AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



645 



this year, early apples bloomed April 

 24, so you see it 'is not siirprisin^ for 

 bees to be in fine condition. If the 

 weather is favorable, I shall have some 

 swarms in ten days. White and alsike 

 clovers are looking splendid, and the 

 outlook is encouraging for a bountiful 

 honey crop. My bees wintered on the 

 summer stands with very little loss. 



I. J. Glass. 

 Sharpsburg, Ills., May 5, 1891. 



Help the Bees. 



At present, I have 12 colonies of bees, 

 having lost 2 colonies during the Win- 

 ter. My bees are doing very well ; some 

 of them having their brood-chamber full 

 of honey, and hanging out. I think it 

 almost too early to give them sections, 

 as I am not working for extracted- 

 honey. Would you give them more 

 room ? The white clover is not in bloom 

 yet, but they are gathering honey from 

 fruit bloom. John H. Rohrek. 



Tippecanoe City, O., May 4, 1891. 



[If the bees are hanging out, and have 

 no place to store honey, give them sec- 

 tion, and in that way assist them to 

 gather all the honey they can. — Ed.] 



Plum and Cherry Bloom. 



In the Spring of 1890 I had 5 colo- 

 nies, which increased to 14 by natural 

 swarming. November 1 I put them in 

 the cellar, and on taking them out, 

 April 6, found that 2 colonies had 

 starved to death, and one colony had 

 been destroyed by mice, but the 11 colo- 

 nies remaining were in good condition. 

 At this date they all have brood hatch- 

 ing, and 3 colonies have begun work in 

 the sections. I expect some early 

 swarms this season. Plum and cherry 

 trees are in bloom, and the bees are 

 working like nailers to get all the nec- 

 tar out of them. I expect -to increase my 

 apiary to 300 colonies, as it is my inten- 

 tion to engage in the business for profit. 

 Working among bees is to my taste. I 

 think the Italians are far ahead of all 

 other bees. There will be 150 acres of 

 flax sown within a half mile of my api- 

 ary, and I wish to know if bees gather 

 much honey from flax-bloom. 



S. F. BURRIS. 



Wichita, Iowa, May 4, 1891. 



[Flax is not much visited by bees until 

 late in the Fall, when better honey-pro- 

 ducing plants are scarce. The nectar 

 is bitter and pungent. — Ey "• 



Experience of a Beginner. 



I have invented a bee-hive the past 

 Winter, and expect to have it patented. 

 My claim for it is big. I am going to 

 give it a thorough trial. I have already 

 transferred a colony to one of them, and 

 shall have six on trial this season. It is 

 an expanding and contracting hive, a 

 queen-restricting hive, a hive for the 

 production of oxtracted-honey and comb- 

 honey at the same time ; and I also 

 claim it will be non-swarming. It is 

 very simple, easy to manipulate, and can 

 be manufactured as cheaply as any two- 

 story hive. I bought the material for 

 the first hive I made, each thing sep- 

 arate, and the cost was 50 cents, 

 painted and complete. When I have 

 more time — say, in a month or so — I will 

 make a model and send it to you, with a 

 full description. T. O. H. 



Jones County, Iowa. 



Questions by a Bee-Keeper. 



1. Where bees are wintered on the 

 summer stands, is it best to use a cap on 

 the top of the brood-chamber to hold 

 absorbents? 2. Is a super made of %- 

 inch lumber a sufiQcient protection for 

 the sections during the honey harvest, 

 or should such a super be covered with 

 a cap ? 3. What is the proper width, 

 in the clear, for an 8-frame Langstroth 

 hive ? 4. Where closed-end frames are 

 used, should there be a bee-space back 

 of the ends, or should the ends of the 

 frames fit-close to the ends of the hive ? 



Le Claire, Iowa. Marion Miller. 



[1. Yes. 



2. Yes ; it is usually made of thin 

 lumber. 



3. It is llK inches. 



4. They should fill the space, but 

 should be loose enough to be easily lifted 

 in or out.— Ed.] 



Nectar, a Correction, Etc. 



I observe that Prof. Cook writes un- 

 guardedly sometimes. On page 53 of 

 Gleanings, 1890, he says : " Nectar is 

 cane sugar dissolved in water." Liter- 

 ally his expression conveys the idea that 

 cane sugar may be dissolved in water to 

 make nectar — that sweetened coffee is 

 nectar ! I give the sentence a different 

 version. Fairly interpreted, the mean- 

 ing is that the saccharine principle, or 

 matter, contained in nectar secreted by 

 honey-producing plants, is identical with 



