all animals were. Tlie failure of the grape 

 crop can more justly be attributed to the 

 dry season than to the bees. In regard to 

 the oranges, no botanist believes that the 

 extraction of honey from the blossoms 

 injures tiie fruit, nor that if fruit sets at 

 all it can be dwarfed, or stunted by any- 

 thing that can have happened to the blos- 

 soms. That is also due to the dry seasons. 



Bees have a gri^at aversion to feeding 

 where sheep have been grazing, seeming to 

 dislike the smell left by the sheep. The 

 latter, also, do great injury to the sage, by 

 breaking it down during the dry season; 

 they do not eat it. The above is as near 

 the facts as I can get. We are having 

 plenty of rain this winter, and prospects are 

 good for crops of all kinds. 



Chas. J. Fox, 



Pres't. San Diego Bee-keepers' As'n. 



Los Angeles, Cal., Jan. 12, 1878. 

 "Mr. Editor. — In the December Jour- 

 nal, under the heading of ' Bibulous Bees,' 

 you ask the California ' bee kings ' if Col. 

 Chalmers Scott is correct in saying that the 

 bees have developed a great fondness for 

 orange and grape blossoms. It is, and tiiey 

 are equally fond of pumpkin and other 

 blossoms. AVhen wine sold for 50 to 75 cts. 

 per gallon, they made 4,000 to 5,000 gallons 

 of wine; but now, as it can he bought for 15 

 to 25 cts., the fashion has changed. They 

 make a great {\e(i\ of it now into brandy— 

 but why blame the bees for it? The dwarf- 

 ing of "the orange, by the bees feeding on 

 the blossoms is too ridiculous for comment. 

 In the summer of 1877, I frequently passed 

 through a large flock of sheep, that were 

 feeding among large quantities of white 

 sage, while the bees were humming on 

 every branch. Bee King. 



[ So, it appears, the bees have been slan- 

 dered again. To commerce, and not to the 

 bees, it seems to be chargeable that the 

 vintage of California has greatly dimin- 

 ished. Instead of the fruit being " dwarf- 

 ed" by their working on the blossoms— the 

 prices are " dwarfed," making it unprofit- 

 able to gather the vintage! For several 

 years, a similar "shrinkage" has prevailed 

 in "real estate," in "dry goods," and in 

 many other things— why not charge all 

 such in a lumj) to the bees? — Ed.] 



For ine American Bee Journal. 



"Say" 



To R. M. Argo that he hit the nail " square " 

 on the head, when saying that " Bees 

 require everything done at exactly the right 

 time, or tliere is no success with them."— 

 There it is, in just 16 words— the first nine 

 tell yon what you must do, and the last 

 seven give the penalty if you don't do it! 



To talk about "light work," "fit for 

 invalids," " all profit," etc., is all nonsense! 

 All bee-keepers, who keep enough to make 

 them an object, often have their clothing 

 soaking wet with perspiration, as friend 

 Argo and myself know full well, and find 

 plenty of Jiard work. Ask Doolittle, Bet- 



singer, Palmer, Iletherington, L. C. Koot, 

 or any successful bee-keeper, and hear 

 what they say. It may be fun to keep 8 or 

 10 colonies of bees, if a man has something 

 else to get "phatt" on. But to get much 

 from his bees he must make up his mind to 

 ivnrk. F. I. Sage. 



Wethersfield, Conn. 



[True, Oh snge philosopher; thou rea- 

 sonestwell! To own a few bees may be 

 fxcn; but an apiarist who looks tor profit by 

 scientific management, finds the work not so 

 tunny! Friends Hetherington, Betsinger, 

 Doolittle and others work hard in their 

 apiaries during the season, and only by per- 

 sistent work and scientific management do 

 they obtain such satisfactory results. — Ed.] 



For tne American Bee Journal. 



Springing Bees. 



It is probably conceded that in the colder 

 latitudes, bees should have some protection 

 during the winter. A dry, dark cellar 

 properly ventilated answers very well.— 

 x\.ll have not such a cellar, and it is attend- 

 ed with some trouble to remove them from 

 their siunmer stands in the fall, watch the 

 ventilation during the winter and return 

 them to their summer stands in the, spring. 

 The same trouble exists if a special deposi- 

 tory is built, convenient to the apiary; it, 

 however, has this advantage: It is a nice 

 place to extract honey, and keep tools and 

 implements in the siunmer, but— it costs 

 money. 



Many are placing the hives within a large 

 dry goods box, uppn the summer stands, 

 filling all around with chaff, preparing a 

 passage way out for a fly-hole and ventila- 

 tion, to be nearly closed when the ther- 

 mometer indicates 45° or less. The top of 

 the hive is covered with one thickness of 

 a conunon bed-quilt, with t3 or 8 inches of 

 chaff upon it, after placing half a dozen >4 

 inch pieces of lath across the frames, and 

 in the common box hive, opening all the 

 holes on the top of the hive that the steam 

 may escape. I am of the opinion that 8 or 

 10 inches of chaff all around would not be 

 too much; still less would be better than 

 nothing. 



One advantage in this mode of wintering 

 is that it gives an opportunity for a purify- 

 ing flight, occasionally, during the winter, 

 whicli may be the salvation of the apiary if 

 dysentery prevails, and it can do no harm 

 if it is absent. 



Bees can be wintered pretty well by 

 either of the above methods, but the sjyrlng- 

 %ng needs some attention. I have not 

 noticed, in my reading, any rule or guide 

 for it. We bring our bees out of the cellar 

 or other depository in the spring and ex- 

 amine them. They have wintered very 

 well. We wish to do so, early, for fear they 

 may positively stand in need of a purifying 

 flight. We could return them again, but it 

 is attended with some labor and trouble, 

 and perhaps before the half of them are set 

 outor the lialf of any one swarm have had 

 flight the air becomes cold; some are chilled 



