_Marengo, Ill._, Aug. 30, 1870.
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The smell of their own poison produces a very irritating effect upon
bees. A small portion offered to them on a stick, will excite their
anger.
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After a swarm of bees is once lodged in their new hive, they ought by
all means be allowed to carry on their operations, for some time,
without interruption.
[For the American Bee Journal.]
Bee-culture, Honey Products, Honey Markets, &c.
MR. EDITOR:--I herewith send you two dollars as a further fee of
incorporation in the bee family. I have profited well by it this year. I
was absent on a tour in Europe last spring. On my return I found my bees
in poor condition. Two colonies had died from dysentery or the warmth of
the bee cellar; and of the remaining sixteen stocks, two were very weak,
with some others in prime order. I had but two Italian stocks left. As
far as my experience goes, I must give three cheers for the Italians.
The earliest natural swarm I got here from blacks was on the 17th of
June. This year my first Italian swarm came off on the 13th of May. The
parent stock was a good one, though I cannot set it down as my best in
number of bees. I had black colonies that were more populous. As for
this Italian, it yielded me fourteen natural swarms, four of which left
for the woods and the remaining ten are in extra condition for
wintering. The parent hive and the first swarm are the heaviest stocks
in my apiary. I shall Italianize all my colonies this fall. No man will
ever persuade me that black bees are as good. I shall always consider
such men as jealous or prejudiced. The advantages derived from Italian
bees are well worth paying for--their early swarming and their rapid
breeding are sufficient compensation. The color of the queen, too, is a
great advantage when looking for her in the crowd on the comb, and her
superior fertility is an unquestionable fact. The fourth swarm came off
in May. It was small; but as it had a beautiful Italian queen, I put it
in a box hive, and today it has nearly filled a twenty pound box. The
season from the beginning of May to the middle of July was very good. My
hives were so full of honey that no empty cells were to be seen. I have
brought up the number of my colonies to forty-five, and four swarms left
for the woods; and thus far I have sold seven hundred (700) pounds of
honey.
According to the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, there are
between 70,000 and 100,000 bee-keepers in this country. If so, the
number who subscribe for the BEE JOURNAL is comparatively small. Why is
this so? According to my observation and experience there are two
reasons. First, because the population of this republic is largely
composed of emigrants from all nations, and although they and their
immediate descendants may speak and understand English, yet they are not
able to read or write it readily. Every one sticks more or less to his
native language, and prefers reading newspapers printed in that
language, because he understands it best. The second reason or cause is
jealousy. It is a fact well known to every bee-keeper away from large
cities, that the sale of honey is very slow in small cities and towns;
and it is often impossible to sell at a remunerating price. Thus, for
instance, Green Bay is a city of 8,000 inhabitants; yet one bee-keeper
with 100 hives can fully supply the annual market of that city in a good
year. It is of vastly more importance to write on this subject and
induce an extension of the market demand for honey, than to teach
fertilization by one or more drones. Bee keeping is now very
profitable--more so than is acknowledged in print; but men have a
disposition to keep the thing to themselves. It is very often the case
that a bee-keeper instructs his neighbors in the art of managing bees
successfully and profitably, and as soon as these are well posted in the
business, they become a source of annoyance, contempt, and jealousy to
their instructors. This makes it the more necessary to make more
extensively known the best honey markets that are now to be found, and
any additional outlets and uses for honey that may be opened or devised.
In France enormous quantities of honey are used in the fabrication of
honey bread, called _pain d’epice_. I wish our friend C. Dadant would
give us a receipt how to make the best kind. This might become an
American institution as well as a French one. The reputation of this
delicacy is world-wide, as well as that of the French wines so much
liked here. Vinegar also is said to be of superior quality, when made in
a perfect way from honey. I should be glad to obtain some reliable
information as to the _best_ kind of it. Much honey is spoiled, as many
other things are also, by using it when not properly prepared. Let us
have the true results of experience. Another matter, not less important,
is the preparation of good mead. A bottle of good mead is equal to the
best wine; women in confinement use it in preference to wine, and with
far more benefit. I think mead can be made as cheap as, or cheaper than
whiskey. Good fermented mead ought to be sold in all wine stores for
medicinal purposes and other uses. It is used in Belgium extensively as
a summer drink.