THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



155 



account. There Is a weed grows here 

 spontaneously all over the prairies, wliich 

 the bees gather from; it commences 

 blooming in August, and continues bloom- 

 ing till late in the fall ; it looks very much 

 like flax. The inhabitants call it broom- 

 weed. I called on a gentleman at McKin- 

 ney, in Collin county, who has a small 

 apiary. His wife invited me out to look 

 at the bees. I opened several hives and 

 found them in good condition and making 

 merry music over the flowers in door- 

 vard. Almond trees in full bloom 20th of 

 January. This gentleman uses the Ameri- 

 can hive. Bees mostly Italians; said that 

 he commenced in spring of '75 with sixty- 

 five stands, and before the year closed, he 

 had doubled his stock, besides taking 

 5000 lbs. of box-honey, and 1000 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey. 



The honey here is equal in quality to 

 any I have ever seen, and the flavor is un- 

 usually good; the extracted is quite thick, 

 some of it candied. Have a market for 

 all they can sell right at home ; 25c. for 

 box-honey per lb., and 15c. for extracted 

 per lb. ; $1.00 per gallon for squeezed or 

 strained honey. 



In regard to country, I say it is very 

 rich — can raise almost anything that will 

 grow anywhere in the United States. 

 Health good, and society will compare 

 favorably with any new country. Land 

 cheap. Any one that likes a warm cli- 

 mate could certainly suit himself in 

 Texas. H. G. Hendrix. 



Des Moines, la , April 6th, 1876. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Those ' Bugs'. 



It is with pleasure we observe the 

 'brotherhood' (who live by picking 

 ' bugs ') peck (dutch word for sting) each 

 other, while their own 'bugs' are laid 

 away for future use. 



Bro. Jim ' pecks ' some ' greeny ' and 

 Bro. C. P., ' pecks ' Bro. Jim because he 

 can't find the same ' greeny ' to ' peck '. 

 Bro. T. F., ' pecks ' Bro. P., and others, 

 while Bro. N., tries to lug off" Bro. J. S.'s 

 bug shanty in spite of his cackling. And 

 another Bro. (D.) endeavors to Staple a 

 Pike (D. A.) to keep his ' bug ' from hum- 

 ming too loud for his own bug to be heard. 

 (Can't you let her hum, Bro. D. ?) Surely 

 she is a curiosity if she can produce all 

 sorts of eggs and ' things,' and /urther- 

 more, fur brings a good price now. 

 (American Bee Journal, page 109.) 

 At any rate, if no one else wishes to in- 

 vest it will pay Novice to do so, that he 

 may have the pleasure of informing his 

 readers what a nice ' bug' he has pinned. 

 Are the white ' bugs ' better than the 

 yellow ones, and the yellow ones so much 

 better than the black that we used to be 

 80 well satisfied with ? Surely, the Gfrimrm 



one ought to know " having wintered 

 1400," and why does he advertise "iiy- 

 brids 50 cents less (only) ? And who 

 would not rather have pure blacks than 

 hybrids, by 50 cents? We have tried 

 hybrids little ends, and found them as 

 hard and pointed as any, and much more 

 often ready to ' peck ' by 50 cent's worth. 

 Is every new theory so much better than 

 the old ones, that the owner thereof should 

 ^ peck^ every other but his own, instead of 

 giving facts and figures to demonstrate 

 the case. Do not the ' old heads ' (who 

 are so patriotic and disinterested) take 

 more pains to write something 'taking' 

 than to ' eliminate ' the very information 

 (which they are full of) that the beginners 

 and others are looking and longing for? 



J. O. S. 



[We think most of our readers will be 

 better suited if the stings are all picked 

 out of articles sent in, but we were not a 

 little amused to find that in this very arti- 

 cle, J. O. S., had left in a little sting. We 

 picked it out. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Moth Trap. 



I have nineteen swarms of Italians, all 

 in good order. I have been troubled with 

 the moth miller, some. In 1873, I found, 

 while sitting near the window and read- 

 ing by lamplight, that the glass would be 

 literally covered . with millers, gnats, 

 mosquitoes, etc. I took a lighted wide- 

 awake lamp, and placed it out doors, near 

 the house, on the ground, near several 

 pans of sour milk and dish water, and 1 

 soon had a lot of millers, and other in- 

 sects. 



In a few evenings not a miller was to 

 be found about the apiary. My hives are 

 not over 100 feet from the house. That 

 lamp was the best moth trap I ever saw. 



On September 7th, 1875, I suffered a 

 shock of paralysis, disabling me. I can 

 neither stand nor walk, having no use of 

 my legs. I often look out of the window 

 and wish I could be out among my bees 

 once more. 



I got thirty-three swarms from six, and 

 200 lbs of box honey, in the summer of 

 1875. Martin M. Mallery. 



Hillsdale, Mich. 



[Those who have Italians, pay very lit- 

 tle attention to the bee moth. Years ago 

 we considered it quite important during 

 the fore part of summer to examine the 

 hives every morning; but with strong 

 Italian stocks, we do not find it worth 

 while to pay any attention whatever to 

 moths or worms. — Ed.] 



