AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



117 



wish it to remain. In answer to Mr. 

 Clark's request, page 21, I will say, that 

 if it is bees only that he wants, he can 

 secure them by preparing some hives, 

 'and putting them up in trees in the 

 forest. Nail up a board, and tie the 

 hive to that with a wire or a rope, as he 

 can then remove the hive without jarring 

 the bees. Put the hives up just before 

 swarming time, and report the result. 

 A great deal of honey-dew is reported 

 in this vicinity. Bees are storing honey 

 very fast, but it is quite dark, although 

 some bass wood honey is mixed in, mak- 

 ing light streaks through it. It is 

 singular how ignorant some bee-keepers 

 are about bees, and still will not sub- 

 scribe for a bee-periodical. One man 

 who has kept bees much longer than I 

 have, asked me what the difference was 

 between a drone and a queen, and there 

 are still others who call the queen the 

 " king." C. A. Spencek. 



Farmersville, Mo., July 7, 1891. 



Prospect for an Average Crop. 



Bees are not doing as well as I had 

 reason to, expect, because of too much 

 rain during the best honey-gathering 

 period. Swarming has been progressing 

 slowly but surely. Prospects for a Fall 

 flow of honey are very favorable at 

 present, and we may have an average 

 crop yet. J. B. Ramage and myself 

 have just received some Italian queens, 

 the first imported into this part of the 

 country, and they are doing nicely. The 

 Bee Journal is a welcome visitor at my 

 house, and one that is looked for as 

 regularly as the day comes. 



Haynie, Wash. John Otly. 



Antiquated Bee-Hives. 



In looking over my apiary, I find that 

 I have 2 colonies of very fine Italians, 

 which, from the style of their hives, 

 might be objects of much curiosity, at 

 least, in the Apiarian Department of the 

 great Columbian Exposition. The most 

 antiquated of these hives is an old gum 

 log, which has contained bees almost 

 continuously for the past 50 years, and 

 although its first colony was what used 

 to be called a "buckwheat" swarm (one 

 cast on Aug. 8), it wintered successfully, 

 and the next season, and for nine suc- 

 cessive seasons, the colony occupying the 

 gum, was the first in an apiary of from 

 10 to 40 colonies to cast a swarm. The 

 other colony is a swarm from the gum 

 log, which I hived in an old-fashioned 

 straw hive. Both colonies contain very 



large and beautiful Italian bees, with 

 probably a dash of Syrian blood, which 

 only adds to their value. Should next 

 season be a good one, and should you 

 think it worth the trouble, I believe I 

 can pack them in such a manner that 

 they would reach you in safety. The 

 one in the straw hive, I might be 

 willing to dispose of, but the gum log 

 has been in our family for half a century, 

 and I will never part with it as long as 

 I am able to keep bees, and would wish 

 it returned to me. Wm. S. Barclay. 

 Beaver, Pa. 



[These antiquated specimens are just 

 what we desire to exhibit side by side 

 with the modern inventions. We com- 

 mend this offer to Dr. Mason, who will 

 doubtless be the Superintendent of the 

 Apiarian Department. — Ed.] 



No Honey in the Sections. 



Will some of the readers of the Bee 

 Journal explain the cause of my '3 

 colonies of bees not working in the 

 section-boxes, when there has been, and 

 now is, an abundance of honey-bearing 

 flowers, such as white clover, basswood, 

 raspberries, etc. Have had one swarm, 

 which is doing nicely, but the old colo- 

 nies have not stored a pound of honey 

 in the boxes. They are in simplicity 

 hives. A. H. Hawley. 



Vineland, N. J., July 13, 1891. 



Black, Shiny Bees. 



There is something about the " black, 

 shiny bees " that has not been satisfac- 

 torily explained. Some one (the editor, 

 I think) has said they are old bees that 

 the workers are anxious to be rid of. If 

 this is so, how happens it that of a dozen 

 colonies only one has them for weeks, or 

 months, even, and that one is afflicted 

 with them all of the time ? In the 

 American Bee Journal of July 9, Mr. 

 Bittenbender says, they " seem to come 

 from colonies that have been robbed, 

 and are stray bees." This is not satis- 

 factory. There are only 2 colonies 

 nearer to mine than three miles. 

 Neither of them has been robbed. There 

 has been no occasion for robbing, as 

 there has been a continual honey-flow 

 from red raspberries for four weeks, and 

 all the colonies have plenty of honey. 

 A few weeks ago one colony was 

 troubled with them, and now another 

 colony is affected. Neither of the ex- 

 planations given tallies with the facts 



