92 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL,. 



Bee-Keeping' in North Dakota. 



I am in the far West, in an Indian Indus- 

 trial School, teaching the girls to sew, but 

 I think I much pi-efer being at my home — 

 Alexandria, Minn. — among my bees, but 

 my husband got employment here, and of 

 course I came, too, but I long for the time 

 when I can be at home with my bees. I do 

 not think this part of Dakota is good to 

 keep bees in, as there is not a continuation 

 of blossoms for them to work on. There 

 are plenty of late fall flowers, but not early 

 spring flowers, and the winters are so long 

 and cold. Mks. J. W. Blackwell. 



Ft. Totten, N. Dak. 



Unfavorable Season Last Year. 



The past season has been discouraging, 

 as a severe drouth set in the latter part of 

 June, and continued all summer. Bees did 

 well in June and the forepart of July, but 

 after that time they did very little. Bees 

 are in bad condition for winter, but have 

 wintered well so far. The outlook is not 

 very good for next season, as the main 

 source for honey — white clover — was badly 

 injured by the drouth. I have about 30 

 colonies not in the best condition. 



J. Seiboli). 



Homer, Ills., Jan. 4, 1894. 



Sweet Clover and Alfalfa. 



To our friend at "Williamsburg, Ivans.. I 

 would say that it is all a mistake, about 

 the honey of sweet clover being dark. 

 There is no finer honey gathered in the 

 United States than that from this same 

 sweet clover. More, it will yield honey 

 from the time it blooms until frost. It will 

 do this in almost any climate, but I am in 

 doubt about it not '-spreading rapidly." 

 The hills of this city are covered with it, 

 and it all came from a few plants in gar- 

 dens. I saw acres of it at Union Springs, 

 N. Y., that spread in the same way in a 

 very short time. 



But why sow sweet clover in Kansas, 

 where alfalfa will make a fine crop, and 

 produce " tons of honey " of the very best 

 quality ? Not only this, but it makes good 

 hay, fine pasture, is just the thing to bring 

 up "rundown" land; and, therefore, is 

 a very profitable crop to cultivate. 



Emerson T. Abbott. 



St. Joseph, Mo. 



Suggests that Bees Do Hear. 



On page 205 of the Bee Journal for 1893, 

 it is asked — Do bees hear ? and the writer 

 refers to G. M. Doolittle's opinion. Careful 

 reflection will (unless bees are exceptions to 

 other air-breathing insects and animals) do 

 much to solve that query. 



There are probably no insects or animals 

 which, as a rule, do not hear. The ability 

 to make any noise implies an object or ap- 

 preciation of sound. No one would ques- 

 tion that a rattle-snake, though naturally 



of a quiet and retiring disposition, is cog- 

 nizant of its own music. 



Bee-keepers readily recognize the buzz of 

 a bee — whether angry or peaceful — as it 

 sports before his eyes, watching every 

 movement. If the keynote is high, the ex- 

 perienced bee-keeper moves slowly until 

 smoke softens the key. Is it to be presumed 

 that a bee does not. like the rattle-snake, 

 hear its own song '. Who among bee-keep- 

 ers has not seen a young queen moving 

 rapidly among her subjects, and piping as 

 she went ? Why did she pipe, if there were 

 none to hear ? What instinct taught her 

 to do a useless thing ? T. F. Bingham. 



Abronia, Mich. 



Queens Lost in the Mails. 



I have only 9 colonies — I had 10. but I 

 lost 2 queens, then I sent for 4 tested yellow 

 queens, but when I received them, 2 were 

 dead, and another one nearly so. The next 

 morning it was dead. So I just united the 

 2 colonies that were queenless, and gave 

 them the remaining queen. There had 

 been a very cold snap about the time they 

 crossed the mountains, and they were in 

 the post-office three days ere I got them. 

 Their attendant bees were nearly all dead, 

 too. Geo. H. Stockdill. 



Alturas. Calif. 



He Thinks Bees Also "Strike." 



In a recent issue of the Bee Journal, the 

 " Random Stinger ", hints that it is only 

 men'" vat go on shtrikes." But I would 

 inform "The Stinger" that bees some- 

 times go on strikes, too. and that it is just 

 as inconvenient and unprofitable to have 

 them do so as to liave strikes of any kind. 

 Last June we had 14 colonies with undip- 

 ped queens, that showed signs of swarming, 

 and thinking there was not time to clip 

 those queens just then, we put on the 

 Alley queen-traps in the morning, and at 

 noon two colonies were at work as usual, 

 while 12 were virtually on a strike —not 

 one bee at work — and the fronts of the 

 hives, traps and all. were completely cov- 

 ered. The objectionable traps were re- 

 moved, and every queen in the yard clip- 

 ped in a very short time, but it took the 12 

 colonies three days before they went to 

 work with the same " vim "' as before the 

 trouble. I may state that honey was com- 

 ing in freely at the time. Wm. Russell. 

 Minnehaha Falls, Minn. 



''Xlie Iloiiey-Uce : Its Natural 

 History, Anatomy and Physiology." is the 

 title of the book written by Thos. Wm. 

 Cowan, editor of the British Bee Journal. It 

 is bound in cloth, beautifully illustrated, 

 and very interesting. Price. $1.00. post- 

 paid; or we club it with the Bee Journal 

 one year for ^1.(5.5. We have only three of 

 these books left. 



