THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



157 



in his owu judgment than in mine. I 

 saw him the first of April, " Well, neigh- 

 bor," said I, "how are the pets?" "All 

 dead,'' he replied. " "Where did j'ou put 

 tliem?" " I put them in the barn on the 

 scaffold over the north door. They were 

 being opened half a dozen times a day all 

 winter. A very little hay was put over 

 them." This was the very worst place he 

 could put them, unless on top the barn ; 

 well, I went to see them and sure enough 

 they were all dead, while mine that stood 

 by the side of his before dividing, were all 

 alive. 



With the experience I have had, I have 

 come to the conclusion that long continued 

 I'old or dampness will produce the so-called 

 dysentery. Weak swarms will suffer first 

 even in the same room or out of doors. I 

 would not say that some other causes might 

 not produce a disease of a similar kind. I 

 knew once some ten years ago that the bees 

 died with a disease resembling the dysen- 

 tery. The season before had been very 

 wet, so much water in the honey collected 

 that but little was capped over when cold 

 weather came that winter. In the ensuing 

 spring many bees died. 



We are now brought to May 23rd. Bees 

 came out of winter quarters comparatively 

 good, but the long, cold spring has carried 

 away probably one-half the swarms that 

 were in good condition the first of April. 

 So you see we have the blues again. I am 

 running about 35 swarms at home. Some 

 are in the Excelsior Hive, some in the Bad- 

 ger State Hive, and some in the High Pres- 

 sure Hive, a combination of the two. It is 

 so arranged that two single ones may be 

 worked, — single at 2500 cubic inches, or 

 combined may be made to hold five, ten or 

 twelve thousand five hundred cubic inches. 

 It may be worked with ten, twenty, thirty 

 or forty frames. It may be worked two- 

 story on Novice's plan, a long one-story on 

 Adair's plan, with 40 six-inch boxes on 

 Hazen's plan, with the twin hive plan of 

 Gallup, or long boxes and little frames plan. 

 I will report hereafter the success of each. 

 A. H. Hart. 



Appletou, Wis. 



For tlje American Bee Journal. 



Do Bees Injure Fruit? 



I have noticed a controversy in the 

 American Bee Journal in regard to bees 

 destroving fruit in which statements were 

 made, I am sorry to say, in language that 

 the subject did not by any means call for. 

 We may present facts and arguments with- 

 out unkind words. 



I have been associated with bee culture 

 half a century. Have kept bees and culti- 

 vated fruit together for about twenty years 

 ;ind will present a few facts. Langstroth 



says at page 85 of his excellent work on 

 bees, " the jaws of the bee being adapted 

 chiefly to the manipulation of wax, were 

 too feeble to enable it readily to punctui-e 

 the skin even of his most delicate grapes." 

 This was for me conclusive, but to the 

 facts : 



1st. Three years ago Thomas Atkinson 

 introduced the Queen Bee Hive with a slide 

 at each side to form an air chamber to 

 equalize the temperature of the hive. This 

 slide was made of paper-board nailed to .-i 

 wooden frame, and the bees cut it into 

 holes, till pints of paper dust had to be re- 

 moved, and the paper-board had at consid- 

 erable cost to be changed and wooden pic- 

 ture-backing put instead. This was th(; 

 case with some hundreds of hives. 



2nd. In transferring bees, to fix the 

 comb into the frames, I tied the combs in 

 with cotton cord, and the bees cut that ant'' 

 pulled it out, many getting fastened in the 

 string and dying ; they also cut out hemp 

 twine in the same manner, and chair-seating 

 cane is now used entirely. 



3rd. Having 5 acres in grapes of many 

 varieties, my daughter, in gathering Con- 

 cords called my attention to the bees 

 alighting on the fruit on the other side of 

 the trellis and eating the grapes ; and both 

 of the past seasons all of the family have 

 watched the bees aligliting on perfect ber- 

 ries, cut the skin and fill themselves with 

 juice. It is so with the finer kinds of 

 plums, pears and the thin skinned peaches. 



My loss in this manner has been quite 

 considerable. I love the bees, love to keep 

 them, do keep them, and just so with fruit, 

 but the facts are true and it is only just 

 that they should be known. 



Having had about 30 colonies the damage 

 was considerable, but, then, bees are kept 

 by my neighbors and they feast on the fruit 

 as well as my own, and I would lose the 

 fruit and not have any honey if I gave 

 them up. 



Whether there are differences in climate 

 or in the want of a full amount of bee for- 

 age in St. Louis Co., Mo., it is at present 

 hard to say. Nay, may not the instincts 

 and habits of the bee develop, and as he 

 finds fruit-juice more abundant and more 

 easily obtained than the nectar of dowers, 

 may he not prefer it ? 



As the season of all these fruits will soon 

 be with us it will be a good opportunity to 

 watch, make notes and report. 



Names could be given as witnesses but 

 facts will convince much better. Kind 

 tones are more taking and equally as im- 

 pressive as harsh, unkind words and low 

 slang or inuendoes. 



I feed my bees when they need it and 

 never poison or brimstone them. 



Wn.LiAM Muir. 



Fox Creek, Mo. 



