l.s'.M. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



53 



made the discovery that more or less 

 of his alleged " concise history " in re- 

 gard to Italian bees, and other topics, 

 has at last been discredited, and that, 

 in order to sustain it, something, aside 

 from bare assertions, will now be nec- 

 essary. And the chief reason why the 

 writer has done this is because he 

 happens to know what the facts are, 

 and because neither Mr. Parsons nor 

 Mr Langstroth are at present in po- 

 sition to defend themselves against 

 the several attacks that have been 

 made upon their good name and repu- 

 tation. Whether these attacks have 

 been made through erroneous infor- 

 mation or for a malicious purpose I 

 will leave for Mr. R. to explain. 



The explanation given for my in- 

 terest in this matter must now suffice 

 whether it be satisfactory or other- 

 wise to Mr. Robinson. 



St. Charles, Illinois. 



Bee Notes From a 

 Country. 



Bee 



BY MR8. FANNIE B. BE WITT. 



My bees carried in the first pollen 

 on March 17th, and on the 18th they 

 were carrying it in at a lively rate. 

 The alders and the soft maple are just 

 beginning to bloom. 



Our bees are breeding up nicely 

 and I think will be ready for the hon- 

 ey harvest when it arrives. 



The weather here has bsen very 

 warm and mild all through March 

 without any show up to this time, 

 March, 19th. 



Will bees really build up faster 

 with daily feeding in spring than 

 without it, providing abundant stores 

 are in the hive ? Is often asked. No, 

 they will not build up faster. If bees 

 have plenty of honey in the hives, do 

 not disturb them in any way. Let 

 them severely alone and tuck them up 

 warm, and my word for it they will 



build up much faster than those that 

 are tinkered with, feeding sugar < r 

 honey. I have tried it both ways 

 and I write from experience. 



I see that a great many bee-keepers 

 are down on the golden or 5-banded 

 bees. Now, I have had them side by 

 side with the three-banded Italians 

 and the grey Carniolansand they are 

 just as good in every respect as the 

 others ; they have wintered well for 

 me so far, and are bleeding up nicely 

 now. They don't cap their honey 

 quite so nice and white as the Carnio- 

 lans, or 3-banded Italians, but I think 

 they will make just as much of it as 

 the other races do. 



If you want to requeen your apiary 

 the best way to do it is to save the 

 cells from all the choicest colonies, 

 and introduce the cells by the queen 

 cell proteetors. This plan I practice 

 altogether, and I always succeed grand- 



WHICH WAY SHOULB HIVES FACE? 



It is the practice and custom of 

 most all bee-keepers to have their hives 

 all face the south. This way of fac- 

 ing them is much better than by 

 placing them so they will face the 

 East, North or West. I find that by 

 placing them so they face either South 

 or South-east the bees will work ear- 

 lier of a morning and make more 

 honey than those that face north, as 

 it takes the sun longer to warm them 

 up when they face any other direction 

 than South or South-east. Try it and 

 report results. 



SELF HIVERS. 



1 guess that the self hiver has about 

 seen its day, or at least I don't see 

 very much concerning them in the 

 Bee Journals of late. Well! I think 



