188 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
Bee Notes for May. 
BT L. C. ROOT. 
The season is now at hand when prompt action 
must be taken to secure a large force of bees to 
After other necessary things are provided, the 
next important object is to secure sufficient stores. 
While there are advantages to be gained by supply¬ 
ing a proper amount of liquid food, I am of the 
opinion that the average beginner will do best to 
avoid feeding it, if each hive has a 
good supply of sealed stores, but 
the essential point is not to allow 
them to consume all of their stores 
and thus interrupt proper brood 
rearing. During the past winter 
bees have consumed more than the 
usual amount of honey, and the 
consequence will be that great care 
will be necessary in furnishing food 
before the supply is exhausted. 
Transferring Bees. —This is 
the proper time at which to trans¬ 
fer swarms from the common box- 
hives to those with movable combs. 
In the space given me here I can 
only briefly call attention to the 
different operations necessary to 
be performed. Those who are in¬ 
terested in the proper care of 
bees, and desire to proceed with a 
view to such results as are attained 
by the best methods, must secure 
a practical work where all the 
different methods are minutely 
described and illustrated. Such 
works are prepared with great 
care, with a view to those wants, 
and will be found invaluable. [We 
may here add that “ Quinby’s New 
Beekeeping,” contains the most 
complete directions for this and all else relating 
to apiary management. See Book List.—E d.] 
Kingbirds asd Bees.— “ B. H.,” of Iowa, asks 
for my views as to whether Kingbirds kill bees.... 
Fig. 3.— QUEEN CELLS IN DIFFERENT STAGES. 
Unquestionably they do kill some bees. Some feel 
justified in killing the birds when they see them in 
the act. I do not feel disposed to advise so doiug. 
Spring Rye,—We are asked if there is a 
distinct variety known as “Spring Rye.” That a 
grain is sometimes sown in the spring under the 
name of Spring Rye, we are well aware. Whether 
it is in any respect different from the grain that is 
sown in the fall we can not assert. With wheat, 
the habit of growing and maturing a crop when 
sown in’ the spring, may be fixed upon the winter 
varieties in a few seasons of spring sowing. 
Whether any one has done this with rye we are not 
informed. It is worthy of note that rye, of all our 
cereals, is the least affected by cultivation ; we 
have numerous and often well marked varieties of 
all the others, but rye remains through centuries 
of cultivation, one and the same. If rye refuses 
to deviate from the original type—will not “break” 
like other grains, into varieties, it will reward ex¬ 
periment in one direction—that of increasing the 
yield. A series of selections of only the largest 
and heaviest heads, for seed and a continuous sow¬ 
ing from such for a few years, will no doubt show 
a marked increase in the yield of the crop. 
Fig. 1.— PIECE OF COMB WITH WORKERS AND DRONE CELLS. 
gather the honey as the season advances. If colo¬ 
nies are in proper condition at this season, brood 
rearing will progress very rapidly. The require¬ 
ments are : a properly arranged movable comb hive, 
clean, straight worker combs, a fair quantity of 
bees, the necessary ^ood with which brood-rearing 
may be carried on, and, most important of all, a 
good prolific queen. As our Notes are particularly 
for the benefit of the beginner, I will speak of 
some of the common hindrances to progress. The 
inexperienced often fail to observe the difference 
between worker and drone combs, and the conse¬ 
quence is that a large proportion of the comb, and 
that often in the very center of the hive, will be 
drone. After a little experience, the difference 
may be observed, and such combs removed, or at 
least placed at the outside of the brood nest, where 
they will not occupy space that properly belongs 
to the workers. The advantages to be gained by 
the use of Artificial Comb Foundation in securing 
straight worker combs, are worthy of investiga¬ 
tion. The worker cells are about one-fifth smaller 
than drone cells. Figure 1 shows a piece of comb 
which consists of worker cells at the left, and 
drone cells at the right and upper side. A study 
of this engraving will aid in determining the kinds 
of comb. The different kinds of bees are also 
shown in the same engraving, very true to nature. 
As it is very essential to know that the queen is 
present in the hive at this season, her appearance, 
and the attention shown her in the engraving, may 
aid in recognizing 
her. If the inex¬ 
perienced are una¬ 
ble to make out the 
queen, her pres¬ 
ence may often be 
ascertained by find¬ 
ing eggs or brood. 
If eggs are found, 
the queen must 
have been in the 
hive within at 
least four or five 
days. The eggs 
and larvae in different stages are shown in figure 2, 
somewhat magnified. The absence of a queen 
may often be determined by finding queen cells 
that have been started. Bees will sometimes 
start these cells when the queen is unprolific, be¬ 
fore they destroy her. Queen cells in different 
stages are shown at a, 6, c, and d in figure 3. 
Sundry Humbugs. 
Several of our let¬ 
ters show that some 
of our newer readers 
do not understand 
the principles upon 
which this column is 
conducted. We are 
obliged to state each 
year that it is not 
enough for one to 
write a request that we “ show 
up ‘So and So’ as a fraud;” and 
that unless documentary evi¬ 
dence accompanies it, such a 
letter may as well remain un¬ 
written. We have but one ob¬ 
ject in view in making an exposure of humbugs of 
any kind—namely, to protect our readers and 
others from fraudulent and doubtful schemes of 
every kind. It is of little use for one to give it as his 
“ opinion ” that a scheme is a swindle and a person 
is a swindler. We must have proof, thoroughly 
convincing proof. Those who operate upon the 
agricultural community take advantage of this 
season, when the farmer is driven by the press of 
spring work, to present their schemes. We say to 
every farmer, either take time to examine whatever 
new or promising thing may be presented, or say 
“No” at once. Now is the time when the chap 
with the Mowing-Machine Knife-Grinder will be 
around. He will wish to leave a dozen to be sold 
to the neighbors, at a good profit. You are not to 
pay until the things are sold, and are merely to sign 
a receipt for the Grinders, that the vender may 
show what he has done with his stock. 
Don’t Sign It! Don’t Sign Anything ! 
Three quarters of all the trouble that farmers 
have with the swindlers who go about the country, 
comes from signing something. Do not sign any 
kind of an agreement; do not sign a receipt of any 
kind; do not even write down your post office 
address, for any travelling stranger. The chances 
are, that the signature will turn up at the bottom 
of a note which in due time will make its ap¬ 
pearance for payment. 
Travelling Venders for Fertilizers 
are to be avoided, no matter what claims they may 
make for the stuff they offer. A fertilizer is one of 
those things, the value of which rests upon the 
good faith of the maker; the farmer cannot know 
beforehand whether it be good or bad. If one 
needs a fertilizer, let him look over our advertis¬ 
ing columns, and order of whichever maker or 
dealer seems most advisable. To purchase of an 
unknown person is money thrown away... .While 
we are well aware that our warnings against frauds 
and dangerous articles are useful, it is not often 
that we have such direct evidence as now comes 
from North Carolina. A correspondent in Ran¬ 
dolph Co., writes that an agent came along with 
“The Celebrated French Illuminating Fluid,” 
he showed the agent our warning against the stuff, 
in the February Number, whereupon the “agent 
stopped selling,” but more than that, “he became a 
subscriber to the American Agriculturist /”.The 
circular of instructions to agents as to the intro¬ 
duction of this oil and the “ Excelsior Burner ” for 
using it, form a most curious document. The 
“ Excelsior ” is one in which a very volatile liquid 
is converted into vapor by the heat of the heavy 
metallic burner, and the vapor, as it passes out of 
several holes, burns with great brilliancy and has 
every appearance of gas. The circular asserts that 
it is gas: but it is only vapor, and while the burner 
may be safe from accident, the danger remains in 
requiring the use of one of the light petroleum 
products. No matter by what name it may be 
called, whether Naphtha, Benzine, Benzoline, Gaso¬ 
line, or other name—the article itself should never 
be tolerated in the house, and never used with any 
kind of burner whatever... .Not long ago there 
were parties in New York anxious to introduce 
The “ United States Washing Machine ” 
which, on condition that the recipient would prom¬ 
ise to show the same “ to any ten of your lady 
