644 



THi^ aryiERicarf bee jQORi*aiLr. 



Tliat Silver ]L.iniiis to the clouds 

 which have hmis like a pall over the pur- 

 suit of bee-keeping for the past few years, 

 is thus commented upon in last week's 

 Prairie Farmer by Mrs. L. Harrison : 



Beestock has been below par for a couple 

 of years, but, as every cloud has a silver 

 lininR, let all encaged in the fascinating 

 pursuit, keep up their courage, hoping for a 

 prosperous season in the near future. There 

 IS one happy coincidence, however, to con- 

 sole us over the flabby condition of our 

 purses, that if we have no honey to sell to 

 fill them up, bees generally winter well after 

 a poor season. The queen has plenty of 

 room to deposit egas, and vigorous young 

 bees to act as nurses, for they have no 

 secreting of wax or building of comb to at- 

 tend to. When there is an abundance of 

 honey, all hands are pressed into service, 

 and the queen is neglected, so that when 

 the season closes the bees are mostly old, 

 with little vitality to withstand the winter's 

 cold ; then we hear of diarrhea, spring- 

 dwindling, and kindred ills ; but now our 

 colonies are strong, with queens doing their 

 level best, and at the approach of cold 

 weather will be full of vigorous workers, 

 hardy as a nut. 



Cross bees at this season I Yes, indeed ; 

 some of them are hot as a streak of light- 

 ning. The best way is to feed them a little 

 for a few days, before disturbing them, es- 

 pecially if they have no unsealed honey. A 

 well-fed colony is as good-natured as a fat 

 alderman after dinner, but paupers are very 

 different. 



Feeding Back.— This' is relied upon 

 by the cranks, who persist in claiming that 

 comb honey is adulterated, to prove their 

 point. We have repeatedly asserted that 

 such is not practiced to any extent— is not 

 profitable— and therefore does not in the 

 slightest degree uphold or sustain the asser- 

 tion of Wiley, Evans & Co.— still they re- 

 peat the story over and over again. The 

 last issue of the Rural Canadian contains 

 this corroboration of our statement : 



Mr. S. T. Pettit, for two years President 

 of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 says that a few years ago some one gave a 

 plan of securing lots of comb honey by the 

 use of the extractor ; throwing out the nec- 

 tar green, as fast as it came in, thus exciting 

 the bees to gather all they possibly could, 

 and then when the honey season was past, 

 just feeding it back, thus securing big crops 

 of comb honey. Well, the plan looked 

 reasonable on paper, but in actual practice 

 it looks very different tn me. Of course, 1 

 waited until the gathering season was past, 

 and then went enthusiastically to work 

 giving unfinished sections, mostly, to work 

 upon. Well, the amount they managed to 

 cram away in the brood-chamber before 

 starting at all in the sections, took a good 

 deal of the enthusiasm out of me ; but at 

 length they went reluctantly, tardily, at 

 work in the sections. But the sections were 

 not as nice as those built by the same bees 

 during the honey-flow. 



Another set-back to the scheme was found 

 in the ureat loss of weight during the feed- 

 ing-back process. 1 did not keep an accurate 

 account, but I believe it to be 40 to 50 per 

 cent. 



Another serious objection that presented 

 itself consisted in the fact that all the bees 

 used for feeding back died outright or 



dwindled badly. Too much honey in the 

 brood-chamber I think was the cause. 



My opinion is, that it will not pay to feed 

 back, even to complete sections that are 

 nearly finished, much less for the building 

 of whole sections. 



Extracting tlie Wax.— This is very 

 often a great nuisance in a house, and many 

 family jars have resulted from the process 

 of rendering beeswax. In the Western 

 Plowman, M.T. C. H. Dibbern gives some of 

 his experience in these words : 



I have lately experimented a good deal in 

 rendering the wax from old brood-combs. 

 In my experiments I have used about all 

 known methods. I have boiled it and 

 strained it ; I dipped it from the top ; I have 

 steamed it and melted it in the sun extrac- 

 tors, but all with about the same result, not 

 nearly all the wax would be secured. 



Lately 1 had a pile of refuse from which 

 1 extracted all the wax I could get, but upon 

 examination with a microscope I became 

 convinced that a good deal of wax still re- 

 mained. I filled a wash boiler full of it 

 and boiled it until all the lumps separated. 

 I had rigged up a box with a false slatted 

 bottom in it. I poured the contents of the 

 boiler into a strong burlap sack, placed it in 

 the box after tying securely, placed a piece 

 of plank on the sack, and a square biock on 

 top of that. 1 took a long plank to use as a 

 lever, placing one end under a cleat nailed 

 to the building, and commenced pressing 

 the contents of the sack, gradually adding 

 more weight till the pressure was about as 

 great as the sack would stand without burst- 

 ing. Leaving the weight on for an hour or 

 more, the last drop of wax seemed to have 

 separated from tlie mass in the sack. The 

 wax and dirty water will be caught in the 

 bottom of the box where it will readily 

 cool. 



After cleaning up this run I found we had 

 seven pounds of nice, bright yellow wax, 

 worth at least S1.40, and much more to make 

 into foundation. This experiment has con- 

 vinced me that many thousands of dollars 

 are annually lost by the imperfect methods 

 of securing beeswax. When the comb is 

 new or from cappings, it is easy enough to 

 get all the wax, but old, dirty pieces of 

 drone comb, or odds and ends, mixed with 

 propolis, and what not, it is quite another 

 matter. I am now convinced that the only 

 way to get nearly all the wax from such 

 comb, is to submit it, as hot as possible, to 

 a high pressure. 



Uee-Ii:eepiug' was one of the most 

 rural occupations. At the time when man 

 first commenced to stir the soil for his daily 

 bread, bees were managed tor domestic use, 

 to furnish the only product then known and 

 used exclusively as a sweet. The discovery 

 of sugar-making supplied a cheaper staple, 

 which placed houey among the luxuries. 

 For hundreds of years such has been the 

 state of the honey trade. Now we see ad- 

 vanced bee-keeping increasing the produc- 

 tion to an extent which will place honey on 

 regular bill of fare of the most unpretentious 

 hotels. Indeed, we should see it there to- 

 day.— Exchange. 



A Home ITIarlcet for honey can be 

 made by judiciously distributing the 

 pamphlets, " Honey as Food and Medicine." 

 Such will create a demand in any locality at 

 remunerative prices. See list on the second 

 page of this naper. 



FigM'ort.— On page 649, will be found 

 an article on this honey-producing plant, by 

 R. S. Russell, committee on Honey Plants 

 at the Indiana State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, Zionsville, Ind. Mrs. L. HarrLson 

 makes the following additional remarks on 

 the same plant in the Prairie Farmer : 



The Simpson honey-plant was brought to 

 notice by Mr. Simpson, of Warren county. 

 Ills. It is often called rattle-weed, as the 

 seeds will rattle in the pod, and Carpenter's 

 square, as it has a square stalk. It belongs 

 to the tigwort family, the botanical name 

 Seraphuiaria nodosa, from its being a sup- 

 posed remedy for scrofula. It delights in 

 damp, shady ground, and grows wild over a 

 large extent of country along hedges, old 

 rail fences, stumps, etc. Willows are all 

 good honey-plants. One tree bears all pis- 

 tillate flowers ; another all staminate. The 

 pistillate yield honey, and the staminate 

 pollen, and the bees act as marriage priests 

 carrying the fertilizing powder from one to 

 another. 



There has been more honey gathered in 

 one day from basswood than from any other 

 source. Many persons learning this, planted 

 out orchards, but were sadly disappointed 

 in the yield. Plants do not yield honey in 

 the same amount in different localities. 

 While basswood yields largely in Canada, 

 Vermont, Michigan, etc., it is worth but 

 little for that purpose in Illinois. 



Xhe Season in Canada is thus de- 

 scribed in the last issue of the Rural Cana- 

 dian : " The past season has been a very 

 poor one for bee-keepers. Last summer 

 (1887) the drouth prevented clover from 

 seeding, and this prevented the usual flora 

 of this nectar-secreting plant, one upon 

 which the bee-keeper depends so much for 

 his profits. Linden yielded but little, and 

 our only hope was thistle and fall flowers. 

 Heavy and frequent showers have given a 

 yield sufficient for winter, and perhaps an 

 average of 15 pounds to the colony surplus. 

 Of course it will be necessary to distribute 

 this evenly between those colonies which 

 have gathered insufficient." 



Irresponsil»Ie. — In Gleanings for 



Sept. 1, 18SS, we find this brief "puff :" 



We have for some time past had com- 

 plaint from different parties in regard to 

 Mr. F. .1. Crowley, dealer in apiarian sup- 

 plies, Batavia, Genesee county, N. Y. We 

 are now informed that he is in Batavia only 

 a part of the time, and is no way responsi- 

 ble. 



He has also been owing us for several 

 years, but we can get nothing from him. 

 There are many more very much like 

 Crowlej', whose transactions ought to be 

 published for the benefit of honest men. 

 We are considering the matter of publish- 

 ing a black list, and we may have to do it 

 yet. 



A Modern UEE-FAR:^!, and its 



Economic Management ; showing how bees 

 may be cultivated as a means of livelihood ; 

 as a health-giving pursuit ; and as a source 

 of recreation to the busy man. By S. 

 Simmins. For sale at this office. Price, $1, 

 postpaid. 



