Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber’s Note:

Text delimited by underscores is italic.

Text delimited by equal signs is bold.]

OLDEST BEE PAPER ESTABLISHED
IN AMERICA IN 1881

THE AMERICAN
BEE JOURNAL

DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY.

VOL. XVII. CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 6, 1881. No. 14.

OLDEST BEE PAPER ESTABLISHED
IN AMERICA IN 1861

THE AMERICAN
BEE JOURNAL

Published every Wednesday, by
THOMAS G. NEWMAN,
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR,
974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL.

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CORRESPONDENCE.

Interesting Letter from Singapore.

The following letter from Mr. Benton, from Singapore, will be read with interest. That city is a great seaport near the Islands of Borneo and Java. Mr. Benton’s search after those large bees--_Apis dorsata_--is a herculean task, and his trip thither will be well worth a place in history. Here is the letter:

FRIEND JONES: When in Ceylon I plunged into the jungles, first
in this direction and then in that, and followed out every clue
that I could obtain; yet although on every side I was told there
existed “a large bee,” which the natives call _bambera_, it was not
until just before I came away that I ascertained anything reliable
regarding the habits and whereabouts of this wonderful insect,
which I feel safe in saying is the long talked of _Apis dorsata_
itself; though it was too late for me to get to the places where
I could see this bee and still reach this steamer. As I return
to Ceylon, and am likely to see _Apis dorsata_ elsewhere also, I
comforted myself regarding the disappointment experienced at not
seeing this _bambera_ before my re-embarkation.

I will speak in the order of their size, of the bees found in
Ceylon, giving the Cingalese names used there.

_Kana Mee Meso_ belongs to the _Trigonæ_, and therefore is not a
true honey bee, although it gathers pollen and some honey, and
lives in swarms with a queen. In a jungle a few miles from Kaltura,
on the southwest coast of Ceylon, I found a small bee which
contained a nest of these minute, stingless bees. A tube about ¾
of an inch in diameter and a foot long, composed of propolis and
particles of wood, hung from the hole of the tree, and through this
tube all the bees entered. It seems this is a means of keeping out
larger insects. The tree was cut and the nest secured. The cells
are built in irregular bunches like those made by common bumble
bees. Those cells containing brood were about the size of a grain
of rice, while the honey and pollen cells were as large as the
smaller cells made by bumble bees. The workers are somewhat less
than 3/16 of an inch long, (about 5/32) have large heads, and very
small abdomens, the latter seeming blunt, and abbreviated, so to
speak. These bees fly swiftly, and look odd enough as they come in
loaded with minute pellets of pollen, which is packed on their hind
legs as with other bees. They are black.

The queen is large, her abdomen being so great as to dwarf in
appearance all other parts of her body, and so disable her as far
as flying and rapid movements are concerned. Of course there can be
no practical value in these bees, but I tucked the nest in a box
about 6 inches square and 2 deep, or rather a part of the brood and
honey, and brought the swarm along. They have been fixing up their
new home quite bravely.

_Daudual-Meso_ is a small bee which I have not seen, but which I
do not believe is likely to prove valuable, since it is so small.
Its comb is composed of regular hexagonal wax cells, like all comb
of _Apis_, but there are 81 cells to the square inch. I have in my
possession a small piece.

_Mee Meso_ are the Cingalese words signifying “honey bee,” and this
is the bee from which, aside from _bambera_, most of the honey and
wax come.

_Bambera_, all accounts agree, exists plentifully in the jungles
of Ceylon, but I found just before I came away, only rarely near
the seashore, I failed to find it within 10 miles of the coast.
I was glad to get accounts from persons who have seen these bees
and their trees, and have measured the lengths of their combs;
observing gentlemen, too, whose word can be relied upon. They say
these bees, which I feel sure are of the species _Apis dorsata_,
attach their combs to the branches of trees, usually some lofty
trees of the primitive forest, and a gentleman who has often seen
them, says they build combs 8 feet long. Another once measured
a comb which he found to be 6 feet long. The first mentioned
gentleman says he has seen 30 natives with earthen pots each
receive a load from one _bambera_ bee tree, and has seen a swarm of
these bees nearly a half mile long. When I visited the Government
Museum in order to obtain information as to whether they knew
anything of these bees and where they were to be found, the natives
having only succeeded in finding _deborah_, (a large hornet) with
its nest, for me. I was at once taken by one of the directors to
this gentleman, as the one from whom the most information could be
obtained.

The Cyprian and Palestine bees I have with me are doing finely.
Those left in Ceylon will serve to introduce the species _A.
melifica_, and will establish in that wonderful productive Island
an industry that I feel sure will thrive there and be a source of
revenue to the inhabitants and the government.

Upon my return I have formed the plan of taking with me for
introduction to Cyprus a lot of cocoanut palm trees, some mango
and bread-fruit seeds or trees, and a species of paw-paw found in
Ceylon. As the date-palm, the orange, the lemon, the fig, the
banana and the pomegranate are already growing in Cyprus, I believe
these new fruits will thrive and find favor. Financially, of
course, it is an experiment, yet I believe it promises well; at any
rate it will not cost much to try it.

Except this paw-paw, I failed to find any fruit or grain that is
likely to thrive in as cold a climate as the central parts of North
America. Cinnamon, coffee, tea, betel nuts, precious stones and
cocoanuts and oil are, with cinchona bark, the principal exports of
Ceylon. I talked with various exporters, but all had their agents
in N. Y. and Canada, and desired no change. None of them would
sell, of course, direct to the firm, when possessing an agent in
America.

Upon my return I will see what further can be ascertained as to
“out-of-the-way products.” It is hard to get any prices, and would
in most instances be difficult to obtain a quantity worth while to
ship.

From Arabia, coffee, gums, perfumes and pearls come. At Aden I was
told that the best Mocha coffee could be got for one shilling (or
24 cts.) per lb. In large quantities I think it can be got still
cheaper. I should think precious stones (sapphire, jasper, &c.,)
gums, coffee, cocoanut oil, cinnamon oil and pearl would pay best,
perhaps also ivory and ostrich feathers. At Aden I found some large
wheat, but kinds were mixed, or else the variety is not a fixed
sort. This portion of the world produces little or no grain besides
rice.

I have obtained seeds of a number of flowering plants and trees,
some of which I know yield honey, and others that look as though
they might were there bees to gather it. We expect to reach
Singapore to-morrow forenoon. I will take the first steamer for
Batavia, which will likely leave in a day or so.

FRANK BENTON.

For the American Bee Journal.

Cause of Bee Cholera or Dysentery.

G. M. DOOLITTLE.

I have noticed in several articles a statement quite similar to this, which is taken from Mr. James Heddon’s article in the February number of the _Bee-Keepers’ Instructor_: “Every bee-keeper of experience who lives in our northern latitudes has witnessed enough to know that cold or confinement, or both, do not _cause_ bee cholera or dysentery.” Now, I claim the title “bee-keeper” (whether of experience or not I dare not say), and live in the “northern latitudes,” yet I cannot be one of the number above styled as “_every_,” for I believe confinement _does cause_ the so-called dysentery, and hope to so clearly show it in this article that you will so acknowledge also.

First. I once produced dysentery (I do not believe this is a disease, but merely an accumulation of the feces) in its worst form, the latter part of June, by confining a lot of bees to the hive for 10 days. A frame of brood was taken from the hive with the adhering bees, and also a frame of honey with the bees which were on that, and placed in an empty hive to form a nucleus, the bees being confined to the hive for three or four days, when the entrance was opened in the evening. Early the next morning there came on a cold storm and bad weather ensued, so the bees could not fly for six more days. On the tenth day the sun came out, and the bees from these nuclei (7 in number) were so loaded that they could scarcely fly. An examination revealed that they had eaten on an average about 2 lbs. of honey in each nucleus. Nuclei made but a few days before, which had flown 2 or 3 times before the bad weather, were not eager to fly, and showed no signs of dysentery, neither did our full colonies; nor had they eaten an undue amount of honey. The trouble here was evidently confinement, which caused the bees to worry and thereby consume an undue quantity of food, thus producing a necessity to void the excrement, or dysentery, if you please to call it so.

Again, in the fall of 1878 our bees were prepared for winter in the best possible shape, and had nothing but white honey in their hives, said honey being collected the early part of July, for we had no fall honey. Sixty colonies were put in the cellar, and 90 left on the summer stands, two-thirds of which were packed with chaff and straw. Winter set in early, and the weather was so cold that no bees could fly with safety for nearly 4½ months. At the end of 4 months some of our best colonies were dead, with the combs and hives soiled badly, while others sitting right alongside of them were in as fine condition as could be, and remained thus, coming out strong in the spring. If it was “bacteria” in the honey, why did not all die, as all had the same stores? We also placed 60 colonies from the same yard in the cellar on the 1st of November, and did not set them out till May 1st, and 55 of the 60 came out in good condition, while we only saved 15 out of the 90 out-doors--75 dying with the dysentery, so-called. If it was infection of the honey, why did not those in the cellar die also, and especially as they stood 6 month’s confinement? The past winter has shown the same results, only our loss is but about 10 per cent. so far.

Now I will give my conclusion. From practical experience I have been forced to the conclusion that confinement is the cause of all wintering troubles, for surely, bees do not die from what they eat in July weather when they can fly. But confine them to the hive with July weather, and they cannot live one-third as long as in cool or cold weather. That confinement is the result whenever the mercury falls below 40° to 45° in the shade, and as surely as the mercury stays below this for 60 days in succession, bees not properly protected will suffer therefrom, and if properly protected, 120 days will more or less hurt those on the summer stands; that 180 days’ confinement in a good cellar can be endured by the bees as well as 120 days in well-protected hives, or 60 days with no protection on the summer stands; that if 60 days more of confinement is added in either case, not 1 colony in 10 can survive, no matter what the food is nor the surrounding conditions. Now, we come to our last point, which is, that instead of the trouble being in the kind of honey eaten thus producing dysentery, the trouble is in the quantity eaten, and as the quantity consumed is to the number of days the bees are confined, so is their length of life shortened or extended. For instance, a fair-sized colony may consume 1½ lbs. of honey per month, and endure confinement without soiling the combs for 6 months; now, if they consume 6 times this amount in 2 months, they must fly at the end of that time or the combs will be soiled very soon thereafter. We often read, “My bees wintered well and consumed but very little honey,” while the fact was that their consuming but little honey was the reason they wintered well. Thus we are able to answer the question why one colony dies, and another at the side of it does not. It is because one gets discontented and consumes large quantities of honey, while the other does not.

Now comes the rub: why does one colony get discontented within 1 month after being confined, and another does not under 3 or 4, or in case of cellar wintering, 6 months. Well, I will be candid and say I do not know; but I do not believe the cause is in the honey altogether. One thing Mr. Heddon and myself will agree on I am sure, and that is, if as soon and as often as a colony gets uneasy and goes to eating honey ravenously they could have a day to fly, all would be well, even if such a colony was obliged to fly 3 or 4 times where another did not have to but once.

To keep bees quiet the longest possible time I would recommend: 1st. A good bee cellar in a bank, covered all over with no less than 3 feet of earth, and an even temperature maintained inside at 44° to 45°; 2d. Hives so constructed that chaff could entirely surround the bees to the depth of 4 inches. To sum up, we should winter one-half of our apiary one way and one-half the other, inasmuch as our winters vary so that one winter has come out the best on summer stands, and another the best from the cellar. I will refer to this subject again in the next Weekly BEE JOURNAL.

Borodino, N. Y., March 22, 1881.

For the American Bee Journal.

Extracting Bees.--The New Industry.

H. T. COLLINS.

As the exigencies of the times have created the new industry of “extracting dead bees” from the cells, and as many of the bee-keeping fraternity may want to do so without delay in order to save time, I give my plan, as I think the one suggested by our editor, though good in the main, is apt to break the combs too much. The necessary tools are a small pair of tweezers (such as taxidermists use), a light and sharp darning needle, and last but not least, a shallow tin pan, say one inch deep and 13¾ × 17¾ inches. Every keeper of 10 or more colonies should have one or more pans--they just fill the bottom of a 10-frame Langstroth hive, and are as handy as a pocket in a shirt. Instead of the pan, a common table waiter will answer. Sitting in a good light, place the pan lengthwise across the lap, and lay the frame across the pan, but parallel with the lap. The use of the pan is to give a convenient rest to the frame, and to hold the dead bees. If you are right-handed, let the top of the frame be towards the right hand, if not, _vice versa_. Holding the tweezers in the hand, which is right (often the left one), grasp the bee and pull it out slowly and gently, and with the motion of the hand towards the top of the frame. As in the natural position, the base of the cell is horizontally the lowest, the above mentioned motion extracts the bee with the least friction. But in some combs they will stick so tight as to break off at the junction of the abdomen, and to prevent this, with the darning needle pierce the thorax as it comes to the edge of the cell, and by its help you can nearly every time drag out the too-tightly lodged bee. A cup of warm water will be convenient in removing the sticky deposit that will often adhere to the end of the tweezers. To the inexperienced, the above may seem to be a slow and tedious way of extracting bees, but a little practice will make one skillful, and if any one has a better way please communicate it promptly, as this new industry promises, from the weekly reports, to be a large and growing one.

Jacksonville, Ill.

For the American Bee Journal.

Separators for Surplus Honey.

JAMES HEDDON.

For the benefit of some who do not as yet understand all my argument against the use of separators I wish to add, that I am well aware that the system of sections within frames hung in a super, is entirely impracticable without the use of separators. I know too that, as Messrs. Greiner Bros. remark, bees take more kindly to wood than to tin or glass, and there is just where the trouble comes, as they sometimes kindly attach the sides of the combs to them. Some seasons, under peculiar circumstances, the loss of honey by the use of separators might, as Greiner Bros. say, be very slight, but in many seasons they will be found to be a serious detriment to the amount of surplus obtained. But why not use a system that does not need them, and is much handier than the super system besides?

I supposed that the younger bee-keepers, who keep posted, knew that many old producers on a more extensive scale never used separators at all, and of that class who did many others are laying them aside. Bees do finish up their combs full better with separators, because as the season draws to a close they are less inclined to start another comb in one of those little compartments, and as long as there is honey coming in they finish with it to keep from _perfect_ idleness. I think the unfinished combs are just so much extra. If it is “strange” that I should declare against the use of _all_ separators, while still many prominent bee-keepers use them, how dare you, Messrs. G., declare against tin, compared with wood, when you know that tin is the popular material? Galileo said, “The world is round;” all others said, “It is flat,” and there being more of the “flats” than Galileos, these “flats” put their greatest scientist behind the prison bars.

Before I close, I wish to call the attention of the readers of this paper to the able article of A. B. Weed, on “Queen and Supply Trade,” in the BEE JOURNAL of March 23d. I think all bee-keepers, whether supply-dealers or producers strictly, if posted upon the points therein taken, will say, “Thanks to Mr. Weed.”

Dowagiac, Mich., March 26, 1881.

For the American Bee Journal.

Pure Liquid Honey in Glass Jars.

CHAS. F. MUTH.

The above subject is one which has provoked considerable comment, and it appears we are not quite done with it yet. I dare say that there is not a dealer of any note in Cincinnati, by this time, who imagines that my jar honey is anything but pure honey, or who suspects any honey when it comes from my store; and I am just as positive in the statement that there is not a dealer in Cincinnati, having extracted honey from New York or Chicago in store, who does not believe it to be glucosed. There is hardly anybody in our community who suspects the purity of the honey when my label is on the jar. Jar-honey, in general, is not mistrusted any more in our city, unless the jar contains besides the liquid, also a piece of comb honey. Such is the case in Cincinnati, to all appearances, and I am willing to be corrected if wrong.

The subjoined letter from a party in New York, and my answer to them, show an interesting difference in the state of the market for extracted honey in our city and New York, the home of Mr. W. M. Hoge, Wm. Hogue or John Long. To avoid misunderstanding, I may state that Hoge, Hogue or Long, while in New York, was bottling honey for the firm of Thurber & Co. In explanation of the letters following, I may state that the editor of the _Cincinnati Grocer_ had been recommending my honey to Messrs. Guernsey & Co., N. Y., who opened correspondence with me, and to me he had recommended them as perhaps the best party to introduce my honey in the New York market. The result was that I sent them 1 gross of 1 lb. jars and 1 gross of ½ lb. tumblers, at cost, on 60 days’ time. The honey commenced granulating in the course of a month or more. This fact, and the general mistrust to extracted honey in New York must be taken into consideration to do the following correspondence justice:

New York, March 17, 1881.

Mr. C. F. MUTH--_Dear Sir_: Enclosed please find bill of lading for
the honey sent us. We find it totally impossible to sell the goods,
as parties here are afraid of glucose, etc. We waited for parties
to decide about them, and they concluded not to take them. We are
sorry, but such is the case. We have retained one box of each,
bottles and tumblers, to pay us for the freight paid on goods here.
Yours very respectfully,

GUERNSEY & CO.

To which I replied as follows:

Messrs. GUERNSEY & CO.--_Gents_: Your favor is at hand. I expect
the return of my honey with all the charges deducted you feel
disposed to make. I had supposed that there were some men in your
city with enough sense to determine the difference between honey
and glucose. My honey is _strictly pure_, and will pay you $100 if
you will prove that I am wrong. Yours truly,

CHAS. F. MUTH.

Cincinnati, Ohio, March 21, 1881.

[We were shown quite recently a letter received by a prominent dealer in strictly pure honey in this city, from a correspondent in Virginia, who had ordered and received from him a keg of honey. They say: “The keg of honey came to hand on the 25th; you may imagine my chagrin on opening the package and finding the contents _solid_. In its present condition it is of no value to me.” Although a dealer, we suppose this was really the first package of _strictly pure_ extracted honey he had ever seen, or he would have felt pleasure, instead of chagrin, to find it granulated solid. The truth is, the public have been so much deceived with a spurious article in liquid form, that many do not know the genuine when they see it. A bee-keeper or person perfectly familiar with honey in a northern or central latitude, would require something more convincing than the mere assertion of a respectable grocer that his honey was strictly pure, if not candied or granulated in cool weather.--ED.]

For the American Bee Journal.

How to Separate Swarms.

BRAY & SEACORD.

An experience of 20 years with bees has taught me to wait upon them and not to have them wait upon me; in other words, always have your work ahead of time. Next, to have your bees in strong condition at the time of the first flow of honey. The great mistake of beginners is to aim at too large an increase, either by division or natural swarming. If the season is good, an increase of 3 from each colony is a plenty; if a medium season an increase of one from each colony is enough.

The brood chamber is the mainspring to work upon for a good yield of honey. We allow no queen to live over 3 years, and if not a prolific queen she only lives one year. We allow no brood comb to remain over 3 years in the centre of the hive; by this plan we get fine developed bees, and of longer life.

Our plan of separating swarms of 2 or more, when they come out and cluster together, may be of benefit to some. It is as follows: Make a box 3 feet long (or any size that will fit the frames of your hive), make one entrance to the box for the bees to pass in and out; make a tight cover to fit the box, with cleats on 2 sides, no end cleats; make 3 or 4 division boards; then the box is ready for hiving the bees.

Now take the box and hive the cluster of 2 or more swarms, and as soon as all the bees are in the box, put it in a shady place, and let it remain there until the next morning; then push the box cover lengthwise of the box and you will observe each queen with her colony clustered by themselves; now place the division board between each cluster, push the cover back again over the cluster and hive at pleasure.

The present season is fully 6 weeks ahead of last season; drones were in the air on the 28th of Feb. We keep our colonies in a condition so that the queen can breed up to her full capacity. The Italian queens we received from the BEE JOURNAL apiary last fall, wintered well, and we now have several nuclei started for queen-rearing, as we mean to Italianize all of our bees by the end of the present season. The prospects were never better than now for a booming good year.

At some future time we will give our experience in wintering bees in a cold climate on 4 lbs. 2 ounces of honey per colony, before chaff packing was invented.

If a Syrian queen cross with the black drone, would not this cross produce the Italian bee? Success to the BEE JOURNAL.

Warthan, Cal. March 15, 1881.

[If the Italian bee is a hybrid, and originally produced by mating the black drone with the Syrian queen, then, of course, a like cause will again produce a like effect; but if the Italian bee is a distinct race, then no crossing of other races will produce it as a fixed type.--ED.]

For the American Bee Journal.

Raspberry as a Honey Plant.