L I 



192 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Illative feeding. A comb of honey, or 

 several combs partly filled, answers the 

 purpose best. 



If your hives stand level during Win- 

 ter, you will be surprised at the amount 

 of water running out, when your raise 

 the back ends on a warm day following 

 a cold spell. If this water remains in 

 the hives, it is absorbed by the honey 

 and pollen. The air being warm about 

 the cluster, the combs become moldy, 

 and the honey and pollen sour in the 

 immediate neighborhood of the bees. I 

 have seen such pollen in a state of fer- 

 mentation that had made it raise over 

 the rims of the cells, and the smell of the 

 sour honey was unmistakable. If, under 

 such circumstances bees die of diarrhea, 

 we should not accuse the quality of the 

 honey, nor the pollen, but the bee- 

 keeper. Let us, therefore, be as particu- 

 lar in preventing moldy walls in our 

 bee-hives, as we are in preventing the 

 same in our own dwellings ; then the 

 wintering problem will trouble us no 

 more. — Read at the Indiana State Con- 

 vention. 



Cincinnati, O. 



Qualities of Ml Bees DefeMel. 



A. D. ELLINGWOOD. 



I believe 1 was the first person to take 

 up the cudgel In defense of the German 

 black bee, and I feel gratified to see 

 others coming out courageously and tak- 

 ing their stand along with me. I am 

 thoroughly convinced that the black race 

 of bees is a very valuable one, and that 

 with the same care and attention that is 

 given the Italians, they will give just as 

 good results. 



I have been making a careful canvass 

 of the Eastern States and I find that the 

 black bees are decidedly popular. I 

 have received a great many letters com- 

 plimenting me on my courage in defend- 

 ing them, and many of the writers say 

 that they by all means prefer them to 

 the Italians. 



In my own yard the blacks have ex- 

 celled the Italians every time. One 

 year I took 500 pounds of honey from 

 fc) black colonies and from oO colonies of 

 Italians in the same yard I took only 

 about 100 pounds. They did scarcely 

 anything but swarm. 



I do not say that the Italians are an 

 inferior race, but I do claim tU^t the 

 blacks are just as good, and I prefix- 

 them to all others. 1 have had six years' 

 experience with biics, and have usually 



had from 75 to 100 colonies, so I am 

 fully prepared to substaniate any claim 

 I make regarding my favorite bee. 



To prove to any of the intelligent bee- 

 keepers that the black bees are a very 

 fine race of bees, I should like to have 

 them experiment with a nice, large colo- 

 ny and give them a fair trial, getting 

 them from any reliable man in Maine, 

 New Hampshire or Vermont. Let the 

 bee-men who have the German or black 

 bees, and know and appreciate their 

 worth, come forward and defend them. 

 They are valuable bees. Let us prove it. 



(jOoI Yiells Per Acre, Etc. 



J. E. PRICHARD. 



I often see wonderful results from ex- 

 periments chronicled in the Bee Jour- 

 nal by our " Western cousins," the last 

 but not least being about fruit produc- 

 ing $2,000 per acre, which some may 

 be disposed to discredit, but I thTnk it a 

 small return for prairie soil. 



In the Spring of 1877 I set out late 

 when in bloom 95 Sharpless strawberry 

 plants, and the next Spring they covered 

 a space of nearly 12x17 feet, from 

 which I picked 160 quarts of berries, 

 which would be 34,160 quarts per acre, 

 which, at 10 cents per quart, would be 

 $3,416, and that here in poor New 

 Jersey, and by a beginner. The Fall 

 previous I raised, on the same ground, 

 celery that blanched stems 22 and 24 

 inches long, and as solid as a radish. 

 But now I am an apiarist. 



I went to my pet colony yesterday, to 

 give them a comb of honey that I took 

 from them in the Fall, and they stung 

 me so badly that the blood ran out on 

 the removal of the sting, but it only hurt 

 for a few minutes, and I rather enjoy 

 the fun. I was much pleased to read in 

 the Bee Journal the efforts of a brother 

 Jerseyman in Trenton. I did not sus- 

 pect that there was one so near me, to 

 whom I could look for counsel or sympa- 

 thy in time of need. I hope I may hear 

 from more of them. 



My bees are in a shed 5x1(5 feet, 

 facing south, and on these warm days 

 the bees are out in great numbers, as 

 the sun shincss full on the front and top 

 of the hive. 1 think they have stores 

 enough for Winter, and plenty of bees. 



INSTINCT vs. REASON IN ANIMALS. 



Anent the topic of instinct or reason 

 in animals, I have conclusive evidence 

 that they reason. When a boy, I had 



