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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[March 



read by forty-nine doubting Thomases out of every 

 fifty, and I confess myself one of them. I have tried 

 the same thing many a time since 186K. I have 

 seen queens unable to ity come and make the 

 attempt. Have picked them up and held drones to 

 them as Mr. Balch did, also have held drones to 

 them without touching them. Have caught drones 

 just leaving a hive, in a dish cover, without touch- 

 ing the drone, and put the dish cover down on a 

 queen in the grass on her way to meet the drone 

 that I had not touched, and for all this it was noth- 

 ing but "vanity and vexation of spirit," a total 

 failure. Friend Burch puts the question, "How 

 did he (Mr. Balch) knows this was so?" and then 

 goes on to answer it, but he didn't — at least he 

 didn't satisfy me. If Mr. Balch can convince me 

 that it is a success, and will write to me giving me 

 full instructions, so that I do not fail, I will send 

 him the first dozen queens fertilized by his process 

 as early in the spring as possible. Mr. Balch 

 should remember that my southern location will 

 enable me to send them several weeks sooner than 

 he can get them in the North. Hoping that Mr. 

 Balch will convince one doubting Thomas, I remain 

 the Journal's friend. R. M. Argo. 



Dec. 2, 1872. 



Brief Eeports, &c. 



Mr. Samuel W. Lond, of Virden, 111., says : "Last 

 season was hard on the bees. At least three-fourths 

 of the bees in this part of the country are already 

 dead. I have lost but six colonies out of thirty ; 

 but then I have read the American Bee Journal 

 for several years, whereas, my neighbors don't 

 think it pays to take a paper devoted to apiculture." 



P. S. to "Novice's" article, Feb. 15, 1873, ask 

 Mr. Kellogg, page 188, if those colonies that had 

 "empty combs all summer" were strong in bees 

 early in the season? We never knew a season in 

 which powerful colonies would fail to get honey. 



Tell Mr. Hosmer, same page, that bees all hatched 

 before September are now perfectly healthy on the 

 sugar syrup diet, and that young bees, side by side 

 with natural stores, have some dysentery. 



J. P. Fortune, of Bloomfield, Iowa, says: "I 

 want a fumigator, one that will burn if it is not in 

 use for a few minutes. There are some that will, 

 burn and do very well so long as they are in use, 

 but as soon as the operator quits blowing through 

 them the fire goes out. Who has one that won't 

 ' hang fire?' " 



Ans. — Get " punk," (i. e. hard wood that has the 

 dry rot). It will hold fire a long time, make a 

 smoke without blazing when blown, and is always 

 ready for use if kept under cover. 



Henry Hudson of Fennville, Allegan Co., Mich., 

 says : " We bee-keepers don't want the space which 

 we pay for filled up with personalities, wranglings, 

 criminations and recriminations of speculators in 

 patent humbugs and queen bees, to the exclusion of 

 the practical experience of enterprising honey pro- 

 ducers. What if old father Wagner was so forbearing 

 that the big boys rather ran over him ? I hope you 

 won't follow in his footsteps in that respect. If 

 they want to vent their spleen, let them have a 

 "Wranglers' Department," and done with it; but 



make them pay you for it, like other advertisements, 

 and not use our paper and money to do it with. 



It is a pity, for consistency sake, that "Novice," 

 after calling down the vengeance of the whole tribe 

 on his devoted head for exposing them so long, 

 should go into the ax -grinding business; but then 

 as he pays so liberally for the use of the stone 

 as well as power, by his preeminently valuable 

 contributions, and as he hits right and left, but 

 always squarely, why let him hit, if he does grind, 

 for he does it all in good part, and then he has gone 

 to work and got a little grindstone of his own, and 

 proposes to grind out the flour and bolt it too, so 

 we can get of him none but the best superfine flour. 

 Therefore I, for one, say let Mm grind, and let 

 Gallup punch him now and then to call him out." 



"Novice" writes, under date of Feb. 17, "Colony, 

 with natural stores, that have soiled hive, quilt and 

 comb so badly, are also crawling out of hive with 

 bodies distended. We have taken them out of the 

 house and find plenty of eggs and brood, but more 

 than half of what was a large colony of bees, dead. 

 They also raised brood late in the fall on aocount of 

 liberal feeding. 



" The one by its side, containing only old bees and 

 an unfertile queen, is in perfect health, having lost 

 almost none, of what did not exceed a quart of bees 

 in September, but having no other stores than 

 sealed sugar syrup, which was given them in combs 

 from the ' barrel feeder,' their own combs having 

 been all removed." 



H. S. VanAnglen, of Waverly, Lafayette Co., Mo., 

 writes : 



"An acquaintance of mine speaks of 'Novice' 

 thusly, 'On what meat hath this our Caesar fed, 

 that he is become so great?' It is true that ' Novice' 

 is becoming slightly arrogant, but I say, let him 

 ventilate thoroughly through the A. B. J." 



C. A. Camp, Painesville, 0., writes : "As a general 

 thing, apiaries in this locality have suffered much 

 from the extreme cold." 



J. R. Gardner, of Christiansburg, Va., writes: 

 "I am happy to see by the late numbers of the 

 Journal, that it has fallen into such clever hands. 

 May it long continue the 'Queen' of bee journals, 

 and not go into any particular hive and become a 

 ' king.' Let us have nothing more pretentious in 

 the way of a hive connected with it, than the one 

 that now adorns its cover." 



D. M. Miller, of Mercer, Mercer Co., Pa., writes: 

 "As for the bee business, it is gone up Salt River — 

 it is dead in this country." 



[We insert this piece 'of startling intelligence, to 

 wake friend Hoagland, that we may hear from him.] 



M. H. Milster, of Frohna, Perry Co., Mo., writes . 

 " My time for the American Bee Journal has 

 expired with this month. I have received my last 

 number, and wishing to continue, send my sub- 

 scription. I am much pleased with the Journal. 

 I am not discouraged with bee-keeping, notwith- 

 standing my bad luck. I have lost eleven stocks 

 this winter with dysentery. The last season was 

 tolerably favorable, and hoping for better times, I 

 will continue my search for knowledge into the 

 hidden things of bee life." 



