1882 



(5^LEANIKGS in bee CULtUEE. 



281 



for the pleasure of working with them, if nothing 

 else. I imagine they would be very profitable in this 

 country if properly cared for. Our prairies are 

 covered with flowers. I inclose order for your A B 

 C. I don't know that the instructions would apply 

 to our bees here, as they act so differently from the 

 bees North. Nothing I have ever read will apply to 

 them. One hive was killing the drones, and bring- 

 ing them out. I remarked to my husband, " That 

 hive won't swarm, for the Ijooks say you needn't 

 look for any when that is the case." In less than an 

 hour a very large swarm came out of that very 

 hive. 



We have a nice place here for bees, and I'll let you 

 know in the fall how we have succeeded the first 

 year. V. L. Hubert. 



Winnton, Gonzales Co., Tex., April 1, 1882. 



I believe, my friend, I have quite a talent 

 for studying up some reasonable explanation 

 for every phenomenon in bee culture, but the 

 case you mention is almost too much for me. 

 When a queen has been superseded, they 

 often kill off their drones as soon as she be- 

 gins to lay, for they then have no further 

 need of them ; but why they should kill them 

 off just before they were going to swarm, I 

 can not imagine. 



To-day I have fastened fdn. on some frames, and 

 was surprised to see how easily I could do it the first 

 time trying. I think the fdn. is very nice. My 

 bees are working nicely to-day. 



Mrs. a. Knowlton. 



Saunemin, 111., April 27, 1883. 



SPRING FEEDING, BUCKEYE HONEY, 

 POIiLEN, ETC. 



FEEDING BEES IN THE SPRING; DOES IT PAY? 



fp COMMENCED feeding, early in March, in the 

 Ji{[ open air, grape sugar dissolved. The bees 

 took it 20 days in March; the rest of the 

 month was too cool for them to fly. Then I fed up 

 to the 9th of April; then a cold wave from the north 

 struck us, and the bees could not fly till the 2od. 

 About the 18th of April I examined my bees, and 

 the strongest had brood in V or 8 combs, and were 

 starving to death. They were uncapping the brood, 

 and eating the food from the young bees. I didn't 

 think they would consume so much food as they do. 

 I learned something, and think it pays to teed in the 

 spring. Now, my bees were starving, and what to 

 do was the question. I had sugar in the house, but 

 no feeders; so I made syrup from brown sugar, and 

 turned back the cover and poured the syrup over 

 the bees twice a day till they could fly; so by the 

 first of May the strongest was full, and starting 

 queen-cells. 



BUCKEYE HONEY. 



1 told you I was going to get some buckeye honey, 

 and I did. It is good too. We had some for supper 

 and breakfast. I should like to have had you here 

 to get a taste. It is as white as linn, and has the 

 best taste of any honey I ever ate. But I think the 

 crab apple has something to do with the flavor. 

 The buckeye has a pod about inches long and 3 in 

 in diameter at the base, and has from 100 to 150 

 flowers on a pod; commenced blooming May 2, and is 

 at its height now, May ITth, and I think, from the 

 appearance this morning, that it will last 10 days yet. 



RED POLLEN. 



Will some one please tell me what kind of a flower 

 it is from which bees get a deep-red pollen in May? 

 I think honey, too, for the most of them get small 

 loads. It is not from buckeye, crab apple, nor dan- 

 delion. I can't find the flower. 



Tell neighbor II. we want to know how many of 

 those 5 colonies he wintered that he made last May. 



Oakley, Iowa, May 17, 1882. Wm. Malone. 



It seems to me, friend M., that the moral 

 of your feeding experience is, that, when one 

 commences, he had better keep on.— I saw, 

 a few days ago, a buckeye-tree humming 

 with bees; and where there are great num- 

 bers of them, it may doubtless prove quite 

 an item.— I can not remember of having 

 seen a dark-ved pollen.— The first of May, 

 neighbor II. had all his live colonies in what 

 I should call pretty fair condition ; but, sad 

 to say, one of them died of dysentery during 

 the month of May. Uf course, they might 

 have been saved had any one kept an eye on 

 them. 



it ^- 



4€H 



m- 



Or Department for tliO!>>e wl»o don't Sign 

 XIieLr Names. 



f' SENT a letter to you the first week in April, 

 with one dollar inclosed for the ABC, and have 

 '~' never heard any thing from you nor the money. 

 This is the second time that I have been duped this 

 way. It is very discouraging for a man to send 

 money and receive no value. I had intended to send 

 for 2 or 3 queens, but I am afraid to risk it, as I am 

 a poor man, and have to work very hard, and have a 

 large family to provide for, and am not well able to 

 work at this time. It goes hard for me to lose the 

 money. Henry Simon. 



Hopewell, Bedford Co., Pa., May 15, 1882. 



My good friend, I have no doubt but that 

 you are a poor man, and have to work very 

 hard for a living ; and I agree with you, that 

 you ought to have all you have paid for; 

 but, please let me suggest it would be well 

 to be careful about calling your friends 

 ''dupes," until you know the fault is not 

 your own. Such words hurt and sting, and 

 when they are applied to some one who is 

 working hard to be honest and fair with all 

 men, they discourage more than you think 

 for. Children are sometimes hardened by 

 being scolded when they are not in the least 

 at fault, and I have wondered if men and 

 women are not sometimes hurt in the same 

 way. Friend y., just imagine our girls, dur- 

 ing the care and hurry and worry of busi- 

 ness, running here and there, hunting sub- 

 scription lists and postal guides, and writing 

 to postmasters, just because you have been 

 so careless, and then to receive, as reward 

 for doing the best they could, a letter like 

 the above. Here is the letter you wrote, or- 

 dering your book, with every scrap of writ- 

 ing there was on the sheet : — 



A. I. Root, dear Sir,— 



Inclosed you find one dollar for the A B C of Bee 

 Culture. As I want to become acquainted with the 

 management and working of the honey-bee, please 



