THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



241 



Grant Co., Wis., June 19, 1877.— "The 

 Bingham smolver you sent me is received, 

 and I am very mucli pleased vi^ith it. My 

 bees are doing splendidly; everything 

 promises a good honey crop. The bass- 

 wood trees are completely covered with 

 blossom, and the bees are reaping a rich 

 harvest from them." J. M. Gillis. 



Hadley, 111., June 19, 1877.— "We are hav- 

 ing plenty of rain — too much for my pets. I 

 sold down to 125 swarms; they are in fine 

 condition. Some of them are working in 

 boxes. I would say to friend Alley that 

 ray bees do not raise drones in winter. The 

 queens he sent me raised drones last fall, 

 and I consider he imposed upon me by 

 sending such inferior queens. I do not 

 think they had ever mated. All I ask is 

 fair treatihent. 1 will send the queen, as 1 

 said before, if he writes to me. Our fields 

 are white with clover, all we want is sun 

 shine." Fkank Searles. 



San Diego Co., Cal., June 1, 1877.—" Our 

 honey crop will be nearly a failure this 

 year, on account of a lack of rain till too 

 late for honey-producing flowers. I do not 

 think that there will be a car-load shipped 

 East this season from San Diego. I planted 

 mignonnette last spring but the drouth has 

 rendered it nearly useless. It is a good 



Elant for bees, in usual seasons. White and 

 hie sages are now coming into bloom. I 

 am trying another plant, for a dry season, 

 and so far it has done well. All we need 

 here in San Diego to make plenty of honey 

 is to have wet winters and summer dews. "I 

 send you a few seeds of the Australian 

 flowering peas, which bring the humming 

 birds to your door if planted there." 



Samuel, Marshall. 

 fOur daughter has planted them under the 

 dining-room windows, and we shall soon 

 see their beauty and smell their fragrance. 

 Accept our thanks.- Ed.] 



Cedar Co., Mo., June 6, 1877.— "Friend 

 Newman: I received a nice yellow queen 

 from you as a premium for a list of sub- 

 scribers. 1 am well pleased with her. I 

 would say to others that if they will try to 

 get up a club, I am sure they vvill get what 

 you promise them, and thereby extend the 

 circulation of the Journal, and benefit 

 themselves and their fellowmen. My bees 

 are doing tolerably well. I went into win- 

 ter quarters last fall with 86 colonies, and 

 came out this spring with 87. Strange but 

 true ! I took particular care last fall that 

 every one of my colonies were in good con- 

 dition with plenty of honey and pollen; and 

 I left them on their sunnner stands without 

 protection. On Jan. 31st, a colony had 

 starved out in the woods (or come from 

 some of the neighbors) and came near my 

 apiary. I took out some combs of honey 

 and put them up in the bush where they 

 were settling and they soon clustered on 

 them; 1 brought them home and gave 

 them plenty of honey, their queen was with 

 them. They are now breeding and getting 

 strong. My bees are all getting along very 

 well, they are getting strong but not gather- 

 ing much honey yet. They have gathered 

 a little and made some new comb, and I 

 have had some new swarms. I use the 

 Langstroth hive, 20 frames. I made 25 

 hives with 24' frames, last winter, to try 



them. I am an enthusiastic in bee-keeping. 

 I think it the greatest treat to get to work 

 with them. I think everyone should keep 

 a few bees; there are plenty of sweets for 

 all if they would but nave the bees gather 

 them at the right time. If any one expects 

 to make it a business they must study the 

 science, in order to make it a success." 



J. F. Lynn. 



Montgomery Co., Ind., June 31, 1877.— "We 

 have had a good honey season for about four 

 weeks. The poplar has been very good, fur- 

 nishing honey in great abundance. Linn, or 

 basswood, will soon be in bloom, and if the 

 weather continues line we will have a good 

 flow of honey for some time to come. White 

 clover is abundant. I have made several ef- 

 forts to find honey in the clover bloom, but 

 have not succeeded in flnding any yet; it 

 may be that I dou't get hold of the right blos- 

 soms, or my investigations are insufficient. I 

 wrote you last spring that the winter had 

 nearly destroyed my apiary, which was the 

 case, but you had better believe I am recruit- 

 ing the thinned ranks with a 'whoop.' I have 

 got nearly all the combs filled." 



Isaac Sharp. 



Iron Co., Mo., May 6,1877.— "Mr. Editor: 

 To-day I went into the garden with a friend 

 who wished to see a hive, to which I had 

 lately transferred a black colony, and was 

 surprised to find the aligliting board cover- 

 ed with the wings and abdomen of bees. It 

 was so rainy and cool that tiie bees would 

 only show themselves at the entrance, but 

 there were parts of a hundred bodies strewn 

 over the front of the hive. The abundant 

 dropping indicated that a bird had perched 

 on the stand in front of the hive. I knew 

 the cause of the trouble. I brushed off the 

 boards, but soon afterwards found that 

 more had been killed; so I laid for the de- 

 pradator with a double-barreled shot-gun. 

 I had not long to wait, but was surprised to 

 find, instead of a bee-martin, a bird that I 

 have seen nowhere described as guilty of 

 such tricks, and so watched his maneuvres. 

 Sitting on the stand in front of the hive it 

 would stick its bill into the entrance and 

 snap every worker that showed itself, and 

 then hopped a few feet off to eat it, and 

 return at once for another. I found the 

 head and body of a bee in its mouth; crop 

 it had none, but its gizzard contained no- 

 thing but the renuiins of black bees. The 

 children wanted the wings and tail, but as 

 I am not sure of the species I enclose them. 

 I thought it the female of the red cedar 

 bird. Six years ago they were very numer- 

 ous here, but for some reason tliey have 

 been very scarce for 3 or 4 years, and I have 

 almost forgotton the exactcolor and size of 

 tile female. This bird seemed too small 

 and too briglit a yellow underneath; the 

 beak was heavy and strong, measuring % 

 in. by %_ in. broad and deep at tlie base, and 

 resembling in color the plumage. Pass it 

 around for an impudent thief. If the 

 natural law of compensation holds good in 

 this case, however, this bird must do a deal 

 of good somewhere and somehow." 



Wm. Cam. 



Lit is a hard matter to decide the species 

 from the wings and tail sent. We scarcely 

 think it can be the red cedar bird, or Amer- 

 ican wax-wing, as it is often called. Such 

 tricks are not, we think, generally charged 

 to its account.— Ed.] 



