266 



T-mm MME-KicnH mmm j^^mmmi^. 



good, succulent food, such as ensilage, 

 roots, etc. 



Mr. Green follows milk-dairying, and 

 delivers milk to customers in Green- 

 ville. He makes the two go well to- 

 gether. 



Mr. Coon keeps sheep, and made it 

 pay well by raising early spring lambs 

 lor market. 



■' How do you remove propolis ?" 



Mr. Sutton uses fine sand, and also 

 Seneca or lamp oil. Alcohol is good. 



" How would you build up colonies in 

 the spring, in time for the honey-flow V" 

 Work for honey, but not for swarms, 

 and do not divide the colonies. 



" How soon after the swarm issues, 

 ■ought the sections to be put on ?" Put 

 them on in about twelve hours, if you 

 have the hives full of combs, or frames 

 filled with foundation. 



" How soon in the spring should up- 

 ward ventilation be stopped, to pro- 

 mote brood-rearing y" The weight of 

 opinion was in favor of a very slight 

 upward ventilation by absorbents, such 

 as chafiE, leaves, saw dust, etc. On the 

 first nice day in the spring, put on oil- 

 cloth, and cover again with absorbents. 



After unanimously passing appropri- 

 ate resolutions, the convention ad- 

 journed. 



FEEDING. 



The First Pollen Oatliered for 

 the Season. 



Written for the Prairie Farmer 

 BY MRS. L. HARBISON. 



Bees gathered their first pollen on 

 March 1.5, amid general rejoicing. It is 

 meet that they should rejoice, with the 

 first new bread of the season, after liv- 

 ing on canned goods so long. This 

 new, fresh diet will impart new life 

 to the denizens of the hive, and they 

 will awake from their drowsy slumbers, 

 and no more " folding of their hands to 

 sleep." Spring-time has come, and 

 " the voice of the turtle is heard in the 

 land;" the elms are flowering, and 

 yielding pale-yellow pollen, and catkins 

 are appearing on the willows, which 

 will soon yield honey and bread. All 

 Nature rejoices, and the " Old Man of 

 the Woods" arouses from his slumbers 

 and shakes the snow from his mantle. 



The queen, being fed so generously 

 by her subjects, will commence her ar- 

 duous labors of rearing a large family. 

 It is to be hoped that she will not be 

 too ambitious, and lay more eggs than 

 the bees can hover. To-day (March IS) 

 is quite cool and chilly, and the bees 

 will contract the cluster, to keep warm, 

 and if in doing so the larvje are unpro- 

 tected, they must perish. I remon- 

 strated against our bees being removed 

 from the cellar during the warm days 

 —although they were loud in their de- 

 mands for a flight— fearing that the 

 weather might change to cold, and that 

 the cellar bees might be attacked with 

 a spell of "spring dwindling;" while 

 those that had passed the winter upon 

 the summer stands would not be affect- 

 ed by it, being more hardy from expos- 



ure. Therefore fresh air was admitted 

 more freely into the cellar, and their 

 loud demonstrations ceased, and only 

 their quiet, happy hum was to be heard. 



Spring: Feeding; ofUees. 



I will take back all I ever said about 

 stimulative feeding in early spring. 

 Localities may differ in this respect, as 

 in many other things, but I am con- 

 vinced, by repeated trials, that it is a 

 decided injury here. It excites bees to 

 activity, and they will fly out in in- 

 clement weather, in search of water 

 and mineral salts, and perish, and their 

 death prove a serious loss to the colony, 

 at a time when their services were 

 most needed. More young bees may be 

 reared, but at a time when their ser- 

 vices are not worth so much to the 

 commonwealth as the old ones are. 



Feeding rye-meal, ground-oats, pea- 

 flour, or unbolted wheat-flour in early 

 spring, as a substitute for pollen, is ad- 

 vocated by many, the food being placed 

 in shallow boxes, in sunny nooks pro- 

 tected from winds. This may be well 

 in some localities, but here the pollen 

 appears almost as soon as it is safe for 

 bees to fly, as the overflow from the 

 river draws out the frost from the 

 roots of trees before it is out on the 

 highlands. 



Some bee-keepers report bushels of 

 food appropriated by bees, but, where 

 there are so many mills and flour-stores, 

 they prefer to fly from home in quest 

 of it. I have seen those white bees 

 entering hives in early spring, but, as 

 soon as pollen appears, there will be no 

 more dusty millers seen. 



Peoria, Ills. 



PRIORITY. 



The Iieg;ality of Priority of 

 Liocation. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY J. E. POND. 



I should give no further time to dis- 

 cussing the above question, did I not 

 think that in justice to myself a brief 

 reply to Mr. S. T. Pettit's article, on 

 page 217, should be made. 



In stating my position as I have since 

 the discussion first began, I have taken 

 none but a legal view of the matter ; 

 sentiment has been entirely ignored, as 

 it has nothing to do with a question of 

 legal rights. I may feel that any com- 

 petitor, no matter what the business, 

 might have let me remain untroubled 

 in my chosen locality ; but wliat am I 

 to do about it, if he keeps within the 

 law V 



I have asked time and time again, for 

 those who view the questiou as does 

 Mr. Pettit, to give some plan or meth- 

 od by which the evil, as he deems it, 

 may be remedied ; as yet, none is of- 

 fered, but instead thereof, I am asked 

 how I would like it myself to have my 

 own field occupied j' Well, now, to 

 what more is the bee-keeper legally en- 

 titled, as a matter of legal rights, than 

 "the butcher, the baker, the candle- 

 stick-maker," etc., whether the same 

 be sentimental or practical V Till this 



question is answered differently from 

 what Mr. Pettit will answer it himself, 

 or until he or some other will devise 

 some plan by which human rights can 

 be legally ignored, I must assert, and 

 try to maintain whenever called upon 

 to do so, that the sole question is just 

 that simple that Mr. Pettit criticises, 

 viz.: Can any one who chooses, keep 

 bees upon his own land ? 



One reason for making the question 

 thus simple is, that if I am met with 

 the idea that the keeping of bees may 

 constitute a nuisance, my answer at 

 once Is, what is a nuisance in myself in 

 keeping bees must also be a nuisance 

 on the part of my neighbor ; and does 

 not, therefore, form any factor in the 

 original problem. 



I have no doubt that Mr. Pettit feels 

 as he writes, and I can only ask him the 

 question (which his article confessedly 

 admits has but one answer), viz.: If 

 another man does plant an apiary on 

 his own land, in such a way that it may 

 interfere with your rights, what are 

 you going to do about it V or how can 

 you legally prevent itV And again, 

 what legal remedy can you advise in 

 the matter ? Again, doesn't Mr. Pettit 

 rather beg the question, not only in the 

 whole article, but when he says that he 

 thinks that I will agree with him that 

 the man ought to have located else- 

 where ? 



I have not written the above with a 

 desire to cause a discussion, but to 

 endeavor to show that I have not 

 " hastily reached a decision ;" and to 

 ask any who think that I have, to show 

 wherein I am in error. 



4]ratliering' IXoney and Pollen. 



My observation generally has shown 

 me that Nature, as a rule, makes no 

 mistakes; that "like produces like," 

 and that in cross-fertilization, the rule 

 follows as elsewhere. Mrs. Chaddock 

 may have seen bees traveling to differ- 

 ent flowers on the same trip, but that 

 does not prove anything, even argu- 

 mentatively ; 'cause why i* Because (a 

 woman's reason, I know), that if when 

 she saw bees going to the different 

 flowers, I think that she would have 

 found, on examination, that there was 

 no pollen in them, and as a conse- 

 quence, no chance of mis-fertilizing. 



As for myself, I have experimented 

 in this very matter quite largely, and I 

 have never seen one instance of a bee 

 working on different varieties of flow- 

 ers on the same trip at any time ; and 

 I do not believe that anyone has seen 

 them do so at a time when cross-ferti- 

 lization was possible. If Mrs. C. has 

 seen this, let her say so, and I will be- 

 lieve her; but simply saying what she 

 has on the subject, does not affect the 

 question at all ; for the reason, that the 

 rule is not broken, unless the condi- 

 tions are not right for breaking. 



I do not advocate at all the wonder- 

 ful second sight that some claim for 

 bees, but I am an advocate of the doc- 

 trine that "Nature makes no mis- 

 takes;" and the mere fact that bees 

 have been seen to visit different varie- 

 ties of flowers on the same trip, is not 

 necessarily even the exception that 

 proves the rule. 



North Attleboro, Mass. 



