THE? JSMJSRICKN BE® JQWRKKlr. 



425 



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':^- — ' — -■^■^■^j 



havmlessness is ensured by the won- 

 derful antidotal mixing of the bee ; 

 but the bent'ticial properties are still 

 present, ready to be seized upon by 

 diseased or disordei'cd organs, and if 

 there be anything in the science of 

 honucopathic medicine, the curing of 

 disease by minute infinitesimal doses 

 of such powerful drugs as produce 

 symptoms of the disease in larger 

 doses, then a new line of thought is 

 opened up, and considerable support 

 given to my hypothesis. 



Horsforth, Leeds, England. 



[The above excellent article opens 

 up a wide field for interesting and 

 profitable research and investigation. 

 That the many beautiful flowers, which 

 so delight and attract the bees, should 

 contain, besides food, much of medici- 

 nal value to the human family- is not 

 to be wondered at ; especially when it 

 is know that nothing has been created 

 which does not possess some value — 

 even the thistle and dock, that are so 

 troublesome to farmers, having their 

 particular uses. Let us hope that our 

 bee-keeping doctors and men of scien- 

 tific inclinations may look into this 

 matter more fully, and thus perhaps 

 discover in honey other health-restor- 

 ing virtues, which will add another 

 laurel to the crown of those whose 

 business it is to glean the sweets of 

 nature to tempt and delight the palates 

 of mankind. — Ei>.] 



-^♦^ 



MOVING BEES. 



A very Rough Experience Oiveii 

 in Detail. 



Written for the American Bee Jourtial 



BY H. E. HILL. 



As the subject of '* moving bees " is 

 receiving some attention at present, I 

 will relate a little experience of mine ; 

 not that the undertaking was anything 

 " very great," but to show how much 

 "knocking about" bees will stand, 

 when properly cared for. 



The Ijees were in 3-frame Langstroth 

 nuclei hives, with wire-screen over the 

 top and bottom, with frames supported 

 by notched strips ; but, doubtless, the 

 moving could have been just as suc- 

 ces.sfulh' accomplished had they been 

 full colonies. 



On Ihe night of Oct. 14, 1880, 10 of 

 these little colonies were confined to 

 the hives, and on the following tlay 

 they were expressed from Summit, N. 

 J.,"to Xew York city. On Oct. 16, I 

 found them buzzing in a third-storv 



room almost smothered bj' the smoke 

 of a dozen or more cigars that were 

 being smoked in the room, by those 

 eagerly crowding around to see where 

 the buzzing came from. 



The bees were then placed in the 

 elevator, let down, taken by a dray to 

 the wharf, and placed on the deck of 

 a Cuba bound steamer, where sponges 

 of water were constantly kept on the 

 screens, being refilled 8 or 10 times 

 each day, and occasionally treating 

 them to a sponge of sea-water, which 

 they would drain in a short time. 



Arriving at Havana five days later, 

 they were placed in a small boat and 

 taken ashore — a distance of about one 

 mile — where thej- became the victims 

 of the native " carretero," who "hus- 

 tled " them over the cobble-stone pave- 

 ments as though he was anxious to de- 

 liver as manj' loads as possible while 

 the ship's cargo held out. 



Arriving at the hotel, they were 

 carried up into my room, where they 

 remained for throe days, being hauled 

 again to the railroad depot across the 

 city, thence by rail across the island 

 to Batibano, on Oct. 24, and placed on 

 board a Spanish coaster, which arrived 

 at Cienfuegos on the following morn- 

 ing, when the bees were victimized a 

 second time, in spite of all the English 

 I used (which was just the same as so 

 much Greek to him) to persuade the 

 driver to " go slow." 



Again to the hotel, and up-stairs, 

 three days more in these quarters, 

 when they were i)laced into a spring 

 carriage, and driven into the country 

 about three miles, arriving at La Gloria 

 at 3 p.m. on Oct. 28. They were then 

 released, and in less than 30 minutes 

 several of the .Jerse3' Italians returned 

 to the hives laden with Cuban pollen. 



Titusville, Pa. 



FARM APIARIES. 



Some Reasons for Having Rees 

 on llic Farm. 



Read before the Farmers' Institute 



BY T. S. SANFORD. 



The honey-bee has been a topic for 

 ancient writers, anil from that time to 

 the present, has received much time, 

 attention and thought by our most 

 practical and learned men. I am 

 glad to see bee-culture given a place 

 for discussion in our agricultural so- 

 cieties. Bee-cullure is properlj' a 

 branch of agriculture, and as such 

 should be taught in every agricultural 

 college. 



The queen is, properly speaking, the 

 "mother bee." .Slie has no jiarticular 

 control over the cnloiiy other than her 

 importance as mother bee. She does 



not lead the swarm, but is often 

 among the last to leave the hive. She 

 is capable of laying from one to three 

 thousand eggs a day. This is doubted 

 by some, but I have repeatedly seen 

 her lay two and three eggs in a min- 

 ute, whicli is over 3,000 in 24 hours. 

 It is wonderful to see with what 

 watchful care the bees follow her from 

 comb to comb, making a waj' for her 

 as she proceeds with her daily duties, 

 depositing an egg in every empty cell. 

 They can be se(^n continually ofl'ering 

 her partly digested food, which she 

 takes as required. If she had to eat 

 honey and pollen and digest it herself, 

 she could not laj- twice her weight in 

 eggs in one day. The life of the queen 

 is from one to three years. 



Worker bees are the smallest in the 

 colonj-. They are rightly named 

 workers, as the labor of the hive is 

 performed by them. They build the 

 comb — this wonderful comb, which the 

 ingenuity of man has failed to imitate. 

 They gather the pollen and deposit it 

 in the cells. In the working season 

 they die off very rapidly, their age 

 at this time being only about sixty 

 days. Young bees in the fall live in a 

 state of q\iiptnde through the winter, 

 but onl}' live a few weeks after com- 

 mencing to work on the flowers in the 

 spring. This is why we should be 

 careful to have our colonies kept warm 

 and comfortable through the winter, 

 and especially in the early spring, to 

 induce the queen to lay earlj-, thus 

 securing a populous stock of young 

 workers ready for the first honcy-tiow 

 in the spring. There are from forty 

 to sixty thousand workers, one queen, 

 and a few hundred drones in a good 

 colon\- of bees. 



The drones are the onlj- male bees 

 in the hive. They are large and 

 clums)', and make a great noise while 

 on the wing. They cannot sting. They 

 perform none of the labor of the hive, 

 but live on the indulgence of the work- 

 ers, and for this reason the practical 

 bee-keeper should be able to control 

 the drones in each colony. Before the 

 advent of the movable-frame hive this 

 was impossible ; but with the improved 

 method of handling bees, we can ex- 

 clude drones entirely from our yards 

 if we desire. 



The hive is a vei-j' important feature 

 in apiculture. Without properly con- 

 structed hives, it is impossible to se- 

 cure the best results. In passing over 

 the country the past few days I could 

 but notice the l.-irge and expensive 

 barns the thrifty farmer has provided 

 for his stock, to keep them warm and 

 comfortable. What a contrast to the 

 average bee-keeper. He seems to think 

 that a nail-keg or soap-box iS good 

 enough for his bees, then sets them oflf 

 in some fence corner and gives them 



