18 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jl-ly, 



bees pay in this place. • Hence. I am very 

 iinxions to bear where I can certainly do as well 

 as many who contribute to your Journal. 



It is tV.r from my wish to discourage any one 

 in this interesting and instructive science ; but 

 I love truthful representations, and unless I can 

 hear of a better locality tlian tliis, I am sure to 

 discredit most who make sucli boasted represen- 

 tations through the Journal. 



Let me have the locality where I can realize 

 half the success of the many who crowd your 

 pages, and oblige 



W. F. Bason. 



Haic River, N. C, May 23, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Cure for Bee Sting. 



Mr. Editor : — I am sorry to hear of death 



caused by a bee sting, when there is a remedy so 



J simple. Mr. Gallup tirst spoke of it in the Jour- 



? ual, and it has been tested in our own family 



with perfect success. 



One year ago I was working with hybrids, very 

 near the house. They were very cross, and the 

 day was exceedingly hot. My mother-in-law 

 w^ent to the cistern for water, and one of the 

 bees attacked her and stung her on the head — 

 probably on a vein. She was very warm at the 

 time, and immediately felt a prickly sensation 

 from head to foot ; and some large red spots 

 made their appearance all over the body. My 

 wife advised a wet sheet pack, which was ap- 

 plied. She remained in it somewhat over half 

 an hour ; then got up and felt no more ill effects 

 from the sting. It certainly will cure if applied 

 very soon after being stung. If you think best, 

 please publish this. 



J. L. Peabodt. 

 Virden, Ills., June 6, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Notes from Kentucky. 



Mr. Editor :— Thinking a few notes from 

 this part of tlie country may be acceptable, I may 

 try my hand. 



Our bees to-day (June Gth) are gathering 

 honey more briskly than at any time this sea- 

 son. Owing to the heavy frost that did so much 

 damage in this section, our locust bloom was 

 cut off, or very much shortened. The 19th of 

 May was the first day bees generally gathered at 

 all briskly. 



Notwithstanding the unfiivorableness of the 

 season, we have a colony that threw off a very 

 fine large swarm on the 17th of April. Upon 

 examining the stock to see what it meant, we 

 found brood in all ten cards of comb in a Lang- 

 stroth hive. Where there was no brood there 

 was honey. The outside comb contained a good 

 deal of seahd honey. This swarming was from 

 a month to six weeks earlier than common. At 

 present, with about two hundred stocks, we 

 have liad only ten or twelve swarms. Swarm- 

 ing seems to have commenced slowly at last. 



I think the " HruscJika^^ will be of great ser- 

 vice in giving queens more room to lay, and per- 

 haps in taking honey from stocks that show too 

 much disinclination to store in boxes. "We 

 hope, from present appearances, to have a good 

 honey harvest. Comb honey is most in demand 

 in this section. We sell some extracted honey 

 now and then. We shall barrel up tlie honey 

 from the machine this season (when we get it), 

 and feed or sell it, as we think best. 



We say, do not let any one that wants much 

 honey, fail to feed his bees in the spring. 



Will Mr. Quinby not tell lis where to obtain 

 the indestructible combs he somewhere speaks 

 of? We would be glad to hear what he himself 

 knows of them —-pvicc, and how to get them. 



I must close this scrawl, with many wishes for 

 the success of our Journal, I remain 



A Smaller Novice. 



Lexington, Ky., June 6, 1871. 



[For the American BL^e Journal.] 



Letter from Minnesota. 



Mr. Editor : — Not seeing any correspondents 

 in the Journal from these parts, I tiiought I 

 would try my hand. If you do not find my 

 communication worth publishing, you can burn 

 it, and no offence will be taken. 



We had a pretty early spring. Bees com- 

 menced swarming the earliest I ever knew them, 

 the first Italian swarms I heard of coming out 

 on the 22d of May, and the first black swarms 

 about the last of that month. 



I played smash with my apiary last year, in 

 my attempts to Italianize ; and it will take all 

 this summer to get up to where I ought to have 

 been last fall. I set out thirty-three swarms, 

 many very weak, and have lost three queens this 

 spring. My strongest Italians swarmed June 

 9th. I think my black bees have not yet com- 

 menced preparations to swarm. I shook out six 

 black swarms last Saturday, using surplus Ital- 

 ian queens. After shaking out two swarms 

 about noon, the Italians were attempting to rob, 

 so that we had to stop operations and use smoke 

 to drive away the robbers. AVhile puffing smoke 

 at the entrance of one of the hives containing a 

 new swarm, I saw a large black queen on the 

 alighting board. Supposing that she had just 

 come out of the hive, I poked her back, and 

 next morning found her dead on the alighting 

 board, close to the entrance of the hive, sur- 

 rounded by a cluster of bees. I thought it 

 strange that they should kill their own queen, 

 next morning I examined the hive and found no 

 eggs ; gave them a queen cell. Yesterday, on 

 examining again, I found the queen cell de- 

 stroyed and an old black queen and eggs pre- 

 sent. Question — Had two queens been in the 

 hive all winter? If not, where did the extra 

 queen come from ? The same night (Saturday), 

 after shaking out the other four swarms, I found 

 I had not got the old queen with the new swarm, 

 although 1 had shaken all the bees I could from 

 every comb in the brood chamber. Would an 

 old queen leave her hive and enter another, 



