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THE SRdERICMEf BEU J@^RrfSlL. 



Preparing Mees tor ^Vinter.— 



Mrs. L. Harrison describes some of her ex- 

 periences while preparing lier bees for win- 

 ter, in the Prairie Farmer. She says that 

 she found the bees in fine condition, the 

 colonies being very populous, with a sufli- 

 ciency of sealed honey for winter stores. 

 She then adds : 



Although the weather is fine and warm 

 for working out-of-doors. It would have been 

 better to have fixed them up earlier, for as 

 long as they can gather honey they are 

 easily handled ; but when there is none to 

 gather, they are on the war-path with the 

 least provocation. Bees act very differently 

 on a cold day than on a warm one, when 

 smoke is blown upon them. On a warm 

 day, when smoke is blown upon them, they 

 rush down among the combs and fill their 

 sacs with honey, when they are as good- 

 natured as a fat alderman after dinner ; but 

 when it is cold, they rush into the smoke 

 and right into the fire, if they can gain ac- 

 cess to it, and perish. 



This is one reason why bees are so cross 

 when there is no honey in the fields. Let a 

 hive be opened on these mild, warm days, 

 when bees are on the wing, and robbers 

 will soon appear. Their clarion note soon 

 arouses the colony, which will be on the 

 defensive, and stinging everything within 

 reach. The dog will be off with a roll and 

 a howl, biting and scratching ; the cat will 

 dart up a tree with her tail as large as a 

 rolling-pin, while the chickens scratch their 

 combs with their feet.and seek shelter under 

 weeds and bushes. To avoid this 1 open 

 and fix up colonies in the early morning, 

 before there are any bees flying, and if 1 am 

 very careful not to jar or knock the hive, 1 

 can get through with quite a number with- 

 out the use of smoke, or robbing induced. 



There has been hut a small amount of 

 surplus honey secured this year, but what 

 has been secured is in good condition. Some 

 vears there is a little honey scattered 

 through many sections— little patches of 

 sealed honey not larger than a dollar in the 

 center of some— but, this year, whatever 

 they undertook, they finished up in good 

 shape. Those sections last year that had 

 little patches of honey in them, were un- 

 capped, extracted, and stored away for use 

 this year. Now we find that they have been 

 put to good use. 



Xlie Same Old <luecii, more than 

 40 years old ! This is what the old Califor- 

 nian. Wall, tells about the age of a queen- 

 bee. The Napa Bcffister gives this laugh- 

 able account of the old " Forty-niner :" 



Many are familiar with Mr. Wall's ex- 

 traordinary feat, in 1849, of driving (accord- 

 ing to his statement) a swarm of bees across 

 the plains. A day or two since, as one of 

 our business men was coming down town, 

 he happened to discover a huge bee quietly 

 resting on Wall's shoulder, as preparations 

 were being made tn sprinkle the Court 

 House lawn. "Say,Wall,what are you going 

 to do with tliat bee on your shoulder ?" 



Wall was startled for a moment, but, re- 

 covering his usual composure, spoke with 

 gravity, carrying convictions of untarnish- 

 ble truth, - I'll tell you. That bee is the 

 queen of the swarm that I drove across the 

 plains. She has been hunting me for years, 

 and knew me the moment 1 call her name. 

 You see, she is getting a little gray, but I 

 know her on sight. She piloted the swarm, 

 and I used to feed her from my own molas- 

 ses can. That bee is the last of her race, 

 and I shall take care of her in her old age. 



I tell you, John, that bee brings up many 

 reminiscences of that memorable trip. 

 Several times that swarm stood by me in an 

 hour of peril. They could scent an Indian 

 several miles away, and they got to really 

 enjoy an Indian attack. The fact is, they 

 understood tactics as well as the best 

 trained soldiers. When the queen sounded 

 an alarm, every bee was under arms, ready 

 for flght. First a skirmish line was thrown 

 out, and you could see more or less uneasi- 

 ness among the redskins as one and another 

 would claw about his ears, eyes, or nose, 

 but when the order to 'charge' was sound- 

 ed, and the bee-battalions began to move in 

 ' double-quick,' a rout and stampede always 

 followed. It is a fact, John. Those bees 

 fought all of my battles across the plains, 

 and this is my ' old queen ' sure enough." 



I>o yiot Sell all the honey you have. 

 Keep what is necessary for use in the 

 family. Mr. C. H. Dibbern tells some of 

 his experience In this connection in the 

 Western Ploivman in these words : 



I have no patience with that class of bee- 

 keepers who think they cannot afford to eat 

 honey and supply it on their tables. 1 well 

 remember when I was a boy, working out 

 during vacation, how carefully 1 attended a 

 few colonies of bees in the old way ; how I 

 hived them, and put on the boxes, for the 

 owner, who was afraid of them ; how anx- 

 iously I watched the white combs through 

 the little piece of glass as they neared com- 

 pletion ; how finally the eventful time 

 came, and one evening I removed the boxes 

 (we knew nothing about sections then) 

 from the hives. I left the boxes near the 

 hives over night, so that the bees could run 

 back during the night, which was the com- 

 mon practice then. As there were still 

 some bees in them next morning, they were 

 removed to the cellar, leaving the door 

 slightly open, so that the bees could find 

 their way out. 



Like a boy, I had been anticipating the 

 "good time coming" when we would be 

 feasting on honey. 1 waited patiently for 

 some days after this, for the appearance on 

 the table of the beautiful comb honey, but 

 none came. Finally I ventured to ask what 

 had become of the honey, when 1 was in- 

 formed that it had all been taken to town 

 and sold ; that they could not afford to eat 

 honey when they could get 15 cents per 

 pound for it. 1 said nothing, but thought a 

 great deal for a long time ; in fact, 1 have not 

 got over it yet, although I have produced 

 carloads of honey since. 



Dark ok Fali, Honey.— Late honey, 

 which is usually dark, or in some localities 

 of a golden color, should be sold, whether 

 extracted or in the comb, for just what it is. 

 If you have any "honeydew" or poor 

 trash, do not try and work it off by liidiag 

 it in the middle of the cases, and exposing 

 only nice white combs. Such practi-'e may 

 be sharp, but it is dishonest, nevertheless, 

 and it will be sure to re-act on the guilty 

 bee-keeper. Such usually find their home 

 market " played out," and have to resort to 

 shipping. 



Partlv-Fiixkd Sections.— Partly-filled 

 sections should be extracted before it gets 

 very cold, as the honey soon gets too thick 

 to run freely. 1 used to consider these 

 empty combs of g;eat value for use the next 

 season, but nice comb foundation has 

 changed all this. I now cut out all combs 

 that have been extracted, and melt them up 

 by placing them in a large dish-pan over a 

 pot of boiling water. When all is melted, 

 let it cool, and you will have a nice cake of 

 wax, and some very nice honey. 



Use NO Soiled Sections,— Burn up all 

 sections that are not nice and clean. It is 

 poor economy to have nice white honey 

 stored in old dirty boxes. If we wish to 

 hold our customers for our honey, we must 

 always have it in the best possible condition. 



Colors ana Bees.— In TlcTc's Maga- 

 zine for October we find the following on 

 flower colors and their visitors, the bees : 



All through creation appears a consid- 

 erateness, a taking thought tor the pleas- 

 ures of slight beings, very moving and com- 

 forting to see. Not a wood-tick or red 

 spider, or hard working bee but is meant to 

 be happy as well as useful, and while we 

 take the world with a sublime conceit of its 

 being all for us, we find that certain pleas- 

 ures were designed peculiarly for insignifi- 

 cant beings on whom we do not waste a 

 thought. 



If the flowers are dyed in every warm, en- 

 ticing hue, it is not for us alone, but to draw 

 the honey-seeking insects which have a fine 

 eye for color. 



To test this power in bees. Sir John Lub- 

 bock tried a pretty experiment, placing 

 some honey on a slip of glass laid on blue 

 paper outside his study window, and when 

 a bee had made several journeys and be- 

 come used to the color, laying an orange 

 slip with honey in its place, and the blue 

 further away. The bee came back, finding 

 the honey in the same spot, but it preferred 

 the blue color, and pausing a moment 

 darted for the blue paper. 



Xiie Canse ot Failure of the honej" 

 crop tor 1888 is thus stated in the Michigan 

 Farmer for last week : 



The Central Michigan Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation ascribed the cause of the failure 

 in the honey crop to the following reasons : 

 The bees have been remarkably free from 

 all disorders. The trouble lay in the fail- 

 ure of nature to properly perform her duty. 

 The chalices ot flowers, from which the 

 bees collect the sweet semi-fluid substance 

 contained but little nectar. A close ob- 

 server states that the absence of this sub- 

 stance was due to the atmosphere and the 

 direction of the winds. North, northeast, 

 and east winds are very destructive to the 

 honey-flow, and during the past season 

 almost continued winds from these direc- 

 tions prevailed, together with a dry, harsh 

 atmosphere. The best flow ot honey is 

 secured by a southwest wind, and a west 

 wind is the next most favorable. A damp, 

 warm, balmy atmosphere is essential to suc- 

 cessful bee-culture. 



A Liiving jTIoiise smothered in honey 

 is a great delicacy in China, as appears 

 from the following item in an exchange : 



If you were a Chinese girl, remarked a 

 Celestial nobleman belonaing to the Chi- 

 nese mission, and wanted to give some one 

 a great delicacy, you would get two yourg 

 baby mice, blind and unable to crawl, and 

 place them before your guest alive on a 

 plate. He would dip each living morsel in 

 a dish of honey and envelop It in a sugary 

 shroud before popping it into his mouth. 

 The dying squeak of the poor little atom is 

 the sauce piquante of this favorite dish in 

 China. 



^Ingnifieenl Increase.— Mr. John 

 Kentch, Tioga, Pa., writes to Oleaninris 

 that he has obtained 278 bushels of Japanese 

 buckwheat seed from 2 pounds of seed in 

 two seasons. He s:iys : 



One year alfto last spring I bought2 pounds 

 of Japanese buckwheat, which I sowed on 

 July .5, 1887, from which I harvested 8 

 bushels and one peek of good buckwheat. 

 Op July 3 of this year, I sowed 4 bushels of 

 it on 6* j acres of ground. It promised to 

 be a big yield, but the frost of Sept. 6 and 7 

 cut it short. I cut it right away after the 

 frost, and set it up. I threshed it Oct. 11, and 

 got 278 bushels of good, clean buckwheat. 



