chance to ' see the boys,' and girls, and 

 discuss matters of interest to the fraternity, but leaving the 

 conducting of our legal and Ivindred matters entirely in the 

 hands of the, or a, Board of Managers composed of the best 

 business talent in the fraternity." 



NUMHERING HIVES. 



If simply producing honey for market I see but little more 

 use for numbering the hives than in numbering the trees in a 

 sap-bush, the sheep in the pasture, or the trees in an orchard. 

 If I visited an apiary it would be with some definite purpose. 

 If in the early spring to see if any colonies needed feeding by 

 taking combs of honey from those having plenty, 1 should go 

 at the work systematically, and go through the whole apiary 

 and then go home. Numbers would not help. If to put on 

 supers, I should put supers on colonies needing them. Num- 

 bers wouldn't help. If I went to take off honey, numbers 

 wouldn't show me its location. It is the same witii all kinds 

 of work — it should be self-evident. — Review editorial. 



FEEDING VTATBRMELONS TO BEES. 



The editor of L'Apicoltore once fed 1,500 watermelons, 

 many of which were unripe (worth in all .'S19.50) to his apiary 

 of 100 colonies, from the middle of August to the end of Sep- 

 tember, when there was an absolute dearth of forage. It 

 would have cost him three times as much to have fed honey or 

 sugar. The bees did well on their food, and even stored a few 

 pounds of surplus, which was of good body, but little colored, 

 and very agreeable in taste. Twenty or more a day were fed, 

 according to size. He does not say whether the bee9 wintered 

 on that food, but it is to be presumed they did, for the next 

 season, though there was a little How of honey, he again fed 

 watermelons ' to complete their winter provision,' from which 

 it would appear that it did not hurt them. Care was taken 

 that the juice they obtained was fresh every day. He noticed 

 that they voided the watery portion during their return to the 

 hive, at a distance of only a few yards from the feeding place. 

 Before feeding the fresh melons, he had tried boiling the 

 pulp with a little water, but the bees took little notice of it. — 

 F. L. Tompson, in Review. 



C'ALIFORNIAN "BITS OF MECTAR." 



Notw thstanding the cool May, which lessened the honey 

 crop in Southern California not a little, the harvest the past 

 year has been very satisfactory. We have advices from five 

 counties in Southern California which give a yield of over 

 100 pounds per colony in large apiaries. 



Mr. Hubbard, of Riverside, secured the past season a 

 large crop of orange honey. The flavor of this honey is very 

 excellent, and no doubt but that the large orange groves of 

 Southern California will aid much in placing this region where 

 it rightly belongs, at the head of the honey-producing sections 

 of the world. 



There were two very bright suggestions in the able ad- 

 dress of Mr. Harbison at the San Diego Institute. The fact that 

 many valleys in Southern California are valuable for honey 

 production, and for little else; and that it is easy to secure 

 large areas of black or ball sage at small expense, which he 

 had actually proven by his own experience. 



The discussion as to the relative merits of large and small 

 hives which has long been going on in the bee-journals, seems 

 as far from settlement as ever. No doubt much depends upon 

 the locality and the kind of honey produced. In regions of 

 great honey-flow and especially in case extracted honey is pro- 

 duced exclusively, large hives will be most in favor; while in 

 working for comb honey, especially in regions of light flow, 

 small hives will doubtless give the best satisfaction. 



We notice that the bee-escapes which enable the bee- 

 keeper to free the surplus cases of bees without the necessity 

 of brushing them off the combs, are coming into general use. 

 This is not strange, as their use saves a good deal of time. 

 Mr. Dayton, of Florence, suggest another advantage in their 

 use: the bees may be kept in localities where otherwise it 

 would be impossible to place them. 



Mrs. W. E. Clarke, of Bloomington, has less than 100 

 colonies of bees and yet she has extracted over 10 tons of 

 honey the past season. This is over 200 pounds per colony, 

 and at five cents per pound would give an average of over 



$10. The total proceeds from the apiary will be something 

 over .§1,000. Mrs. Clark did all the work herself, in addition 

 to the regular work of the household. Can Florida, or any 

 other State beat this record ? And yet this is not regarded as 

 a first-class year In bee-keeping. — Prof. A. J. Cook, in Rural 

 Californian for September. 



BLACK vs. YELLOW BEES. 



Mr. Chambers remarked that breeding for color has ended 

 in failure. To a large extent the working qualities of the 

 bees had largely been sacrificed for the mere idea of prettiness. 

 It had been averred that the black bees were not as good 

 honey-gatherers and were more inclined to swarm than the yel- 

 low race. Mr. Beuhne stated that black bees were quite as 

 industrious as the yellow bees but not so prolific. They were, 

 however, better adapted to stand cold and wet. The hybrid 

 combined most of the desirable points required, being both 

 prolific and hardy. Black bees build better looking comb than 

 Italians. 



Mr. W. Symes said that his earlier experiences had been 

 with black bees, but he found them subject to foul brood, so 

 much so that he almost despaired of getting rid of it, but 

 since he introduced Italian bees the disease had gradually dis- 

 appeared and now ceased to trouble. 



Mr. Bolton agreed with the last speaker regarding foul 

 brood. 



Mr. Russell preferred the hybrid bees. They could be 

 handled easily and quickly, and were not so difficult to get off 

 the combs as the Italian. The black bees were without doubt 

 more liable to disease than Italian or hybrid. 



Mr. J. T. Adams preferred hybrids for honey-gatherers, 

 but drew the line at the first cross. 



Mr. Bennett bore evidence to the superior qualities of the 

 yellow bees in resisting disease, giving the result of some ex- 

 perience in endeavoring to Inoculate Italian bees by feeding 

 with honey taken from a foul-broody colony. 



It was agreed on all hands that the points of excellence in 

 the matter of resisting disease were with yellow race of bees, 

 giving them, therefore, a superior place. — Australian Bee- 

 Bulletin. 



Soui1r)crt) Ticp^rin)cr)i^ 



CONDUCTED BY 



OR. J. P. II. BROWlSr, AUGUSTA., GA. 



[Please send all questions relating to bee-lteeping In the South direct 

 to Dr. Brown, and he will answer in this department.— Ed. 1 



Ten-Frame Hives— IVIaking Comb Foundatioii- 

 Fatlicr Langstrotli. 



The honey crop is very short in this section. There was 

 but little white clover, and the weather did not permit bees to 

 work to much advantage in the fore part of the season. Old 

 bee-keepers say that they have never known so much swarm- 

 ing. My bees did better in that respect than most others dur- 

 ing the spring, but they made things lively when the swarm- 

 ing-mania struck them, about the middle of summer. 



Ten-Frame Hives. — Can any one tell the harm that the 

 two outside frames do in a 10-frame hive, even if eight frames 

 are enough for the queen — especially, if the said outside 

 frames are well filled with honey, being mere dummies, thus 

 reducing the working part of the hive to eight frames? The 

 two extra frames of honey are ever standing ready, quietly 

 awaiting the time when they may save the colony from starva- 

 tion during a honey-famine ; and are ever present to encour- 

 age early breeding, by guaranteeing a sufficiency for present 

 needs, and enough to last until the honey-flow. They may 

 cost a few pounds of honey when the swarm is filling the 

 brood-chamber, but is not the moral effect worth the cost ? 

 After the excessive swarming I have just had, I would like to 

 know that every colony had two well-tilled frames of honey in 

 reserve. 



Home-Made Foundation. — It seems, to judge by the an- 

 swer to query 987, that bee-keepers cannot afford to make 

 their own foundation. Yet, I find It quite convenient to have 

 a mill, and about every other year make up all the wax that I 

 can get hold of, for I cannot afford to muss with a little. I 

 have a Pelham mill, which is so easily worked that the milling 

 of the sheeted wax is a small matter; but I cannot say as 

 much for the dipping of the wax-sheets, for it is one of the 



