irA 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of tikincr their places orderly in a row as we 

 hll pKnnel thJy should, and very parUcularly 

 ^iM^ysho^<Id jvM then, they kept pitching 

 Urniore fuV.ously than ever until we began U> 

 think we should a " leetle rather " take a bacK- 

 seat " and be a spectator awhile. 



Well these bees raised such a "howling 

 th Iwe really began to ffV'^'\""L''a;uUhe 

 was gohig to be anything but quie ness and the 

 other colonies seemed to be rapidly getting de- 

 moralized as well. We left the door open on 

 ?old Sts, until the thermometer went down 

 a?most to freezing; still they persisted m prome- 

 nading constantlfon the tops oi t^e frame^ a d 

 scolding away worse than a lot of setting 



^'We'read Gallup, but he advised more ventila- 

 tion ■ and as we had the honey-boards off ot the 

 wo St stocks, and the entrances all open we chd 

 not know any better way to ventilate, ^f\^^lJ? 

 put them in the middle of a ten acre lot, with 



^^fSv ""om" business became so pressing at 

 the appiolich of the holidays, that we pof ively 

 had no time to see to the bees. (We had I ee 

 visiting them once or twice every day.) Am 

 after they had been neglected abc.ut a Aveek, wc 

 were su/prised to find them quite orderly, al- 

 Uiough the cross rascals did " »'«' .^^^^ «y^^^ ^\'.^^ 

 top '^ as soon as we showed our phiz. (We aie 

 no bad-looking at all, Mr. Editor, as you will 

 see bv the photograph which we are going to 

 send you when we get a little older in bees.) 

 We tS went off in a huff, and shut them up in 

 tot^l d'lrkness, for not having any better appre- 

 ciation of our kindness to them. . , , ^ 



Since then we have slipped in quietly about once 

 a week and for the last four weeks the theimom- 

 etl has not varied one degree from 40o, although 

 the weather outside has been cold and waim 

 alternately; and once so warm for several cays, 

 ?hat we could hardly understand how it could be 

 so much colder insiJe. We ^^o^ot think the^i 

 produces any effect at all on the.interioi The. 

 bees in most of the hives, behave just as Mi. 

 Sup describes them. Were it not for their 

 bt^ght colors, and their moving when touched, 

 OTf» mio-ht think them dead. _ , , . 



"midair and some others, we .think, claim 

 that bees cannot be taught anything. Is not 

 this a mistake ? If they can be made cross, can- 

 not thev as well be made tame ? Again, cannot 

 Ihcv leco'i^ze thfeir keeper? We have otten 

 hacf them%auglit to fly to us and light on our 

 fino-ers for honey which they had been m the 

 Sbit of finding tfiere ; and a very few essons o 

 that kind will suffice to make hem veme^nbei it 

 for some time. We succeeded so well in aious- 

 in- the ire of the colony mentioned tha they 

 m not get over it for some weeks Could they 

 not b(3 induced to remember kindness as long? 

 Pei-haps they would too much resemble human 

 be0in tlfat respect; yet we feel certain tha 

 we can, by direct experiment show tl'^t Ijces 

 reco-ni^e one person from another, and shall try 

 something- of the kind next season, 

 ''we shSuld have remarked that our bees so 

 far, have consumed very little honey. With so 

 litt e action going on among them we do not see 

 how they caS eat much. It may be argued that 



there is consequently little brood being raised 

 Th S we think may be so ; nor is it iiecessary 

 the e should be, for we have no bees dying ofi 

 as they do when kept out of doors-at least we 



^^Te':i^T;:T7e, .nd fear we always,shall 

 "count chickens before they are hatched. bo 

 heTc^oes: With forty-six stocks, having lots 

 o bees, and plenty of honey, won t we have an 

 array of laborers in the spring.^ And won t 

 we — — then ! There, it is eleven o'clock at 

 nisht, and we had almost forgotten that we^are 

 as yet only a 



[For the American Bee Journal ] 



Responses and Remarks. 



T have been repeat«ny~asked by correspond- 

 ents how isTt tlit you? doctors, (meaning bee 

 doctors of course,) disagree so much on various 

 Ss^' Whereas, the fact is wc do not disagree 

 so much as some suppose. 



Mr J H. Thomas says, on page 228, vol. 4 

 Xo 12 " If Gallup will quietly lay his piece of 

 wh-e cloth over hil bees, he -[^y^-^^j'f^^^^^^, 

 to he true" Now, the truth is, Mr. Ihomas 

 uses a Serent form of hive from mine, and lives 

 rrSrent climate. I "-ally /-je -oi-o 

 thnn half of my swarms so full of bees, tliai 

 vh n I set them'ln the cellar, I raise «p the hive 

 Tt the bottom, on the front side ari mdi and 

 remove the honey board entirely, befoie I can 

 let them in the semi-dormant state he speaks of 

 fvenXn the bees will be festered from tie 



•I„.i„V ntlRTS with perfect success lyitliont the 

 wLfguS; he would te yery apt to come to my 



^-V^'Tno 1 page 14, C. D. says, ■■Gallun's 

 sy*m oVtasiCc Wintering, &c., aM>ljes to steady 



tt^v'r:d"oeL-;,rt«7«>3j; 

 '>z",;::;i^ro/srsiT^i.tme'\'rhL^^^ 



PF Smith thinks "Gallup is mistaken," &_c. 



S;"ow Ibees did not have access to h.jct«h a^ 

 t T .r>T5r.tprprl pverv swarm, liut wneib u'^j 

 5 d laT a cess to luckwheat, or were fed, m 

 e^try'nstance that came under my obscnwaton 

 ^1 y,„orP in excellent condition ; or, in other 

 t>rd^there^^l^ no bee disease. ^Mr. Adair, m 

 his innaS o7Bee Culture, attributes the ch- 

 easeto diseased or decayed fruit in l"f ^oca ty. 

 That could not possibly have been the cause 

 heS, a "we have no fruit of any description for 

 the bees to meddle with. „,-,n-ibpr 



On page 10 of the same volume and number, 

 Mr. H. M. Thomas asks a question, and I an 



