470 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



nest and lays eggs. As with the honey- 

 bee, there are three classes — queens, 

 drones and workers. In August the 

 first drones appear, and in the latter 

 part of the same month the young 

 queens appear in great numbers. They 

 all hatch out about the same time, fly 

 out to meet the drones, become fertile, 

 and the nest breaks up. The young 

 queens burrow in the ground to spend 

 the' Winter, and the drones and workers 

 loaf around until cold weather, and then 

 die. While I had these bees. caged, I 

 witnessed the process of mating in the 

 cage, and I think that there is a point 

 that we will accomplish with the honey- 

 bee before many years. 



This has been the poorest season for 

 honey that I ever knew in this locality. 



Lexington, Ky. 



M. of Sweetness— Colcl Winter. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



What has become of it ? Sweet corn 

 is a misnomer this year, for it lacks 

 sweetness — it is insipid. Peaches are 

 abundant, large and juicy, but lack 

 sweetness. Is it to be wondered at, 

 then, that flowers secrete no nectar from 

 the earth, air or sunshine? Moisture 

 there has been in abundance, and noth- 

 ing lacking but heat. Then hot sunshine 

 must be the requisite to produce sweet- 

 ness. Or is it the lack of zero weather 

 last Winter ? The heat and cold were 

 badly mixed ; the warm weather during 

 the past Winter was repaid during this 

 Summer with cool. Some weather proph- 

 ets predict a severe season ahead, and 

 let us take warning and be ready to meet 

 it half way. 



COLD WINTER. 



Bees are tiny creatures, and are not 

 provided with lalankets and overcoats : 

 therefore, their owners should look after 

 their comfort. There has been much 

 said about the cruelty of destroying bees 

 with sulphur fumes, and little about 

 those who let them shiver for months, and 

 finally yield to the inevitable. Which is 

 the more humane ? 



Good, strong colonies of bees, with 

 plenty of well ripened stores, can come 

 through zero weather with colors flying, 

 provided they are kept dry. This may 

 appear, at first glance, to be an easy 

 ma-tter, with a tight roof over their 

 heads, but the danger is not from out- 

 side, but moisture from within. During 

 very cold weather bees consume large 



quantities of honey in order to generate 

 heat, and the moisture passes off in vapor 

 through breathing holes in their bodies. 



If the air surrounding the cluster is 

 very cold, this vapor congeals above and 

 around them, and will do no harm as 

 long as the cold continues, but let a thaw 

 come on and the bees will be in a sad 

 plight ; should the weather turn sudden- 

 ly cold the cluster will be frozen solid. 

 Bee-keepers have been experimenting 

 along this line — how to prevent dampness 

 during cold weather — for many years. 



Where a colony is known to have a 

 young, vigorous queen and plenty of 

 bees, they need no attention at present, 

 unless they have but little honey, and 

 even then I would not feed until frost 

 had killed the flowers, for I have known 

 large colonies to fill their hives during 

 the last ten days of grace preceding 

 frost. But all small colonies should be 

 doubled up, as I have stated in previous 

 articles. 



I laid down my pen just now and 

 went into the apiary and opened a hive. 

 0, dear me! I had forgotten that it hurt 

 so to be stung. As long as I do not dis- 

 turb a hive no one is ever stung, although 

 there are more than 100 colonies in close 

 proximity to the house. There has been 

 so little honey all Summer that when a 

 colony is disturbed the bees seem to 

 think that they must defend their all at 

 the risk of losing their lives and care 

 naught for smoke. 



This morning I was requested to stand 

 in the shade and look up at the sky. I 

 soon saw the reason why. The bees 

 were darting in quick succession in the 

 direction of the river bottom; it almost 

 seemed as though there would not be a 

 bee left in the apiary. If this rush for 

 the river bottom continues many days, we 

 feel assured that we shall have to feed 

 but little for Winter. — Prairie Fanner. 



Peoria, Ills. 



Mary Maud McCracken, of Topeka, 

 Kans., who advertised last season to 

 send pure Italian queens, warranted and 

 tested, for J^2, turns out to be a fraud. 

 She is a young girl, and never owned a 

 bee. Bee-periodicals are welcome to this 

 information. — Field and Farm. 



We never saw the advertisement, but 

 presume it was in some of the agricul- 

 tural periodicals. 



Clubs of 5 New Subscriptions for f4.UU, 

 to any addresses. Ten for $7.50. 



