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243 



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THOMAS G. NE^V]»£A]\, 



EDITOR. 



VoiniV. April 11, 1888. No. 15. 



Plant Blessings, and blessings will bloom 



Plant hate, and hate will grow ; 

 You can sow to-day— to-morrow shall bring 

 Blossoms that prove what sort of a thing 



Is the seed— the seed that you sow. 



Wc have received a copy of the Con- 

 stitution and By-Laws of the Newaygo 

 County Farmers and Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, adopted Feb. 10, 1888. 



■We RejsTct to learn that Mr. G. H. 

 Knickerbocker, Secretary of the New York 

 State Society, has been aflHicted of late with 

 inflammation of the eyes, making it difficult 

 to conduct his correspondence. He is now 

 much better, and we hope will soon be fully 

 recovered. 



Mr. Xhos. Will. Cowaii, editor of 

 the British Bee Journal, was elected an 

 honorary member of the Ontario Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Society, at its last meeting. We regret 

 to learn that friend Cowan has been very 

 unwell during February and March, and 

 has been confined to his winter home in 

 Lausanne, Switzerland. We hope he will 

 soon regain his usual health and strength. 



Fraotional Ciu-rency is again in 

 demand for sending small sums through 

 the mails. Postal notes are no more safe 

 than currency, and can only be obtained at 

 Money Order offices. Such are very incon- 

 venient to obtain in the country, and silver 

 coins are often lost in the mails. We are 

 glad to note that the bill for the issuance 

 of silver certificates of 10, 1.5, and S.'i cent 

 denominations passed the House on March 

 19, by 177 yeas to fi7 nays. It will doubt- 

 less pass the Senate, and soon become a 

 law! 



Snper»e«ling- tlie <tueeii.— Ira N. 



Lj man, St. Peter, Nebr., asks for informa- 

 tion as follows : 



What is the cause of the queen coming 

 out of the hive on or about March 23 ? I 

 have 3 colonies of bees. I bought a very 

 weak colony early last spring, and one old 

 colony and one swarm in July. The old 

 colony had not swarmed. It stored about 

 100 pounds of surplus honey ; the other 

 two stored only about 10 pounds more honey 

 than enough to winter them. I put them 

 into the cellar, and they are all strong this 

 spring. It was from the hive of the new 

 swarm that the queen came out In March. 

 I put it back into the hive on top of the 

 frames, and it soon came out again the sec- 

 ond time, with a lot of guards. I put her 

 back on top of the frames at the rear end of 

 the hive, and she came out no more, so far 

 as I know. 



I put my bees out once in February, and 

 then put them back into the cellar. I put 

 them out again, and the time the queen 

 came out was the third time I put them out. 

 The cellar became damp, and the combs 

 molded a little. The bees are grade Italians; 

 in home-made Langstroth hives. There is 

 still snow on the ground, in places. 



As the queen came out accompanied with 

 guards, she was evidently being superseded 

 by the bees, who judge her not equal to 

 keeping up the strength of the colony. As 

 she did not come out again when put back, 

 she evidently was killed by the bees. You 

 should examine the colony, and if you find 

 it queenless, give the bees a frame of eggs 

 when you have hatching drones, so that 

 they may rear a queen and have her fer- 

 tilized in due time. Meanwhile it would be 

 well to give the bees some frames of brood 

 from a strong colony, as soon as such can 

 be spared. Or, better still, procure a queen 

 and introduce her to the colony. 



Xlie ^e\r Itrilisli Bee-Keepers' 

 Guide Book, by Thomas Wm. Cowan, 

 F.e.S., F.R.M.S., is on our desk. This is a 

 new edition (the ninth, and seventeenth 

 thousand). It is mostly re-written and 

 greatly enlarged, now having 174 pages. 

 This edition contains many new illustra- 

 tions, and much new matter in our ever- 

 advancing pursuit. This " Guide Book" is 

 exceedingly interesting, and has been trans- 

 lated into more foreign languages than any 

 other apicultural book. Its range of sub- 

 jects covers the entire ground of practical 

 bee-keeping, as is shown by the topics em- 

 braced in its 37 general heads. We can fill 

 orders for it after May 1, at 50 cents, post- 

 paid. 



Honey-Hotise.— Mr. G. A. Elliott, La 

 Salle, Ills., on March 31, 1888, writes : 



I have about 800 feet of 16-foot lumber 

 which I intend to build a honey-house 

 with ; is there any better plan than 12x12, 8- 

 foot high ? Last year was a very poor one 

 here. 1 had 10 colonies in the spring of 

 1887, and only 12 in thf fall, which were in 

 Simplicity hives. Tliey have wintered 

 safely, so far. I am very much pleased with 

 the Bee Journal. 



We should think 12x12 and 8 feet high 

 would do very well for your honey-house— 

 but it all depends upon your needs, as to 

 the necessary capacity. 



Wliile Me have been arranging a 

 plan to have the United States Statistician 

 gather statistics regularly and all over the 

 country, Mr. A. I. Root, our friend and co- 

 worker has been gathering from every 

 State, intelligence which shows that there 

 has been only about 15 per cent, of loss in 

 bees during the past winter ; that there is 

 a favorable prospect for a good honey crop ; 

 that for three or four weeks honey has been 

 gathered in the extreme South ; in the mid- 

 dle States the first honey is just now been 

 gathered, and in the northern States none 

 has yet been gathered. 



Xliat Bell has commenced to ring, over 

 in Canada, and the first installment of the 

 description of the new invention of Mr. D. 

 A. Jones is at hand. It consists of a side- 

 opening super and crate, and a system of 

 management arranged to agree with such 

 fixtures. Some adverse criticisms have been 

 offered, and some predictions that it will 

 revolutionize fixtures for obtaining comb 

 honey. Let a good trial be made, and the 

 result will be welcomed— which ever way it 

 may point ; for we need all the good things, 

 and can afford to throw all the bad away. 



Plaster - of- Paris Molds.— Mr. P. 



Breman, of Lakeside, Out., asks us to ex- 

 plain in the Bee Jsuhnal how to mix 

 plaster of Paris for making foundation 

 molds. 



It must be mixed to about the consistency 

 of thin paste, and then used immediately— 

 for it will " set " very quickly. Have every 

 thing ready for its use before mixing it. 

 Then let it stand for several hours to 

 harden. 



Care of Empty Combs.— A corres- 

 pondent in Kentucky, writes as follows : 



Please state in the Bee JoLrRNAi, how to 

 keep the moth out of frames of empty 

 comb, and oblige a bee-keeper. 



Strong colonies of Italian bees are the 

 most effectual method of preventing the 

 ravages of the moth. It is next to impos- 

 sible to keep the moth out of hives, when 

 such pests are prevalent. 



In order to preserve empty combs, it is 

 necessary to fumigate them repeatedly with 

 sulphur, to kill the hatching worms. Close 

 up the room containing the combs tightly, 

 and burn tlie sulphur in it, after you have 

 gone outside and shut the door. 



SaM'tliiMt for Pollen. — Mr. Frank 

 Wilkins, Pelham, N. H., has sent us some 

 of the grey-birch sawdust which he men- 

 tions on page 303, to be used instead of rye- 

 meal, upon which the bees will work in the 

 spring for pollen. We will report later as 

 to its bee-use, meanwhile thanking Mr. 

 Wilkins for his trouble in sending it. 



Xo Stimulate in Spring:, some 

 apiarists give the bees, as early as they will 

 work on it, chopped oats, placed in trays. 



