66 



GJ.H:AMN(i,S IJS' BEE CLLTI'HK 



Jan. 



draw it, but huuK swelled out of its mouth, look- 

 ing very comical. He withdrew, not to be seen 

 ajfain. Vou know taxidermists sUin and stuff toads 

 sometimes. Although tliey have a thick skin, the 

 moment you put a little common salt on their back 

 they liecome very sensitive. F. J. M. Otto. 



Sandusky, ()., Nov. H, 1886. 



KOUI! (Ol.OMES UKAD .iLRE.VU^' ; W».\T KILLKU 

 THEM y 



Out of IS colonies, 4 are noiv dead, they dying 

 during- this cold spell. The weather was only twice 

 below zero, the first morning 1°; and the morning 

 after, 9". My bees are all in single-walled hives. 

 All have honey enough. We had about (i in. of snow. 

 I didn't remove the snow from the entrances. 

 When I discovered that they were dead I opened 

 two of them. T found them clustered naturally, 

 also all the cells in the cluster full of bees. It 

 looked to me a.s though they were killed instantly, 

 without warning or time to change position. They 

 had honey in their sacks, so you see they didn't 

 starve. According to Dec. 1st Glkanings they 

 didn't smother on account of snow. I haven't med- 

 dled with them since cool weather began. I can't 

 Had an J' other l)ees dead in the neighborhood. I 

 wish to know what killed them so early in the sea- 

 son. T may lose all I have before spring, il some- 

 body doesn't tell me what to do. F. P. Hish. 



Henton, Shelby Co., 111., Dec. 9, 1886. 



Fiieiid II.. it is very unusual for bees to 

 die in tlie maimer you "describe, especially if 

 they had sealed stores all round the cluster. 

 The fact that you fouiid honey in their sacks, 

 is not sutticient. When bees get so nearly 

 out of stores that they have nothing l)ut un- 

 sealed honey, and cells containing some 

 honey and some pollen, they often die some- 

 thing in the way you describe. There needs 

 to be plenty of good sealed stores on all sides 

 of the cluster, so that every inmate of the 

 hive can have access to it easily. I do not 

 know that I evei- saw a colony die under the 

 above circumstances, unless" it was where 

 the stores were evidently of so poor a quality 

 that dysentery set in. It may be. however, 

 that your bees gathered something ]ioison- 

 ous; but I should hardly think you would 

 find them dead as you describe, even then. 

 I do not know how to suggest any remedy 

 for such a state of affairs in the winter time. 



A NEW HONEY-PLANT. 



I inclose a package of sweet-melissa seed. See 

 description of same by T. J. Burrill, in .4. B. J.. Oct. 

 13, 1886, page 651. My bees, the past season, worked 

 from morning till night on melissa growing by the 

 side of spider-plants, only occasionally gathering 

 honey from the latter. In hot dry weather they 

 worked lively on melissa in preference to all other 

 flowers, of which we have (juite a lart;e \ ariety. If 

 my bees do not work better on spider-plants next 

 season than they did this 1 shall raise no more for 

 them. 



Carpenter's square, or tigwort, which grows in 

 small timber near the creek, is more attractive to 

 them. 



Melissa imparts a citron-like tlavur to honey, 

 which our people consider delicious. 1 have grown 

 melissa since 1881, but have kept bees only two 

 years, commencing with one (-olony as an experi- 

 ment. I increased to 15 good stands with about 5(i 



lbs. of honey to each hive, excepting three, which 

 have fully 100 lbs. each. 



1 have not lost a colony yet. and I winter tlieiii In 

 a cellar which is not very warm. I have had ap|ill- 

 cations for seeds, from ditferent portions of the 

 U. S. and Canada. 1 believe there is nothing better; 

 and if it succeeds as well in every locality as here, I 

 shall be amply repaid for my trouble in introducing 

 it. Please give the seed a fair trial, and report to 

 me in due season. A. C. Tvkkki,. 



Madison. Neb., Dec. 4, 1886. 



(I, ASS r-Eoisr,.\.Tiox. 



<icjil MiniU' mail. 



Ami man loves money. 

 Hod iiKulc bees, 



.\iiil lines c'lt houev. 

 (lixl iiinde the earth", 



Tlie earth raises flowers; 

 We do not iirodnee tliem. 



So they are not ours. 



Thei'iudncls ,,r the mine. 



The l.-md. ivnd tile sea, 

 Should all 1,1 (iod's children 



Kor everlie free 

 Tti take and use as the}- may have need. 



Leaving- the rest their brothers to feed. 



The iron, the eopiiiT, 



The coal, anil the zinc. 

 Are the t;ift of hisliand; 



But who. do you think. 

 Would allow you to dig some. 



In case you should wish 

 To make you a tire, 



.\ shovel, or dish; 



Now, Brother Miller, 



I'lay tell, if you can. 

 Why for Ood's gifts 



\Vc' ]>,iy tribute to man. 

 \Vh.-,t is this that we hear 



Alioul class legislation, 

 ( 'lUiteiitioii. and strife. 



All over this nation 



About cntdo\viis and lockouts, 



Bovi-otfs. and strikes, 

 <ioul(l ami Vandi'i-bilt, 



Htisscll Sage, and the lilic' 

 What makes those be calleil 



I'hc kings of the nation; 

 Kcho savs what. 



If not (dass legislation; 



Michigan City, Ind., Jan. ;5, 1887. W. W. Mai.thv. 



KUOZKN BUO(jn. 



1 am satisfied that there is more than one phasi' 

 of foul brood as described in the convention at 

 Indianapolis. I have had brood die in the cell, and 

 dry up. and it created a stench almost unbearable. 

 Still, I gave those dead-brood combs to strong col- 

 onies of bees, and the.v cleaned them up and all 

 went along nicel.\-. No more foul bVood there. I 

 am satisfied that it was not foul brood as .you 

 have it, but some at the convention described it as 

 foul brood in the dry state. I never saw foul brood 

 in the pus form, as you gave the description at 

 the Indianapolis convention, and also others. I 

 have been troubled three times this way each time 

 in the spring, after a hard cold winter. I claim it 

 is frozen brood, and nothing else. 



MartinsvMUe. 111. W:m. St. MAiiTZ. 



HKiH VEKSL'S THE l,()W 1>|{UK Ob' HONEY. 



I have .inst read Dadant's article about the sale 

 of honey, page 981. The trouble is. that the people 

 who eat iKJuey do (i(>< tliid it cheap. 1 sometimes 

 buy hoiie\ , MS rii.\ own hfis arc some distjiiiee in 

 the eouiilr.v. I have mI\vm\s Ikui in pa., i.i a ast :id 

 cents pel' III. I am inclined to think, that, il i" opie 

 who like honey could get it for 10 ci iits per in. i.i- 

 less, the eoiisumption wnuld be doubled or trebled. 

 1 speak of Cincinnati jirices. I li\-e there. 



Thomas Hint. 



('oiiway Springs, Kan., l)e(^ ;-'l, 1886. 



