650 



Tmm MiNdEKicsif mm^ jowRPfSt. 



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pean grape ; Viti<< Inbnisca is the north- 

 ern fox grape ; Vitis mstivalis, the sum- 

 mer grape ; Vitis cordifolia, winter or 

 frost grape ; and Vitis vulpina, the 

 southern fox grape. V. indii'isa is 

 more closely related to the one in ques- 

 tion, as its berries are not edible. 

 Agricultural College, Mich. 



BABY BEES. 



A Tew TliougliU for Children 

 About Youns Bees. 



Written for the Prairie Farmer 

 BY MES. L. HARRISON. 



There is a good deal more in a colony 

 of bees than the honey and wax they 

 produce. They are models of industry, 

 neatness and order. About the first 

 lines engraved on the plastic clay of 

 my memory, are these of Watts : 



How doth the little busy bee 



Improve each ehininfr hour. 

 And gather honey all the day, 



From every opening flower. 



How skillfully she builds her cell. 

 How neat she spreads the wax, 



And labors hard to store it well 

 With the sweet food she makes. 



Children should be taught to watch 

 the bees as they go in and out of their 

 hives, and, particularly, notice that 

 each individual bee has a duty to per- 

 form for which it is accountable. The 

 guards protect the entrance against all 

 intruders, and no enemy is allowed to 

 pass without resistance. It is amusing 

 to watch a bumble-bee as it tries to 

 evade the guards and gain access to 

 the rich stores within. How soon his 

 back is mounted, and " policemen " at 

 his aide bring him forth, as he loudly 

 buzzes and struggles for freedom. Bees 

 from neighboring hives are not allowed 

 to enter without showing their pass- 

 port, which is a well -filled sac of nec- 

 tar, while all paupers are denied en- 

 trance. Woe betide the moth that has 

 the presumption to knock at the door 

 of a strong colony of Italians, for it 

 will never try that game again. 



When the young drone bee emerges 

 from the cell,'he looks around for some- 

 thing good to eat. If he is not fed by 

 the field workers, he goes to a cell and 

 helps himself. This he is allowed to 

 do ad litiitum, until his duties com- 

 mence, which, in his case, is to fertilize 

 a queen. He daily sallies forth in quest 

 of her, to perform the task for which 

 ■was the purpose of his creation, and in 

 the performance yields up his life. If 

 he is not needed for this duty, he must 

 "walk the plank," for no needless 

 members are allowed, but all must suc- 

 cumb to the good of the commonwealth. 



The young worker is allowed a few 

 days to eat and digest food, when her 

 duties as nurse to the larvie and queen 

 commence. 



The duties of the queen are so oner- 

 ous, in the production of so many eggs, 

 that her system is not capable of sus- 

 taining the draught, unless her food is 

 given ner in a half-digested state, so 

 that it readily assimilates. The queen, 

 even, is not allowed in the hive, if she 

 does not perform her duties properly. 



She must not " skip any stitches," but 

 go round and round in a circle, using 

 every cell ; and her progeny must be 

 able to perform their duties, or she is 

 ejected. Woe betide her, if she rears 

 all "boys" and no "girls," and her 

 owner finds it out. 



When the worker's duties of a nurse 

 are completed, she takes a rest in 

 secreting wax and building comb, and 

 is allowed a play spell after dinner, 

 that she may learn the location of her 

 hive. Perhaps she is given a lesson 

 now and then in stinging, as she is 

 always an adept at it, and ready, on the 

 least provocation, to "curl her tail." 

 We see more of her in her capacity as 

 guard and field-worker than in any 

 other. 



She attends strictly to business, and, 

 when gathering clover honey, does not 

 stop to smell the fragrance of roses, 

 pinks and posies, but goes quickly from 

 one clover blossom to another. There 

 is harmony in Nature, and she must 

 carry the fertilizing powder from flower 

 to flower, so that the seed will germi- 

 nate, and the plant be perpetuated. 



Peoria, Ills. 



IOWA. 



Report of the Iowa §tale Bee- 

 Keepers' Convention. 



Written for the, American Bee Journal 



BY JOS. NYSEWANDBR. 



The Iowa State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met in their commodious tent 

 on the Fair Grounds during the State 

 Fair, on Sept. i and 5, 1888. In the ab- 

 sence of President Spaulding, Joseph 

 Xysewander acted as temporary chair- 

 man at the opening of the meeting. In 

 the election of officers the following 

 were chosen for the ensuing year : 



President, Mrs. O. F. Jackson, of 

 Sigourney, Iowa ; Vice-President, Eu- 

 gene Secor, of Forest City ; Secretary, 

 J. W. Moore, of DesMinnes; and 

 Treasurer, Jos. Nysewander, of Des 

 Moines. 



The subjects discussed were appro- 

 priate to the season, which, being a 

 peculiar one, brought new experiences 

 to many. Much swarming and little 

 surplus honey is the exception to the 

 rule in Iowa. There seemed to be just 

 enough honey gathered to engender 

 much swarming, while with fewer 

 swarms fair returns could have been 

 secured in the way of surplus honey. 



Hon' to Control Sn'arining. 



Several plans were presented that 

 had been successfully employed by dif- 

 ferent members present. It was con- 

 ceded that a single swarm from one 

 colony was rather an advantage than a 

 disadvantage, as it was possible to 

 have the benefit of 2 colonies instead 

 of one when the real harvest came. 

 Upon this theory Mr. Chantry sug- 

 gested that it was his method to work 

 for increase until July, and then have 

 the several colonies, instead of one, 

 ready for the fall flowers ; it being un- 

 derstood, however, that he is entirely 

 dependent upon the fall bloom for his 



honey crop. Ordinarily, or in tnost 

 locations, this method was deemed 

 impracticable. 



Mr. Kimble said he thought that he 

 could secure the best results by having 

 about one-third increase ; and in re- 

 sponse to a number asking the ques- 

 tion as to whether it was possible to 

 confine his colonies to a certain num- 

 ber, he thought that he would have to 

 depend oa at least that much increase. 



Mr. Secor stated that he practiced 

 hiving the first swarms on the old 

 stand, and removing the parent colony 

 to a new location. He found that this 

 in most cases brought about the desired 

 result. Others suggested cutting out 

 queen-cells, etc., which they found 

 quite satisfactory, although it required 

 more labor. 



It was found that even this season, 

 that those who were able to control 

 swarming, had a fair yield of honey to 

 report. Mr. Secor stated that up to 

 that date, which did not include the 

 fall honey, or at least very little oE it, 

 that his colonies averaged about 40 

 pounds each, of comb honey. He be- 

 lieved that bees should be made to pay 

 their way in any season. 



Honey from Different Vlowera. 



In discussing this subject, Mr. Bitten- 

 bender stated that it was his observa- 

 tion that bees never gathered nectar 

 from different kinds of flowers in a 

 sinsle trip. 



Mr. Secor said that he noticed at 

 different times that some of his colo- 

 nies would be storing one kind of 

 honey, while others in the same apiary 

 would be storing another kind. 



The question arising that different 

 kinds of honey were noticeable in the 

 same comb, was explained by the fact 

 that different flowers would secrete 

 nectar at different times in the same 

 day, and in such cases bees, unlike 

 some human beings, would not lie idle 

 for a favorite job ; or, in other words, 

 would not wait for a favorite flower to 

 secrete honey. 



Tbe Use or Honejr-Boards. 



All that were present favored the 

 use of honey-boards, whether working 

 for comb or extracted honey. While 

 poor queens will sometimes lay in the 

 sections, and very little in the brood- 

 chamber, such cases were more fre- 

 quently the result of not using the 

 honey-board. One of some description 

 was highly indorsed, whether it was 

 queen-excluding or not. Even if not 

 queen-excluding, it would largely pre- 

 vent this difliculty when working for 

 comb honey. Qneen-excluding boards 

 were recommended where extracting 

 was done, and many favored them in 

 any case. 



Danger to Bees In Extracting Iiate< 



In reference to this subject, it was 

 seen by a number of reports to have 

 been the cause of heavy winter losses. 

 It was conceded that a reserved store 

 of honey should be preserved where 

 close extracting was practiced. A suf- 

 ficient number of sealed combs of 

 honey, and of a good quality too, should 

 be put away for this purpose ; and 

 after the honey season was over, it 



