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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL-. 



of the side of his house, between the 

 plastering and siding, 8 feet above the 

 ground. The combs were about 30 

 inches long, by 18 inches wide, and 4 

 inches deep ; being four layers. It was 

 a tough job, for I could not get the bees 

 out of the way — they were cross. They 

 did all this work through a knot-hole 

 one inch in diameter. They had a nice 

 lot of honey. I put the combs into 

 frames, and placed all in a nice hive. 



Of all journals that reach my desk, 

 none are grasped and opened with such 

 a degree of pleasure as our great Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. Long may it live 

 and prosper, is my wish. 



Peabody, Kans., Nov. 18, 1892. 



Farther Experience with the 

 Punic Bees. 



E. K. ROOT. 



Some of our friends may be interested 

 in knowing how those Punics are behav- 

 ing of late. We have been watching 

 them narrowly ever since our first re- 

 ports. Regarding their bad traits, we 

 have nothing to take back, but, on the 

 contrary, we are sure that we did not 

 condemn them any too severely. But 

 among all their naughty habits it would 

 be a little singular if we did not discover 

 at least some partially redeeming quality. 

 Well, we have found one. They are the 

 best defenders of their home against 

 robbers, of any race of bees we have 

 ever known. Indeed, when the robbers 

 are the worst, we find we can pull the 

 cover off their hive and leave their combs 

 exposed for hours at a time ; and al- 

 though the robbers will at first pounce 

 on to them fiercely, in a few minutes 

 they begin to find they have " got the 

 wrong pig by the ears," and then they 

 hover about more cautiously. Those 

 " little black devils," as one of the boys 

 calls them, will stand in military array 

 along the edge of the top-bars ; and the 

 first robber bee that comes within smell- 

 ing distance will be met on the wing, 

 and perhaps jerked down between the 

 combs, and that is the last of Mr. Rob- 

 ber, for two or three Punics will very 

 soon finish "him" up. 



Our experiments were made somewhat 

 late in the season ; but we believe it 

 would be safe to move the cover off at 

 any time of the year, if the hive be well 

 shaded. This trait is a very desirable 

 one ; but at the same time it is over- 

 balanced by so many bad ones, that, if 

 all Punics are as naughty as ours (and 



reports seem to show it), bee-keepers 

 having them will soon brimstone them. 



We might add, in this connection, that 

 this same skill in defending their home 

 renders them terrific robbers, for no 

 ordinary bee is a match for a Punic in a 

 hand-to-hand combat. One time last 

 summer, when the bees got to robbing, 

 we noticed that there were two Punics 

 to one Italian, helping themselves to the 

 ill-gotten gains ; and this, notwithstand- 

 ing there were 200 times as many of 

 the yellow bees as of the black in the 

 apiary. Suppose the situation were re- 

 versed, and the honey-house door should 

 be left open — what then ? — Gleanings. 



Medina, Ohio. 



t&T" 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. 



Bees in Good Condition for Winter. 



Bees in this locality go into winter 

 in good condition, with plenty of stores 

 that are well ripened. The honey-flow 

 in this part of the State was good, but 

 bees were too weak in numbers to obtain 

 the best results. 



Orel L. Hershiser. 



Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. 26, 1892. 



Not Weary of Bee-Keeping. 



I saw some accounts something over 

 two years ago in regard to bee-keeping 

 in North Carolina, so I sold out and 

 went there, but I was disappointed by 

 the misrepresentations. I spent over 

 $150, and being a man of limited means, 

 one can easily see where it put me. 



Ihavebeenin the bee-business since 

 the spring of 1874, and have had my 

 ups and downs, but I am not weary of it 

 yet. I am what you would call a speci- 

 alist. I am also a specialist or scientific 

 bee-hunter ; I found 36 bee-trees the 

 past season. Long live the American 

 Bee Journal 1 G. S. Heckman. 



Dawkins, Ind., Nov. 24, 1892. 



