arclly and timid, and that the little bees 

 come off victorious in a combat with 

 them. In all probability it is not 

 always the sting, which brings death to 

 the drone, but their being pulled hither 

 and thither. 



This remarkable fact of the different 

 effects of the electric current upon bees 

 and drones may induce apiarists to try 

 further experiments in this direction. 

 Possibly electricity will furnish a radi- 

 cal remedy for relieving hives that are 

 overfilled with drones. Whether the 

 queen would suffer through the effect of 

 the induction current or not I could not 

 ascertain, as I had no superfluous queen 

 to experiment with. But I think we 

 may safely assume that a queen whose 

 constitution permits it to live for sev- 

 eral years is not more delicate than a 

 worker-bee. Continued experiments 

 might prove whether electrified queens 

 would be capable of producing drones 

 only, as is the case when they have been 

 chilled. 



By charging with electricity the 

 alighting board I have disabled and 

 caught a large number of robber-bees 

 in front of a hive where the robbing 

 was going on lively. I closed the en- 

 trance, and charged the alighting board, 

 to which I had attached several wires, 

 with electricity, and all the robbers that 

 flew upon it remained sticking to it as 

 if nailed to the spot ; the small pile soon 

 increased to one of wonderful size ; 

 when no more arrived I swept the cap- 

 tured robbers into a little box and to- 

 wards evening I set them at liberty. I 

 hardly think that a more radical rem- 

 edy is known, for usually the robbers 

 attack another hive when the entrance 

 of the one first attacked has been closed 

 to them. 



At all events, electricity deserves to 

 be taken into consideration by all 

 thoughtful apiarists. Who knows but 

 that the scintilla of electricity may not 

 also permit a great light to dawn 

 upon us ? 



Cannstatt, Germany. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Spring Report— Strange Case— The 

 Northeastern Convention. 



R. M. ARGO. 



In the January No. of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, page 42, 1 requested bee-keepers 

 to report this month their success in 

 wintering. I predicted that all black 

 bees not fed for winter, in this neigh- 

 borhood, would die during this month, 

 if not before. The remarkably mild 

 winter is all that saved them. But, 



so far as I can now learn, all such as 

 are now alive are only living " from 

 hand to mouth " on fruit bloom, and a 

 few wet days would end their existence. 

 As I predicted in a former article that 

 we may have our winter in March and 

 April, so it has been thus far. Peach 

 trees have been in full bloom nearly 2 

 weeks, and were not killed a week ago, 

 though they may be killed now, as we 

 have had several sharp frosts, and some 

 ice % of an inch thick. I only lost 1 

 colony, and that during March. It was 

 one of my strongest ones, with an im- 

 ported queen, leaving about 20 pounds 

 of sealed honey, and plenty of pollen 

 in reach ; it had drones on the wing on 

 Feb. 21 ; it was all right on March 1, but 

 was found dead after the cold spell 

 about March 19. All the bees were 

 in a large compact cluster. I confess 

 that with all my bee-skill I am unable 

 to account for this ; for they had a good 

 flight and were gathering pollen a week 

 or 10 days before. Here, Mr. Doolittle, 

 is a case for you. 



Nothing ever struck me with greater 

 surprise than the report of the N. 

 E. Bee-Keepers' Convention. I have 

 always had much respect for many of 

 those present. I have known parallel 

 cases to transpire among members of 

 religious and political conventions ; but 

 such conventions or members always 

 came out at the little end of the horn, 

 just as I expect the above one will, in 

 due time. I cannot well explain what 

 was the matter with these men ; but 

 Job i: 6 — 12, will probably furnish an 

 explanation. 



I am interested in the whole bee fra- 

 ternity of the United States, both North 

 and South, but in no particular conven- 

 tion, association or journal, and. there- 

 fore, I am an impartial, unbiassed ob- 

 server. One good journal is better than 

 two; two are better than three, and 

 three better than four, etc.; so, I say, 

 we need no more bee journals, but we do 

 need a North American Bee Convention, 

 if the members will all dwell together in 

 harmony in one general ring, or no ring 

 at all. The attempt to form a granger 

 journal signifies the formation of a ring ; 

 I can understand it in no other way. 

 But no granger ring ever held together 

 long, and never will, on such principles 

 as they are formed. 



Lowell, Ky., April 12, 1880. 



ig^ In Cochin, China, they have a 

 species of bee larger than the German. 

 They are numerous along the coast, and 

 have a singular long mouth, with which 

 they suck the honey from the deepest 

 flower cups. They build comb in hol- 

 low trees. 



