1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



225 



away from home ; thus I had to give up my 

 investigation. But I inquired of a neighbor about 

 the bees, and this is what he told me : In tlie 

 fall of 1865 he helloed his neighbor to carry his 

 bees into a shed, and it was as much as they 

 could do to carry them. He had but one stock 

 in the spring, and they had swarmed that year. 

 They were in very large box hives, and from 

 appearances were entirely neglected. 



AH along the creek bottoms, ditches, road- 

 sides, and borders of fields, it was one endless sea 

 of wild mustard and golden rod. From the mus- 

 tard I have seen hanging large drops of nectar, 

 which glistened like jewels in the morning sun- 

 beams. On examination, I found this to be 

 genuine nectar, though of rather a pung-ent, 

 unpleasant flavor. There are also numerous 

 patches of a small shrub that very much resem- 

 bles the Red Root or Tea plant, so common in 

 the western prairies. This comes into bloom 

 about the first of August, and continues until 

 frost. This shrub grows very thickly, and at 

 times perfumes the air for half a mile around, 

 very much like a field of buckwheat. I did not 

 make a close examination, but should think that 

 so fragrant a flower must contain honey. 



At the base of the mountains there is a good 

 supply of wild plums, mountain currants, etc. 

 Honey was selling at $1 per pound, and a 

 miserable quality of strained hive honey, at that. 

 When I left for the States, I did so with the full 

 intention of returning and starting an apiary in 

 Colorado. But circumstances have as yet pre- 

 vented. If my conclusions are correct, that it 

 is a good locality for bees, or if it is good enovigh 

 that they can gather sufficient supplies for their 

 own living, it would certainly be a very desirable 

 place to raise Italian queens, as there would be 

 no trouble to keep them from hybridizing. 



Eockford, Iowa, March, 1871. E. Benjamin. 

 ■♦•♦■ 



[For the Americaa Bee Journal.] 



A Season in New Jersey, No. 3. 



The last of May had come. Letters had been 

 pouring in for over three months inquiring for 

 queens, in response to my advertisements. I 

 had expected by that time to begin to have young 

 fertile queens ; but, instead, my hives were only 

 thinly stocked with workers, from the causes be- 

 fore mentioned, and no drones or drone brood of 

 much account. Evidently I was in a fix, and 

 must get out of it. The matter was made as 

 satisfactory as possible with customers, and I 

 began to look around for bees to stock my nucleus 

 boxes. I called upon three individuals in town, 

 who together had eight swarms. The first 

 "hated to part with them," and when I offered 

 him more than he considered them worth, he 

 seemed suspicious that I was going to make 

 something out of them, and "thought they 

 would be worth as much to him as to me." 

 Finally, to get rid of me, not wishing to say 

 "no," as he ought to have done, he referred me 

 to his wife, saying that she watched them, and 

 ought to say something about it. So he kept 

 his bees, but he did not " hate to part with them" 

 so bad, but that he could and did brimstone one 

 swarm in the fall. 



Number two was dit to. The next man who had 

 five swarms, was an intelligent farmer in good 

 circumstances. His bees seemed to be prosper- 

 ous, and I really thought I should be able to pro- 

 cure some of him. In conversation, I learned 

 that he had never sold any, but had given away 

 one or two swarms. Finally, on being asked 

 why he would not sell any, he replied — "Well, 

 I suppose you know that all Jerseymen are 

 superstitious in regard to selling bees." I did 

 not know anything about it, of course. In fact, 

 all Jerseymen, included many with whom neither 

 he nor I was acquainted ; and I presumed some 

 of them might not be bound by such a heathen- 

 ish superstition. Money is no object, when such 

 a belief stands in the way. Reason is of no avail 

 against it, as it stands outside the pale of reason. 

 Here was the key to my ill success, thus far, in 

 purchasing bees. These unfortunate people 

 would have been unfortunate with their bees, as 

 in their business or family affairs, and who could 

 reasonably blame them for refusing admittance 

 to such a dreadful omen of fate. I could not 

 willingly consent to destroy their peace (or jnece, 

 if you please) of mind for a paltry swarm of 

 bees. On decoration day I came across another 

 Jerseyman having four hives of bees, one a new 

 swarm of two weeks old. As he professed a 

 desire to sell, I repaired to his place the next 

 day, and had the satisfaction of learning that I 

 could buy some of his bees for about three 

 times their value. Before submitting to such 

 extortion, I concluded to try once more, and took 

 the train for a neighboring town, where I found 

 a man of to-day, instead of an antedeluvian, who 

 had bees to sell. 



I bought seven swarms of him, and took them 

 home. His bees had robbed one another, until 

 his swarms were considerably reduced in num- 

 bers, and what were left were mostly well stocked 

 with bees and honey. They were in a protected 

 situation, and flowers were plenty just then, 

 clover was beginning to blossom, the bees of some 

 colonies were working in boxes, and there seemed 

 to be a good prospect for a prosperous season, I 

 was to transfer the bees and return the hives. 



For two or three weeks previously I had been 

 overhauling my bees whenever it was convenient, 

 as honey was plenty in the blossoms, and there 

 were no robbers to cause trouble. Occasionally 

 I had a few pieces of comb with a little honey in 

 them, and I experienced some difficulty in hav- 

 ing these pieces cleaned out. After getting my 

 new treasures home, I commenced operations on 

 them, expecting I could do most of^ray work out 

 of doors, but "presto, change!" I found that 

 "circumstances alter cases," and no sooner was 

 a little honey exposed than all hands pitched in 

 pell mell for it - hurrah boys ! 



Having seen such fellows before, I headed 

 them off by transferring the combs in the cellar 

 after drumming out the bees. Others may say 

 what they choose, but I am convinced, and have 

 been for years, that the black bees are far more 

 troublesome by robbing than the Italians. They 

 will follow it up, all day, even if repulsed ; Avhile 

 the Italians give it up at once, if repulsed at the 

 beginning. But let the Italians get fairly started 

 at robbing, and they will clean 'em out spry. 



