THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



255 



©oiarespomlewcc* 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee Notes from Central New York. 



1 was iiiiexpei'ti'clly called upon the other 

 day to go and look over a farmer's bees, ten 

 in number of hives, he told me they were 

 not doing anything at all, that they were all 

 black or the old kind of bees. On looking 

 them over 1 saw that he had a miserable lot 

 of queens, some so old that they produced 

 but few eggs, like an old hen that had 

 scratched up the things in the garden for 

 the last six years, meaning they were near- 

 ly so old as the old hen; and some little in- 

 ferior looking queens that I should judge 

 were from third and fourth swarms, which 

 t!ie old man admitted. 1 have not kept any 

 black bees for some years and was some- 

 what surprised to see the difference in 

 gathering honey between the Italians and 

 the little blacks. 1 prevailed on the old 

 man to destroy a couple of his poorest old 

 black queens and introduce two Italian 

 queens, no matter of whom he bou";ht them. 

 1 named a few reliable queen breeders, such 

 as Mr. Hetherington, Mr. Root, on the Mo- 

 hawk, and Mr. Nellis at Canajoharie. He 

 wanted to know if he could get them for 25 

 cents a piece. I told him not to impose 

 upoii them so as to ask them to let him 

 have them for one-tenth their value. I saw 

 at once that a dollar looked larger in his 

 eye than the hind wheel of a wagon, but he 

 was willing to admit that the best wheat he 

 ever raised came from the Mohawk flats. I 

 then asked if he paid the price they asked 

 for the seed. He said yes, then why not 

 pay the price tor the queens? That was a 

 sticker for the old man. I told him I would 

 introduce them for him free of charge. I 

 discovered he was a little tight, but had not 

 drank enough to make him liberal-liearted. 

 I got into my wagon to go home, when he 

 called me back and had concluded to have 

 me furnish a coujile of ijueens for him if I 

 would let him have theui cheap. I intro- 

 duced two for him the forepart of June. 

 About a week ago 1 visited the old man and 

 opened the liives the (lueens were put in. 

 He was surprised to see how much more 

 honey they had gathered than the little 

 blacks, in fact they v.ere consuming the 

 honey they gathered from clover and other 

 flowers to feed their brood, the dry weather 

 had told too plainly on the blacks. 



So it is with some people, they would 

 jump out of their shirt, if it was not button- 

 ed tight around the neck, to pick up a cent, 

 and not notice a dollar when it was within 

 tlieir reach, or would pay 2.^ cents for some 

 little child's Sabbath-school jiaper, instead 

 of paying two or three dollars for a good 

 journal or family paper. The little Sabbath 

 paper is all right in its place, so it is with 

 little inferior queens as some bee-keepers 

 save, although I must admit I have had 

 good prolific (luticiis from some small ones, 

 but they are not always to be depended 

 upon, if (jueen brei-ders, or farmers (I can- 

 not call them queen breeders) would give a 

 little more care and attention to their bees 

 and not allow thcnn to send out but one 

 swarm to each hive, their bees would be 

 stronger aiul do far better. My bees are 

 doing well and I think they will as long as 



I am here to take care of them, when I am 

 gone and the bees fall in other hands, I do 

 not expect them to do as well, unless my 

 yOun<^est son had care of them; he under- 

 stands tiuun very wi^ll. 



I hear of complaints all around me that 

 bees are not doing well. I called to see one 

 man that had but live left last spring out of 

 twentv last fall, he told me they died and 

 had plenty of honey in the hives — old box 

 hives. 1 asked to see the old hives. On ex- 

 amination it was i)lain to be seen that they 

 had filled their brood comb all but a small 

 circle, so tiiere were but few bees raised 

 late in the fall. His wooden boxes were ten 

 inches high and narrow, he said they would 

 not work in them. I told him they were 

 not high enough, he oui'ht to have had a 

 length of stove pipe and put them on. I 

 mention this to see now foolish some people 

 are. There was a call again for frame 

 hives and the extractor, and thinking and 

 reading and having some peoples' thoughts 

 go a little farther than beyond their own 

 farm. One man told me he had good luck 

 with his bees when his first wife was living 

 but since she had died his bees had not 

 done near so well. Perhaps liis first wife 

 iield on the ax while he turned the grind 

 stone. And so it is this day, some men are 

 asking too much of their wives, to take care 

 of the bees and the implements to be used 

 on the farm. As quick as they miss the 

 half bushel or any farm implement they 

 rush to the house and ask the wife where it 

 is. Now if any man wants to keep bees 

 and profit by them, he must look to them 

 often and as soon as he discovers anything 

 wrong with a hive, if they do not do as well 

 as the rest, open the hive and find out the 

 trouble and apply the remedy and not let 

 them take care of themselves. 



Thei'e remains a great deal yet to be 

 learned about the honey bee. There is a 

 vast difference in the prolificness in queens. 

 If you want your bees to do well you must 

 have them strong, and a goodly number of 

 them in each hive before the honey season 

 begins, so they will get their share of the 

 honey, that not so much of it is lost or gone 

 to waste. Most of mine were strong by the 

 1st of May, and I did not even feed any meal 

 or honey to stimulate them. My boys have 

 already sold over 400 lbs. of nice clover 

 honey and hav^e over 200 lbs. to deliver to- 

 morrow, Aug. 4. They are working finely 

 on clover yet, that is sweet clover, the 

 white clover is past for this season. Soon 

 buckwheat will be on hand. 



Abm. L. Staxton. 



Schoharie Co., N. Y., Aug. o, 1876. 



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For the American Bee .Tounial. 



King Birds. 



In the July number you call for informa- 

 tion relating to the king bird and its habits. 

 As they are the worst enemy that J^ have to 

 contend with in the bee business I will 

 state some of their habits and my observa- 

 tions and treatment of the birds. They 

 make their appearance here in the spring, 

 about the 1st or June, and the middle of the 

 month they couunence to build their nests. 

 Those in close vicinity to my apiary I tear 

 down and destroy. I have the worst trouble 

 with them when the young birds commence 

 to fiy. The old birds will bring them from 

 a distance and locate them in the vicinity 



