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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



a full set of eight frames, no time need 

 be uselessly sacrificed. 



Now, friends, try them. There is, 

 however no necessity of going into the 

 experiment in a wholesale manner ; a 

 few at first, and more afterwards if you 

 need them, will be a wise plan to follow. 

 I know they are gaining ground yearly, 

 and this fact alone should be a guaran- 

 tee that they are not a useless appen- 

 dage in the apiary ; and, as I am about 

 concluding, let me add : At all times 

 have plenty of store or surplus combs, 

 no matter of what style or depth, as 

 they are good capital at any time, 

 especially in a poor season, like the past, 

 as bees stored in such did well, while 

 those in sections or on frames of foun- 

 dation did little or nothing. 



Lastly, do not be afraid to put your 

 name on all honey offered for sale, at, 

 the same time stating the source from 

 which it is secured, and thus prevent 

 confusion and suspicion. Too much 

 need not be on the label, but it should 

 be in large print, and easily understood. 

 — Read at the Brant, Out., Convention. 



Bee Sconts Finding a Location, 



GEORGE POINDEXTER, 



The question has arisen, do bees 

 locate a home before leaving the parent 

 hive ? I contend that they do send out 

 scouts to locate a home for the swarm, 

 previous to entering the hive or tree. I 

 am not guessing at this, but I know it 

 from observation and experience. 



Whoever heard of bees locating a 

 home by the echo of the sound made by 

 their wings ? Bees never enter a hole 

 or hive without making a thorough ex- 

 amination of it. If they did, they would 

 find the place too small, sometimes, and 

 have to come out again, which they do 

 not do when they enter a tree or hive of 

 their own free will. 



Those who do not believe that bees 

 will locate and clean out a home pre- 

 vious to entering it, should put a few 

 hives in some apple trees, with an empty 

 comb or two in them, putting in some 

 dirt or rotten wood, to give the scouts 

 something to do. That will give con- 

 vincing proof that what I have said is 

 true. Did you never see bees in a tree 

 carrying out dirt and trash, getting 

 ready for the swarm to enter ? If you 

 were not a practical bee hunter, you 

 might mistake the scouts for bees get- 

 ting honey from flowers. 



If bees pass a good home and enter a 

 worthless one, it is because they first 

 picked it out and cleaned it up. How 

 often have bees been put into a new hive 

 and have left it on account of some dis- 

 gusting smell about it which they did 

 not like ! 



When bees are clustered in the woods 

 hundreds of scouts leave the cluster in 

 search of a home, taking different direc- 

 tions, and when a home is found, cleaned 

 out, and the cracks glued up with propo- 

 lis, then the bees return to the cluster 

 and give notice that everything is ready, 

 and all go straight to the tree or hive. 

 Then a lot of scouts may come in from 

 other directions, only to find that the 

 swarm has gone, and not knowing 

 where they were, they remain there for 

 two or three weeks, and dwindle away, 

 until from perhaps a gallon of bees 

 only two or three remain. 



Kinney, Ills. 



Bee-Keejing in Floriila, Etc, 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



My experience with apiarists has been 

 that they are a liberal, generous sort of 

 people, and that after spending much 

 time and money in acquiring knowledge, 

 they impart it freely to others, without 

 money and without price. Their latch 

 string hangs out to all wide-awake, 

 progressive apiarists, but they are not 

 slow in detecting impostors, who only 

 desire free entertainment. 



Last week I was highly gratified by a 

 visit from a lady who is on her way to 

 Florida to start an apiary on the St. 

 Johns River, in an orange orchard. I 

 told her that bee-culture was no bonanza, 

 but fair returns might be expected from 

 time and labor expended. 



She had been offered an apiary of 50 

 colonies in Nebraska very cheaply. I 

 advised her not to purchase until she 

 was located, and then consult the api- 

 arists of that locality, for Southern bee- 

 culture must be different from Northern, 

 as the honey-producing plants and time 

 of blooming do not correspond. 



Bee-keepers that are located in East- 

 ern Florida, on the St; Johns or Indian 

 River, produce but little or no comb- 

 honey on account of the dampness of the 

 climate. I met a lady who had spent 

 several years in that locality, who said 

 that she never saw a place there that 

 she did not think that she could take a 

 broom handle and run it down to water ; 

 and that clothing left upon the first floor 



