210 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 6, 



to " spread " herself, to see what a 

 queen hatched in January and fertil- 

 ized in February will be able to do. 



I divide for increase, making one 

 colony from 5 old ones as often as I 

 think advisable. I never saw queens 

 "spread" themselves before like some 

 of mine did last year in April, ami in 

 May nearly every cell in the lower 

 story, and the greater share of the 

 second story was filled with brood, 

 and the third story with honey. 



About 35 feet from where I lie in 

 front Mi a window, there are 3 colonies 

 of bees, the weather being warm 

 enough to raise the window I have a 

 aood view- of them. They are going 

 in and out so fast, and eager that one 

 might think they had found a white 

 clover patch. I was in hopes of being 

 able to band in a report next Novem- 

 ber that would astonish the "natives," 

 but a broken leg, no hives to speak of 

 or lumber to make any on hand, on 

 account of looking'up and moving to 

 a new range, obliged to move on ac- 

 countof our health, have disappointed 

 me. Let me say to Mr. Hohenshell 

 that if he wants to shake his boots oil 

 he can come and take the place I am 

 now on. I do not mean to say but he 

 can find some other range where it is 

 healthy. 



I am experimenting with bees in 

 several localities this year, having 9 

 colonies in the Sierra foot-hills. 9 more 

 on the San Joaquin river, the balance 

 1 am moving some 20 miles down 

 King's river, where they claim to have 

 good health. Now, for the benefit of 

 those who doubt my statements, I 

 will say that I keep an exact account 

 of all I do, and can vouch for what 

 I say. 



King's River, Cal., March 28, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



When are Bees a Nuisance? 



.TAMES 1IEDDON. 



I must, through the Bee Journal, 

 thank a host of bee-keeping friends 

 who have, in private communications, 

 answered my question as to whether 

 bees are a nuisance, and under what 

 conditions ? From a host of evidence 

 and opinions of able thinkers, I have 

 made up my mind in regard to the 

 matter. "If bees are kept and treated 

 in such manner that they fly at and 

 sting people or animals then they be- 

 come a nuisance, from their location." 

 This was the decision of Gen. May, 

 City Attorney for Kalamazoo, I am 

 informed. 



In my own case, the bees were kept 

 as follows : From 100 to 200 colonies 

 were located upon two city lots, 

 forming a square eight rods each way. 

 This square was surrounded by a 

 picket fence ; the apiary was sur- 

 rounded by a six-foot, tight, board 

 fence, all within the outer fence, be- 

 sides buildings and apple trees on 

 nearly all sides. During my 13 years' 

 stay here not a creature has ever re- 

 ceived a sting, except where a bee has 

 been stepped on or pinched by children 

 or others. A very few (perhaps 4 to 0] 

 cases of this kind have happened, and 

 some of these half a mile away. This, 

 however, was not the principal griev- 

 ance ; the main complaints were : 

 "The bees get into my pump," "into 

 my well," " into my cistern," " into my 

 tub," etc. Notwithstanding we have 

 used every method we could devise or 

 hear of to water our bees in the yard, 

 more or less would visit some mossy 

 bucketsand pumps. Another trouble: 

 two or three times some clothes hung 

 out to dry just when the bees took an 

 opening flight in the spring, were spot- 

 ted by them. Our own never happen- 

 ing to be out at the right time to get 

 specked, we did not know of the an- 

 noyance to others till years afterward, 

 or we would have cheerfully paid the 

 cost of re- washing. Notwithstanding 

 the first two years we kept a large 

 numberof colonies in this same yard, 

 not a word was heard about their 

 troubling any one. 



Well, just as I had sold the lots con- 

 taining the bees and was negotiating 

 (trying to obtain a clear title) down by 

 the river, where I would lose no more 



bees in tubs, cisterns and wells, and 

 move my apiary thereto, some of my 

 supposed friends drew up and circu- 

 lated a petition asking the Aldermen 

 to exclude bees from the corporate 

 limits of the city of Dowagiac. Not 

 a man in the place, except myself, had 

 a bee or was likely to have one. judg- 

 ing the future by the past. A majority 

 of my nearest neighbors refused to 

 sign it. Misrepresentations were made 

 to induce them to sign it (if I have 

 been rightly informed), but without 

 avail. Such a foolish ordinance would 

 have been largely a " corner'' on the 

 business for me, as nineteen-twenti- 

 etlis of all possible opposition in the 

 tield would have been cut off. But 

 that did not change wrong to right. I 

 asked the Aldermen to investigate the 

 matter and then decide. They did so, 

 and decided to throw that petition in 

 the "waste-basket,'' or to table it, 

 which is practically the same thing. 



Soon after I obtained a piece of 

 ground to suit me, near the water, and 

 away from houses (except one, the in- 

 habitants of which invited me to bring 

 the bees there, having had some little 

 chance to know something about bees), 

 and that ground is within the corpo- 

 ration limits, and " upon that rock " I 

 propose to " stand," petition or no pe- 

 tition. We have aCity Board whoare 

 not unwise enough to pass such an or- 

 dinance, and no City Board has the 

 power to expel bees from its limits, 

 any more than the raising of onions or 

 cabbage. When they are so kept as to 

 become a nuisance as aforesaid, they 

 can order that nuisance abated. 



As it was to our interest to move 

 our bees away from our supply houses, 

 where our honey and wax works are 

 kept, and we suffer the only real an- 

 noyance, we felt that a disposition to 

 throw oil upon the troubled waters 

 and have good will and peace with all 

 men, was the truly wise and moral 

 course. We adopted it, and moved 120 

 colonies during their work on white 

 clover, and as we only moved them 

 less than a mile, what do you think 

 the result was? Well, we made one 

 strong colony with a comb of brood, a 

 queen cell, and what bees returned. 



Now, in regard to the ideas of Mr. 

 Martin, as given on page 194 of the 

 Weekly Bee Journal for June 22d, I 

 think they are widely open to com- 

 ment. First, allow me say, that to 

 those neighbors into whose yards I had 

 to go to recover swarms, and where I 

 would sometimes injure the garden 

 plants, we always presented honey to 

 ten-fold the amount of injury. As 

 Mr. Martin says, this present made 

 non-petitioners of them. There is no 

 doubt that if I had extended the dona- 

 tion line far and wide enough to have 

 taken in these petitioners, all would 

 have been peace. But if the damage 

 from these pump, cistern and well- 

 loving bees can be appeased with a few 

 combs of honey, should we be obliged 

 to give them to opulent people, when 

 we have people in our midst whose 

 little children are hungry for deserved 

 sweets that their parents cannot afford 

 to buy, perhaps because they are 

 cheated out of their just earnings by 

 those more opulent and influential pe- 

 titioners. Our machine shops are 

 allowed to whistle and rattle, because 

 they are a business blessing ; our saw- 

 mill proprietor is allowed to till the 

 roadside for many rods with logs, be- 

 cause he is doing business ; the city 

 gravels the road to a grist-milt, be- 

 cause the mill is a blessing to the busi- 

 ness interests of the city. Now, should 

 a business which employs two to four 

 men, brings in from the labyrinths of 

 nature from $1,000 to S2,000 yearly 

 (thus making twobladesof grass grow 

 where but one grew before), rest upon 

 such a flimsy foundation that the 

 owner must present a portion of his 

 product to people (out of fear, and not 

 of love) who are well able to pay for 

 their luxuries, and who have had edu- 

 cational and observational advantages 

 enough to know they should encourage 

 such an industry as apiculture, both 

 from a sense of duty and interest. 

 Being, as it is, a fact that the rich have 

 more power than the poor, I have 

 probably made a great mistake in pla- 

 cing many of my donations; but now 



I am so isolated from the powerful 

 (who can send a petition smack into 

 a waste basket), I guess I will continue 

 my former way of selecting donees. 

 Dowagiac, Mich., June 14, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Progressive Bee-Culture. 



.1. ROBINSON. 



Wintering and winter management 

 of bees seems to be the theme of cor- 

 respondents of late. On page 42. of 

 the current vol., Mr. Miner informs 

 the readers of the Bee Journal that 

 •■ upward ventilation " has been the 

 destroyer. Mr. Miner's idea is that 

 bees must have a free circulation of 

 air to generate heat. However, lie 

 concedes that he realized the best re- 

 sults when he excluded the air from 

 his 48 colonies by "covering them 

 with snow in the coldest weather," 

 His two modes of wintering are as 

 opposite as science and quackery. 

 But the nub of Mr. M's article is the 

 discovery that an inch of open space 

 between the lower end of a box hive 

 and its bottom-board, all around, 

 would not lose as much heat as a x 2 ' 

 inch hole at the top. Mr. M. says that 

 his box hives were one foot square ; 

 then if there was an open space at 

 the bottom of one inch all around, 

 the opening was equal to 48 square 

 inches. Now, ignoring science, if he 

 will open at the base of his sitting- 

 room in a cold day an opening of 48 

 square inches, and try the effect pro- 

 duced by the rushing in of cold air for 

 a time, and then close the opening at 

 the base and open a J^-inch hole in 

 the ceiling overhead, he might be in- 

 clined to change that opinion. 



The little learning that I have ac- 

 quired and the experience I have had 

 with bees, during half a century, 

 qualifies me to say how bees can be 

 wintered reasonably successful, and I 

 fear the problem involved in a scien- 

 tific winter management of bees is 

 yet afar off. 



The "chaff hive" men, like Mr. Mi- 

 ner,"found perfection" and exclaimed 

 Eureka ; but dire destruction still fol- 

 lows each successive winter. The 

 /lire cannot obtain honey, nor regulate 

 the climate ! Were it not for the dev- 

 astation of bees during the inhospita- 

 ble reign of winter and spring, this 

 land would, indeed, flow witli milk 

 and honey. Will such a happy frui- 

 tion ever be the destiny of our race V 



There has been rapid progress in 

 the science of apiculture since the ad- 

 vent of the American Bee Journal. 

 At that period, bee-culture was at a 

 low ebb everywhere, except in some 

 parts of Germany. Then no discus- 

 sions were had, pro or am. on any sub- 

 ject, or new idea or theory held, with 

 perhaps a few exceptions. There 

 were but few correspondents to the 

 Bee Journal, and all had their say, 

 which was taken for granted as re- 

 vealed truths, like the writings of 

 King James' translators. The Amer- 

 ican bee-keeping fraternity and the 

 public generally owe a colossal debt of 

 gratitude to the lamented Samuel 

 Wagner, a German by birth, who was 

 the founder of the Ameriean Bee 

 Journal, as well as its present able 

 editor. Conceived in a laudable de- 

 sire to do good, conducted with a view 

 to the promotion of genera! prosper- 

 ity, dedicated to the interests of a 

 hitherto neglected industry, the 

 American Bee Journal established 

 as an experiment has become a "fixed 

 fact," commanding universal admira- 

 tion, and this pioneer Journal, by 

 unflagging industry, has now reared 

 17 monuments upon the broad area of 

 industrial improvement — eacli vol- 

 ume bearing tokens of ability and en- 

 ergy, as indelible as they are distinct. 



Many bee periodicals have sprung 

 into existence, but the American 

 Bee Journal retains its superiority, 

 ever holding forth a beacon light to 

 imitators. Let itever be remembered 

 that Samuel Wagner's was the first 

 voice claiming for bee-culture its 

 rights as a science. His light gleamed 

 alone, but brighty and steadily, amid 

 the dark mists of ignorance and 



prejudice, and even now — now, when 

 the land is illumed by many others — 

 that same torch (but in other hands) 

 is burning and blazing with a pure and 

 brilliant name. 



I am not to Hatter nor to treat with 

 contempt, nor to be personal in my 

 writings. I commenced this commu- 

 nication with a view of adding my 

 mite to the subject of winter man- 

 agement, but I have wandered, in 

 memory of my ideal friend and in- 

 structor of former days, but I will 

 now close, hoping to recur to the sub- 

 ject of wintering in a future article. 



Kichford, N. V. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Black agin Italian. 



LUKE TWIST. 



[Bein' a artical which proves that the Bl cks is 

 superior. 



I am an ole man. nigh onto three 

 score nor ten, and mi flaxen lox is 

 thickly spangled with threads, uv sil- 

 ver, and all no this, mi well spent life 

 hez ben passed aiming them bizy in- 

 sex, bez. Sum no the earliest things 

 thet i kin remember is plain round 

 these noise hives, or bein' lulled tu 

 sleep by there sweet music, or dancin' 

 a jig tu the merry hum uv there tier- 

 less wings. I never bed much book 

 larnin, thank the Lord,and heve never 

 ben tu skule only 6 weaks in my life, 

 and as I heve not burdened mi mind 

 with sech nonsensical trash as gog- 

 rafy and rithmetic, yeu see me able 

 tu stand forth and not only cope with. 

 buteverlastin'ly demolish the so-called 

 sientitic bee-keapers, and, ez a conse- 

 quence uv not idlin' awa mi time in 

 skule, to be bloated out with book- 

 larnin and self-consete (for yen will 

 finde humility tu be won uv mi great- 

 est characteristix), i heve ben able tu 

 divote a larg portion uv mi time to 

 practical experimints fer the im- 

 proovemint uv the hunny be, and af- 

 ter yeres uv patient trials and tests, i 

 am forced tu the conclusion thet the 

 black be, in the good ole-fassioned box 

 hives, is the best. I will neaw pro- 

 ceed tu give yeu the menes by which I 

 prooved the Italian uv no good. 



I seen a advertisement fer Italian 

 bez, so i sent a dollar tu jorgee for a 

 be, fer I bed heerd thet wun be put 

 in the hive wood make 'email Italians. 

 Yeu ma be surprised thet I kin effort! 

 tu pay a dollar fer jest wun be, but, 

 yen sea, I don't spare no panes or 

 inuny fer tu make mi experements on- 

 tirelie fre frum fault, and I tliaut ez 

 long ez I wuz goin' tu git wun I mite 

 ez wal git a good wun. After a while 

 the bez cum ; they wuz tu kinds on 

 um. I didn't no which was the ital- 

 eans and which wuzn't, so I thant i'd 

 put um botliin,tho wun on um didn't 

 look ez ef lie cood fli for greens ; it 

 wuz aboui twice ez long ez the rest 

 and lied wings about half ez long. 



I kept em kooped up in that ere lit- 

 tle koop untill nite after dark ; it was 

 moonlite. Then I quietly snook uptu 

 the hive and opened wun end uv the 

 koop and let um run in. I got up in 

 the morn in' ex pectin' tu find a lot uv 

 them little lazy yaller humbugs 

 crawlin' round ; but what du yeu 

 think ! not a sine of a yaller wun wuz 

 they ! all as black az a republican's 

 harte. I looked round and there they 

 wuz aul beeped un dead on the ground. 

 Neaw ef i'd ben predjudiced agin the 

 Italian bes, or didn't heve mi subject 

 thoraly distilled intu me, i'd got mad 

 and nocked over the hive and raised 

 the deuce : but I didn't, I jist thant 

 tu miself, " neaw I no all there is tu 

 no abatit bez, and they can't no body 

 learn me nothin' about um, but I'm 

 bound tu satisfy the public, and I 

 don't give it up in no sicli way ez 

 this." So I sent tu a nutlier man and 

 paid 8 dollars fer a hive — that's the 

 gospel truth, hope to die ef it ant. 



Tha cum, at last, and I sot 'em out 

 along side a hive uv blacks, and there 

 I watched 'em. Fer about 3 weaks 

 untill tha swarmed I thaut tha wuz 

 purty slick, and mi harte begin tu 

 quale fur the black ; they waz up ear- 

 lie in the momin, and out late at nite. 

 But wun thing 1 noticed : that, 



