VOL. XII.

Our Exchanges.

Boil it down! Boil it down! Give us the new and useful' pointsThe good-and that's enough! Boil it down!

BRITISH BEE JOURNAL.

At the annual show of the British BeeKeepers' Association, Sept. 15-18, we notice that friend Abbott, editor of the British Bee Journal, took many prizes for his ingenious inventions-among which we might name: movable comb hives, bee feeders, sectional boxes, and his extractor, called the "Little Wonder."

Mr. John Hunter, exhibited the following American articles: Quinby's smoker; Novice's metal corners, bee-quilt and feeder; Isham's boxes, etc.

George Neighbour & Sons exhibited quite largely and carried off several prizes.

FOUL BROOD.

"If a hive should be found to contain foul brood, which may be known by the ragged, sunken, and pierced condition of the sealed (?) cells, and by the fœtid nature of their contents, it will be unwise to attempt a cure, for the combs will be worthless, except for the honey they may contain, and the bees being few and old, will not be worth any labor bestowed on their preservation, and it will therefore be good policy (to prevent the disease extending) to give them a sharp shift,' either with sulphur fumes or drowning, for where the dire necessity arises, a sudden death is the more merciful."

BEE FOOD.

"The cheapest and best form of bee-food with which we are acquainted is composed of five pounds of best loaf sugar and two pints of water, to be boiled together, a wineglass of vinegar and a pinch of salt should then be added, and the whole boiled for a few minutes."

LIGURIAN BEES.

It will be remembered that on page 241 (September number), while commenting upon an article from the London Cottage Gardner, condemning Italian bees, we asked friend Abbott what proportion of British bee-keepers preferred the black to the Italian bees? His answer is as follows:

"The barefaced libel contained in the article referred to is about on a par with the

No. 11.

insane assertions made some time since by a positivist named Heddon at the Michigan Bee-Keepers' Association (December, 1875) denouncing bee-keeping as a snare and a delusion, kept up by editors of bee journals, and hive and bee-furniture makers, for their own special profit."

"The man of many assertions who foments trade in England against Ligurian bees, is also deadly opposed to bar-frame hives, and indeed to everything that savors of improved bee-culture honestly carried on. He teaches people how to fill 'shoddy' supers with the contents of the hives called after his own name, than which no others in his opinion ought to exist, and from his dogged persistence in his declarations he undoubtedly believes he is right; and we are content to allow him to enjoy his opinion, and to lead as many others as choose to foliow him. The tide, however, sets in another direction, and improved hives, improved methods of managements, and improved bees, are the order of the day; and for results we will point to the glories of the late Alexandra Show, at the piles of supers, tier upon tier, that dazzled the eye with their beauty, at the magnificent exhibits of the cottagers who, having deserted the 'Pettigrew' system, have come into light and celebrity by aid of the barframe principle and the Ligurian bee. Can anything in the annals of the skep compare with the results obtained by the bar-frame principle and Ligurian and hybrid bees in the hands of Cottager Walton, as exhibited at our late show? Has anything in the way of supers ever been produced from skeps which can compare honestly with the magnificent exhibits of Mr. Cowan, in 1874, 1875 and again this year? The boast of the old system is, that sometimes swarms will rise to a hundred pounds weight, which system necessitates the breaking up of the stocks to obtain the honey; but the glory of the bar-frame principle is that a hundred pounds can be taken in supers, forty to fifty or more pounds extracted from the stockhive, and no harm done."

"Undoubtedly the old skep and its advocates have done the country immense service with the black bee, and in the hands of those who are content 'to drive slowly,' they will, doubtless, retain a place; but as a matter-of-fact, the bar-frame hive and the Ligurians are driving them out of use, and presently black bees, as a distinct variety, will have ceased to exist. We are perfectly sick of the subject; there will always be some who will rail against what interferes with their own pet ideas, and there will be those who will not see advantages which proclaim themselves trumpet- tongued throughout the world; others that having made an assertion, having said a thing, will spend the remainder of their life in sticking to it, be it ever so wrong; and after some

experience with such, we think wise men will let them alone."

BEE-KEEPERS' MAGAZINE.

The Rev. J. W. Shearer gives an excellent article on Wintering, in which he gives the following remarks on

UNITING WEAK STOCKS.

"It is much better to unite all weak stocks in the fall and keep the extra comb in a good dry place to be given in the spring to build up swarms. Bees do not uníte so readily after the honey harvest is over as they do in the summer and during swarming time. A little preparation is necessary. Proceed as follows: Select the two hives to be united and take away from each half the combs leaving those that are the largest and best filled with honey and pollen. If these are lacking one may be taken from some old hive which is able to spare it. These two hives will have just the amount of comb necessary for the new. The next day proceed as follows: Preserve the youngest queen for the united colony. To do this find the oldest queen and cage her, to be used should accident befall the other. Then smoke both hives well until they fill themselves with honey. This serves to give them the same scent. They may then be treated in two ways. First, take the combs with adhering bees and place them alternately into the new hive. Second, shake the bees from all the combs in front of the new hive and let them enter after placing the comb alternately in the hive.

The latter is perhaps the best plan. Then close up the hive so soon as the bees have entered, giving good ventilation. It will not do to open them at once for many of the old bees would return to their old stands and be lost. To prevent this proceed as follows: Keep the new hive closed until about sunset. Close it the next morning and open again at sunset. On the second morning open again and give the hive a few sharp raps. The bees will then take their bearing and return all right to the new hive. It is sometimes a great assistance in uniting, to first sprinkle both hives with sweetened water, into which a few drops of some perfume has been added."

FEEDING.

"Where the winter harvest cannot be relied on the bee-master should feed all the stocks which have not a supply, with good sugar syrup made of the consistency of honey. It should be fed as rapidly as possible to prevent the use of it to too great an extent for making wax and raising of brood. It is not well to encourage the laying of eggs after the last of September when winter food should be given. Up to this time they should be stimulated if no honey is obtained, by regularly feeding a very little syrup at a time so as to have a good supply of young bees for wintering. The syrup should be given about sunset to prevent fighting, and they will take it much more rapidly especially if the evenings are cool if it be given whilst a little warm. It should be fed in the cap or top box of the hive in some good feeder. Perhaps the simplest is an inverted fruit can with a piece of thin cloth tied over the top. Two or three of these may be given, a hive at a time. In a very few even

ings, if fed properly, they will receive sufficient. A teaspoonful of cream of tartar added to a quart of syrup will assist in preserving it from crystalization. It should be first dissolved in a little warm water before pouring into the syrup."

WINTERING OUT OF DOORS.

"About the first of November, when cold weather seems about to set in, bees should be fully prepared for winter. If wintered in the open air the following are important points to be attended to. Each hive should in some way be prepared against sudden reverses of heat and cold. The entrances should be towards the south or east with good protection on the other sides. A good evergreen hedge will check the force of winds and prevent disturbance. The hives should sit firmly on legs or benches a little way above the ground to prevent the combs from molding. If large hives are used, division boards on either side closing up to about nine frames of comb will leave an air chamber on each side of the bees. This with a similar protection in front will greatly aid in avoiding sudden changes. It is very important that the front end or entrance should be properly closed. Much the best plan is to have a portico enclosed all around for the aligting board. Into this fix an outer door having at one end a small exit for the bees, so that mice cannot enter, and at the opposite side from the entrance into the hive so that no sunshine will fall in the entrance and tempt the bees out when it is too cold to fly. Some fine day in winter this outer door is removed so that the sun can shine full into the hive when the bees will fly out, void their fæces and return in better condition to their hives which are again to be closed."

GLEANINGS IN BEE-CULTURE.

This season Novice has decided to winter his bees on their summer stands. He says:

"Our bees are to be wintered on their summer stands; not a bee is to be bothered by being lugged about, and if they die, it will not be of home-sickness. The greater part will have only the chaff cushions pressed closely down on the frames; some will have chaff on all four sides, some on three sides, and some on only one side. A dozen or more, will be entirely surrounded with chaff, bottom board and all." "Painting bottom boards we find to answer quite well for preventing their being covered with wax and propolis. Some that have been in use two years, are almost as nice and clean as when first given the bees."

GIVING BEES BITS OF COMB.

"We have tried giving bees bits of comb in front of the hives, and find that if the distance is so great they are compelled to take wing, they pack the comb on their pollen baskets; if so near the hive that they can carry it on foot, they bite off bits as before, and then stick them together in a lump, holding this lump as it appears to us, under the chin, with the aid of the tongue. With this lump of wax, when the bee has about as much as it can carry, it starts into the hive hurriedly, and goes directly to where comb building is in progress, or may be to where cracks and crevices are being

stopped by propolis, for these bits of wax seem to be used for either purpose indiscriminately. When packing it in their pollen baskets, they use a kind of slight-ofhand movement, that is quite puzzling until one has studied it out. A bit of wax is pulled from the comb as before, and is then stuck on the side of one of the middle feet from which it is 'slaped' on to the rest in the pollen basket with a movement so quick that the eye is unable to follow it, and it is only by observing the finishing pats of this limb, that we are able to divine how the wax got to the pollen basket at all."

CASES FOR SHIPPING COMB HONEY. "The cases are made of lumber purchased for $11.00 per M. It is planed down to about 4, and then boxes made to hold 40 or 50 combs just as they hang in the hive, with a pair of handles at each end to carry them by. The handles are simply a prolongation of the sides of the box, whittled round and smooth, so as to be easy for lifting so great a weight-200 to 400 lbs. To keep the combs apart, the rabbets along the sides are notched just right to admit the projecting ends of the top bar, and a three-cornered strip notched in a similar way, is nailed along the bottom. When the cover is screwed on, every frame is secure in its place. He receives the same price for comb-honey put up in this way, as for that in the sections20 cts.-but receives the frames and cases back."

CHAFF CUSHIONS.

"Our house apiary is supplied with chaff cushions, and we are rejoicing to find them answering the purpose so well. These cushions are made of two pieces of Indian head muslin, 17x21, joined by a band 6 in. wide, so that we have a box of cloth as it were; we prefer to use the band, as it leaves the ends and sides square, making a close fit to the sides of the hives, or to each other when placed in the house apiary. The night they were put on, the temperature outside was down to 40 deg., in the house 60 deg., and a thermometer put under one of the quilts for a few minutes, showed 80 deg. Before putting on the cushions a pretty strong hum was heard during cool nights, but now we hear not even a 'whisper.'

BEE LANGUAGE.

Concerning the question of bees communicating with one another, Novice reports the following test:

"Yesterday (Oct. 18th), the door of the honey house by some means got open, and at noon we found them doing a 'land office business' on our sections of comb honey. The door was closed until they were all on the glass, and then opened just long enough to let them out. As a fresh army rushed in at every opening, it was some time before all were out, and as each lot rushed laden into the hives, a swarm of workers came out and made straight for the door way. At night they had given up buzzing around the door, and a feeder was placed in front of a hive which we watched until a few bees were ready to go inside with a load of honey; almost as soon as they were out of sight, a lot came tumbling out, and went straight to the door of the honey house. More kept coming, and we finally were convinced that they only know when a bee comes in laden,

that it has obtained its load somewhere, and that the only way they have of finding it, is to scatter about in every direction until they find it."

FEEDING BEES-MOVABLE FRAMES. The Rev. L. L. Langstroth says:

"When feeding large colonies in July and August to encourage the preservation and production of drones, I used old discarded fruit cans, putting in them two or three small pieces of corn cob, and one long one. These were placed in the portico about dark, removed next morning and set on the ground near the hives, so that they could be readily refilled and replaced in the evening. No robbing, no bees lost in the food. After two or three feedings the bees were as conscious of the time for feeding as our barnyard stock, parading impatiently over the Hoor of the portico, and finally swarming upon the can as soon as we had left it. If two cobs are tied together, one to be in the can, and the other outside so as to rest on the portico, a strong stock will empty the can in quite cool weather."

On the subject of movable frames he says:

"By all means let the old and new systems be tried by experts. I have no doubt that many are "dabbling" with frames, who would be much better off if they used the old gum, and the sulphur pit."

"The fact cannot be questioned, that for some reason the race of bee-keepers who make bee-keeping profitable without movable frames is fast dying out. Is there among them one who can compare, for success, with Capt. Hetherington, or the late Adam Grimm?"

"Let me call the attention of your readers to a single point, the rapidity with which after the most disastrous winters an apiary is re-established by those who have control of the combs, while similar losses with the box hives are irreparable."

"As friend Heddon has used movable frames and now returns to the old box, with supers for surplus, his reports will be looked for with all the greater interest. If all our fancied improvements are only fuss and feathers,' or at most beneficial to scientific amateurs, the sooner we know it the better, even if we should be as much surprised as any traveler on a first-class railroad car, would be if called to give it up for a comfortable seat in an old-fashioned stage coach."

FIFTY DOLLARS DAMAGES.

Novice was foolish enough to ask every one who had bought foundation of him, and were not satisfied, to send in their bills for damages. H. A. Burch sent in a bill for $50, which was paid, but Novice sent with it an appeal for mercy on his hard earnings. He adds that a few more such claims for damages would prevent him from continuing to publish Gleanings. Mr. B. thinks the foundation was $150 of damage to him, but he was modest, and asked only $50.

Novice should withdraw that "offer" at once. The existence of Gleanings should not be thus periled.

MOONS' BEE WORLD.

DOMESTICATING BEES.

Friend Moon remarks that "Bees can be learned to come at call;" and then adds:

"We plac d a swarm in a dark room upon the floor. We fed in flat dishes with floats to prevent the bees from getting into the food. At first we had to rap on the hive to call them out. As soon as they found that their food was administered in that way, they were not slow to come for it. We soon found that when we entered the room, with or without food, in the dark, and at the distance of 8 to 10 feet from the bees, by gentle raps on the floor, they would come to us by thousands. If we changed to another posítion they would follow us, always peaceable and kind."

INTRODUCING VIRGIN QUEENS.

E. C. L. Larch gives the following as his method of introducing a virgin queen:

"She must be not more than a few hours old-the sooner after hatching the better. Place her on a comb where there is plenty of honey and close the hive. I have only succeeded in introducing one virgin out of several that were over twenty-four hours old, and she was caged 6 days in a hive with a laying queen. When the laying queen was removed, she did not commence laying until about 2 weeks old. I prefer to give to each new colony or nucleus a queen-cell, nearly ready to hatch, and then waiting about 6 hours. If I have the time, should several queens hatch at once unexpectedly, and they are discovered before being killed, I endeavor to save all that I can by giving all the surplus queens to nuclei at once.

"Mr. Boardman says he feeds his bees with a composition of one spoonful of sugar, boiled in four spoonsful of water, to which is slowly added, (stirring always) half a spoonful of wheat flour. It has the appearance of white honey and answers the purpose very well. The above preparation can be increased to pounds, quarts, &c., if large quantities are required."

We issue this number of THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL a few days earlier than usual, in order to permit the publisher to attend the National Convention and Honey Show at the Centennial grounds, from Oct. 25th to Nov. 1st; a full report of which may be expected in our next number.

The publisher has gone to the Centennial Meeting, at Philadelphia, and will not return till the 4th of November. So those writing to this office before that time, must not be disappointed if they do not get an immediate reply.

No class of business suffers from the hard times more than the business of publishing a newspaper. Three-quarters of the newspapers published in this country are not paying expenses.

Among our many callers this month, we may name Mr. T. F. Bingham, of Abronia, Mich. He has already sent his bees to the South to winter. He has 200 colonies. He has a ton of comb and 1,500 fbs. of extracted honey.Mr. Staples, of Columbia, Tenn., of the firm of Staples, Andrews & Vaughan. They have 400 stands of bees, and have sold a large lot of queens and bees this season as well as produced much honey. Mr. R. R. Murphy, of Fulton, Ill., who was on his way to the National B. K. Convention. His extractor has already been awarded a premium by the Centennial Committee.-Mr. E. Osburn, Jackson Co., Iowa, also called. He has 56 colonies, many of them having given 100 lbs. of comb honey each. He has a ton of box honey now on hand. Mr. George Thompson, of Geneva, and Mr. James Marvin, of St. Charles, of Kane Co., Ill., spent a pleasant hour with us. The latter has several tons of extracted honey; having sold his box honey, at 20 cts. per fb. in the quantity.-Many others have also given us a pleasant call, whose names we do not now remember. All of them, however, report a good honey harvest.

The Governor of the Province of Quebec, Canada, has just decreed that beekeeping be taught to the pupils of the Normal School of Montreal. Mr. Thos. Valiquet, of St. Hilaire, has been appointed lecturer. We congratulate the Governor on his decision, and the superintendent of the schools upon the appointment of this experienced bee-keeper. He could not have made a better choice.

Mr. H. Alley, Wenham, Mass., has sent us one of his Smokers. It is a tin tube with a mouth-piece in one end, and a small tin tube in the other to force the smoke through. Mr. H. sends the following, descriptive of it and its use:

"I have used these pipes for the past 18 years, and hardly know how I could get along without one. I have taken 20 queens from nuclei hives by the use of one of these pipes, and put them into mailing boxes, without re-loading or re-lighting the pipe. Have opened and examined 4 Langstroth hives by the use of one of them; there is no trouble about the pipe going out. I hold it between my teeth and direct the smoke to any part of the hive I desire. If the bees attempt to run up from between the combs, I blow the smoke on them, and they soon get out of my way. I find it very useful when removing boxes or introducing queens."

AGENTS.-We want a good agent in every section of the United States and Canada. Such are invited to correspond with us.

An Old Bee Book.

Books are landmarks in the field of truth; milestones on the highway of knowledge. Not many years ago, some laborers while excavating in Broadway, N. Y., came upon an old milestone that still persisted in saying, "One mile to New York," though it was found in the very heart of that great metropolis. In like manner, old books often show themselves to be far behind the times, by their now obsolete contents, but in some cases they surprise the reader by showing that items of knowledge supposed to be new and modern, are very old and time

honored.

Both these remarks find numerous illustrations in a bee-book published sixtytwo years ago in London, England. We came upon it while scanning a highlyvaried assortment of second-hand and old publications, exposed for sale at a book-stall in an Eastern city. Originally sold at eight shillings sterling, an outlay of forty cents constituted the writer its happy owner, and it is no exaggeration to say, that the costliest new novel of the age, would not be half so interesting to an intelligent bee-keeper, as this now venerable volume.

The title-page is as follows: "A treatise on the breeding and management of bees, to the greatest advantage. Interspersed with important observations adapted to general use. Deduced from a series of experiments during thirty years. By John Keys. A new edition." This "new edition," the writer states in his preface, is in reality a new book. He says that in 1780, he "ventured to publish a work of this kind," according to the best knowledge and experience he then had. Now, thirty-four years later, the author, "in the vale of life," discovers, that as the result of his researches, observations, and experiments, he differs to such an extent from himself, that "instead of a second edition, a new book became necessary."

There are few active-minded men, beekeepers or others, who do not differ amazingly from their former selves, both in opinion and practice, after the lapse of thirty-four years!

In the course of the preface, the author assures "apiators" that to the best of his knowledge, "every hint or information that has been found of any real service, in any writer of note, foreign or domestic, is comprised in this volume." A footnote contains a list of these writers, and we own ourselves not a little astonished, at the number of names given. Mew, Geddy, Purchase, Wolridge, Rus

"Butler,

den, Warder, White, Thorley, Mills, Wildmans, Debraw, and Bromwich. Foreigners: Miraldy, Reaumur, Bonnet, Shirach, Needham, Norton, Seykers, and others of less note." It is rather extraordinary that Huber is not included in this enumeration, for it was reading the works of Reaumur and Bonnet, that interested him in the study of bee-life, and long before 1814 he had become widely known as a writer in that department of natural history. Indeed it was in 1814, that his numerous papers published through various channels, were gathered into one collection. He probably ranked then among "others of less note," though he subsequently became more distinguished than any of them. It is safe to infer that Keys was not much indebted to Huber, or there would have been more distinct acknowledgement of obligation to him.

The preface further states that within a few years, "warm disputes" had arisen between different naturalists and apiarian societies on the continent, "relating to the generation of bees, and the formation of artificial swarms in consequence of some new and wonderful principles advanced by a Mr. Schirach, secretary of an apiarian society. "Eight years of experimenting at the cost of much loss and disappointment had convinced Mr. Keys that Schirach's method cannot prove of public utility.

By way of redeeming this introductory paper from dullness, we append a few amusing extracts from Chapter I., illustrative of the queer ideas about bees that were in vogue 64 years ago. Speaking of the queen, he says, "The more full of eggs, the more yellow is her belly." Note this, ye breeders of Italian queens and let it settle for ever the controversy about light and dark queens! "She is five times longer in laying a royal egg, than a common one." "The queen is impregnated about August, by virtue of which she is enabled to breed in the spring, till she produces fresh drones." The idea of one impregnation for life, had not dawned on the apiarian world at that date. Drones are said to be discarded late in the season, because at that time they have become "devoid of the spermatic milky liquor." The large number of drones found in a hive, is accounted for because "the queen, containing some thousand eggs at a time in her body demands a larger supply of the prolific juice than a few drones are equal to furnish." This is noted as a matter of wonder, "the many thousand times I have observed drones in the combs, I never beheld one with its tail in a cell." Like