THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



411 





An Of toffPii avian Bee-Keeper's Re- 

 port.— L. Eastwood, Waterville,^ O., 

 says : 



I heartily approve of the scheme of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Union. Although I am 

 nearly 80 years old, I expect to keep bees 

 for some years yet. Uavhig lost 00 colo- 

 nies and saved one the past winter, I 

 boujjht more, and 1 am now bnilding up 

 my stock auain. My bees were mostly 

 blacks and liybrids— except the one 1 have 

 left, which is a pnre Italian colony— and 

 as there is not another live bee m the 

 townsliip, it is a good time to Italianize. 

 The (juestion with me is, not what made 

 the bees die, but why did only the one 

 colony live and come out stroiisr, having 

 been wintered in the same cellar-room 

 among all the dead ones— the same room 

 where they had wintered witliout loss for 

 the past five years ? 



Rightfulness of Keeping Bees.— Ran- 

 som Allen. Carlaud,© Mich,, on June 



22, 188.5, stiys : 



I wish to announce my approval of Mr. 

 Ileddon's idea of raising a fund for the 

 purpose of defending the rights of bee- 

 keepers against the malicious persecutiim 

 of ignorance and prejudice. You may 

 put me down for a dollar, and if that is 

 not enough, say so, and 1 will make it 

 more. 1 would suggest that the best legal 

 ability that can be had, be employed, and 

 make it a test case, and see whether a 

 man has a right to keep bees or not. 



Bee-Keepers' Organization. — Miss J. 

 M. Ball, Hopeside^D* Va., writes: 



I most earnestly endorse Mr. Ileddon's 

 move for a bee-keepers' organization, and 

 I will willingly be among the first to en- 

 ter my name. My choice also is the 

 Editor of the American Bee Joitknal, 

 for Secretary-Treasurer aiul General Man- 

 ager. 



Bees and Bncliwlieat, etc. — B. T. 



Davenport. xVuroraville,© Wis,, on 

 June 19, 188.3, writes : 



I am sorry to see a fellow-bee-keeper 

 assailed in the way that Mr. Freeborn is, 

 and I know how to sympathize with him, 

 in part at least ; for 1 have justsuch ignor- 

 ant and selfish men living near me, who 

 are occasionally grumbling because my 

 bees work on their buekvpheat. They 

 claim that the bees take the virtue out of 

 the flowers, so the buckwheat does not fill 

 as well. 1 really hope that Mr. F. will 

 em))loy the ablest counsel to be had, and 

 that he will come out victorious. I will 

 give anywhere from St to $5 willingly, 

 though i am heavily in debt, to help de- 

 fend this suit. It is very dry here at pres- 

 ent, and clover comes out slowly, and 

 there is but little honey in it; but if we 

 have rain right away, we may have a 

 pretty good yi'ld of clover honey. Bass- 

 wood is going to bloom .some ; 1 think 

 that one-half or more of the trees are 

 budded nicely. 



Season Cold and Wet.— J. W. Mar- 

 grave. Hiawatha, t$ Kans., on June 

 16, 188-5, says : 



What few bees are in this region are 

 doing only fairly well. The season thus 

 far has been very cold and wet. There 

 has been very little swarming. We are 

 hoping for better in the near future. 



Fight it to the Hitter End.— A. W. 



Osliurn, Cuba, W. I., on .Imie 18, 18S.5, 

 writes : 



I folly agree with the Editor's remarks 

 on page :i:in, and with the article by James 

 IleiUlon, on page lUli, in tlie interest of 

 Mr. Freeborn anainst the "sliPep-man;" 

 and I say, let bee-keepers orgaui/c, 

 furnish uio'ney, and light it to the bitter 

 end. 1 am aJMi in favor of Mr. Thos. C. 

 Newman for Secretary-Treasurer and Gen- 

 eral Manager of the organization. 1 am 

 ready with my share of tne expenses. 



A World of Defense.— G. L. Pray, 



Elsie,© Mich. ,• writes : 



I have read and re-read every article 

 relating to the defense organization, and I 

 heartily endorse Mr. Ileddon's plan of tlie 

 defense. I think that there is a world of 

 defense, as every bee-keeper will be in- 

 terested in such an organization. I send 

 $\.-io for the defense fund and annual fee, 

 and twice that amount is awaiting, if 

 wanted for such a glorious cause. 



" Not One Cent for Tribute."— C. F. 



Greening, Grand Meadow,? Minn., 

 on June 19, 1885, writes : 



I fully endorse James Ileddon's plan of 

 defense. Assess me $1 for every trial of 

 this kind, until farther orders. Let all 

 true bee-keepers join in, and I think we 

 can make it about as warm tor the black- 

 mailer in this case as though he had a col- 

 ony of Cyprians or Apis dorsata turned 

 over him. "Not one cent for tribute," 

 but 40 colonies for defense. 



A Corner-stone of Defense.— L. N. 



Tongue, IIillsboro,*o Wis., on June 

 22, 1885, says : 



I send you 3.5 cents as required by Arti- 

 cle V in the Constitution of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union, as given on page 37'2. 

 1 wish to associate myself with bee-keep- 

 ers in such a nuich needed organization. 

 Call on me when funds are needed. 1 

 indorse the Heddon plan. The idea set 

 forth on page 379, by Mr. D. Millard, is 

 worthy of consideration. 1 indorse every 

 word ; these facts cannot be gainsaj'ed. 

 Herein lies a corner-stone of defense. 

 Were 1 living near this sheep pasture, I 

 think 1 would be a close observer to ferret 

 out the facts in the case. I heard of this 

 complaint last season from one from that 

 vicinity. If 1 am not mistaken, the per- 

 son who informed me claimed that the 

 slieep's noses were stung by the bees. 

 The facts are, when a bee is approached 

 by man or beast, it leaves for other quar- 

 ters, especially when in pursuit of nectar 

 in flowers. I think if this sheep-man 

 would candidly investigate this matter, he 

 would withdraw his case. 



Cold Weather, etc.— James Heddon, 

 Dowagiac, ? Mich., on June 22, 1885, 

 writes : 



Following the past cold winter, we have 

 had one of the coldest springs on record, 

 and June has kept up tlie same spirit. 

 To-day the wind blows hard from the 

 north, and though the sky is clear, and 

 the sun shining brightly, the mercury 

 stands at .54= Fahr. in the shade. Last 

 night queen-cells were killed in their 

 nuclei by lack of heat. We have never 

 before lost so many queens between hatch- 

 ing and fertilization. Basswood is in the 

 bud, and is set full, on both high and low- 

 land. Clover is in full bloom, and yield- 

 ing, when warm enough. Bees hardly 

 leave the hives to-day. Many colonies 

 that I purchased during the past spring, 

 are yet too weak for surplus receptacles. 

 Notwithstanding my heavy losses, my re- 

 maining colonies average much stronger 



than any I have purchased. We are hav- 

 ing a good time shaving off the heads of 

 drones in eniDryo, and catching them and 

 destroying them. We are doing much 

 "modern translerring," and tlunigh in 

 the coldest season on record, we are liav- 

 iiig perfect success, so far. 



Favoring a Defense Organization.— 



W. R. El wood, Sr., Lindley,5 Mo., 

 writes : 



I am greatly in favor of a defense or- 

 ganization, liaving read with much interest 

 the suggestions made by Mr. James Iled- 

 d(Mi, aiid 1 desire to become a member of 

 that organization. True, my means are 

 very limited, and that is not all, 1 am now, 

 and have for 7 years, been having very 

 poor health. Enter my name for $1, and 

 when it is wanted let me know. I am in 

 favor of the Editor of the Bee Jouknal 

 for Secretary-Treasurer and General Man- 

 ager. 



Worst Year in 60.— Richard Rud- 

 dock, Orono, Ont., on June 17, 1885, 



says : 



The past was a very hard winter on the 

 bees here, the most of them having died. 

 I put 22 into a bee-house, and lost only 3, 

 and the otiiers came out strong. I put 

 them out on April 19, they having been in 

 the bee-house for 1.50 days. Those that I 

 wintered on the sununer stands did not do 

 so well. I have kept bees for about (50 

 years, but the past has been one of the 

 worst years for bees I have ever known. 



Usefulness of Defense Organizations. 



— M. E. Darby, Dexter,©Iowa, writes 

 thus : 



Please enroll my Tiame as a member of 

 the Bee-Keepers' Union, for which I send 

 the required fee. I hope the scope of this 

 new movement will be enlarged so as to 

 protect bee-products as well as bee-keep- 

 ers, by prosecuting such falsifications as 

 that of Wiley, and by united action 

 against adulteration, enforcing the laws 

 which we now have, and getting them 

 perfected. I think that State associations 

 could be made very useful in this work of 

 stopping adulteration, 1 believe that the 

 leading newspaoers of the LTuited States 

 would willingly correct the Wiley delu- 

 sion, if appealeil to by the head of such a 

 combination as this new one promises 

 to be. 



Protective Organization,— Wm. An- 

 derson, Sherman, o+ Mo., says : 



1 have been reading about the lawsuit 

 brought against Mr. Freeborn. You may 

 put my name down for SI, to assist in 

 defending this suit. We as bee-keepers 

 need some kind of a protective organiza- 

 tion, so now let us in times of peace pre- 

 pare for war, and keep ourselves in readi- 

 ness in case of emergency. 



Bees in the Pasture, etc.— Jas. Jar- 

 dine, Ashland,o* Kebr., June 22, 1885, 

 says : 



I have read the articles on page 346, in 

 reference to the suit involving bees. I 

 never have known bees to molest any- 

 thing while they were out at work, but, as 

 a rule, they attend strictly to their own 

 work. I have a cow and two colts on my 

 clover, and it is covered witli bees all the 

 time, and I do not see that they sting any 

 of them. I do not believe that the farmer 

 ever saw the bees sting his sheep at all ; 

 he merely guessed at it. I hope that every 

 bee-keeper in the United States will send 

 in his dollar and make this selfish man 

 know that bee-keepers will maintain their 

 rights. As I promised to report how my 



