124 



Tmm MsniEKiC'Mff mmw jQ>wmnmi<. 



I 



the 49 colonies and their increase did 

 not store any buckwheat honey ; but 

 the fiftieth colony and its increase (one 

 swarm) stored but very little except 

 the buckwheat honey. But below is 

 the test : 



When it was getting quite late and 

 cool in the fall, but no frost yet, one 

 day I noticed mj' " buckwheat bees" 

 were very bus}-, and the others were 

 flj-ing only for a little water. I fol- 

 lowed the course of the working Ijees, 

 and found that a neighbor had harv- 

 ested some early buckwheat, and sowed 

 the field with winter rye. The shelled 

 buckwheat had sprung up, and was in 

 bloom. It grew cooler towards night, 

 and at 45° the bees worked pretty 

 brisklj-, but at 44° they stopped en- 

 tirely. 



Tliis test was quite satisfactorj' and 

 intei-esting to me, though I had never 

 ■written it for publication. It illus- 

 trates the peculiarity of bees' prefer- 

 ence for the diftVrent honey sources 

 and flowers. It was a good season for 

 white clover and basswood honey. 



On Feb. 1 the mercury rose to 44° 

 in the shade, and some of my bees 

 flew a little. It was the first since last 

 November. The snow is 2 feet deep. 

 It is a little cooler to-daj% and is rain- 

 ing a little. 



Waterville, Minn., Feb. 3, 1888. 



CONVENTIOST DIRECTORY. 



1888. Time and Place of Meeting, 



Apr. 11.— Stark County, at Canton, O. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



Apr. 24.— Des Moines County, at Burlington, Iowa. 

 John Nau, Sec, Middletown, Iowa. 



May 5.— Susquehanna County, at New Milford, Pa. 

 H. M. Seeiey, Sec, Harford, Pa. 



May 8.— Cortland Union, at Cortland, N. Y. 



W. U. Beach, Sec, Cortland, N. T. 



B^" In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetiuKs.— Ed. 



StUOTloX^ 



Bees ItVintei-iiig ^Vell.— L. Hub- 

 bard, Waldron, Mich., on Feb. 7, 1888, says : 



Bees appear to be wintering nicely. 1 

 have 100 colonies In the cellar, and nearly 

 as many packed in chaff. There are no 

 signs of diarrhea. 



OlaiKlnlar System of the Bees. 



— J. A. Proctor, M. D., Union City, Ind., 

 writes as follows : 



Prof. A. J. Cook, in discussing the glan- 

 dular system of the bee, says that "one 

 pair of glands furnishes the saliva ; another 

 the food for the larvse. Drones do not have 

 this gland, and it is only rudimentary in the 

 queen, which shows that she once nursed 

 the larvfe, as the queen bumble-bee now 

 does in the spring." Will Prof. Cook please 

 state what gland he alludes to by "this 



gland?" What shows that " they once 

 nursed the larvae, as the queen bumble-bee 

 now does ?" I ask for this proof, that the 

 bumble-bee has not changed, but still feeds 

 its larvffi ; and why the honey-bee has 

 changed. 



The Professor says, on page 58, that 

 " richer food, through long ages, developed 

 lart!er ovaries,and a correspondingly greater 

 fecundity." How is it known that the 

 queen gets any richer food than she did 

 ages ago ? Or that their ovaries are more 

 developed now then they were ages ago ? I 

 see no change in the queen bumble-bee, and 

 why in the honey-bee ? 



The Professor says, " In the same way 

 snakes have lost their legs." (I suppose by 

 being too lazy to use them.) "Zoologists 

 find rudimentary legs now, and believe 

 such legs indicate legs once useful." 1 ask 

 for the proof, as it matters not what any 

 one " thinks" about it. 



Xlie Bees are all Rigiit.— Andrew 

 Craig, Empire, Dak., on Feb. 6, 1888, says : 



I have 3 colonies packed in straw on the 

 summer stands. They are all right so far. 

 It has been 34° below zero here this winter, 

 but it ranges now from 20° to 40° above zero. 



Standard ■..ang'strotli Frames. 



— L. J. Stone, Littleton Common, Mass., 

 asks the following questions : 



1. How thick should the top-bars to the 

 standard Langstroth frames be ? 3. How 

 much space should there be between tlie 

 top of the brood-frames and the bottom of 

 the section-cases '? 3. Will bees build up as 

 fast in standard Langstroth frames as in 

 deeper frames ? I mean in early spring. 



[1. Make them V-shaped, and % of an 

 inch deep. 



2. Three-eighths of an inch. 



3. Yes.— Ed.] 



<j}oo«l I.,oeality for Bees.— T. M. 

 Edwards, Kerrville, Tenn., on Feb. 8, 1888, 

 writes : 



My bees are wintering finely. I have 120 

 good colonies. We have a fine locality for 

 bees and honey. I am trying to get my 

 neighbors to use frame hives, but I succeed 

 slowly. The Ajierian Bee Joitrnal, is 

 a favorite in my family. 



Sirarms Allg'litiiig' Higli, ete.— 



George Hodges, Belmont, N. T., on Feb. 2, 

 1888, writes : 



I now have 6 colonies of bees tliat are 

 covered with snow. I have kept bees for 10 

 years in America. I notice that basswood 

 or linden, as it is called in this country, is 

 called " lime" in England, and sometimes 

 it is called "white wood." The bees used 

 to swarm up in the trees very high some- 

 times, so that 1 had to use a 30-foot ladder 

 to get to them. In England I very seldom 

 had a swarm to leave me ; but here in one 

 summer 3 swarms absconded for me. 



Sliipping' Bees l»y Express.— S. J. 



Youngman, Cato, Mich., on Feb., 9, ISSS, 

 writes : 



Being greatly interested in bee-culture, I 

 am willing to give my views and experience 

 to promote the same. I have always thought 

 that bees might be sent to the North from 

 parts of the South in early spring, and then 

 be built up in time for the honey season ; 

 white and Alsike clover, with the basswood 



bloom, being the principal sources of honey 

 supply, and coinniencing in early June and 

 and lasting until the middle of July. I once 

 was interested in a large shipment of bees 

 from Louisiana, which consisted of 150 colo- 

 nies, sent as freight, and being about 10 

 days on the road. The transaction was not 

 a success, as the bees did not liave stores 

 enough to last them for so long a journey, 

 and the transportation charges being very 

 high. Some of them, however, were in 

 good condition after the long joumej'. 1 

 nave received bees also by the pound, in 

 cages, from the South, which were generally 

 in bad condition on arrival. I have arrived 

 at the conclusion that the only safe way to 

 transport bees long distances is by express, 

 several small colonies being put in one 

 package in a light, strong, shipping-crate, 

 and not less than 25 to 50 colonies sent at a 

 time, each nucleus to coftsist of say 1 to 2 

 pounds of bees, with a laying queen and 

 one frame of sealed brood. 



^Vliat Ailed tlie Bees ?— Jas. F. 

 Johnson, of Missouri, writes as follows : 



On page 11, Mr. A. Pinkerton, speaks of 

 great mortality among his bees. I liave 

 known bees to die from the same cause in 

 this State, and in California. I knew of an 

 apiary of 200 colonies situated on Santa 

 Barbara island, 25 miles from land, in the 

 Pacific Ocean. They came out of tlieir 

 hives and died, and the ground was covered 

 with them. I kept bees on the main land 

 three miles from the ocean, and some of my 

 bees were afflicted in the same way ; these 

 bees were not confined, as the weather was 

 quite warm. I wish some one would tell us 

 if this is a disease, and if it is caused by 

 food, or by tlie state of the atmosphere. By 

 Mr. Pinkerton's article, we find that bees 

 are affected, whether conftned or not. 



Fastening' Foundation in Brood 



Frames.— D. R. Rosebrough, Casey, Ills., 

 writes as follows : 



Lately there has been a great deal written 

 about fastening starters of foundation in 

 sections, and eacli bee-keeper has a method 

 of his own which he thinks is the best. We 

 all seem satisfied about the way to fasten 

 starters in sections, but what troubles me 

 considerably is, to fasten foundation in 

 brood-trames. The foundation always sags 

 for me when 1 put in full sheets, and hive 

 a swarm upon them ; but if given to a col- 

 ony made by division, it works all right. 

 It seems to me that if a narrow piece of 

 muslin or ribbon could be fastened to the 

 brood-frames, and then the foundation 

 fastened to that, it would he an improve- 

 ment. I would like to have some one try 

 this plan, or at least suggest something bet- 

 ter than beeswax or rosin to fasten founda- 

 tion. 



Bees ^Vintered in tlie Cellar. — 



Win. Cleary, Algona, Iowa, on Feb. 14, 1888, 

 writes : 



I have 33 colonies of bees. I commenced 

 last season with 17 colonies, and I was un- 

 fortunate in spreading the brood. I obtained 

 3.50 pounds of lioney, and fed about 100 

 pounds of sugar in the fall. My bees are 

 very quiet in the cellar, the temperature 

 ranging from 40° to 48°. I examined them a 

 few days ago, and they are doing well. My 

 cellar is very dry, and is under the sitting- 

 room and bed room, and divided from the 

 rest of the cellar by a board partition. We 

 have no frost in any part of it. It has no 

 ventilation except what comes from the 

 kitchen as we pass up and down after veg- 

 etables or coal. 



A part of the hives are the Gallup style, 

 with pieces of sacking or carpet on top of 



