354 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAE. 



mence laying eggs. I leave them in the 

 nucleus until some of her eggs hatch, to 

 ascertain whether she is purely mated, 

 and thus she is prepared for further use. 



Now, I take the original queen and 

 introduce her in a colony which is ready 

 to swarm, after cutting out all queen- 

 cups and preparing frames with queen- 

 cups as before described, and adding 

 more bees, so as to hasten swarming, 

 and thus rearing an additional number 

 of queens. In this manner one could 

 rear as many as 200 queens before Aug. 

 1, all under the swarming impulse. 



Panama, Iowa, Jan. 6, 1891. 



Poplar Trees anl Honey. 



REV. M. MAHIN. 



ApicnltBrai Notes from Nelirasta, 



J. M. YOUNG. 



On page 294, P. D. Ellingwood in- 

 quires concerning the value of poplar 

 to the bee-keeper, etc. In order to an- 

 swer his questions, it will be necessary 

 to come to an understanding concerning 

 the trees that are meant. The popular 

 names are not always correct. 



The poplars proper, are included 

 botanically, in the willow family. There 

 are nine species described in Gray's Field 

 Book of Botany. Among these are 

 populus alba, white or silver leaved 

 poplar, a native of Europe; the Ameri- 

 can aspen; the Lombardy poplar; and 

 the cotton wood. These all yield an 

 abundance of pollen, but, as far as I have 

 observed, no honey. They bloom very 

 early in the Spring, along with the ear- 

 lier varieties of willows. 



There is another tree, which, in the 

 West, is called poplar, and by the masses 

 known by no other name, that yields 

 honey in abundance. It is Liriodendroji 

 tuUpifera of the botanical books. "A 

 tall, very handsome tree, in rich soil, 

 commonest W., where it, or the light, 

 soft lumber (much used in cabinet work), 

 is called white wood, and even poplar; 

 planted for ornament; fl. late in Spring, 

 yellow with greenish and orange. Leaves 

 with two short side lobes, and the end as 

 if cut off."— Gray. 



This tree belongs to the magnolia 

 family. The flowers resemble tulips, 

 and are nearly of the same size. The 

 nectar is more abundant than in any 

 flower I have ever examined. 



Unless lately rifled of its store, a 

 single flower will contain enough to load 

 more than one bee. The honey is rather 

 dark, but of good consistency and pleas- 

 ant flavor. The time of flowering in 

 this latitude extends into June. 

 Richmond, Ind. 



White clover is very plentiful in our 

 locality. 



We seldom use a veil in handling bees. 

 Our bees are very cross at times, but we 

 use plenty of smoke when working with 

 them. 



We allow but one swarm to issue from 

 a colony during any season, and prevent 

 them from swarming as much as possi- 

 ble by giving them plenty of box room. 



Our city is going to build an $80,000 

 Court House the coming Summer, and 

 many other improvements are expected. 



A portion of our apiary is fitted up (in 

 due season) for extracting purposes, by 

 giving two sets of combs, and extracting 

 from the upper set. 



Foul-brood was never known in our 

 locality — in fact, we never saw a case of 

 it. Our mind was made up long ago as 

 to the best cure for it, and that is to de- 

 stroy at once by burning— bees, hives, 

 and all — as soon as discovered. 



The most destructive birds on bees in 

 this vicinity, are king birds. They will 

 build their nests near the apiary, unless 

 destroyed, and will take a large number 

 of bees in rearing their young. 



The best way to prevent robbing 

 among bees is to never allow it to com- 

 mence. "An ounce of prevention is 

 worth more than a pound of cure " in 

 this case. When once commenced the 

 only sure way to stop it is to close up the 

 hive entirely, or remove it several rods 

 from the apiary. 



We do not use labels on our sections, 

 and yet we have our name and address 

 on every section sold, or about our api- 

 ary. A small stamp, costing only about 

 75 cents, is used, and beats labels all 

 hollow. The sections are stamped before 

 they are folded up, and it can be done 

 very rapidly, and with neatness. 



An inexperienced bee-keeper came to 

 us a few days ago, all worked up, and 

 said that his bees were all dying off, and 

 they were being dragged out at the en- 

 trance of the hives. Upon questioning 

 him, we learned that his loss was noth- 

 ing more than is usual at this time of 

 the year. 



Ever since we have kept bees in 

 movable-comb hives, we have used 10- 

 frame hives with good results, and now 

 that there is so much discussion through 

 the bee-periodicals, and the prevailing 

 opinion seems to be that the eight frames 



