Various

“ I am thankful so many are lending their aid and influence in the cause of justice and humanity, but we want the united efforts of honest bee-keepers, and consumers, and fair dealers, to make a bold front against every adulterator, and to expose him to the world. ”

“ If these things must be done to gratify the inordinate greed of some men, let it be made obligatory on them that the packages containing spurious products so proclaim them, under penalty of confiscation when detected, and the fraud further punishable by heavy penalty. No man has any right to sell a compound of honey and glucose as pure honey, nor has he any right, either moral or legal, to place a compound of butter and lard, still further “doctored” with drugs, upon the market as pure butter. ”

“ C. Thielmann, in the Bee Journal, says he has bees which are mostly hybrids, and he does not know where they came from, but there are Italians 5 miles from him. Another says he has no black bees, and his queens must be purely mated, &c.; another that a neighbor has had some 10 or 15 colonies so many years, breeding in-and-in, but states he manages to keep his number about the same. Breeding in-and-in with bees, I am fully convinced, is not much done. Bees are free rovers and it seems to be their nature or instinct to mate at some distance from the parent hive. ”

“ Bee-keepers were an intelligent, enterprising class of men; men of progress. No intelligent man would destroy his bees.
After some discussion Mr. Manum exhibited some of his honey boxes, and explained their uses and advantages.
Bees were advantageous in the orchard, and to the buckwheat crop, as he had satisfactorily demonstrated. Some doubts had been expressed to the value of the red clover blossom on account of the inability of the bee to reach the nectary; Italians have the advantage over black bees, because they are provided with greater length of proboscis. ”

“ My bees, 30 colonies with selected queens, have come safely through the winter to the 1st of March, and there is really but little danger of losing bees in this climate after the 1st of this month, unless they are short of stores and shamefully neglected. The bee-man is aware, above all others, that there is “many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip,” however closely he may watch his business. On the 30th of Jan. last, when my bees were flying lively, I noticed that one large colony with a tested Cyprian queen, were not stirring like the others. ”

“ When bees can gather no honey, Italians especially go about visiting for the purpose of plunder, and woe to the colony that is not strong enough to defend its stores. I have reduced the entrance, covered the entrance with cow-chips, wet hay, brush, and, in fact, tried all remedies that ever I saw in print or heard of, without success. While the robbers were helping themselves, the colony robbed was not discouraged, but appeared to be robbing some other, and the queen was laying eggs, to be starved as they advanced to brood; no bees appeared to be killed at the entrance, as no blacks were about ”

“ Bees in Good Condition.—The Weekly Bee Journal is a welcome visitor and is the first paper I read when I return home on Friday evening. It is a friend that introduces me to my fellow bee-keepers, and their manner of manipulating our pets. My bees are in good spirits, yet they had but 2 flights this winter. I have them packed in a shed in new Langstroth hives, manipulating sides. They are 6 inches apart and packed all around with straw, excepting the fronts. They face the south, with a division board on each side of the frames, leaving a dead air space. ”

“ There are very few but have other business connected with bee-keeping, and this would suffer if close attention was given the migratory system. The amount of honey required to winter in the South is much less than in the North, but the quantity is governed by contingencies, as would be the question, How much honey will a colony obtain in the South in a season? Usually bees obtain considerable surplus in April and May, in some localities. ”

“ This “pure honey” was analyzed by an expert chemist and found mostly glucose. These jars and tumblers are now of slow sale, for the consumers begin to have confidence in candied honey. We are, therefore, in a fair way for selling our product. Let us go on, and turn the cold shoulder to the advice of those who have, so far, caused more prejudice than profit to bee-keepers.
Mr. Hoge, who has visited the old continent, knows, as well as I do, that in Europe liquid honey is unsalable, for the consumers are accustomed to buying candied honey. ”

“ Bees seem to do best in the newer counties, where the timber has not been cut off. It might be supposed that the northern portion of this State was not favorable for bees, but Aroostook county, in the extreme north, produces nearly as much honey as all the other 15 counties, and the honey is put up in the most marketable shape; but I fear the bees are not protected as they should be in this northern climate. We have had a cold winter, and the loss has been very great. I winter my bees in the cellar with success, and obtain much pleasure, as well as profit, from the time I devote to them. ”

“ Crane replied, stating the object of the meeting and giving a brief narration of the ancient history of the honey bee, and of its improved management in the present age.
Mr. A. E. Manum said success depended on the man and circumstances. The bee-keeper should be a person of even temperament—not easily excited—should be somewhat acquainted with botany; and recommended small section boxes, to hold not more than 2 lbs. Everything should be kept ready and in order. He gave an estimate of produce in a good season with Italian bees, and also a poor season like the past. ”

“ Thus it will be seen that our eastern brethren will have to commence the season with greatly reduced forces, while the apiarists in this State will commence operations with more colonies, and, consequently, with more bees. Last season was a good one, and the bees went into winter quarters with abundant stores, which have carried them through the mild winter safely. The bee flora having had ample rains to insure a most thrifty growth, will bloom for a longer period than it has heretofore, and, of course, will insure an enormous yield of honey. ”

“ They are all alive and strong, and seem to be in splendid condition, with plenty of honey and perfectly dry. I think all the danger is over with them now. I am in favor of double-walled hives, but not packed with chaff, for I have noticed that where there is chaff there is frost on the inside wall. I prefer a dead air space, for then it is always dry. What is the use of changing black bees for Italians, if Mr. Loucks, of California, can get so much honey from the black bees, they surely must be the “boss” bees? I think we had better take our bees to California, where milk and honey flows. ”

“ The honey-producing annuals have done but little better, owing, we presume, to the germination of the seeds in mid-winter, and the frequent frosting of the tender sprouts before spring set in. Thus, the summer and fall bloom was limited, and no provision having been made to supply the short-comings of nature, bees entered upon an unprecedented winter with a poor supply of good—or a good supply of poor—honey. The many empty hives in the country this spring is the result. ”

“ A private letter from a gentleman with several hundred colonies of bees, located a short distance below Memphis, Tenn., dated March 5, says: “My colonies are mostly very strong; they are bringing in 5 kinds of pollen; many are clustering in front of their hives; most of them had large quantities of honey left over, and I could extract an average of 15 lbs. per colony with profit to the bees. Bees here are given no attention in the fall, but are left on the summer stands, sometimes with the second story over them, and often with only a honey-board. ”

“ Manum remarked that it was important to have good queens, he advised all to raise their own; old queens were best to rear queens from, say 2 years old or more; it is best to rear queens in warm weather, when honey is plenty.
The question “how to prevent bees from dwindling” Mr. Leonard answered thus: In this case as in all other ills to which bee-keepers are heir to, keep the colony strong and healthy. ”

“ The drone comb is exactly the size, and like worker comb made by the bees already in Europe and America. The workers are brown with a very ringed abdomen, the bands to the tip of the body being broadly marked with yellow, and thorax very fuzzy, with a large shield between the wings; the drones are black, inclining to a blue-black, and are 1⁄2 of an inch long; the queens are leather-colored, and large compared with the workers. These bees are very active, wonderful breeders, regular little beauties, and can be handled without the least smoke, scarcely ever offering to sting. ”

“ The next season, and even that fall, there were hybrid colonies all over the country, even at the distance of 7 miles, one man had one colony. One man, 5 miles from me, wished me to introduce an Italian queen into one of his colonies. I think he had 6 and I was surprised to see 4 of them hybrids, how they came there he did not know. Others said to me, “I have your kind of bees, but where they came from I cannot tell.”
All breeders of Italian queens find it very difficult to keep their stock up to the standard of purity. ”

“ Now that the consumers at large begin to give their preference to candied honey, the adulterators, seeing their sales decreasing, try to invent some means to stop this result, and incite us to help them to continue their fraudulent practice. ”

“ We have 255 colonies of bees in Langstroth hives. Some are Italians—we like them as honey-gatherers, but they are crosser than our natives. We obtained 850 gals. honey, and 500 lbs. wax. The latter we obtained from about 90 hives which we transferred. We think apiculture will pay here with good management. We extracted from one colony 32 Langstroth frames well filled with honey. Our apiary is located on a “gum” swamp, 5 or 6 miles wide and 15 or 20 miles long, which is our main honey source, and blooms from April 15 till May 15; we also have many other honey producing flowers. ”

“ I began the last season with 18 colonies, increased to 34 and obtained about 500 lbs. of surplus. I wintered in the cellar, and lost 3 colonies with dysentery. My bees had a cleansing flight about 2 weeks ago and I think we will have no more losses this winter. There are quite a number of bee-keepers in this vicinity, but most of them report very heavy losses, some having over 100 colonies and losing nearly all. We are very much pleased with the Weekly Bee Journal, and think it far superior to any Monthly. ”

“ When your colonies are strong in the spring, give the moldy combs; they will soon utilize them, if not given too fast. The combs with dead bees should be kept in a dry place, and after the bees have become dried and shrunken, you can easily shake them out of the cells. If moths get in the combs, treat them in the manner suggested by Mr. Doolittle, page 74, Bee Journal of March 9th. One pound of sulphur, however, to each 100 cubic feet, seems a large amount; this would require 10 lbs. ”

“ As a sample of what may be done in many parts of the country to diffuse knowledge regarding apiculture, and awaken an interest in bee-keeping as a business, let me give a brief account of a meeting recently held in Shaftesbury Hall, Toronto, under the auspices of the Y. M. C. A. Mr. D. A. Jones, having made the acquaintance of some of the leading spirits in the organization just named, offered to give a free lecture on bee-keeping. ”

“ I had 20 colonies on the summer stands, packed with cut straw, and lost 6 of them by dysentery and starvation. If bees are strong in numbers and have plenty of honey, I can see that there is no danger of loss. Last season it was so dry here that the white clover dried up, and the bees could get but little honey, and what they did gather was very dark. ”

“ Perhaps the reason is partly because here abundant warm rains have fallen all over the State, and the world-renowned honey region has received its complement of the down-pour; in fact, the inhabitants hardly ever saw so much rain visit that section at the right time.
There are now signs, however, that indicate the sun will shine with its usual brightness; that those delightful spring days, which are so peculiar to this fair land, are about to favor us. ”

“ Honey, as Food and Medicine, by Thomas G. Newman.—This is a pamphlet of 24 pages, discoursing upon the Ancient History of Bees and Honey; the nature, quality, sources, and preparation of Honey for the Market; Honey as an article of food, giving recipes for making Honey Cakes, Cookies, Puddings, Foam, Wines, &c.; and Honey as Medicine, followed by many useful Recipes. It is intended for consumers, and should be scattered by thousands all over the country, and thus assist in creating a demand for honey. ”

“ I claim that bees will mix from 5 to 7 miles, and if there are 50 or 100 colonies within that distance the progeny of a certain queen will stand a poor show of mating with drones from its own hive.
To illustrate: While living in N. Y. I obtained one of Mr. Langstroth's $20 tested Italian queens; I reared some 70 queens and introduced them into as many colonies. The next season I had Italian drones by the thousand. My stock of Italian drones were the only ones in the locality, so I had a good chance to test breeding in-and-in. ”

“ Wagner had given very careful directions how to care for them. This person, learning that Mr. Mahan had expressed the intention of having the honor of landing, in America, the first living Italian bees, and desiring, as he told me, to secure this honor for us, communicated Mr. Mahan's intention to the captain, who, as soon as the gang-way was in place, was the first person to step ashore, proclaiming with a very loud voice: “These are the first Italian bees ever landed on the shores of America!” ”