1S71.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



63 



[For the Americaa Bee Journal.] 



Experience of a Tennesseean. 



Mr. Editor :— As it is very seldom that I see 

 anything in your vahiable Journal, from this 

 section of the country, and as I have never before 

 dared to intrude upon your columns, I will by 

 your permission, give you the experience of one 

 who has kept bees all his life, upon the old fogy 

 plan. As I have stated, I' have had bees in my 

 yard for twenty-five years, in tlie old box hives, 

 sometimes thirty or forty, sometimes only eight 

 or ten. Sometimes they would swarm, and 

 sometimes they would not. 



Last fall there came to my house a vendor of 

 bee-gums, patented by a Mr. Mitchell, of Indiana, 

 who made very earnest efforts to sell me a right 

 for twenty dollars, to manufacture and use the 

 hive. He was truly a very smooth tongued 

 fellow, spoke fluently of his moth-trap, and 

 praised the many advantages of his gum. I ex- 

 amined it and told him I did not like it, and at 

 last got clear of him. But in about ten days he 

 came again, told me that he had sold rights to 

 Mr. A. and Mr. B., and did not wish to leave 

 the neighborhood until he sold me one. I 

 finally bought a right, and he was to come over 

 next day and transfer a swarm for me. True to 

 promise over he came, and put a swarm in, 

 tying the combs in with rag strings. I had the 

 gum set at the proper place, paid him his twenty 

 dollars, and off he went. I watched my bees 

 very closely, and thought they were doing fine. 

 So about the first of March, I thought it was 

 time I was looking at my bees. I protected my 

 face, opened my Buckeye door and made an 

 effort to draw out the bees, honey and all. But, 

 alas ! it was "no go." I found e-very thing glued 

 fast with propolis. I pulled and shook until I 

 got the bees most fearfully mad. Then I re- 

 tired a short distance, called to my aid a hatchet 

 and a large chisel, and by their help I got the 

 bees out. By this time I had received five or 

 six stings, and my ardor on the bee question 

 had considerably abated. 



But, Mr. Editor, luckily for me, I had by some 

 means, got hold of one of your Journals, which 

 I read very carefully, for the bee fever was be- 

 ginning to run high in the country, and I was 

 anxious to learn something about the business. 

 In that Journal I found that two-thirds of your 

 correspondents were in favor of the Langstroth 

 hive. I purchased seven rights ; for, mark you, 

 I had eight stands when the Buckeye bee-man 

 came along. He had put one swarm in a Buck- 

 eye, which left me with seven in box hives. I 

 had seen in your Journal instruct! )ns how to 

 transfer, so I got my better half to assist and at 

 it we went. Instead of tying combs in with 

 rags and strings, I used small strips of thin 

 wood, two on a side. So we got the seven 

 transferred, and I think we made a good job 

 of it. 



I also saw in your Journal that the Italian 

 bee was highly spoken of, so I strained a point 

 and bought a queen. I introduced her accord- 

 ing to directions, found all right, and in just 

 twenty-eight days, had the pleasure of seeing 



the yellow follows sporting in the sun. The first 

 of April found me with eight colonies, seven in 

 Langstroth hives and one in a Buckeye. My 

 colony of Italians being a new thing, my next 

 effort was to get more Italian queens. In order 

 to accomplish this, I transferred my Italian 

 queen to a black stock, destroying the black 

 queen first, of course. In a few days the un- 

 queened stock had started ten queen cells, and 

 in ten days I found all ready to come out. I 

 then went through all my black colonies and de- 

 stroyed the black queens ; and cut out all my 

 queen cells but two to replace them. In a 

 couple of days after inserting a queen cell in 

 each, I examined the queens again, and found 

 three of the cells all right and two destroyed. 

 I was, however, satisfied witli my experiment. 



To-day, Mr. Editor, I have sixteen strong 

 colonies, all in Langstroth hives, save one ; and 

 all Italianized, save four ; and I have sold four 

 hundi-ed and sixteen pounds of as nice clover 

 honey as NOVlfeE ever saw, at thirty cents a 

 pound. I know that Novice, Gallup, Quinby, 

 or any of the larger lights, could have done 

 better ; but I think I have had wonderful 

 success. 



So far as the Italians are concerned, I like 

 them very much. They are perfect beauties and 

 good workers. But from my very short experi- 

 ence I think the hybrids, as honey-gatherers, a 

 little ahead of the blacks or Italians. But, oh 

 gracious ! they are perfect hyenas for fight ! 



It would aftord me great pleasure, Mr. Editor, 

 to see in your valuable Jovirnal some thoughts 

 from our old Tennessee bee-men. There is a 

 Hall, a Davis and a Hamlin, who have grown 

 gray in the service, and would both interest and 

 instruct. Let us hear from you, good friends ! 

 Give us your thoughts, and give them freely, 

 upon the various topics involved in bee-culture. 



Fearing that I have trespassed, I will close, 

 by wishing you and the American Bee Journal 

 a prosperous 1871, and by subscribing myself. 

 The Smallest Novice. 



Tennessee, July, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



"West Tennessee as a Honey Eegiou. 



Mr. Editor : — Seeing the inquiry for a good 

 honey district, in the July number of the 

 Journal, and knowing the general wish for 

 communications from the South, I thought 

 whilst renewing my subscription, I would give 

 you my experience for the j^ast two years. 



The year 1869, was a very good one for honey 

 here, and as I saw bees generally doing so well, 

 I purchased two colonies in AValker's movable 

 comb hives, in January, 1870, procured Mr. 

 Langstroth's invaluable book, and with the help 

 of the American Bee Journal, hoped I might be 

 one of those bound for success. That year 

 (1870) was called the poorest one in a long 

 period. A snow storm about the middle of 

 April killed all bloom, and most effectually 

 stopped swarming. I had two swarms previous 

 to that time, which I saved, by giving them a 

 comb of honey, each, from my old stocks. 



