AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



589 



perhaps a fourth or fifth of the body. The 

 question is, what kind of bees are they ? 

 They seemed to be quite small, and a third 

 smaller than my black bees. Where had 

 they come from ? I. S. 



Long, W. Va. 



Answek. — They were what are commonly 

 called "hybrid" bees, having Italian blood 

 in them. The probability is that when 

 alive they were as large as your bees, but a 

 bee that is stung to death seems to shrivel 

 up, and looks much smaller than when 

 alive. 



Of course, I can't tell where they came 

 from, except that they came from some 

 place 15 miles away, if there are none but 

 black bees within 15 miles of you. But 

 there may be hybrids much nearer than 

 that, and it is possible that even the owner 

 may not have noticed that they were any- 

 thing but blacks. 



The Music of the Bees. 



Written for the American Be^, Jouriial 



BY DAVID HALL. 



The gentle spring has returned again, 



With its soft and balmy air. 

 With its genial showers, and sweet wild- 

 flowers 



So delicately fair ; 



And we love to inhale their sweet perfume. 

 As we roam through the wildwoods free. 



While our hearts are stirred by the songs 

 that are heard 

 In the wild birds minstrelsy. 



After the long winter months have passed. 



The bees on some pleasant day 

 Are brought from the I'oom, where in silent 

 gloom, 



They have passed the winter away. 



And then what a rollicking time— do you 

 see ? 



As they circle in curves and rings. 

 The beautiful scene, in the silvery sheen 



Of their delicate gossamer wings ? 



The air is replete with insect life, 



Joyous and buoyant and gay. 

 As distant sounds from the school-house 



grounds. 

 Where children are out at play. 



And we often sit on the shady porch. 



When the noonday meal is o'er. 

 And list to the hum of the bees, as they 

 come 



Swiftly home with their golden store. 



"Tis then we all hope the time's near at 

 hand. 

 For flowers with nectar distilled. 

 And with combs white as snow, above and 

 below. 

 That soon will be thoroughly filled. 



Warsaw, N. Y., April 10. 



No. 71.-Cliarles M Amolt. 



In a recent issue of the Bee Journal 

 we noticed the death of Mr. C. N. Ab- 

 bott, the founder and late editor of the 

 British Bee Journal, which is now so 

 ably edited by Mr. Thos. Wm. Cowan, 

 and who in this English journal for 

 March 15th, wrote a long and interest- 

 ing biographical sketch of Mr. Abbott, 

 from which we extract the following 

 paragraphs : 



Charles Nash Abbott was born at Han- 

 wel!, Middlesex, on Oct. 5, 1830. His 

 father was a builder in a large way of 

 business, and a man of high repute and 

 sterling worth. 



Early in life, while still a lad, an er- 

 rant swarm of bees found its way into 

 his father's garden, which, having been 

 hived in a flat-topped skep, having a 

 small window at the back, was a con- 

 tinual source of wonder and delight to 

 the lad. On his return to school his 

 thoughts often reverted to his own col- 

 ony, which, in the ensuing holidays, 

 swarmed and increased into three. 

 These were the dark days of bee-keep- 

 ing, and the "taking up" of one of 

 these hives in autumn was always a 

 dreary remembrance. The day of light, 

 the existence of the British Bee Journal, 

 was then far distant. 



Many years passed before Mr. Abbott 

 had the opportunity of renewing his 

 acquaintance with bees, but in 1865 his 

 father died, and this event relieved him 

 from business necessities and permitted 

 him to return to the dream of his youth. 



Mr. Abbott having leariied " the more 

 excellent way" of bee-keeping, was 

 eager to communicate his new-found 

 knowledge to others not so happily cir- 

 cumstanced. The local newspaper, the 

 Middlesex County Times, opened its col- 

 umns to his pen, and he thus became a 

 ready source of information to all who 

 sought it. 



In 1870, Mr. Abbott having pur- 



