cated an increase of Y 2 lb. ; Aug. 16th 

 showed % lb. ; Aug. 17th was dark— no 

 increase ; yesterday, Aug. 18th, 1% lbs. 

 increase; to-day 1 expect 2% lbs., and 

 within a week," from 5 to 7 lbs. daily. 

 My honey harvest usually commences 

 about Aug. 20th, and lasts till about 

 Sept. 15th. This year it will commence 

 about Sept. 1, and last to Sept. 15, justi- 

 fying an expectation of half a harvest. 



These bee-killing insects seem to prey 

 near the ground, so that those bee- 

 keepers who depend on honey from 

 flowering trees, are likely to be exempt 

 from the fatal effects of these flies. I 

 depend for my harvest on plants, and, 

 therefore, suffer severely. The few lin- 

 den trees growing in our woods are 

 much injured by the wooden-shoema- 

 kers, who use an incredible amount of 

 linden lumber. 



After the Chicago fire I settled here 

 in the spring of 1872. and commenced 

 with 10 Italian colonies, which in 4 years 

 increased to 100. Then I never noticed 

 any of these killers, and my bees 

 swarmed, often more than I liked. In 

 1876 I discovered the first, and it seems 

 they increase every year, while my bees 

 seem to forget about swarming ; only 

 one colony having swarmed this year. 



My conclusions as to the probable ef- 

 fects of these bee-killers are as follows : 

 It is certainly under-estimating to pre- 

 sume that every bee-killer destroys 10 

 bees every clear day. It is also under 

 the mark to count one bee-killer for 

 every 10 feet, or 400 to each acre of prai- 

 rie, clover, weed or grass land. Let us 

 say 100 to an acre. They abound during 

 three months. Let us suppose that they 

 are voracious only for 30 days. If my 

 bees only fly one mile, they cross over 4 

 sections, or 2,560 acres. Would it be too 

 much to suppose that among every 2,560 

 acres will be found 25 acres of prairie, 

 clover, weed or grass land V The result 

 of the calculation would be the killing 

 of 750,000 of my bees. Calculating 

 10,000 bees to a natural swarm, the 

 above 750,000 would have made 75 

 swarms. Twenty-five acres of 100 bee- 

 killers each would make 2,500; if these 

 kill 10 bees a day each during 30 days, 

 or 300 for each, it would make 300 times 

 2,500. or 750,000 bees. It is, of course, 

 not supposed that these 2,500 bee-killers 

 on 25 acres do each live 3 months, but it 

 is supposed that during these 3 months 

 there are so many there at any time. 



How much I have under-estimated 

 may be judged from the following : In 

 the height of the season, where they 

 abound, I guarantee a bee-killer to 

 every 3 feet on all clover and meadow 

 lands, which would be near 5,000 to an 

 acre. Instead of 10 a day, they kill more 



than 25 a day. Four sections of land, 

 on an average, certainly furnish over 

 100 acres of prairie, fence corners, clo- 

 ver and grass land. How then, is it 

 possible for bees to gather honey or to 

 swarm ? 



1 confess to being rather disheartened 

 about prospects for honey. My 105 col- 

 onies, up to Oct. 6th, have yielded 400 

 lbs. of honey, and that is 200 lbs. more 

 than I ought to have taken. Cause : 

 During summer the bee-killers ; during 

 the latter part of August and Septem- 

 ber the excessive drought. As I men- 

 tioned before, the only hope I see before 

 me is the increase of Adlus Missouri- 

 ensis, which, in fact, has very much in- 

 creased over the two other species, and 

 as this Asilus Missouriensis seems to 

 prefer its own kind for food, there is 

 hope that these bee enemies will play 

 the part of those two fabled lions, who 

 in their rage, devoured themselves mu- 

 tually, all but their tails. 



Sigel, 111. _ 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Last Season in Argyleshire, Scotland. 



It. J. BENNETT. 



In January and February the severe 

 frost made it unadvisable to open the 

 hives. Later on I discovered that I had 

 nearly lost two of my best colonies ; 

 during the intense cold they had eaten 

 up all the honey around the cluster, 

 thus dispelling the ancient but still 

 popular delusion here, that bees during 

 frosty weather lie dormant and consume 

 no stores. 



In preparing for winter, passages 

 should be made through all combs, so 

 that the bees may easily get at their 

 food. I again pay a high tribute to 

 the use of the quilt over the frames ; 

 last year it carried off all damp vapors 

 from atmospheric influences, and this 

 year any that may have arisen from the 

 compact clustering of the bees passed 

 into the quiltand were quickly absorbed. 



On March 5th 1 examined the colo- 

 nies, and was amply rewarded for the 

 trouble ; I found all in a fair condition, 

 with the exception of the two above 

 noted. After the four months of pro- 

 tracted winter, frost and snow (any 

 variation being only sleet or rain), I 

 dusted all liberally with pea-meal as a 

 substitute for pollen and began stimu- 

 lative feeding, and it was well I did so, 

 for from the 5th till the close of the 

 month, there was hardly a day that it 

 would have been prudent to have opened 

 the hives. Never do I remember seeing 

 the country so far behind ; crocuses, 

 primroses, wall flower and arabus which 



