44 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



that this fact accounts for the furtlier fact, 

 so many of the qneeus imported from that 

 country are impure. 



It is useless tor Mr. Dadant to'assert, or to 

 guarantee even, that all the queens he or 

 any body else imports, breed invariably 

 "workers vi'ith their yellow rings." 1 know 

 it is the general complaint with queen-rais- 

 ers, that imported queens are very uncer- 

 tain breeders. 



I will close this already too tedious article 

 by reiterating my judgment, that any queen 

 that fails to breed workers invariably ivith 

 three yclloin and distinct bands can not be 

 relied "on as a pare queen. Whenever even 

 one "seeming black," or "seeming" one or 

 two-banded worker is found among her 

 •brood, she should be discarded as a breeder. 



«Charlestown, Ind. M. C. Hestek. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



''The 'Moon' Shone Bright." 



Kind northern reader are you shivering 

 lin the cold ? Are the dreary November 

 days beginning to scatter down the round 

 hard pelletts of snow? Do even these 

 messengers of the Ice King seem afraid 

 of the cold ? Yes, you look pinched up 

 and your face is fairly blue. Why you 

 are half frozen ! Just get in by the lire, 

 tumble in the fuel and let the blaze roar 

 at old Winter, while you doze otf and 

 dream you are with me this warm sun- 

 shiney day, away down in Georgia. 



Leaving the Chattanooga & Atlanta R. 

 R. at Kingston we take the pleasant little 

 •family railway leading over to Rome — a 

 distance of 20 miles. The beautiful 

 Etowah — " clear water," — down whose 

 banks we wind, sparkles under the sun- 

 light, the bright foliage of the deciduous- 

 leaved trees interspered with somber 

 evergreens, the warm breeze which fans 

 ■us through the open window, and the 

 drowsy cjuietuess, all combine to render 

 almost perfect the illusion that we are 

 euteriug the long-sought Elysium. 



But be sure, my friend, that your fire 

 is kept up for if you should get chilly and 

 rouse up so as to catch a good glimpse of 

 those fields of cotton clad in their snowy 

 whiteness, the spell would be broken and 

 the stern old Ice King would again reign 

 over you. Members of the "colored per- 

 suasion," of nearly all ages and both sexes 

 are leisurely pulling the cotton from the 

 opening bails, and the train pauses every 

 now and then for a breath, and to afford 

 'US a better view of the dexterity of the 

 pickers. 



We have our minds made up that 

 "while in Rome" we will "do as tiie Ro- 

 mans do" but on arriving at that pleasant 

 little city at 2 p. m. we are somevvhat 

 surprised to see the Moon, bearing a face 

 radient with smiles, shining brightly 

 down upon us, while the quiet inhabitants 



seem to regard the occurence as a com- 

 mon one. 



We find the sanctum of the Bee World 

 vacant, and wending our way to the 

 apiary fiud its manager, our friend Moon, 

 witli sleeves above his elbows, in the 

 midst of transferring. His cordial wel- 

 come places us at ease immediately. Then 

 comes a ramble and a bee-talk among the 

 140 neatly painted hives which decorate 

 the south-eastern slope from the house. 

 We fiud a beautiful lot of Italians obtain- 

 ed from various sources and we are grati- 

 fied at having an opportunity to compare 

 the stock of so many of our prominent 

 queen-raisers. Mr. Moon prefers frames 

 10 in. deep by 15 long — certainly a very 

 good size for a standard frame. What 

 surprises us most is the statement which 

 our friend makes in answer to an inquiry 

 concerning some colonies that appear 

 weak. "Certainly they will winter here. 

 It is no trouble in the world to winter 

 bees in this climate." Then too it takes 

 only about 12 or 14 lbs. of honey. 



Why couldn't you sorry chaps, that put 

 the quilts over your bees and tucked 

 them up more than a month ago, have 

 sent them down here and had 20 lbs. of 

 honey gathered by each stock after Sept. 

 loth, let them frolic the whole winter, 

 and then (if j'ou didn't change your mind 

 before spring) you could ship them back 

 home after the March and April revels 

 among the Southern flowers, to regale 

 themselves among the linn forests and 

 orchards of the North ? — A winter resort 

 in the South and a summer home in the 

 North. How delightful— eternal spring 

 and summer. 



After the friendly bee-talk and the 

 pleasant entertainment by our charming 

 hostess — our friend's daughter-in-law, — 

 we find ourselves the next day reluctantly 

 leaving the beautiful little city which 

 nestled among seven hills, like the ancient 

 "Mistress of the world," gives promise 

 that it will yet make its influence felt. 

 We think it is the most beautiful little 

 city we have visited in the "Sunny 

 South." May the culture and evident 

 progress of its inhabitants "rule the 

 world !" FiiANK Bentox. 



Nov. 19th, 1874. 



I wintered on summer stands, losing two 

 stocks out of 25. Sold one stock in the spring 

 and one stock became queenless early in 

 the spring, and again in July, and gave me 

 no increase or surplus, so T count 21 work- 

 ing stocks. With tliose I have increased to 

 44, and took 52418 lbs. of nice comb honey. 

 Average price of honey 27% cents. I iiave 

 kept bees but four years, and my bees are 

 mostly black. 



Ti:lly, N. V. J. E. LiOYD. 



