THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



109 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Sundry Thoui^hts. 



Noticing your request for such informa- 

 tion as your readers would be interested 

 in perusing, I shall endeavor to give such 

 facts as have come to ni}- observation in 

 the past year. The meeting of the N. A. 

 B. K. Society, held in our city in 1874, 

 left us in higli expectations for theensuing 

 year; our bees were in good condition, 

 most of tliem having abundant stores, and 

 many of us had good reason to think a 

 good supply of the nectar would be secured 

 from the surplus honey left by the colony 

 after they used what they required for 

 wintering ; but, alas, a sad disappointment 

 was in store for many of the apiarians of 

 this section. The winter set in early and 

 very severe, and ranged from zero to 20 ° 

 or 25° below for some weeks at a time; 

 in fact, the ground was penetrated by the 

 frost to the depth oi four feet and over. 

 Is it any wonder that our bees tliat were 

 on summer stands consumed their stores 

 within reach of the brood nest, and then 

 literally starved to death before tlie bee- 

 keeper was aware of their condition? 

 The few stands that lived through this ter- 

 rible trial liad yet further struggles for 

 very existence, lor w hen tlie warm sun and 

 showers of April called forth vegetation, 

 and the flowers (we had no blossoms of 

 any kind) began to come forth, a heav}' 

 frost, about the first week in May, cut off 

 all hopes for a pastur;ige for our pets, and 

 although some colonies whose condition 

 had been inquired into in time, and come 

 out strong in the spring, succeeded in get- 

 ting sufficient stores to carry them through 

 this winter, but the bulk of the bees in 

 this neighborhood had to be fed in the 

 fall to enable them to survive the winter. 

 So far, this winter lias been very encourag- 

 ing; tlie weather has been mild, and the 

 bees have consumed but little of their 

 stores ; the tine weather of the past few 

 weeks has given them many occasions for 

 healthy flights; indeed, on New Year's 

 Day, and for some weeks pi'evious, they 

 were carrying pollen from the dandelions 

 and spice-wood. New Year's Day, with 

 us, was like May, and a neighbor, who 

 had some empty hives in his apiary, 

 secured a fine large swarm. Just think of 

 it; a swarm of bees on the 1st day of Jan- 

 uary. I presume they were a colony that 

 had failed to secure a supply of stores and 

 had deserted their old habitation in hope 

 of bettering their condition, which they 

 did, of course, as our triend, being a 

 practical man, was not long in furnishing 

 the necessary provisions for the support 

 of the little strangers. I have decided to 

 make no more experiments with winter- 

 ing weak swarms, but will, in all cases, 

 double them up in the fall, preferring to 

 have three or four good strong colonies to 

 ten or twelve weak ones. I lost, this win- 



ter, my finest queen, by some cause or 

 other unknown to me. 1 at once doubled 

 up with another colony. Hoping that 

 fruit and other blossoms may be a success 

 this year, and tliat the old and reliable 

 Bke Jouun.\l may be very successful, I 

 remain. Yours truly, W. J. Siikruipf. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Albino Bees. 



Mr. Editor: — I dislike misrepresenta^ 

 tion, from my very heart I dislike it, and 

 think the man who first invented a lium- 

 bug should be hung in eflBgy with his in- 

 ventions tied to his feet, that his neck 

 might support him and his works to- 

 gether. My reasons for thus sweeping at 

 the whole system is not that I believe it 

 totally useless, but that it does more mis- 

 chief than good, and destroys more for- 

 tunes than it creates honestly. I am not 

 in the habit of using harsh epithets, nor 

 do I wish to step on anyone's corns, 

 neither do I take pleasure in wantonly 

 treading on the innocent worm crawling 

 at nxy feet. But when I see a bare- faced 

 humbug, I leel very much like putting it 

 on the ground and placing my stoga 

 square on its neck. I seethe following 

 going the rounds of the Bee journals: 

 "The A.\h\n() pure Bees, the best in the 

 world." This savors much of humbug 

 in our e-Avs,— Albino ; White Albino Bees, 

 White Bees, what aie they! Are they a dis- 

 tinct variety of the Bee; a freak of na- 

 ture, or a cross between two varieties? I 

 am iuclineil to the latter opinion. I have 

 been experimenting upon them for three 

 years past and as yet I have not been able 

 to get a single queen (and I have reared 

 scores of them) who will duplicate her- 

 self. But on the contrary they produce 

 eggs from which hatch every variety 

 Irom the finest white queens and bees to 

 the straight grey bee, except perhaps they 

 may have white fur on their body. Now 

 why are they the best bees in the world? 

 They may be one of nature's beauties 

 when seen frisking in the May morning 

 sun, but is beauty the only grace that en- 

 titles them to be the best bee in the world? 

 Or perhaps the young gentleman or lady 

 who dote upon the sweets of nature, but 

 who instinctively shrink from the shwrp 

 points, when they see they can take out 

 the comt)s and handle the bees as if they 

 were flies, yet perhaps will not find much 

 surplus honey — may be led to say, "Oh 

 they are the best bees in the world. 



The queen-breeder also may conclude 

 they are the best bee in the world, because 

 of the short time she lives, for I have not 

 yet had one single Albino queen who (if 

 she survived the first season) didn't be- 

 come a drone-layer and finally disappear 

 before the end of the second season, there- 

 fore making a market for another. As 

 Barnum says, "Humbugs are what please 



