138" 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



was assisting me, that there was aa extra 

 strong colony. We placed the last one on 

 its bench about 2 o'clock p. m., and I must 

 confess I felt much gratified that all the 

 colonies were alive and in a condition to 

 do well ; for my experience the two 

 winters before, had been attended with 

 such a loss that I felt quite a relief when 

 the last hive was out and each one contain- 

 ed a colony of living bees. (For during 

 the winter of 1871-72 and spring following 

 I lost 26 colonies. And in the winter of 

 1872-73 and spring following I lost 93, 

 leaving 23 to start out with in poor condi- 

 tion. They all died with dysentery.) About 

 3 o'clock p. m. the supposed strong colony 

 was found to be swarming out and the 

 bees lighting on several hives around, rush- 

 ed in but soon came out again, joined by 

 the inmates, and such a swarming mania 

 was a new thing to me. The air Avas full 

 of bees from all the hives and it appeared 

 as if most of those loo were siezed with the 

 same excitement and joined the big crowd. 



After going through the regular course 

 of swarming they settled in two clusters 

 several rods apart, and each one contained 

 enough bees to make ten or a dozen fair 

 colonies at this season of the year. Well, 

 here was a damper, and as I stood and 

 looked at those two huge piles of bees, the 

 pleasant visions of swarms in June, and 

 honey too, — Oh, my, how quick thej^ vanish- 

 ed ! And this unlooked for "matter of 

 fact " in its huge proportions hung before 

 me, and the question was : How can I 

 save these bees 'i 



The sun was within an hour of setting, 

 the wind had come in from a cool quarter, 

 and soon the bees would be much chilled. 

 One queen seen on the ground was used to 

 make a colony with ; then hastily passing 

 round among the hives, the weakest were 

 selected and an ordinary sized swarm of 

 bees given it, until they were all disposed 

 of. The weather becoming too cool to 

 meddle with them, they had to be left for 

 some time. As soon as it became warm 

 enough, I began transferring the colonies, 

 to clean hives, and helping the destitute as 

 well as I could. 



I find I have lost 26 out of 81, with quite 

 a number of feeble colonies to build up. 

 The greatest loss sustained was by the de- 

 population of the hives from the bees in 

 the air at the time of joining the swarming 

 party and leaving the numbers in the hives 

 so small that they perished during the cold 

 spell that followed. I have kept bees for 

 over 35 years, and have on some occasions 

 had colonies in the spring, destitute of 

 stores, come oft" and attempt to enter 

 another hive but all these except the first 

 one that came oft" left stores and brood. 



My hives are placed on benches in rows 

 and about 8 feet apart. If this should 



come under the notice of Messrs. Quinby, 

 Grimm, Gallup, or any other apiarian of 

 extensive experience, and they perceive 

 wherein I have erred, I shall feel mucli 

 obliged if they will point it out to me. 

 Atlanta, 111. L. James. 



An Enterprising Settler in Nebraska. 



The Loioell (Nebraska) Register prints the 

 record of an enterprising settler. Mr. M. S. 

 Budlong settled on the edge of Franklin Co., 

 Nebraska, bordering on Kearney Co., in 

 March, 1872. When he arrived on his home- 

 stead, with his two sons, he had two spans of 

 horses, but only eleven dollars in money. At 

 the beginning of 1874 he had 100 acres of land 

 under cultivation ; an orchard containing .500 

 young apple trees, 100 pear trees, and loO 

 cherry trees, and a vineyard of .500 gi-ape 

 vines. Mr. Budlong is now about to plant 200 

 apple trees, 200 peach trees, and 500 addi- 

 tional grape-vines. 



The homestead is in .Southern Nebraska, 

 and on the level ])rairie ; and no man, who 

 has the spirit of Mr. Budlong need fear to 

 settle where there are no trees to shade his 

 roof-tree from the sun. If he plants as Mr. 

 Budlong has done, in five years his orchard 

 will be coming into bearing ; and, if he has 

 made a wind brake of Cottonwood, he will 

 have ample fuel for his stoves. 



Certainly, eleven dollars in cash is not ade- 

 quate for the needs of the ordinary settler, 

 though there are numerous instances in Neb- 

 raska of men starting in this way upon no- 

 thing, as it were, and in a few years working 

 themselves into positions of comfort. — Sucli 

 men are brave and enterprising ; but a capital 

 of $.500, at least, is a good thing upoji which 

 to start. The larger the capital — given skill, 

 enterprise, courage and industry, without 

 which money is of little moment — and the 

 greater the gain. There is abundant room 

 and ample scope in Nebraska for men like 

 Mr. Budlong, 



For the American Bee Jouriu;!. 



Rape and what to do with it, etc. 



Many readers of the Ameiucax Bp:e Jour- 

 nal enquire of us where they can find a 

 market for rape near them, in case they sow 

 some ? In our pamphlet we state that the 

 proprietors of the Fond du Lac Oil Works 

 will establish an agent wherever a car load of 

 rape can be bought, so you can have a market 

 right at your door. But if that amount can- 

 not be had, the s(!ed may be sent to them in 

 grain bags. Or it may bo fed to stock ; there 

 can hardly be anything better for sheep, it is, 

 of course, nuich richer than oil cake ; there- 

 fore only a very small quantity should be 



