AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



89 



Tons of Honey for Hotels. 



Dr. Searles of Worcester, Mass., is the 

 possessor of 500 colonies of bees. At 

 the Convention in Ploughman Hall, 

 Boston, Dec. 13, he said that he used a 

 modification of Dr. Tinker's hive, and 

 that 4 tons of honey were produced last 

 season. At one hotel he sold half a ton. 

 Most of the honey was sold in New York 

 at 20 cents per pound. — E. L. Pratt, in 

 ApicuJturist. 



Adaptation for the Business. 



Many persons are naturally unfit for 

 the bee business, from carelessness and 

 inaccuracy about their work. I know of 

 no out-door pursuit where so much 

 depends on the right thing being done at 

 the right time, and in the right way. A 

 willingness to work hard, and a determin- 

 ation to succeed, are characteristics of 

 the prosperous bee-keeper. — G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



Clipping dueen's Wings. 



I notice in the answers to Query No. 

 746, only Mr. Eugene Secor cuts the 

 queen's wings, without catching her. I 

 have been cutting mine that way for 5 

 years or more, as the bees killed them 

 quite often after I had caught them to 

 cut their wings, in fact I lost }4 a dozeu 

 or more in one season in that way. Since 

 then I cut them exactly as Mr. S. does. 

 I wish to make one more remark in 

 regard to the answer which says : "Clip 

 the tip of Both Wings." If you clip 

 both wings straight across, and cut off 

 no more than J4 of the wing, the queen 

 will fly quite readily at swarming time, 

 and may light high up in some tree. 

 This is probably known to all old bee- 

 keepers who cut their queen's wings, 

 hence, I write this that beginners may 

 not be misled. Paul Scheueing. 



West DePere, Wis., Jan. 2, 1891. 



Watering-Place for Bees. 



I am highly pleased with the improved 

 style and make-up of the Bee Journal. 

 Being more compact, it occupies less 

 room on the desk, and I think it a more 

 convenient form for binding. In the 

 number before me, I notice an article 

 from Gleanings, by E. Smith, on a 

 " W^atering Place for Bees." Let me 

 describe the one I use : Take an empty 

 salt-barrel, and place it upon a tight 

 platform or bottom-board, that is con- 

 siderably larger than the head of the 



barrel. Set it in some out-of-the-way 

 place, handy to water, and where it will 

 be in the shade at all times. Fill it 

 about two-thirds full of sawdust ; throw 

 in a handful of common salt, and fill it 

 up with water. It will ooze out and run 

 out on the platform, and keep it just wet 

 enough to attract the bees, who will visit 

 it by thousands. Add a pailful or so of 

 water every morning in hot, dry weather, 

 and occasionally a little salt, and some 

 refuse sweets will still make it more 

 attractive. Bees require a large amount 

 of water in dry weather, and the above 

 method is the best that I have yet found 

 for supplying them. D. Millard. 



Mendon, Mich., Jan. 5, 1891. 



Warm Weather and Winter Rainbow. 



We are having remarkable weather 

 here in west central Illinois. We have 

 had to-day, sunshine, rain and hail, and 

 now, 8 o'clock p. m., it is snowing. The 

 weather has been exceptionally warm, 

 and dry, there having been no rain or 

 snow for several weeks. The lowest 

 temperature, so far, was 14^ above zero. 

 The bees have flown every day this week 

 except Sunday. The temperature was 

 as high as 53° at 10 a. m., to-day. 

 While rainbows are very frequent during 

 the Spring and Summer months, their 

 appearance upon New Year's day is of 

 very rare occurrence in this latitude. 

 Many of our citizens saw a beautiful 

 rainbow to-day at about 11 a. m. This 

 too, is of rare occurrence, happening so 

 near the middle of the day. The rain- 

 bow was nearly due north. These are 

 phenomena that seldom occur here, 

 perhaps not more than once in a lifetime. 

 S. A. Shuck. 



Liverpool, Ills., Jan. 1, 1891. 



Catalogues and Price-Lists for 1891, 

 are received as follows : 



Geo. H. Stahl, Quincy, Ills. — 100 

 pages with beautiful illuminated cover — 

 Improved Excelsior Incubator for hatch- 

 ing chickens. 



Emerson T. Abbot, St. Joseph, Mo. — 

 10 pages — Apiarian Supplies. 



G. P. Morton, Prairie Home, Mo. — 16 

 pages — Bee Hives and Apiarian Supplies. 



George E. Hilton, Fremont, Mich. — 

 8 pages — Apiarian Supplies, Bee Hives, 

 etc. 



M. S. Roop, Council Bluffs, Iowa — 16 

 pages — Bee Hives and Supplies for Bee- 

 Keepers. 



