256 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[May, 



are two debts that I will be prompt to come to taw 

 with, and those are my Journal subscription and 

 mj poll tax. I would not keep bees without the 

 Journal, for it contains much valuable information 

 on apiculture. 



" It is an obvious fact that this pursuit is rapidly 

 spreading through our country, and may it ever 

 continue to advance. Mr. Editor, we would be 

 pleased to see the quotations of honey in different 

 markets, in the pages of the Journal, and when 

 you make that addition, we will then pronounce the 

 Journal complete." 



Eli Shulze, of Brownsville, Iowa, writes : 

 " Early stimulative feeding seems to be in general 

 favor among bee-keepers ; but the question arises, 

 should it be practised in all locations ? Let us see. 

 I commence early in the spring to stimulate by 

 feeding buckwheat flour, oat meal, and syrup. The 

 fruit blossoms come out, and my bees make fine 

 headway, so that by the last of May or first of June 

 my hives are filled to overflowing with bees. 

 Swarming commences, and by the middle of June 

 I have quite a good increase. But here (June 1st) 

 the yield of honey suddenly stops. • Fruit blossoms 

 are all gone, and the whole country, so far as 

 honey is concerned, is as barren as a burnt district, 

 except a few heads of white clover, and perhaps no 

 honey in them. My early swarms have nothing to 

 do but enjoy their new domicile and speculate on 

 the probabilities of a yield of honey. With what 

 anxiety have 1 watched the basswood and sumach, 

 while my bees were stirring, especially the swarms. 

 The basswood finally blows, about the 8th or 10th 

 of July. By this time my old stocks are well 

 emptied of honey, brood and bees, and my swarms 

 reduced to a handfull. With the exception of the 

 summer of 1871, nty early swarms have been my 

 poorest, and early feeding looks too much like a 

 failure. The true theory seems to be, have the 

 greatest working force when honey is most abundant. 

 My conclusion is that my management has been the 

 very worst. I have always stimulated to get early 

 swarms, and have generally depended on natural 

 swarming. The result has been the same in every 

 case (except in 1871), so there is something wrong 

 somewhere. I think I will swarm my bees arti- 

 ficially this season. Will Mrs. Tupper explain her 

 method of artificially swarming? Will Mr. Moon 

 tell us when he takes a comb or two from each 

 stock, with which to make his swarms ? Does he 

 fill up with empty comb, or simply put in 

 empty frames? If so, will the bees (having the 

 swarming fever) be likely to build drone comb ? To 

 conclude in regard to feeding, if I fed I would feed 

 for a purpose. If my main dependence was on 

 fruit blossoms, I would unite my stocks in the 

 spring ; if on white clover, I would stimulate early ; 

 if on the basswood, I would wait until the last of 

 May or first of June." 



F. E. Sibley, of Victoria, Texas, writes ; "I have 

 read this journal for several years, and consider 

 it has greatly improved under your management. 

 I think very favorably of the "Benedict plan of 

 pure fertilization," endorsed by Mr. E. Gallup. 

 I intend to adopt it myself. 



I have seven (7) colonies of Italian, and thir- 

 teen (13) common black bees, which I am going 



to Italianize this season. My first swarm issued 

 on the 18th March, very unexpectedly, after^which 

 I adopted the artificial mode. 



I find the Italians proof against the moth and 

 webb worm, which have been very prevalent in this 

 section, and which (until my success) has caused 

 people to abandon apiarian pursuits. The old box 

 hive and gum were all the rage until I introduced 

 the Langstroth Patent, which has instilled new life 

 into the enterprise. We Texas people hardly know 

 what wintering bees means. Such a thing is un- 

 necessary here, as there are but few days in the 

 year so cold that the little pets do not venture out. 

 I do not keep bees for profit pecuniarily, but for the 

 great pleasure and recreation it affords. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Importation of Italian Bees. 



REPLY TO D. L. ADAIR. 



I am glad that the delay caused to my departure 

 for Italy allows me to read the above mentioned arti- 

 cle, in the A. B. J. for April, and to write an 

 answer. 



In that article General Adair makes himself a 

 reporter of the gossips that took breath during the 

 last N. A. Bee-keepers Convention, concerning my 

 last voyage to Italy, by insinuating that Mr. H. A. 

 King was perhaps interested in the venture. 



Mrs. E. S. Tupper had come to my place in the 

 winter of last year. During the conversation, we 

 talked about the importations of Italian bees, which 

 were far from being cheap. The last importation had 

 cost me $62, and gave me but one living queen. We 

 deplored thsee difficulties, for we had both derived a 

 great profit from the introduction of imported bees 

 in our apiaries, the new blood giving more vigor to 

 the bees. We both desired to get about 100 queens, 

 so as to avoid the inconveniences of in-and-in breed- 

 ing, to which the bee-keeper is subject when he has 

 but few queens to breed from. 



A few days after this, the idea of going to Italy 

 myself suggested itself to me. I wrote Mrs. Tupper, 

 proposing to her to associate with me. This asso- 

 ciation was formed, and as the Italian Bee Company 

 was better situated for the sale of bees than I was 

 myself, my business being mainly honey-raising, I 

 consented to allow them to sell all the queens, pro- 

 vided they should pay all the expenses of advertising. 

 But we were to divide the profits and losses. 



At my arrival in New York the queens were 

 unpacked in the office of the Bee-Keepers' Journal. 

 The quantity of living queens being far from suffi- 

 cient to fill all the orders, we resolved (following Mr. 

 King's good advice) to send one queen to each one of 

 those that had ordered six or less. A firm that had 

 ordered thirty received six, and our own orders 

 (Italian Bee Company and myself ) were reduced in 

 the same proportion. Some orders were entirely 

 suppressed, on account of the distance, or the cold, 

 that would have endangered the lives of the queens. 

 This determination was the most equitable way of 

 solving the matter. 



Then Mr. King bought from us (from our own 

 shares) ten queens, and paid for them twenty dollars 

 ($20) apiece. 



