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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



^~ Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper with business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Good Year for Honey. 



There are not very many bee-keepers 

 here, and those who do have them mostly 

 let them die or freeze in the winter, and 

 they do not think it pays to take a bee- 

 paper. I had 9 colonies of bees the past 

 summer, and took 1,000 pounds of 

 honey. It has been a good year for 

 honey here. Henby Bushbaum. 



Aredale, Iowa, Nov. 7, 1892. 



Iowa Bees, and Bee-Lies, in Michigan. 



I write the following letter for the 

 benefit of the Iowa lawsuit man who 

 testified that the bees shut off the light 

 of day, and kept his house in darkness, 

 and ate his ducks, which I read on pages 

 394 and 395 of the Bee Joubnal, : 



Mb. Foulkes, Cascade, Iowa. 



Dear Sir : — Should you ever have the 

 desire to sustain that bees are a nui- 

 sance, just send to me for the kind of 

 statement you wish, or use the one I am 

 going to make, viz. : 



Oh, the bees done it ! About three 

 weeks ago I took a yoke of oxen and a 

 cast-beam plow, and went about 30 rods 

 from the house to do some plowing. I 

 got along very well until my bees began 

 to fly. O-h, the bees ! 



Then it began to get dark. I left my 

 oxen, and started for my apiary, intend- 

 ing to shut up my bees, so as not ob- 

 struct my light, and hinder me from 

 plowing. O-h, the bees done it ! 



But I soon found out that I had lost 

 my course, and three days' hard travel 

 brought me beyond their flight, and sur- 

 prised was I when I learned that I was 

 32 miles from home ! O-h, the bees 

 done it ! 



It took me another day to get back, 

 and to my great surprise my oxen were 

 gone, plow and all. O-h, the bees done it! 



I took my double-barrel shot-gun, and 

 started for my apiary, but was too late. 



I found my plow in front of one of the 

 hives, drawn into the mold-board. I 

 raised the hive-cover, and there were 

 my oxen completely cut to pieces. I 

 began taking out the pieces, and by the 

 aid of a little wax I stuck them together 

 again, as perfect as ever, excepting the 

 head and horns, which were eaten up 

 by the bees ! 



O-h, the bees ! They work just as 

 well as ever, but I have to hire a man to 

 lead them. I expect to get a great price 

 for them, as I will exhibit them at the 

 World's Fair in behalf of Mr. Foulkes, 

 the Iowa lawsuit man. Who dares tell 

 me that bees ain't a nuisance? 



Don't forget my address. 



Rodney, Mich. J. W. Miixeb. 



No Surplus — Introducing Queens. 



In this locality we have no surplus 

 honey, but bees, I think, have plenty to 

 go through the winter. Sam Wilson 

 came very close in predicting about the 

 honey crop for this place, although I 

 have wished very often that he would 

 miss it here, because his predictions did 

 not suit me, being for a bad honey year. 



I would have Mr. S. E. Miller know 

 that I have some very fine Italian bees, 

 which produce pretty yellow drones ; 

 but may be he is not afraid of them 

 mating with his queens, either. 



The best way I have found to intro- 

 duce queens, when they are once balled, 

 is to put all the brood in the top story ; 

 after shaking off all the adhering bees, 

 put empty combs below, with some thin 

 cloth between. The bees will soon find 

 themselves queenless and hopeless, and 

 will be terribly demoralized. After an 

 hour, slip the cloth a little, let the bees 

 go up for a few minutes, and close back, 

 repeating this two or three times until 

 there is enough bees up to attend to the 

 brood, then keep closed until the next 

 day, then slip the cloth out, and let the 

 bees go. They will be all right. This 

 has been a perfectly safe way for me 

 when no honey is coming in, such being 

 the worst time to get queens balled. As 

 there was no honey coming in this sea- 

 son to amount to much, I have equipped 

 all my colonies with good, young queens, 

 to be ready for the next season. 



R. A. Shultz. 



Cosby, Tenn., Nov. 5, 1892. 



Experience with. Laying Workers. 



Last July I had a colony of bees that 

 was not doing well, so I examined them, 

 and I found that the queen was getting 



