47S 



(iLEANlNGS IN BEE CULTUilE. 



June 



ant flavor. In the comb it retains its fresh flav^or 

 belter than anj^ other gathered around here. As 

 for wliiterinf? bees on it, in spite of all that the 

 bo()1{s and .iournals teaeh about the dangerous 

 qualities of late stores, I can not see but that it 

 proves as wliolesome as any gathered early in the 

 season. 1 have wintered bees well on stores gath- 

 ered almost wholly during the last half of Septem- 

 ber. My great misfortune is, that although there is 

 a great deal of Spanish-needle blossom, because of 

 cool or dry weather but little surplus is obtained 

 from it. Geo. F. Robbins, 60— .57. 



Mcchanicsliurg, 111., May 35, 1886. ' 



Friend E., what you say about Spanish- 

 needle honey reiiiinils me of an incident of 

 nearly two years a^o. I purchased ciuitn a 

 lot of this honey from friend .Vinh'ews. lie 

 did not tell ns'\Yhat the soiu'ce was, and I 

 prnnoiuiced it a splendid article of solden- 

 rod lioney. The color was dark gold, and 

 the llavor excellent, and the body so dense 

 as to give point to my little story. A man 

 ordered a ](»o-pound can of goldenrod honey. 

 We sent him this, supposing at the time, of 

 course, that it was genuine goldenrod of su- 

 perior quality. He did not respond accord- 

 ing to promise ; and when we succeeded in 

 making liim answer, he said the honev was 

 poor, and that he could not sell it. We at 

 once told him to return it. Finally it came 

 back. But imagine om- astonishment, after 

 unsoldering the tin that held the cork in, 

 to find nothing but w^ater, slightly sweet- 

 ened, in the can. As the bottom of the can 

 seemed quite heavy, however, we poured the 

 wvater off and found 4'J lbs. of this thick 

 heavy honey uninjured. Our friend had 

 supposed the water would so mix with the 

 honey during the transit that it would sus- 

 tain his claim that it was a poor article ; but 

 as it was in the winter, he missed his calcu- 

 lation. The heavy body of the honey pre- 

 vented it from mixing. "I demanded pay for 

 the honey he had sold out of the can."^ He 

 denied the charge, and we had to employ a 

 lawyer to make him pay for his attemi)ted 

 swindle. He linally did pay, but it took all 

 of the money he handed over, to pay the 

 lawyer. Now, lest this man should try to 

 serve some of the rest of the bee-friends the 

 same trick, we give his name and address 

 here: E. W. Eramen. Cieneva, Ashtabula 

 Co., O. When I met friend Andrews at the 

 bee-keepers' Congress in New Orleans, he 

 told me he was satistied the honey was from 

 Spanish needle. I agree with you, that it 

 should be ranked as one of the iinest, if not 

 the very finest, source of dark-colored honey. 



THE BEES AND THE NEIGHBOKS. 



FIUEXU DAVTON CONSIDERS I'KETTY FAIKI.V THE 



SITUATION FROM DIFFERENT POINTS 



OF VIEW. 



fHE description of the "mill" I i)assed through 

 some time ago, and a few things I learned 

 while there, may not seem superfluous. I 

 agree with many who have written before 

 me, that some people are surprisingly nerv- 

 ous and jealous when they have a bee-keeping 

 neighbor, and the more so if he is successful. A 



sure way to please them is to dig stumps and pull 

 weeds for a livelihood. It seems to be a bee-keep- 

 er's destiny to got between neighbors Avho ai-e 

 bound to wedge him and his so as to come within 

 ' hiinds' reach " of each other. This state of alfairs 

 exists more or less everywhere; but they do not 

 report so much as beekeepers do. But there is a 

 possibility of two sides to this question. If the bees 

 are situated on a level within 200 feet of the neigh- 

 bor, and there is nothing intervening, they may 

 trouble him considerably. If they arc within 30 

 feet, and a hedge is near the hives, and a dense row 

 of trjcs near the hive, the neighbor probably would 

 never be troubled. 



To make it dangerous because of stings, outside 

 of t.he iiiiiary, we may place trees and tall obstruc- 

 tions among the hives. To throw the danger inside 

 the apiary, set the trees on the outside. Wherever 

 we furnish the bees a playground, there is also a 

 place they are going to defend. There always is a 

 place in or near every apiary, clear of obstructions, 

 that the bees are going to occupy for the purpose 

 of Hying, and we must surrender it to them or suf- 

 fer the consequences. By contrivance, and some- 

 times without contrivance, we may throw their 

 playground in different directions, and it maybe 

 into a neighlior's garden. 



My apiary is in the village, with four rows of 

 trees as described, and they can find no fault with 

 the bees, and have despaired in the undertaking. 

 One season before I set out the trees, out of 93 

 swai'ins 4 were drifted by the wind on to my neigh- 

 bor's premises. He tried to act wild at the damage 

 they were doing in clustering on a fence-post 5 feet 

 from the line, though in the evening his hogs were 

 digging my potatoes. He would not allow their re- 

 mo\'al with the swarming-box, though it could bo 

 done from my side of the fence. Unknown to him, 

 I rubbed the cluster so hai'shly with the box that 

 the bees drove him into the house, and I had mat- 

 ters in my own hands. When I found out this state 

 of affairs, I clipped the queen's wings; but a second 

 swarm, with a virgin queen, got away and went 

 over. I asked a justice to get them, and in a berat- 

 ing manner ho told mo to tender the neighbor a 

 quarter in ease of trespass, and take them without 

 ceremony. As I considered a " lean compromise bet- 

 ter than a fat lawsuit," the neighbor hived and fed 

 them for winter, but they died because of a lack of 

 upward ventilation. 



For two years I rented a part of my house to fam- 

 ilies to show the neighbors how dangerous the V)ees 

 were, and they hitched teams within 1.5 ft. of the 

 rows of hives, hundreds of times, and, fortunately, 

 there was no one stung during the time. The se- 

 cret lay in a thick row of bushes intervening. 



Since the trees I planted began to cast sizable 

 shadows, the neighbor informs me that if I will 

 move the trees I am welcome to come after swarms. 

 The trees may be trimmed ; but if they are removed 

 entirely, I ftar it will soon be, " Move your bees or 

 we'll move them for you." "Who sows brambles 

 should not go barefoot." 



There are many other neighbors who appear to 

 be glad to take swarms from their own trees and 

 bring them to me, and are frequently boasting how 

 they can go in and about the apiary without mo- 

 lestation by bees. When the hives are set close to 

 a fence, and there are trees on the Inside, the bees 

 will bo caused to go over the fence in their flights. 

 If the hives arc located under our trees, then tho 



