270 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



hive. II" there, is room for the bees to 

 cluster above the combs, that will be an 

 advantage. Put them in a cattle car, 

 and place the hives so that the combs 

 will be lengthwise of the car. — M. Mahix. 



1. You can move them with perfect 

 safety at cither season. 2. Give ahun- 

 dance of ventilation at both top and 

 bottom of hive — also at ends. Use wire- 

 cloth. The frames must also be secured 

 at top and bottom, so that they cannot 

 slide. Secure the combs by using transfer 

 sticks. Thus prepared they would go to 

 California. — J. P. H. Brown. 



1. Bees may be moved at any time, if 

 properly prepared. When the weather 

 is cool, and the honey .in the hive is not 

 plentiful, as is the case in the Spring, is 

 the best time to move them. Be sure 

 that they have honey enough to live on. 

 2. The method of preparing them for 

 shipment would be too long for this 

 department. The frames should be 

 properly fastened, and should be placed 

 in the car so as to be parallel to the 

 track. Abundant ventilation should be 

 provided. An article on this subject 

 may be found on page 268. — The 

 Ebitoe. 



Sundry duestiojis. 



It is Verbena. 



I send you herewith a piece of a honey- 

 plant, which I would be pleased to know 

 the name of. It has been in flower since 

 May, and more bees can be seen upon it 

 at any time than upon any ten other 

 plants of which I have any knowledge. 



Denison, Iowa. G. W. Bond. 



[It is verbena, and an excellent honey- 

 producer. — Ed.] 



Syrphus Fly. 



To-day I mail you one of the finest 

 specimens of those bees crossed with tht^ 

 lightning bug. Please examine and 

 report through the Bee Journal. There 

 is no surplus honey here. It rains all 

 day and all night. J. E. Prichard. 



Port Norris, N. J., Aug. 7, 1891. 



[The hybrid bee sent by J. E. Prichard, 

 is a Syrphus fly ; a species of eristolis. 

 It has only two wings ; a bee has four. 

 It is different in every way. The larvae 

 of these flies live in cess pools, privy 



vaults, or any water containing decaying 

 organic matter. The larva is cylindrical, 

 footless, has a tail-like appendage, and is 

 the so-called rat-tail larva. — A. J.Cook.] 



Grubb's Patent (?) Frame. 



I came to Oregon in December, 1889, 

 from Nebraska, and think this is the 

 best State I was ever in, and I have 

 lived in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Iowa 

 and Nebraska, and was in the Southern 

 States during the war. I am in the bee- 

 business here on a small scale, and think 

 that with care and enterpise the business 

 will pay. I have known of colonies of 

 bees storing over 75 pounds of honey in 

 the sections, besides filling the brood- 

 chamber. Nearly all of the bees here 

 are pure blacks, and the worst things to 

 find a queen among that I ever saw. I 

 have just received a nice Italian queen, 

 from Henry Alley, of Wenham, Mass. 

 On page 108 of the Bee Journal is a 

 description, and illustrations of a comb- 

 frame patented by Mr. Grubb, of 

 Nebraska. Three or four years ago, in 

 Nuckolls County, Nebraska, I made 

 frames with top-bars 1 inch wide and 

 % of an inch thick, by hand, cutting in 

 half-way with a rip saw,- lengthwise, 

 then turning the top-bar over and cut- 

 ting from the under side to this cut, 

 taking out the piece, and then tacking 

 it in again against the foundation with 

 wire nails. 1 also made some by dress- 

 ing off the corners to a V, and then tak- 

 ing out half of the V-shaped piece, 

 the same as in the illustration. I also 

 saw just such frames, I think, made and 

 sold by James Roberts, of Edgar, Clay 

 County, Nebr. O. H. Cobt?. 



Dallas, Oreg., Aug. 10, 1891. 



Shade for Hives. 



The color of the hive has a great bear- 

 ing upon the necessity for shade. Black, 

 or a dark color, absorbs heat, while it is 

 reflected or repelled by white. I have 

 seen the combs melt down in an old 

 weather-beaten hive that stood in the 

 sun, but I never saw them melt in hives 

 painted white, even if standing in the 

 sun. 



I have read of combs melting down in 

 hives standing in shade so douse that the 

 sun never shone upon them. The trouble 

 was that growing corn on one side, and 

 dense brush upon the other, made it so 

 close that no air circulated. — W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



