THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[July. 



tenants already in possession. But 

 in the following spring he had a pain- 

 ful revelation. He attempted a little 

 innocent gardening and was badly 

 stung for his pains. 



During the last four seasons he 

 has been stung all over his body and 

 chased about the farm times without 

 number. Once last year he was laid 

 low with a sting in the nostril which 

 almost deprived him of his eyesight. 



"Look at my garden," he said, wav- 

 ing his hand over a beautifully sit- 

 uated plot of ground which under or- 

 dinary conditions would be made 

 highly profitable. 



"It never looks respectable and or- 

 derly. It never gives me what it 

 ought to give. The truth is I am 

 afraid to touch it except when the 

 bees are indoors. All my gardening 

 has to be done either before the bees 

 come out or after they have gone in. 



"They never waste time buzzing 

 around me when they come out. 

 Without warning they dash straight at 

 my head, and they will often follow 

 me a long way down the lane. I seem 

 to be a marked man." 



One alarming statement by an an- 

 cient rustic of the neighborhood who 

 poses as an expert is that "they are 

 a pertickler wicious kind o' bee, and it 

 takes three of 'em to kill a horse." 



On one occasion the caretaker did 

 think he had rid himself of the in- 

 sects. They swarmed one morning, 

 and thousands on thousands of them 

 made for the grating of an air brick 

 which led into a hollow ventilation 

 pillar inside a second floor room. 



As the caretaker saw the 'black, 

 clustering mass slowly melt through 

 the grating he bethought of a cun- 

 ning device. He watched them all 

 safely inside the ventilator, and then 

 closed it securely and plied his hos- 

 pital fumigator. 



Not a single bee came out alive; 

 but their dead bodies rolled out of the 

 grating in scores of thousands, and 

 thickly strewed the ground below. 



There was much jubilant handshak- 

 ing between himself and his wife that 

 evening, for his wife had just before 

 had several big stinging insects set- 

 tle in her hair as she was hanging out 

 washing. ,. , r 



But their joy was short lived, tor 

 next morning out from the same old 

 hole under the tiles come, seemingly. 



as many bees as ever, and set the man 

 running, hoe in hand, from his pota- 

 to patch as fast as his legs could carry 

 him. 



It is thought by local people that 

 the bees were originally abandoned 

 by a former tenant of the farm, and 

 consequently sought refuge in the 

 roomy gables of the house, where 

 by now they have probably stored 

 hundreds of pounds of honey. — Lon- 

 don Express. 



THE SITUATION IN COLORA- 

 DO. 



S. FRANCIS. 



BEES ARE PICKING up rapidly 

 the last two weeks, and most 

 of my colonies will be ready for 

 the alfalfa flow which will be in bloom 

 next week. 



Swarms in ten-frame hives have 

 had to be fed in this locality this sea- 

 son. Is this a general condition 

 throughout the county? And if so 

 why?. 



I have eight-fraine hives almost ex- 

 clusively but have not fed a single 

 pound of sugar syrup so far but have 

 stimulated them by uncapping what 

 honey they had in their hives. At this 

 writing several colonies have failed 

 to use all their honey, and are crowd- 

 ing the brood nest with new honey 

 from desert bloom to such an extent 

 that I have put on extracting bodies 

 to make them carry the honey above. 

 This plan will relieve the brood nest 

 and insure a large working force for 

 the August honey flow. 



Last fall a swarm of bees super- 

 ceded their queen. This last March 

 I found the young queen and clipped 

 her. I found the old queen on another 

 comb also. Ever since both queens 

 are laying together and the hive is 

 full of bees anfl brood. Is it not un- 

 usual for mother and daughter to 

 remain in the same hive for so long a 

 time? 



We read considerable of late about 

 keeping more than one laying queen 

 in the hive at the same tirne, but I 

 have not seen any explanation as to 

 how it is done. If it can be done 

 successfully without extra labor by 

 using division boards or something 

 of the kind, let us hear about it quick. 



If it should happen to turn cool and 



