THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



37 



the vulgar notion already referred to, •which 

 ascribes inconsolable sorrow to the bees when 

 their owner dies, alleging that tliey too then 

 pine away and perish lYoin sheer grief at the 

 loss of their venerated friend. Undoubtedly 

 there is a substratum of truth underlyin:^ this 

 ancient and world-wide belief, and it would be 

 interesting to gather up and analj'ze some au- 

 thentic accounts of such occurrences. We should 

 then, in all likelihood, reach this surprising re- 

 sult, that the cases of mortality — all and singu- 

 lar — were limited to the spring of the year; 

 and that in the obituary of the defunct bee- 

 l<eepers,their biographer had omitted to mention 

 the fact thatth'-'y had, each and all, undertaken 

 to winter weak stocks only ; had become 

 alarmed by dread of starvation as spring ap- 

 proached, and went out to feed their bees, thinly 

 clad, in a raw easterly storm. Taking cold 

 from such imprudent exposure, pneumonia fol- 

 lowed, and death supervened. And now, the 

 provident apiarians failing to re-appear with 

 their feeding troughs, the bees speedily suc- 

 cumbed ; sickness and famine swept them otT 

 by the score, and family after family went the 

 way of their late owners. 



" Men have died, and worms have eaten thorn, 

 But not from love." 



And thus bees have perished, but not from 

 grief for their departed owners. 



Hence, according to all this, the Avell-meant 

 and flatteringly unctions ciuestion with which 

 this erudite cliscussion was opened, must finally 

 be decided in the negative. " The 72a?/,'? have 

 it." All the credit which we bee-keepers have 

 so long enjoyed for living on familiar terms 

 with our bees — though these have neither 

 the disposition, nor any valid reason, to cherish 

 attachment for our persons — proves in the cud 

 to be founded on sheer knack in management 

 and practical skill in manipulation, together 

 with a sedate and digniliccl demeanor some- 

 what imposing from its manner. For truth's 

 sake we are bound to make this acknowledg- 

 ment, though the wide-spread notion of the fond- 

 ness of the bees for their mastei", should there- 

 by receive its coup-de-grace. 



The true bee-master, be it known, is the 

 genuine Platonic "philosopher on his throne." 

 lie declares, with the shrewdest politician of 

 the present day, "the bees must bear in mind 

 that they are the subjects of an absolute gov- 

 ernment" ; and exclaims with Sarastro in the 

 Magic Flute : 



" Though I cannot constrain thee to love me, 

 Yet stm will I ne'er set thee free." 



MUKICH. 



W. Bcscn. 



[For the American Boc Journal.] 



On the 10th and 12th of July, 186G, I put a 

 swarm of black bees in each of two box hives. 

 One of them filled its hive full of comb ; the 

 other only two-thirds. During February and 

 March following they both perished. I saved 

 the combs entire in each, and fumigated them 

 with sulphur twice during the spring. On the 

 20th and 21st of June i put in each hive a 

 swarm of blacli bees, which were well pleased 

 with their new furnished home. On the 28th of 



June, I received twenty-four pounds of box 

 honey from the eldest, and on the fjth of July 

 two boxes more of same amount— making forty- 

 ciglit pounds of honey. The main hive is full of 

 comb tilled with honey, and from all appearance 

 I shall have twenty-four pounds more l)y the 

 20rh of the month — total, seventy-two pounds. 



Tlie other hive has done equally well, in pro- 

 portion to the time and the amount of comb 

 Avhen commencing. 



Docs this case involve anything new that 

 might be improved upon ? Could this year's 

 swarms be driven out late in the fall into breed- 

 ing hives, and the comb reserved for next sea- 

 son's use ? I would like to hear the difficulties 

 in the way of the above suggestions explained 

 by some of the numerous readers of the Joun- 

 N.\L. By the Avay, the readers of the Bek 

 JouuNAL arc among the most intellectual and 

 moral men of our time, as the culture of the 

 honey bee involves, next to man himself, the 

 greatest wonders of our kind Heavenly Father. 



J. L. Pearce. 



Mineral Ridge, Ohio. 



XoRTn Reading, (Mass.), July 20. 



"We have had very poor seasons here for bees 

 for the last two years. Last year there was a 

 very full bloom of the fruit trees ; but the 

 weather Avas unfavorable, and there being only 

 a small amount of clover, new swarms scarcely 

 got enough to live on. I had a number of 

 SAvarms that did not build their combs more 

 than half Avay down. These I fed enough 

 to carry them through the winter. But few bees 

 died in this vicinity, except those that were 

 short of honey. 



This spring has been cold and wet. The fruit 

 trees did not bloom scarcely any. There was a 

 large ciuantity of Avhite clover, and the bees 

 have gathered considerable surplus honey. My 

 stocks that only partly filled their hives and had 

 to be fed, ha^-e built their combs down, and all 

 of them swarmed, some of them twice and 

 some of them three times. 



I have noticed, for several years, that swarps 

 that come out late, especially second or third 

 swarms, if fed enough to carry them through the 

 winter, build their combs doAvn the next season, 

 and generally do much better than old stocks. 



I think thisis rather an unfavorable locality for 

 keeping bees on account of the sudden changes 

 of the weather in the honey season — wh ch 

 generally last only two or three weeks — the bees 

 seldom gathering any surplus, except when 

 white clover is in blossom. 



My bees arc Italian, but not pure. There are 

 60 many black bees in this neighborhood, that 

 It 13 impossible to keep the Italians pure. I 

 use Clarke's hive generally. Bees winter here 

 much better in the Clarke, or in the old fash- 

 ioned hive, then they do in moveable-comb 

 hives. The movable combs arc indispensable 

 for rearing queens ; but, for general use, I pre- 

 fer the Clarke. 



I like the Amektcax Bee Journal very much, 

 and hope it will meet with such success as to 

 malcc it a permanent institution. 



Joseph D. Goa\t:ng. 



