to ten, and he had taken 205 lbs. of honey. He took a bee book and attended his own bees.

Mr. Rydalch, of Tooele Co., said that the disease called foul brood had been in one of his hives last spring, and in dividing and swarming, had spread it into other hives. His bees had not done well.

Mr. I. Bullock, of Provo, gave his experience with foul brood.

Doctor Crockwell recommended a solutation of one ounce of carbolic acid to a gallon of water as a disinfectant for hives that had contained foul brood.

Mr. L. Root, of Iron Co., stated that his bees had done well. He had taken 150 lbs. of honey, and had doubled his stock. Motioned that Chas. Monk be added to the publishing committee. Carried.

Motioned that Messrs. I. Bullock, J. Morgan, C. Monk, and G. Bailey prepare an article, on foul brood, for publication. Carried.

Prest. A. M. Musser stated that in the southern settlements they accused the honey bee of sucking the juice from the grape, but it was proved that the wasp or yellow jacket punctured and broke the skin of the grape, and the bees worked upon the broken fruit, but not upon the sound. He said that Mr. J. E. Johnson, of St. George, had done remarkably well with his bees in increasing of them. He urged it upon the members to be diligent, to learn all they could, and to make bee culture a successful branch of home industry.

Dismissed by J. S. Tanner. Adjourned sine die.

GEO. B. BAILEY, Sec. pro tem.

Voices From Among the Hives.

HENRY BOSSHARD, Highland, Ill., writes "This year, all around, the harvest in honey very rich. Spring and autumn good for our bees. Honey @ 25 cents th easy to sell."

DAVID BROKAW, Maple Work, Wis., writes: "I am going into the bee businees quite extensively, raising queens etc. I expect the coming winter to get some new subscribers for the JOURNAL. We have mostly black bees all in old box hives, and am urged to bring a better hive and bees into this county; which I can do without patent rights. My report for this year, in short, is this: I commenced with 13 stocks last spring. Increased them to 46, now in good condition for wintering. In box honey, about 800 lbs., which has paid me about 500 per cent. I expect to transport some 20 stocks of my best Italians to my new home. My family is now there and I am

here at Oconomowoc, Oct. 26, 1874, preparing my bees for shipping. Success to you in keeping up a good Bee Journal, filled with facts and not theories merely."

S. H. BLACK, Sciota, Ill., writes:"Bees have not done well here this season. From 40 colonies I had 7 natural swarms; the season being too poor to divide them. The white clover failed, but bees filled up from heartsease, this fall, and stored some in boxes. My bees are Italians. Black bees nearly all staryed here last winter. I am well pleased to know that two of our Bee Journals have been consolidated. Will try to send you more subscribers."

E. OTIS, Batavia, Ill., writes :-" One year ago I put 50 colonies of bees in winter quarters. They all wintered well. The spring was very cold. I lost ten, and the rest were very weak. I increased them to 97, and took 2,600 lbs. of extracted honey. My bees are Italians; they are the bees. My hives were full combed."

N. D. WEST, Breakabeen, N. Y., writes: "Bees done well in this vicinity this season. I use a hive which contains 1,740 cubic inches, inside of the frames, and like it well. I think it large enough. Is it not more profitable to use two hives this size than to use a hive twice as large, when with the small hive it gives me the most honey and swarms, and are much more convenient to handle. I winter with success in the cellar."

THOS. PIERCE, Gansevoort, N. Y., writes" My bees have done better the past season than for five seasons before. I started with 16 colonics. I have had over 30 natural swrrms; have over 500 lbs. of box honey. I shall start this winter with 30 swarms and if they live through the winter, I hope to have a good time next season. This has been a very cool season, and very backward; but the fall has been very favorable, and my bees made over 100 lbs. of white honey. My bees are all black; I have tried Italians, without success. Success to the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL."

WM. REYNOLDS, Lexington, Ill., writes: "I have had from 40 to 80 colonies every season since 1868, and have lost none, except a few that were queenless in the winter of '71 and '72. Honey season in '74 very short, in consequence of the drouth, yet I obtained 953 lbs. extracted, and 250 lbs. box honey from 45 colonies, last spring, (sold 15 in May) and now have 47 in good condition to winter. I do not anticipate any loss from wintering or springing (unless queenless) at any future time, as my success, for six years past, is fully demonstrated. I do not

For the American Bee Journal.

Pink-Blossomed Milk Weed.

In "Notes and Queries" in your JOURNAL of September, W. M. Page, of Branch county, Mich., wants you to tell him what is the matter with his bees. My explanation to him is this: It is caused by work on the large Pink-Blossomed Milk Weed, growing on wet ground or sides of ditches in wet marshes. I have cut down acres of this weed in August last. His bees are not fighting; only carrying from the hive, bees that are affected by working on this milk weed, with their feet gummed up from the stickey substance, and pollen of this weed. It seems impossible for the workers to remove this from their feet. The workers will carry them out as often as they attempt to enter the hive. Finally you find them lying around on the ground with their feet stuck together, and the bees dead. It yields a large amount of honey, and bees will go miles to work on it. Many bees are found sticking fast to the blossoms. My stocks were suffering badly from work on this weed. I hunted out its location, and cut down all of it within two miles of me, and the cure was complete for this year. It is in full blow here from the 25th of July to the middle of August. Ripon, Wisconsin.

R. DART.

For the American Bee Journal.

Bees Swarming.

Why do becs go to the woods when they swarm? This question has been asked by several, in the BEE JOURNAL, and answered by others; but my views are different from most of them in some respects. There are many kinds of bees created, and the Creator has given them the faculty to perpetuate their race. He has provided them a home according to their need. Some, it is said, live in the ground, but those amongst us, the Creator placed in the forest. He caused trees to leave hollow places in them for a home, and he has caused some kinds of trees to have gum issue from them for the bees to obtain it and wax the inside of their homes; and endowed them with the instinct to build one kind of comb for raising drones; another for worker bees; another for raising queens, and another for storing honey, and has caused trees and vegetation to produce honey and pollen for their food; and after they have increased and become numerous, He has given them the inclination to divide, and the signal is given for a part to leave. It is supposed that the queen gives the orders, but how many are to go, no man can tell, until after they leave; but it is

evident that a certain number are called, and they take a portion of honey and pollen to eat on the way, and until they have a home of their own. Of those that are to remain, a part are in the field and a part are at home taking care of the young. Those that leave, go to another tree and form another colony.

The

The art of man has brought them to our doors, and it would seem that they were intended for our use, for they often lay up more than they need for their own use, and the overplus can be taken away; and when they swarm, there is no confusion or disorganization about it. Creator has ordered that a part should leave and form a new colony, and they leave in regular order, according to the instinct given them; and if not hived in regular order, they go to the forest, their original home, where the Creator first placed them. This is why they go to the woods when they swarm.

My bees have swarmed plentifully, but have made but little box honey, owing to the scarcity of white clover. Marcellus, N. Y.

A. WILSON.

Honey Men of Oneida, Ill.

Several of the bee-keepers of Oneida clubbed together, and sent to Wisconsin by I. W. Cramer and bought eight bushels of buckwheat, which they gave to Mr. Dater, who sowed nine acres of ground with it, just east of town. It has been in bloom for some time, and consequently there is a lively time just now among our bee-keepers. There are two honey extracting machines in town, W. M. Kellog's and I. W. Cramer's, which throw the honey out of the comb, leaving beebread, etc., in the comb and returning it to be filled again by the bees. Following is a list of the bee-keepers, number and style of hives, and amount of honey taken for the week ending Sept. 12, 1874.

By W. M. Kellog, for P. Mohler, 7 Kellogg's Improved Langstroth hives, 176 lbs.; Dr. D. W. C. Bacon, 4 Langstroth hives, 70 lbs.; A. S. Curtis, 3 I. W. Cramer's hives, 42 lbs.; Dr. D. D. Martin, 2 Cramer hives, 20 lbs.; E. J. Peterson, 1 Kellogg hive, 40 lbs.; D. Hamilton, 2 each Kellogg and Cramer hives, 45 lbs, and at Kellogg's own yard, 7 hives, 245 lbs. By I. W. Cramer, for T. Parsons, 2 Cramer hives, 364 lbs., and at Cramer's own yard, 200 lbs., 12 hives. Mr. Cramer has run his yard more for queens than for honey. If we are favored with the continued fine weather, the yield of honey will be doubled. 875 lbs. of honey at 20 cents b., is the snug little sum of $175, for one week's work with the little stingers.-Galesburg Reporter.

For the American Bee Journal.

about 24x3 inches. Take common school

I Saw There.

Sweet Home is located in Illinois, county of Mercer, twelve miles south of Muscatine, and seven miles north of New Boston. The Apiarian is a man of about twenty-five or thirty years old, weighing about 140 pounds, and in opinions either religious or hygiene, is radical. We were a little surprised to find the family consisting of only two, Mr. Palmer and an active boy, of two years old, both of whom are very fond of honey. They can eat 1 lbs. per day. He calls the boy Honey. Why? Because that's his name.

Mr. Palmer's house is quite peculiar and handy. The observing hive we would never tire of looking at. For a young man, he has quite a collection of books and a cabinet of specimens of various kinds. He is making bees and fruit his business. The bee pasturage of Sweet Home consists of (before August) lynn, white clover and a variety of minor sources. About the first of August or the middle of July his bees roam the Mississippi bottom, which is four miles wide and twenty miles long. In autumn it is one bed of flowers. Sweet Home being on the bluff over-looking the bottom, is well situated for both up-land and bottom range. Up to this time (Aug. 10th), his bees have been idle only three days this season. His apiary at present consists of 75 hives, in Longstroth and Thomas' hives; being an increase of 40 hives, and has about 1,200 pounds of slung honey and 400 pounds of box honey. He thinks

by time of frost that he will double that amount of honey, and increase to 100 hives.

He increases as follows: He raises his queens from the best queen; he puts his queen cells in a nursery until hatched; then as soon as out of cell (he examines twice a day), he introduces by putting in honey a few hours after forming. To start a hive, he takes two combs of brood cutting out, with adhering bees, and puts in the hive next to one side, then puts a division board close against them. soon as the young queen is fertile, and has supplied the two combs with eggs, he puts in two combs, one empty and one of cutting brood. This he repeats once in three to six days, owing to the weather and strength of colony.

As

He, like others, has been trying to raise queens from eggs sent him by mail; he got some of Dadant's imported stock, and succeeded in getting two queens, after five days on the road. He tried eggs from "Novice's" queen, but failed.

He keeps a record of his hives on slates

according to size; cut by straight-edge and any sharp instrument; drill a hole with a pod bit, and hang on a nail; drive the nail a little downward, so that winds will not blow the slates off; write with a slate-pencil, and it will be plain for a long time. To erase such writing, it is necessary to use water and friction, so storms will not affect it.

He told me of one of his neighbors having a swarm of bees hang on a tree for seven days, when they were taken down and put in a hive, and are now at work. ON THE WING.

For the American Bee Journal.

My Italian Bee Experience.

Bees have done well here this season; I think the best in twenty years that I have kept them. I wish to tell my experience with Italian bees.

Seeing an advertisement in the JOURNAL, I sent the price for two; they came all right, and were introduced to two of my best stocks. Then I commenced feeding them, it being very dry here. One of them commenced laying, and in about four weeks they had brood flying. She was a hybrid, having bees from no bands to three. She died in the hive in February, leaving a fair swarm, which I put with the other one. They did not raise a bee till March; I watched them with much interest. They soon had them capped, some cells being longer than others, all mixed among the brood. They hatched out in due time a fine lot of little drones as ever need to be. That queen could not keep the colony up; she died or was displaced by the bees in July. I wrote the man, I think, in April, sending the price of another, and asking him to replace one of them. He wrote me back, saying he would send them as soon as he could raise them. I waited till August, then I wrote to know why he had not sent them. He returned no answer, but sent a dark colored queen, which I introduced to a black swarm. She raised a mixed brood. Drones are black. I have three queens raised by her; they are black now. I call that a black queen fertilized by an Italian drone. Now if those are Mr. Alley's best queens, how long would it take to Italianize an Apiary? My loss by the transaction is, two good swarms; two queens, at $4.00, and one at $2.25. The last one was very prolific; she filled two hives with brood, then led off a swarm. I filled the second hive with comb. My best wishes for the consolidated JOURNAL. C. A, SARGENT. South New Berlin, N. Y.

The Folk-Lore of Bees.

This subject is far from being exhausted by the interesting paper which appeared in the Gardeners' Chronicle for June 20, and it seems worth while to suppliment it by a few additional details, which I find entered from various sources in my "folk-lore" note-book. It seems to me that "J. F. R.," is a little too severe upon superstitions, which, although "foolish and ridiculous" from a strictly commonsense point of view, are at any rate harmless in themselves, and which doubtless have their bearing, even if we do not at present see how, upon the former history of the ethnology of Great Britain. However, my object is rather to add fresh matter than to criticize, so I will not dwell further upon this point.

A mediæval tradition regarding bees may worthily occupy a foremost rank in our list, as it is still current in Cornwall, and has been elegantly versified by the Rev. R. S. Hawker, vicar of Morwenstown. This tells us how a woman, finding that her bees did not thrive, obtained a consecrated Host and placed it among them, having been told that by this means they would be rendered more fruitful; and so it proved. The bees thrived apace, and when the woman in due course went to take the honey, she found in the hive "a chapel built by the bees, with an altar in it, the walls adorned by marvellous skill of architecture, with windows conveniently set in their places; also a door and a steeple with bells. And the Host being laid upon the altar, the bees making a sweet noise, flew round about it." This legend, in various forms and with different details, appears to have been very popular, and is found in various religious works as late as the seventeenth century.

The notion that bees will not thrive if purchased is prevalent not only in many English counties, but also in France, and I notice that the French bee superstitions generally correspond very closely with those of England. A hive of bees may, however, be exchanged for another ob ject; just as in Cornwall they are transferred from one owner to another with the tacit understanding that a bushel of corn or in other places a small pig (which is fair equilavent) is to be given in return. Both French and English bees are so possessed with the spirit of honesty that they will not thrive if stolen; indeed, the French bees will find their way back to their lawful owner. So discriminating are they, that should they come in the possession of a person of bad reputation, they will desert their hives and seek a more worthy master.

The very general English custom of

announcing a death to the bees, likewise prevails in some parts of France. The announcement of death in many English villages, and even in the classic town of Oxford, is, or was, made by tapping three times on the hives with the house-key, saying at the same time, "Bees, bees, bees, your master is dead, and you must work for " the future owner. Nor is this all; for the bees are also invited to the funeral, at least in the Sheffield district; and it is considered that they will die should this compliment be omitted. In Devonshire, too, a correspondent of Notes and Queries says: "I once knew an apprentice boy sent back by the funeral cortege by the nurse, to tell the bees of it, as it had been forgotten. They usually put some wine and honey for them before the hive on that day." Another funeral bee custom, formerly very general in Devonshire, was that of turning round the hives belonging to the deceased at the moment when the corpse was taken out of the house. It is a sign of death not only when bees settle on "dead wood," but also when they desert their hives and die; and in Cumberland if they rise and do not stay during a critical illness, it is a certain indication of death.

Bees have a great aversion to quarreling, especially between man and wife, but in some parts of France are supposed to attack those who swear, and on this account children are warned not to use

bad words" near a bee-hive. They also understand what is said to them, and are not slow to avenge any insults offered to them. It is a mediæval superstition that bees would not live in Ireland; and another tradition of the same period tells us that a sorcerer, if he should eat a queen bee, would be impervious to any torture which might be practiced upon him. A humble bee in the house denotes the approaching visit of a stranger. the east of England, if a red-tailed bee enters, the house, the stranger will be a man, if a white-tailed a woman. The entrance of a humble bee into a cottage is sometimes regarded as a sign of death. The value of a May swarm is referred to by Tusser, who says:

In

"Take heed to thy bees that are ready to swarm, The loss thereof now is a crown's worth of harm."

In Warwickshire the first swarm of bees is simply called a swarm; the second one from the same hive is known as a cast; while the third is termed a spindle. In Hampshire it is a common saying that bees are idle or unfortunate at their work whenever there are wars. Borlase says that "the Cornish to this day invoke the spirit Browny when their bees swarm, and think that their crying