410 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



railroads in tlie hands of the Government. 

 No doubt this idea will seem an Utopia to 

 some of my readers; yet it is, and it wiil be 

 every day, more among the topics ot our 

 times, for sooner or later we will resort to it, 

 as it did begin in Europe. Imagine the post 

 oflQces in the hands of 500 com]mnies and 

 see what disorder. Do you think that our 

 letters would be as safe, as quickly trans- 

 ported and as cheaply?- The putting of all 

 the public services: railroad, telegraphs, in- 

 surances, in the hands of the Government, 

 would give more than 50 \)er cent, ot econo- 

 my, with a better service. Besides, we 

 would gain in celerity, in security and in 

 morality, by the suppression of all the un- 

 necessary wheels which now encumber all 

 these services. I know that, in spite of the 

 press, which is not ready to abandon its 

 privileges of traveling with free passes, in 

 spite of most of our political men, who have 

 sold themselves to the railroad companies 

 by accepting their free tickets, the above 

 question, whicn is already agitated in pri- 

 vate circles, will be a part of the next Presi- 

 dential platform. 



I have a word more to say and 1 have done. 



Last year 1 had a telegram sent to Italy. 

 I was asked 95 cents in gold each word. I 

 had made my figures, they amounted to 75 

 cents. Then the agent detailed Its figures: 

 so much from Hamilton to New York; so 

 much from New York to London; so much 

 from London to Paris; so much from Paris 

 to Italy. "But I don't want that my dis- 

 patch be sent to London. It will not be un- 

 aerstood by the London agents, and they 

 will make some mistakes. I want you to 

 send my telegram through the French tele- 

 graphic company." "'It is impossible; my 

 company does not correspond with the 

 French line." The result was, that after 

 costing 20 cents more per word, my telegram 

 was mispelled; two words could not be un- 

 derstood. 



Such are the fruits of competition in pub- 

 lic services. Higher rates and bad work. 

 Ch. Dabant. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Nil Desperandum. 



I suggest a new column in the Jouknal; 

 instead of blasted hopes let us call it hopes 

 realized. To initiate the movement, I will 

 give you my experience in bee-culture: 



In the spring of 1871 I procured my first 

 bees, consisting of four colonies, three of 

 which died in wintering, leaving me with 

 one weak colony the following spring; that 

 year they did not swarm nor make any box 

 honey, however they survived the follow- 

 ing winter. By diiit of good luck and a 

 very little managing, in a blind sort of way, 

 I succeeded that season in obtaining one 

 new colony, but they gave no box-honeJ^ 



The spring of 187:3 found my bees alive. 

 Encouraged by this, I purchased two other 

 colonies. 



The truth had gradually dawnetl upon 

 me that there might be some magic in skill, 

 as well as in g(X)d luck. I now invested in 

 bee literature, subscribed to the different 

 bee publications, and commenced bee-cul- 

 ture on a scientific basis. The result was 

 that in the autumn of that year I had in- 

 creased from four colonies to eleven, and 

 obtained a little honey. 



The winter following, five colonies died, 

 leaving me six; these I increased before 

 the next autunni to 16, and secured .$75 

 worth of honey. Five colonies of these 

 went to the hai>py hunting ground, in win- 

 tering, leaving me 11. I then whistled up 

 my courage to the tune that " there's luck 

 in odd numbers," which maxim I proved by 

 increasing mj^ bees to 23 colonies, and ob- 

 taining from their labor $100 worth of box- 

 honey. 



The spring whicli followed shone upon 16 

 colonies in my apiary, these I increased to 

 21, two of which died in wintering. I sold 

 two colonies. I discovered one colony to 

 be queenless; to this I added a weak one 

 and they built themselves into a strong gar- 

 rison. 



To begin the season of 1877, I had 15 

 vigorous colonies; these I have increased 

 to 28, and now that the season is at an end, 

 I find on counting the spoils, that my little 

 workers have yielded me, since last apple- 

 blossoming, 1,300 lbs. of i)rime box honey, 

 worth at my door from 22 to 25c. per lb. 



J. H. Kennedy. 



Homer, N.Y., Oct. 2, 1877. 



[No new column is needed. "Hopes 

 Realized," as well as "Blasted Hopes," find 

 a place. The A. B. J. is the organ of no 

 clique or party, and will give all a fair and 

 full chance to "tell their experience" in 

 "committee of the whole."— Ed.] 



Southern Kentucky Association. 



This Association held its semi-annual 

 meeting at Glasgow, on Wednesday, Oct. 

 3d. Dr. N. P. Allen, President, and Jas. 

 Erwin, Sec. pro tem. 



After prayer, communications were read 

 from C. F. Muth, Cincinnati, O., and P. P. 

 Collier, Benton City, Mo. On motion, the 

 thanks of the Society were tendered to 

 these gentlemen for their valuable com- 

 munications. 



At the request of the President quite a 

 number of persons united with this Society. 



The President appointed the following 

 committees: 



Arrangements— N. H. Holman, S. S. Du- 

 vall and S. T. Botts. 



Exhibition— J. G. Allen, T. E. Shelton 

 and E. G. Martin. 



State of Bee-Culture— W. L. Dulaney, 

 Wni. Cook and N. N. Greer. 



Questions tor Discussion at next Meeting 

 — T. W. Sears, II. W. Sanders, S. T. Botts, 

 Asa Young and W. W. Wright. 



The following questions were then taken 

 up: "Can there be any improvements on 

 the two-story Langstroth hive?" 



Mr. J. G. Allen thought the Langstroth 

 hive good enough. 



Mr. Wright thought a wire-cloth bottom 

 to the hive an advantage; had some hives 

 of that style and found a great many moths 

 under the wire-cloth; thought it a good 

 plan to catch tlu'iu. 



Mr. Slultdii thought nioth-traps a delu- 

 sion and calculated to mislead bee-keepers. 



Mr. Sears agreed with Mr. Shelton. 



Mr. Ellis used two entrances, one at bot- 

 tom and one at top of brood chamber; had 

 noticed that the bees went in at the bottom 

 and out at the top entrance. 



Mr. Shelton used frames 9x12 inches; ob- 



