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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



seems to yield no pollen, and the blossom 

 resembles the buckwheat blossom some- 

 what, except that it has purplish specks. 

 I would like to know the name of this 

 weed, and where it grows naturally, and 

 will gladly answer any questions you 

 may wish to ask concerning it. 



Eugene Wilbee. 

 Conklin Forks, N. Y. 



[This is Pycnanthemum lanceolatum, 

 one of the mints. I do not know how 

 profuse the nectar flow is from the 

 mints. I know the honey is very nice, 

 and the bees seem always able to get 

 some. It is rare to see mint bloom free 

 from bees. I regard the mint as among 

 the most hopeful plants for experiment. 

 — A. J. Cook.] 



Better than for Several Years. 



While around my apiary to-day I saw 

 hundreds, if not thousands, of chilled 

 bees not able to reach the hive. Chilled 

 with cold in August, and only a few days 

 ago they were hanging out in great 

 numbers. What extremes of tempera- 

 ture in a few days ! We had a splendid 

 season in this section, from about June 

 15 until July 15, and the bees were 

 gathering large quantities of beautiful, 

 white honey — no dark honey nor bug- 

 juice. I see some persons report a very 

 poor season, almost in this neighbor- 

 hood, but 1 must report the best season 

 for several years, although the basswood, 

 which I looked forward to with a good 

 deal of hope, was a total failure in this 

 section. James Harker. 



Argyle, Wis., Aug. 29, 1891. 



Best Season for Ten Years. 



We have had the best honey season up 

 to July that we have had for ten years, 

 in this part of the country. My best 

 colonies stored 60 pounds of honey, and 

 cast two swarms each. Although I have 

 got lots of honey, but little of it was No. 

 1. My bees spoiled the poplar honey by 

 mixing black-gum with it, which made 

 the honey very bitter. They spoiled the 

 white honey by mixing honey-dew with 

 it, of which we had the most that was 

 ever known here — our hives are full of 

 it. I do not know what it will do for our 

 bees this Winter, but as I am not pre- 

 pared to extract, they will have to 

 winter on it. We have had plenty of 

 rain all season, and crops of all kinds 

 are good. Golden-rod has just begun to 



bloom, and it looks very promising for a 

 Fall crop of honey — in fact, all of the 

 Fall flowers look fine. 



Joseph A. Weeks. 

 Young's Creek, Ind., Aug. 31, 1891. 



[It will probably not be safe to attempt 

 to Winter bees on honej-dew. You had 

 better feed them with sugar syrup, if 

 they do not gather sufficient stores for 

 Winter from the Fall flowers, and keep 

 the honey-dew for feeding the bees next 

 Spring. — Ed.] 



Bees in the "Dark Continent." 



A writer in the Canadian Bee Journal 

 for Aug. 1 has raised a question, and 

 friend Jones steps in to say that African 

 bees can sting, and made him run when 

 in Egypt, simply because he treated a 

 few of their companions to a bottle of 

 spirits. I have not tried Funics with 

 spirits, as I do not use them, so cannot 

 say if it will make them bad tempered. 

 We had the Egyptian bee here in Hallam- 

 shire 25 years ago, ' and all who tried 

 them said they were too savage to keep. 

 They were introduced into England and 

 America by the late Mr. Woodbury — the 

 English Langstroth. The bees have 

 yellow bands and grey hairs ; species 

 Apis Faciata ; so they are nothing like 

 Funics — Apis Niger. Africa is a very 

 large tract of land, and it is just as fair 

 to call them "African " as it is to call 

 Cyprians, Italians, Carniolans and Ger- 

 man bees "European." Punic is the 

 proper name for these black bees, and 

 all classic students will be able to fix the 

 locality on a map of Africa. I have an 

 idea that the number of distinct races of 

 honey-bees in Africa are very many ; 

 hence, we must not begin confounding 

 missionary and other reports with the 

 Punic bees. These bees have only to be 

 tried ; let them stand or fall on their 

 own merits ; to class other bees with 

 them is as fair as classing Cyprians with 

 Italians. 



A Hallamshire Bee-Keeper. 



Sheffield, England. 



Calvert's No. 1 Phenol, mentioned in 

 Cheshire's Pamphlet on pages 16 and 17, as 

 a cure for foul-brood, can be procured at 

 this office at 25 cents per ounce, by express. 



Clubs of 5 New Subscriptions for $4.00 

 to any addresses. Ten for $7.50. 



