732 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I have not seen since the Rebellion ! I 

 expected every minute to be stung, but 

 as they do not hurt me much, I pro- 

 ceeded to clean the bees off with no 

 other implements than a knife and a 

 dust brush. The result was 13 sections. 

 Not a sting did I get, but all the family 

 got stung and run for cover. 



So this season's work as an apiarist 

 makes me feel like quite a hero, and 

 next spring, if nothing happens, I ex- 

 pect to bloom out as an older apiarist, 

 but as things look now, I shall have to 

 put pokes on my Italians to keep them 

 out of my neighbor's hives, if indeed 

 they do not clean them all out this win- 

 ter. Candidly, they are the biggest 

 thieves on earth. They rob just for the 

 fun of the thing. I don't know what 

 they want of it, for their hives are full. 

 Why, they went down town to my other 

 store about % mile away, and went in 

 and began to carry out the honey, and 

 blocked up the doorway so I had to go 

 down there and hide the honey and club 

 them out, for they had taken possession. 



Well, this is my first year's experience; 

 I have learned a great deal, and the best 

 thing I chave learned is that I don't 

 know much about bees, but I enjoy what 

 I see in it, and expect to learn more next 

 year. The 295 nice, full sections that 

 I got this year is an incentive to prose- 

 cute the search after knowledge. I ex- 

 pect to procure a supply of linden trees 

 and set them out in the spring, and hope 

 to live to enjoy the luxury of seeing 

 them bloom and enrich our honey stores, 

 if they will thrive in our latitude. 



I have induced one farmer to sow a 

 lot of alfalfa clover ; if it prospers, I 

 expect to watch it closely next summer, 

 and if it does as it is said to do by West- 

 ern apiarists, I will see to it that there 

 is more of it sown here. 



I have found this year that % of all 

 honey stored is from golden-rod, but 

 although it is very pretty, some people 

 object to the flavor, yet I think it ele- 

 gant, and want more of it, and shall 

 hold our " national flower" in grateful 

 remembrance. 



Port Norris, N. J., Nov. 8, 1892. 



Fifty-Two numbers of the Bee 

 Journal for $1.00! Where can you 

 find a cheaper, yet more valuable, vol- 

 ume of over 1,600 pages of bee-litera- 

 ture for that amount of money ? You 

 can't afford to do without it if you care 

 anything for bees. It is worth two cents 

 a week just to get a look at its " cheer- 

 ing face." 



0F" 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. 



Paid for the Paper for 5 Years. 



I learned a thing from the American 

 Bee Journal that I wish to thank you 

 for. I worked one colony according to 

 instructions, and made it pay enough 

 more than the others to pay for the 

 paper for five years. 



My bees have done fairly well this 

 year. I am truly glad* that you have 

 given the " Sunny South " a place in the 

 American Bee Journal, and I hope to 

 derive much benefit from it. 



Albert Vought. 



Illawara, La., Nov. 10, 1892. 



Poor Season for Honey. 



The past season has been the poorest 

 for honey I ever saw here. I have 130 

 colonies of pure Italians, and got 500 

 pounds of honey, although all have suffi- 

 cient winter stores. Black bees have 

 fared much worse than the Italians, as 

 they are in good starving condition. As 

 for this climate, there is no comparison 

 in the two races. 



P. C. Gress, M. D. 



Atchison, Kans. 



Verbena or Vervain. 



I herewith send an herb. Kindly give 

 its name in the American Bee Journal. 

 I doubt if bees ever gather any honey 

 from it, as the purple wheat-kernel size- 

 and-form shaped flowers are always 

 closed in daytime. It is claimed that 

 the herb has great curative qualities for 

 blood diseases. 



An old man of 78 years showed me 

 the plant yesterday, and said that it 

 had cured him of two cancers on his 

 shoulders of 12 years' standing, and 

 from La Grippe of two years' standing. 

 He is an old neighbor, and is now healthy 

 and vigorous. He also said that remark- 



