THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



6G7 



ling the European, and which pro- 

 duces a honey like our own. It ia 

 domesticated by the Indians, who 

 lodge the swarms, he says, iu the hol- 

 lows of trees. A second species is 

 noticed by the same author as smaller 

 than ours, so much as to resemble 

 smaller " winged ants," and as with- 

 out stings. They build their nests, 

 which are composed of several layers, 

 in the rocks, and also suspend them 

 on trees. Their honey is dark- colored 

 and high-flavored. The cells are of 

 smaller dimensions than those of the 

 domestic bee ; and it is probable, 

 though not so stated, contain only 

 brood ; the honey being found in 

 small cups. The larvse, "it appears, 

 was esteemed a delicacy, for the his- 

 torian tells us that when roasted and 

 seasoned with salt, they have the 

 taste and flavor of sweet almonds. 

 This species collect their honey and 

 live much in the same way with the 

 honey-bees of Europe. Other small 

 stingless bees are mentioned, which 

 establish themselves underground in 

 nests of a gobular shape, but of very 

 coarse workmanship ; their honey, 

 too, is inferior, and is never used but 

 in default of better. 



In domesticating their bees, the 

 Mexicans lodge them in hives formed 

 of short logs of wood, from 2 to 3 feet 

 long, hollowed out about 5 inches iu 

 diameter, having the ends filled with 

 clay, and a hole for the entrance 

 bored on one side, about half-way be- 

 tween the ends. They are suspended 

 in a horizontal position from the 

 branches of trees. 



The interior of a hive presents, like 

 that of a humble-bee, a confused and 

 irregular appearance. The combs, 

 ■which have but one series of cells, 

 are placed.some in a vertical position, 

 and others horizontal. They are 

 grouped together in an oval mass, and 

 occupy nearly half of the internal 

 space, while the other half is stored 

 with the honey cups. The honey, as 

 has been stated, is deposited in small 

 globular bags, huug around the sides 

 of the liives, or placed at the bottom ; 

 some of these receptacles are more 

 than \i4 inches in diameter ; and in 

 many instances are so connected to- 

 gether that, as in the case of cells of 

 common honey-comb, one side serves 

 for two cups,thus combining economy 

 and strength. And these magazines 

 of honey being altogether apart from 

 the brood combs, and iu no ways con- 

 nected with them, great facility is 

 afforded in depriving the bees of their 

 stores. The honey is thin in consis- 

 tency, but of a very agreeable flavor, 

 and gives out a rich, aromatic per- 

 fume. The wax is coarse, and of a 

 brownish yellow; propolis does not 

 appear to be used. 



The Mexican bee is smaller by one- 

 fifth than the European. Many of the 

 species to which have been given the 

 denomination of Melipona, or Tri- 

 gona, are described as having no 

 stings, or at least so feeble a weapon 

 as to produce no sensible injury ; and 

 from this circumstance they are 

 known in the Spanish colonies "by the 

 name of Angelitos, or little angels. 

 The population of a hive is generally 

 under a thousand. 



A glance at the habits of some of 

 the many varieties cannot fail to be 

 of great interest, although the intro- 

 duction into our apiaries of the so- 

 called " stingless bee " might be the 

 reverse of an improvement. We have 

 noticed that the honey in Mexico ob- 

 tained from these bees was thin in 

 consistency, and this in a country 

 where the bee-flora is almost perfect ; 

 what could we expect on these shores? 

 perhaps the honey would not keep, 

 and soon turn soar. The fact of the 

 Mexican bee storing its honey in large 

 cells, or cups, and always away from 

 the brood— what a revolution in api- 

 culture its introduction would cause ! 



Ohio Poultry Journal. 



The Frnit M Honey Crops, 



J. p. JOHNSON. 



Take care of the bees ; examine them 

 occasionally, to see if they have plenty 

 of stores to winter on, and if not, feed 

 them. Granulated sugar is the best 

 feed, and the only feed that is safe to 

 winter on. Of course honey is better 

 than anything else, but it does not 

 pay the bee-keeper to feed honey 

 when sugar will do as well. Feed all 

 liglit colonies of bees, in October, till 

 thev have from 20 to 40 lbs. of stores. 



Take good care of your bees, and 

 we are satisfied that you will never 

 regret it. If they did not gather 

 much honey this year, there is no 

 knowing what the future has in store 

 for you. 



Piqua,to O. 



The honey crop this year is a fail- 

 ure throughout the United States, ex- 

 cept California. There are a great 

 many colonies of bees that will starve 

 before the first of January if not fed, 

 and probably two-thirds of all the 

 bees east of the Rocky Mountains will 

 have to be fed before spring, or they 

 will starve to death. But this should 

 not discourage the bee-keeper, as 

 there are failures in all kinds of busi- 

 ness. The farmer fails every seven 

 or eight years in raising a wheat crop, 

 and this year he has failed to a great 

 extent in raising a corn crop. Still he 

 is not discouraged, but goes at it with 

 renewed energy the next year, as if 

 his crops had all been a grand success. 



In bee-keeping there will be dry 

 seasons that will keep the bees from 

 accumulating any surplus honey, and 

 there will be winters that all the bees 

 will die except those in the hands of 

 the careful and experienced apiarist. 

 Still this should not keep the lovers 

 of honey — the purest and healthiest of 

 sweets— from keeping bees. There 

 may be years before there is another 

 such a season as this one. 



We have been keeping bees for 

 years, and this is the first year that 

 we did not get honey enough to sup- 

 ply our table. Still, we are not dis- 

 couraged ; nest year will probably be 

 one of the best honey seasons we 

 have had for years, as one extreme 

 brings on another. It is the opinion 

 of a great number of scientific men 

 who nave made it their study, that if 

 it were not for the bees the fruit crop 

 would be a failure, as the bees assist 

 in distributing the pollen while the 

 fruit is in bloom. Last spring, dur- 

 ing the time the fruit was in bloom, 

 it was windy, wet, and cold ; so much 

 so that the bees could not fly out. 

 The result was, there was but little 

 fruit of any kind. Horticulturists 

 say that this was caused by the un- 

 fertilization of the bloom ; and that 

 the bees are of great use in this re- 

 spect. So it seems that if we get but 

 little honey, it will pay to keep bees, 

 as the fruit-crop is worth more to the 

 country than the honey-crop. 



Honey is scarce and high in price, 

 and those that have honey to sell will 

 hold it for the high price they can get. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time ana putce ol Meeting. 



Oct. 26.— Wabasb County, at Wabash, Ind. 



F. S. Comatuck, Sec North Manchester, iBd. 



Oct. 26, 27.-Pan-nandle, at WheelinK, W. Va. 



W. L. Kinsey, Sec, Blaine, O. 



Oct. 28.— Darke County, at Arcanum, O, 



J. A. Hoe, Sec, Union City. Ind, 



Nov. 16.— Western, at Kansas City, Mo. 



J. A. Nelson, Sec, Muncie, Kans, 



Nov. 16-18.— North American, at Chicago, Ills. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Rogersville, Mich. 



Dec 7-9.-MiohiKan State, at Bast Saginaw, Mich. 



11. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton, Mich. 

 1888. 

 Jan. 20.— Haldimand, at Cayuga, Ontario. 



E. C. Campbell, Sec, Cayuga, Ont. 



|y In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulure of 

 time and place of future meetings.— BD. 





Superiority of the Italians.— Burke 

 Salkeld, Babylon,K3 Ills., on Oct. 10, 

 1887, writes : 



This has been a very poor season 

 for honey, and has proven the super- 

 iority of Italian bees. My Italians 

 gathered 2.S pounds per colony, while 

 the blacks, fully as strong, did noth- 

 ing but try to rob. 



Report for 1887.— 8-P. J, England, 

 (38—38), Fancy Prairie,© Ills., on 

 Oct. 11, 1887, says : 



I have secured 1,600 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey this year, and it is all 

 sold. Last year my bees averaged 200 

 pounds per colony. Old fogy bee- 

 keepers are very '■ blue," and a great 

 many of their bees have already 

 perished. 



Union Convention at Chicago.— The 



North American Boe-Keepers' Society und 

 the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Society will 

 meet in joint convention at the Commercial 

 Hotel, cor. Lake and Dearborn Streets, in 

 Chicago. Ills., on Wednesday, Thursday and 

 Friday, Nov, 16, 17 and 18, 1887. .Arrange- 

 ments have been made with the Hotel, lor 

 back room, one bed, two persons, 11,75 per 

 day, each ; front room, $'-i.0O per day each 

 person. This date occurs during- the second 

 week of the Fat Stock Show, when excursion 

 rates will be very low. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



