242 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAi:. 



square honorable dealings in all my business trans- 

 actions, I did so without prejudice or partiality. But 

 it seems friend Alley is a little sensitive on.this point, 

 and with one sweeping remark contradicts the 

 following statements : " I took them to the county 

 fail- and there obtained the first premium of four 

 dollars. There were three or four old bee-keepers 

 present with their experience and new stjle of hives, 

 and friend Alley with the rest. All said that their 

 bees did nothing this year." Now, if what I said 

 was false; or if my personal character for veracity 

 were as well known to the readers of the Journal as 

 it is in tlie city of my adoption^ perhaps I might for- 

 bear ; but, Mith your permission, I would like to ex- 

 amine the statements in question and see how far it 

 was from being correct. 



First. " I took them to the county fair and there ob- 

 tained the first premium of four ddlars." That I 

 toolc ray bees to the fair is too patent for any to deny, 

 although it is a part of the statement which friend 

 Alley says is far from being correct. That I received 

 four dollars is also true, which I can prove by the 

 City Treasurer, who paid me tlie money. That it 

 ^\ as not the first premium is a iiuibble which I care 

 nothing about, as it was the iargcst sum and I got 

 the money. Two of the trustees say it is the same 

 thing but of a different class. The discrepancy in the 

 two statements may require a little explanation. 

 Ini mediately after our county fai'- the Newburyport 

 Herald published the list of premiums and gratuities. 

 I had several varieties of pears entered — my brother 

 had none, but two of the premiums were awarded to 

 him. 1 went to the Herald office to have it corrected. 

 The editor said it was a mistake which would not 

 afi'ect the report of the Society. Also, the report on 

 bees and honey were made each for D. T. B. and D. 

 C. B.,and SI, each, for Mr. AH y and Mr. Green. 1 

 meutitm triis to show that tliere was an error in the 

 account of pears, and I -did not know but there was on 

 the bees ; for when tlie awards were paid to the 

 parties in this city (arrangements having been made 

 bv the Society for the Treasurer of Newburyport to 

 pay a part of them), I went for mine and found that 

 tlie Treasurer was authorized to be governed by a 

 report furnished to him by the Agricultural Society, 

 and in that report my tjces and honey were awarded 

 four dolfars and D. C. Batcheldor nothing, Mr. Green 

 and Mr. Alley one dollar each. These are facts, and 

 I would ask in all candor, how far my statement was 

 from being correct. 



,Slx'07uI. That Mr. Alley should deny that tliere were 

 " three or four old bee-keepers present with their 

 experience and new style hives, and friend Alley «itli 

 the rest, "is impossible, for his own article, on page 

 lOti. acknowledges it. 



Third. My reasons for saying—" all said their bees 

 did nothing this year," was from what knowledge 

 I had obtained from bee-keepers during the past year, 

 and I had no small interest in tliat direction. I was 

 at my brother's place several times and saw his bees. 

 He invariably said tliat his bees were doing nothing, 

 or to that efiect. He had four swarms and only one cast 

 a swarm last year (1!;69). Fiom the other tliree he 

 got no surplus honey ; the one that cast a swarm, 

 Avas storing some honey, but not much. Mr. Calvin 

 Houers resides some four miles frum this place in 

 West Newbury. One day last August I drove to his 

 farm on purpose to learn wliat liis bees were doing. 

 He had some thirty stocl^s and tliey had cast only 

 four or five swarms and had collected but little honey. 

 Mr. Hiram Rogi rs, of West Newbury, was at my 

 place, and represented the same about his bees. Mr. 

 J. L. Newliall took but one box of honey from his 

 two stocks of bees, and they cast no new swarms. 

 Capt. Davis Wood, Mrs. W. C. Morse, Mr. Amos 

 Cothn, of this city, got neither swarms uor surplus 



honey. Mr. Noyes, of Seabrook, where friend Alley 

 has been, inserting queens and dividing swarms, I 

 have not seen ; but I have seen several of his neigh- 

 bors. They say he had poor luck the past year. Mr. 

 Alley was at my place twice last season. The last 

 time he was there, he said that my bees were doing 

 better than his. I submit, Mr. Editor, why should 

 I not say to you that their bees did nothing this year 1 



So much'for Mr. A.'s assertions. Now let us see 

 how it is wnth his statements. He says: — "Mr. D. 

 C. Batcheldor, of Newburyport, brother of the gen- 

 tleman named above, had a stock of bees on exhibition 

 in one of my new style Langstroth hives. Last sea- 

 son (1869) they stored at least forty pounds of honey 

 in small boxes." They did not store that amount by 

 more than one quarter part. My brother told me so 

 witliin one week. And this is not all. He had old 

 comb in his boxes, for which his own word is my 

 authority ; whereas, in miue every particle of comb 

 was made the past season. Now, Mr. A. says — "On 

 the first day of June one of the combs in the brood 

 box broke down, and destroyed more than two quarts 

 of bees." Perhaps he may intend this for an adver- 

 tisement to sell his new style of hive, as he is very 

 anxiotis to introduce them. 1 would say, for his benefit, 

 that they do not all do so, for my brother had another 

 swarm in the same styfe of hive, that did not break 

 down, neither did it cast a swarm or give any surplus 

 honey. Mr. A. also says, " tliis hive was exhibited 

 with all the boxes in it, but had the outside case re- 

 moved so that the boxes could be seen, and all of 

 them (30) had more or less honey in them." Now, 

 what does all this amount to, when we take into 

 account that they are three pound boxes and not to 

 exceed twenty-five pounds of honey. A few of the 

 front boxes were sealed, but the great majority of 

 them had little or no honey in them. They could not 

 be weighed with any degree of accuracy, and never 

 were. Mr. A. says, "the sum of six dollars only 

 was divided between four bee-keepers, and this was 

 only to partly pay for the trouble of putting the bees 

 into the hall and taking them out again." Singular 

 enough ! I wonder if anybody else ever got tliat 

 idea through their cranium ! Mr. A. came all 

 the way from Wenham, by rail, some sixteen miles, 

 and Mr. Green, from Amesburg, some five miles, or 

 more, and each received one dollar, as part paj', 

 while parties within two gunshots of the liall got four 

 dollars, as though there were no other merits in the 

 ease. Preposterous ! Mr. A. says " D. T. Batchel- 

 der received two dollars." This is not correct as I 

 have shown. D. C. Batchelder says he has not yet re- 

 ceived anything. Mr. Alley says he has. Which would 

 be most likely to know, I will leave for your readers to 

 decide. 



I would like to see a statement in the Bee Journal 

 of what friend Alley's bees have done tlie past year, 

 to let its readers know what kind of show he can 

 make. * 



Now, Mr. A. when you try again, be careful that you 

 do not wake up the wrong person. 



So, hurrah for the Bee Journal ! A statement of 

 facts and a backbone to back tliem. 



N.B. I think my bees have been brooding the past 

 winter. Toward the last of January, on warm sunny 

 days, bees two-thirds grown lay at the entrance of the 

 hives. Is this common ?— D. T. Batcheldek. 



Alle?[STille, (Kt.) March 16. — My bees are in 

 fine condition, having jiassed the winter on their 

 summer stands, and are breeding rapidly. Last year 

 was a good season in my locality. — J. H, Johnson. 



* Mr. Alley's business is mainly to raise Italian queens, oa 

 an extensive scale ; and of course bis apiary could not be ex- 

 pected to make a large show of lioney. — Ed. 



