1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



651 



sects. Almost every one has seen ants carrying their eggs 

 from one place to another. The family of insects, called ter- 

 mites — or sometimes white ants, but in no way related to the 

 ants — carry away the eggs as fast as the queen, or mother 

 termite, lays them. When the queen is filled with eggs, she is 

 unable to move. Comstock says she looks more like a potato 

 than anything else at this time. Her sole business, like that 

 of the mother-bee, is to lay eggs, and as fast as she lays them 

 they are carried into other departments and cared for by 

 the workers, as are also the young when they are hatched out. 



Wilson says that occasionally a new nest, or tarmitariiim, 

 as it is technically called, may be found, in which king and 

 queen are absent, and which contains workers only. "These, 

 however," he says, "gradually prepare the nest for full com- 

 pletion by bringing eggs from other cells from a neighboring 

 termitarium, for which the due population of the colony will 

 be in time produced." 



The reader will notice that in this case the workers not 

 only move the eggs about in their own nest, but go to neigh- 

 boring nests and secure the necessary eggs to produce a queeu 

 if for any cause they are compelled to do so. With these facts 

 before us, it should not seem strange that bees carry eggs 

 from one cell to another. So far as I am personally concerned, 

 I am prepared to accept as an established fact that bees do 

 move eggs, and I should not be greatly surprised to learn that 

 in rare instances they even carry them from other hives. If 

 termites carry eggs in this way, why not bees? 



CONunCTED By 



DR. J. p. n. BROWX, AUGUSTA, GA. 



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

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



The International Bec-Kecpers' Congrcs§. 



This gathering meets at Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 4th and 5th. 

 The Exposition at that time will be at its best, and the rail- 

 road rates the lowest. It will be a large convention of bee- 

 keepers. Make your arrangements to go. 



Sumac Honey. 



Dr. Brown : — On page 574, you say: "Sumac is a good 

 honey-plant, but the honey is very dark." I wish to say that 

 my observation is quite different from yours. At my home 

 apiary, a good portion of the honey is from white sumac, 

 which begins to bloom about the first of June, and continues 15 

 to 20 days. While it is blooming there is little else from 

 which the bees gather honey, so that I have a good opportu- 

 nity to observe. The honey that I get at that time is a light 

 golden color. C. C. Parsons. 



Bessemer, Ala. 



Answer.- — It is a fact, with the " why and wherefore" 

 not -^ell understood, that the shade of honey of the same vari- 

 ety of plant frequently varies in different sections of the coun- 

 try, and also with the season. For instance : Mr. Parsons, of 

 Bessemer, Ala., says that sumac honey with him is of a golden 

 yellow, while the honey gathered from sumac in this portion 

 of Georgia is quite dark ; though he says his is gathered from 

 the while sumac. The variety with me is Rhus c/Uibrum. 

 Now there are four or five varieties of Rhus. I don't know 

 what he calls the white variety, but I presume it is the same 

 variety we have here. 



The Te.\as 8lalc Convention. 



The Texas State Bee-Keepers' Association held its ISth 

 convention on Aug. 21, 1895, being its first semi-annual meet- 

 ing. The members were pained to learn on meeting that the 

 President, Dr. W. K. Marshall, could not be present on ac- 

 count of illness. 



It was held at the Graham hive-factory, in Greenville. 

 It was opened by the Vice-President, who gave an address of 

 welcome, and told in his good-humored way that he always 

 loved to meet the bee-keepers of his country, and when he was 

 only a boy how glad be was to hear the old dinner-horn blow, 

 for that was the way they settled the swarms of bees in those 

 days. 



The members present were as as follows : Vice-Pres. W. 

 R. Graham, J. L. Strickland, D. T. Willis, Clay Dodson, B. F. 

 Yancy, A. B. Spradling, W. D. Spradling, G. B. Pierce, James 

 Yancy, W. W. Strickland, W. T. Boyd, Melvin Kimbro, R. D. 

 Waddle, R. E. Spradling, W. H. White, H. L. Bolton, Alva 

 White, David Yancy. Jr., W. N. Pedigo, G. E. West, R. E. L. 

 Peck, and E. F. H. Mattox. 



There were 650 colonies of bees represented. There had 

 been but little honey taken up to date — 3,375 pounds being 

 reported. 



QUESTION-BOX. 



How can we market our honey to the best advantage? 

 The prevailing idea was to get it in as attractive shape as pos- 

 sible, in small packages, and to give honey in samples. 



What size sections are best? Some preferred 4^x1%, 

 while some the smaller ones. 



Which is the most profitable to produce, comb honey at 

 123-2 cents per pound, or extracted at 10 cents per pound? 

 Extricted, much more so, as it was thought that almost twice 

 as much extracted honey could be secured as comb. 



What advantage is the queen-excluding honey-board to the 

 honey-producer ? Only to keep the queen below. 



Is there any advantage in extracting from the brood-nest 

 to give the queen room ? It was decided there was some. 



How many colonies should a person have to justify him in 

 buying an extractor ? 6 to 10. 



Will extracting from the brood-nest stop the work in the 

 sections ? Yes. 



Are there two kinds of moth-worms? We have only one 

 kind of moth-worm. We also have a wax-worm. 



Is it profitable to plant sweet clover for pasturage ? It 

 was thought profitable to plant all vacant spots and waste- 

 places. All were urged to try the experiment. 



The organization of county bee-keepers' associations was 

 discussed, and thought to be of great value to bee-keepers. 



How can I Italianize my apiary the quickest and cheap- 

 est way ? Plans were given by several members, and were 

 very interesting. 



Increase of colonies and how, was explained by W. R. 

 Graham. 



The awards for exhibits were as follows : 



For best sample of comb honey, R E. L. Peck received a 

 honey-knife. 



For best sample of extracted honey, H. L. Bolton received 

 a honey-knife. 



For best bees, W. H. White received a book, " Langstroth 

 on the Honey-Bde." 



R. E. L. Peck reported foul brood in his apiary. 



The convention adjourned to meet on the first Wednesday 

 and Thursday in April, 1896. W. H. White, Sec. 



Deport, Tex. 



Tiering^ up Supers. 



Dr. Brown: — My bees have gathered but little honey dur- 

 ing this year until recently. Now, however, they are quite 

 busy, so much so, that I have been obliged to put on second 

 supers, which also are being filled quite rapidly. 



1. This Piedmont section corresponds largely with that 

 of Georgia. Will you please tell me what plants the bees are 

 working so vigorously ? 



2. Is it likely," under ordinary conditions, that a moder- 

 ate honey-flow will continue from fall flowers until frost ? 



3. I have one very strong colony of yellow Italian bees, 

 which seem to be at work night and day. This hive, at pres- 

 ent, consists of 10 brood-frames, and two supers have been 

 placed above. Now it is evident they are still crowded. Sup- 

 pose I had placed three or four supers on the hive, at the be- 

 ginning, instead of one, would that have induced more bees to 

 be employed at the same time ? also, would the work finally 

 done in each super, have been as well done ; i. e., as many 

 sections well capped, as in the old method of tiering up ? 



Sourwood blossoms were abundant during the past sum- 

 mer, but my observations of them corresponds with your state- 

 ment of your part of Georgia — very little honey is gathered 

 from them by the bees. W. LkGette. 



Forest City, N. C, Sept 10. 



Answers. — 1. I presume they must be working on the 

 golden-rod and aster. 



2. The aster blooms till killed by frost, and is one of (he 

 best fall honey-plants we have. 



8. I do not think it a good plan to put on too many empty 

 supers at once. When one is partly filled raise it up, and place 

 one empty one beneath. When too many are put on at once, 

 the bees are more reluctant to commence work in them— they 

 seem to look upon the job before them as too big to tackle. 



