THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



347 



Some may think that no such a case 

 could be decided against the bee- 

 keeper. Without money and exer- 

 tion, just such a case of stupidity and 

 chicanery can go to record against 

 everyone of us. All -know that in- 

 nocent men have been hung, and 

 guilty ones cleared by such effort and 

 its equivalent — money. 



Already, in the case above referred 

 to, two able lawyers have been en- 

 gaged to do their best to carry this 

 stupidity to success. Such a success 

 would be a terrible blow to our busi- 

 ness, our interests, and our natural 

 rights. I have never seen the sued 

 bee-keeper, and I have no more per- 

 sonal Interest in him than any other 

 member of the fraternity, but /have, 

 and all hee-keepers have a radical and 

 just interest in the turn of this case, 

 and one that we all should at once 

 rouse up and attend to. 



Though I never before received a 

 letter from this fellow-bee-keeper, he 

 lately wrote me for advice in such a 

 case ; and this letter aroused me to 

 now begin the work of a permanent 

 defense-organization— a scheme that 

 I had often thought of when I had 

 noticed how utterly reckless of our 

 rights and interests most people are, 

 while at the same time they bow the 

 forehead of respect to ill-kept 

 slaughter-houses and malarious mill- 

 ponds. I think that an organization 

 can be formed by correspondence, that 

 will perfectly insure justice to every 

 member who will join and deposit $1 

 to the defense-fund— this fund to be 

 held by the Treasurer ever in readi- 

 ness to defend us against every en- 

 croachment upon our Just rights. Could 

 not the Treasurer afford to also act as, 

 and do the Secretary's work for the 

 use of this fund, which must always 

 be on hand V It should be his duty to 

 carefully inquire into every case, and 

 make sure that every case defended is 

 a straight forward legitimate attack, 

 with the attacking party at fault. 



I need not waste space with detail, 

 for we bee-keepers are, as a class, 

 bright enough to arrange all that as it 

 should be, are we not y Come, let us 

 organize at once, and name our man 

 as Secretary-Treasurer and general 

 manager. We want a man whom all 

 can trust, that has the ability, and is 

 so located as to be able to do the office 

 justice, and who has our rights deeply 

 at heart. I will lead off by naming 

 our well-known editor, Mr. Thos. G. 

 Newman, as one among many who, it 

 seems to me, fills all our requirements. 

 Name your choices, and let us perfect 

 our organization. As soon as we are 

 perfectly organized, and it is known, 

 each and every member's just rights 

 will be respected. "In union there 

 is strength,^' and our Treasurer will 

 be instructed to see that this aggre- 

 gated strength is morally, wisely, and 

 justly applied in the needed places. 

 He who neglects to defend the right, 

 commits a sin — the sin of omission. 



I am glad we can start with a work 

 before us, and at once prove the effi- 

 ciency and usefulness of such an or- 

 fanization. The case in question is 

 ) be heard next October, I believe. 

 Let us have your ideas, fellow-bee- 

 keepers, and yours, "Mr. Editor;" 



and whatever we conclude is worth 

 doing, let us do well and at once. 

 Dowagiac, y Mich. 



[For editorial remarks on the sub- 

 ject-matter in the two preceding arti- 

 cles, the reader is referred to page .339 

 of this paper. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Bee-Keeping in Texas. 



JOHN A. EMISON. 



For the past 3 years I have been a 

 close student and a practical observer 

 of everything appertaining to the 

 management of the apiary. I have 

 from the handling of any apiary, been 

 virtually living with my bees— form- 

 ing opinions and coming to conclu- 

 sions at variance with many of the 

 formulated facts or conclusions. How- 

 ever, I presume these variances, as 

 happily expressed by a correspondent, 

 are the result of climatic influence. 



I find, by reading the Bee Jour- 

 nal, that there is not that accord or 

 harmony in the management of the 

 apiary that I think there should be. 

 I will give another year to observa- 

 tion and personal management of the 

 apiary before expressing my conclu- 

 sions. 



I put into winter quarters Dec. 18, 

 73 colonies on the summer stands. 

 The first pollen brought in was on 

 Jan 28. The 73 colonies are all at 

 work ; none were lost. We have had 

 an unusually cold and wet spring. 

 Bees have not increased as they 

 should have done. They have by 

 division of colonies increased to 98. 

 I have had but 4 natural swarms. 

 Some three weeks ago my bees began 

 killing off the drones. I then stopped 

 dividing. 



I adopted the division of colonies to 

 Italianize my apiary, yet I question 

 the advisability of discarding the 

 black bee. I have some colonies that 

 are as black as night. I find them 

 good workers. My greatest objection 

 to the black bees is their disposition 

 to rob. 



The hive that experience has led 

 me to adopt, is rather a compound 

 hive. I run for extracted honey 

 alone. I know that it is contrary to 

 advise given in all the Manuals and 

 bee-papers. However, the strength 

 of my colonies, and the yield of honey, 

 have forced me to the conclusion that 

 it is the hive for this section. 



In the brood-chamber I use the 

 Quinby frame— 7 frames— for the su- 

 per or upper story. I have tlie Langs- 

 troth cross, the frame for extracting. 

 1 know there is so inconvenience in 

 not having frames interchangeable ; 

 however, I find that over-balanced by 

 the strength of my colonies. It is for 

 profit that I run my apiary. 



Sweet clover and motherwort are 

 now in full bloom. My bees pay no 

 attention to them. They stood a .5 

 months' drouth last year. We want 

 some pasturage to come in after the 

 mint. We have many flowers ; none, 

 however, seem to give any surplus 

 honey, except the mint. It is the 



honey plant for this section. My 

 sweet clover bloomed from August to 

 frost, in December of last year. The 

 second bloom may fill the needed 

 want in September. We have the 

 brazil to give the bees full winter 

 stores. I have now 80 strong colonies 

 working on the mint. I am much 

 pleased with " Queries and Replies ;" 

 they are short, and to the point. 

 Mission Valley, JTex., May ]8,].S8.5. 



^i^j.^^m^ 



mo-x- 



Bees Gathering Honey.— Dr. J. C. 



Thom, Streetsville, Ont., writes on 



May 26, 1885, as follows : 



Bees are now booming, and have gath- 

 ered plentifully from everytliing that 

 blossoms at this season. Hard maple, wil- 

 low, plum blos.som, cherry, and dandelion 

 all are full of honey. My winter and 

 spring losses will amount to 30 per cent. 



Keady for Swarming'.— Otto Kleinow 

 Detroit, CK Mich., on May 17, 1885, 

 writes thus : 



The winter seems to be over now. I 

 have had drones flying for about ten days. 

 I have quite a number of colonies that 

 have from .5 to 7 frames with brood ; a few 

 have 8 frames with brood ; one has 9 

 frames with brood. They could not have 

 so many frames with brood if they v^ere in 

 8-frame hives, as some bee-keepers prefer. 

 My hives are all lO-frame standard Langs- 

 troth hives, with frames 9}^xl7%. Some 

 of my strong celonies have a eood deal of 

 new honey in their hives. 1 suppose it is 

 from fruit bloom. I expect to nave new 

 swarms inside of ten days, as some have 

 queen-cells started. 



Bee-Cellar. — J. Peters, Eldora,0 

 Iowa, on May 25, 1885, writes as fol- 

 lows : 



Last November I put 70 colonies of bees 

 in the cellar ; in April I took out the 70 ; 

 sold 5 ; the other 65 are ready for the har- 

 vest. I did not feed them ; and they have 

 surplus honey yet. My cellar is dry, sup- 

 plied with air through one window, venti- 

 lated by a brick flue from the floor of the 

 cellar through to the top of the dwelling. 



Winter Experiments.— E. B. Wood- 

 ward, M. D., Somerset,© O., on May 

 22, writes thus : 



Fully three-fourths of the bees in Cen- 

 tral Ohio died during tlie winter, es- 

 pecially where kept in the ordinary way. 

 Those who use the latest and improved 

 methods were generally successful. 

 Blacks seem to suffer more than other 

 races. We wintered our 11 colonies suc- 

 cessfully ; one springdwindled on account 

 of accident to it while experimenting. 

 They were all wintered experimentally 

 on 5 different sizes of frames, and 4 or 5 

 different races of bees, and all on summer 

 stands. We were testing different size of 

 frames and different hives side by side. 



No Diarrhea or Dwindling.— I. R. 



Good, Sparta, Tenn., on May 26, 1885, 

 writes as follows : 



My bees came through the winter in 

 fine condition, without diarrhea or spring 

 dwindling. They are now booming, work- 

 ing on poplar and white clover. 



