"rmm m-mmmi^itn mmm jOiVmnni^. 



373 



Fumigating: Honey.— Mr. J. Smith 

 Head, of Part Place, Ark., on May 23, 1888, 

 writes : 



The weather throughout this section ot 

 country has been dry and cool, but the bees 

 are doing well. So far I have averaged 

 about 18 pounds per colony. I started here 

 this season with 80 colonies, mostly in 

 Lanastroth liives ; they have increased to 

 one hundred. 



1. Is it best to fumigate my section honey 

 before shipping ? 2. Can I himiHate it suf- 

 ficiently in a tiiiht room with sulphur hy 

 having the sections scattered promiscuously 

 around on the shelves and places ? 



1. Yes, by all means. 3. It would be bet- 

 ter to pile up the sections ot honey. In or- 

 der to make this very plain, we will let Mr. 

 Dnolittle describe how he does it. He says: 

 "We build a platform on either side of 

 our honey-room of scantling, about 16 inches 

 h igh, and on this we place the boxes, so that 

 the fumes from burning sulphur can enter 

 each box ; in about two weeks we fumigate, 

 by burning ?|^ of a pound of sulphur for 

 every 300 cubic feet in the room. We take 

 coals from the stove and put them in an old 

 kettle, so as not to get anything on fire ; 

 pour on the sulphur and push it under the 

 pile of honey, and shut up the room. Watch 

 through the window, and in 15 minutes after 

 the last fly or bee that chances to be in the 

 room has died, open the door and let out the 

 smoke, for if it stands too long, the smoke 

 may settle on the combs and give them a 

 greenish hue. As there may be a few eggs 

 that have not yet hatched, we fumigate 

 again in about 10 days, after which the 

 honey will be free from moths, if you do 

 not let millers into the room." 



Chapman Honey-Plant Secfl.— 



A. D. Buckley, of Weston, Tex., on May 26, 

 1888, writes as follows concerning it : 



In reply to the question in the Bee Jour- 

 nal I would say that I wrote to the Depart- 

 ment at Washington for some of the above 

 seed several weeks ago, and I am now in- 

 formed in reply that they had no more of 

 the seed left— all had been sent out. I am 

 sorry, for I would have been glad to receive 

 some to try in the Sunny South of Texas. I 

 have 90 colonies of bees, and have had 8 

 swarms. The prospect* for increase and 

 honey are very tODd. I have from 4 to fi 

 acres of sweet clover ; it grows from 4 to 6 

 feet high liere. 



Now that no more seed is to be given 

 away by the Department, we happen to 

 have a little left, and can supply those de- 

 siring to test its value as a honey plant in 

 their localities. For prices see page 381. 

 As we have but a few pounds it will be 

 necessary to order at once, to get some of it. 



Bee-Kc«>pins' was known to the an- 

 cients. Canaan was a "land flowing with 

 milk and honey." The Persians, Grecians, 

 and Romans used honey entensively as an 

 article of food, and in preparing their food. 



9IR. J. U. HAIIVS. 



The following is a biographical sketch of 

 Mr. Hains, furnished by Miss Dema Ben- 

 nett, of Bedford, 0., and it will be read with 

 interest : 



The parents of Mr. J. B. Hains came from 

 Vermont to the Western Reserve when this 

 part of the country was a trackless wilder- 

 ness, and his fattier. Rev. N. C. Hains, who 

 was a Methodist minister, organized the 

 first church in this place. 



Thf subject of this sketch was born June 

 13, 1833, and the deed to the homestead, 

 where he has always lived, was made on 

 that day. 



He has been interested in bee-keeping 

 ever since the first swarm which he hived 

 on July 4, 1844, and the bees in his apiary 

 are in direct line of that first swarm. Mr. 

 Hains early adopted the movable frame, 



and prefers the Laiigstroth frame to any 

 other. He also carefully tested the differ- 

 ent races of bees, finally choosing the Ital- 

 ian to the exclusion of all others. 



Being desirous of establishing apiculture 

 on a better basis, he transferred the bess in 

 this locality from box-hives to movable 

 combs, and Italianized them at the same 

 time. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hains devoted the 

 entire summers of 1878 and 1879 to trans- 

 ferring and caring for the bees within a 

 radius of 10 miles, when the box-hive be- 

 came a thing of the past, as far as this 

 locality is concerned. 



By furnishing the hives and doing the 

 woi k for one season, he acquired ownership 

 of one-half of the bees, which aggregated 

 more than could be profitably managed in 

 one locality, and which he divided into six 

 apiaries, at convenient distances fiom 

 home, niakinc seven apiaries in all. 



The out-apiaries are managed by assist- 

 ants, and run principally for comb honey, 

 while his home apiary of 100 colonies is de- 

 voted to the rearing of queens, nuclei, and 

 the production of extracted honey. 



He experimented with regard to comb 

 foundation before it was successfully made, 

 purchased and used it on its first appear- 

 ance regardless of expense, and when the 



price was reduced to 75 cents per pound for 

 a very poor article, 4 feet to the pound, he 

 purchased it in large quantities, and used 

 full sheets in all of his frames. 



Mr. Hains was engaged in the hardware 

 business for many years, but as the bee- 

 keeping interest developed so rapidly, it 

 became necessary to abandon one pursuit or 

 the other, but his preference for apiculture, 

 combined with his thorough knowledge of 

 the business, induced him to give up the 

 former about two years ago, since which he 

 devotes his entire time to apiculture, except 

 in winter, which he employs in other in- 

 terests. 



Mr. Hains is President of the Progressive 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, and has always 

 been ready to give to others the benefit of 

 his experience. 



Being a practical mechanic as well as an 

 apiarist, he has constructed a good many 

 implements for use in the apiary, but has 

 never patented any of them, and a few of 

 them cau be seen by looking in the Museum 

 at the office of the American Bee 



JOURNAI,. 



As I have intimated before, Mrs. Hains is 

 a practical bee-keeper also, which tact, no 

 doubt, has helped to make the management 

 of bees a success at Welcome Apiary. They 

 put 109 colonies into winter quarters, which 

 came through with a loss of but one. 



IVa»iltua, Iowa, Convention. — H. 



L. Rouse, of Ionia, Iowa, the Secretary, 

 sends this condensed report of the meeting: 



The Nashua Bee-Keepers' A.ssociation 

 met in the Council Rooms at Nashua, Iowa, 

 on May 19, 1888, as per adjournment on Feb. 

 18,1888. Owing to the bad condition of the 

 roads, and the busy time of the year, very 

 few members were present. The past win- 

 ter and sprine has been very disastrous to 

 the interests of bee-keeping in this locality. 

 As near as could be estimated from the 

 meager reports, the loss has been fully 50 

 per ce^'t. A good many colonies have spring 

 dwindled. Some have reported cases of 

 laying workers. One method suggested to 

 get rid of laying workers was this : Set a 

 new hive in the place of the old one ; put in 

 a comb containing brood in all stages, then 

 shake the bees on the ground, and let them 

 hunt ther home. 



After some discussion of various topics 

 connected with bee-keeping, the meeting 

 adjourned. 



The season is very backward here for this 

 time of the year. Scarcely any corn has 

 been planted yet. Dandelions are just in 

 bloom. Fruit bloom will quickly follow. 

 There has been but very few days up to 

 May 16, that bees could work to advantage, 

 and as a result brood-rearing has advanced 

 slowly. I had several cases this soring 

 where the old bees died off faster than the 

 youn" bees liatcliert out, and the colony 

 vanished like a dream. There seems to be 

 a general complaint among bee-keepers this 

 spring about firuling more queenless colo- 

 nies than common. We have had an abun- 

 dance of rain. The prospect for white 

 clover is quite good. I have received a 

 package of the Chapman honey-plant seed ; 

 planted it in April, but it has not come up 

 very well j'et. 



Always mention your Po.st-OfBce, 

 County and State when writing to this 

 office. No matter where you may happen 

 to be for the hour when actually writing— 

 never mention anything but your perma- 

 nent address. To do otherwise leads to 

 confusion, unless you desire your address 

 changed. In that case state the old as well 

 as the new address. 



