THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



207 



Indeed, Horace was aware of its humorous 

 properties, if we mistake not iu quoting 

 Lis '\pjenum habit incornuy us inapplicable to 

 the irritating epistles of satiric writers, and in- 

 asmuch as he might have been a zealous api- 

 arian, we doubt uoj, lulled his bees to sleep 

 with an infus.ou of it, before he sent them to 

 bed. 



Besides, its medicinal virtues have long 

 sustained an undisputed sway iu the composi- 

 tion of all kinds of salves, and ointments, and 

 plasters, and cataplasms, and enemata; and, 

 finally, the reason why I present to you my 

 charming composition, in monthly sections, is 

 the fear that the whole, in one bunch together, 

 would have lulled you all to sleep before you 

 had reached its middle. 



It now remains only to be explained how the 

 apparent contradictious of the charming pro- 

 fessor's chemistry can be reconciled to the va- 

 rious antagonistic purposes set forth in his 

 Sii^ei't Home and Private Circular, to wit : The 

 power of the Charm in repelling the attacking 

 foes, in their attempts to inflict the viril stinc, 

 is attributable to the dispdUng virtues of the 

 Anise. It.s power of attracting them from any 

 unknown locality to any desired habitation is 

 attributable to the cataplasmatic strength of 

 funny-greek, an infinitesimal quantity of which 

 is all-sutficieut to draw a rusty ten-penny nail 

 from a two-inch oak-plank. 



The English language too, is destitute of 

 strength as compared with the dynamic pro- 

 perties of Prof. Flander's 'Taint; and, there- 

 fore, I recommend both him and his thauma- 

 turgical productions to the critical demands of 

 our progressive age, promising, however, that, 

 should the Professor send j^ou" one of his fifty 

 cents bottles by mail, and your bees yet sting 

 you in spite of it, the inefficacity of the applica- 

 tion must (by no means) be attributed to the 

 want of queen bees in its composition, for these, 

 the Professor and I, as is well known to the 

 public, can raise iu quantities sutficient to satisfy 

 any demand. Honesty, therefore, in every 

 aspect of the case, and the plenitude of mate- 

 rials at all seasons of the year, should shut up 

 the least suspicion of fraud, and the minutest 

 idea of self-interest, into a very dark dungeon. 



And now, as I have been at such an enor- 

 mous expense to improve the Professor's ori 

 ginal Bee Charm, and the law excludes me from 

 the manufacture of the article, I have thought 

 it wise not to advertise it as Bee Charm, but 

 canimplicitely offer it, at wholesale prices, to 

 those who are fond of mush, and pap, and green 

 cheese, as the Greatest Mtlk Producer of the 

 Age, and thus I shall at the same time avoid 

 infringing upon Professor Flander's invaluable 

 extracts, and cap the climax of all things paten- 

 ted yet. 



" Good friends wo part, forgive one Patent rliyme, 

 111 prose you all to sleep some other time." 



Most charmingly yours. 



Prof. Apiaster Alsatius, A. M , &c.. 

 And Corresponding Secretary of Coon Island, 

 Golden Apiary, West End, 12^ miles 

 from shore. 



For the American Bee Journal and Gazette. 



Poor Districts, or Poor Management. 



Thomas Pierson, in the i\[arch number of the 

 Journal, inquires "if his region of country is 

 too old or has become overstocked with bees," 

 since he finds that "of late bees do not do as well 

 as formerly." The last two seasons in most 

 parts of the West have been the poorest known 

 for manj' years, and if, as he says, fruit blos- 

 soms, white clover, and buckwheat abounded, 

 the reason for the failure of honey must be 

 sought either in the state of the weather, or in 

 the waj^ in which the bees were managed. 



In certain seasons, during peculiar states of 

 the atmosphere, little honey is found iu any 

 blossoms. Last season there was much such 

 weather here, and often when fields and trees 

 abounded in bloom, bees were idle, and their 

 hives losing instead of gaining iu weight. As 

 a i-ule, however, in any part of the country 

 where bees having once prospered, have ceased 

 to do well, the reason is that they are misman- 

 aged in some respect. In this region the bee- 

 pasturage is steadily improving, the loss of some 

 few wild flowers being more than made up by 

 the increase of white clover. 



When I commenced bee-keeping here, years 

 ago, neighbors told me that this country was 

 " too much settled;" bees would do well no 

 longer; the moth was so destructive ! No wild 

 bees were to be found as lormeily, and the 

 stocks of old bee-keepers had dwindled down 

 till those who formerly had twenty or thirty 

 colonies, now had but one or two, and some 

 had lost all. 



Notwithstanding this state of things, my bees 

 have always prospered and given large average 

 jnelds of surplus honey. In the very same sea- 

 sons when my bees have done best, those of 

 neighbors ouly two miles away died, because 

 they did not gather winter supplies. I do uot 

 know an instance where bee-keeping has been 

 undertaken intelligently and with the aid of 

 movable comb-hives, and failed; but I do know 

 of many who have begun in business where 

 bees were "run out and the country too old," 

 that are succeeding beyond their most sanguine 

 hopes. 



A letter just received from a friend in North- 

 eastern Nebraska is so much to the point that 

 I quote a part of it : 



"When I came here, three years ago, bee- 

 culture had dwindled down to almost nothing. 

 Those who had colonies obtained neither 

 swarms nor surplus honey. Two years ago I 

 bought three stands from which I secured that 

 season three colonies and three hundred and 

 fifty pounds of box-honey. The next spring 

 (one j'car ago) I took twenty-five colonies to 

 keep on shares. They were in bad condition 

 and so weak that I condensed ten of them into 

 five, and thus commenced the season with 

 twenty of his, and six of my own. From those 

 on shares I secured eighteen swarms, and from 

 my own six, all now in Hue condition; and from 

 all, parents and swarms, I obtained twenty-two 

 hundred pounds of honey ! From a few of the 

 hives I had one hundred pounds each, and from 



