824 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



for one to Hsh— and just as he begins 

 to get some good bites, and to pull out 

 the " shiners," I come along, and 

 being a bigger boy, push him off and 

 continue the pulling out myself. He 

 is not the boy 1 take him for, if he 

 does not clamor for his rights, and 

 insist upon it that he has a right to 

 the place because he was there first ; 

 and there may be no little temptation 

 for him to depart from his home- 

 training so far as to shy a stone at me 

 by way of emphasizing his argument. 



But", as I said before, there is no 

 need to consider that prior occupation 

 is an essential part of the data upon 

 ■which legislation shall be based. In- 

 deed. Mr. Ileddon uses the right of 

 priority as an argument against legis- 

 lation. In a nut-shell his argument 

 is this : I was here hrst. I have 

 therefore a right here, and that right 

 I can maintain well enough or better 

 without legislation; therefore, no 

 legislation is needed. I take the 

 ground that if the Hrst comer has the 

 best right to the ground, legislation 

 is needed to protect him in that right. 

 Equally do I hold that legislation is 

 needed if no rights be conceded to the 

 prior occupant. 



I am not sure but that the Doctor 

 has illustrated the thing pretty well 

 by tlie cattle pasturing on the com- 

 mons. At first, land is so plenty and 

 cattle so few that little attention is 

 paid to territory, but as interests be- 

 gin to clash, government steps in and 

 marks out boundaries, saying to one 

 man, " You can have this territory," 

 and to another, " There is yours." 

 Precisely this, and tor precisely the 

 same reasons, we need in bee culture. 

 If bee-keeping is to be a regular, per- 

 manent business, why not have the 

 territory parceled out just as much as 

 it should be parceled out for farmingV 

 Would it not be for the interest of 

 the public at large V 



Marengo, 5 Ills. 



For tne Amencan Bee Journal, 



Practical Hints for Bee-Keepers. 



J. M. Il;CKS, 



At this season of the year bees 

 should be kept in perfect quietude 

 and not molested in the least. Bee- 

 keepers should study more carefully 

 the nature and wants of their bees, 

 and be able to apply such remedies 

 as will most effectually overcome ob- 

 stacles detrimental to the interests 

 of the apiarist. 



The winter problem seems to be the 

 greatest trouble now, with many who 

 have but recently commenced keep- 

 ing bees, which, in order to succeed, 

 should be carefully studied and put 

 into practice so as to conform to nat- 

 ural laws governing tlie successful 

 wintering of all farm stock. 



" Time is money " to the bee-keep- 

 er, hence all implements for the 

 apiary should be in proper condition 

 and ready for the coming season. 



Look well to the interests of the 

 bees, and they will amply reward 

 their keepers for all the care be- 

 stowed upon them. 



Never allow your bees to swarm 

 naturally, but use a good movable- 

 frame hive, and practice dividing 

 colonies, and thus save much valuable 

 time. 



Battle Ground ,+o Ind. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time and place of Meeting. 



Jan. 8.— Hiirdin County, at Eldora, Iowa. 



J. W. Buctianaa, Sec KIdora, Iowa. 



Jan. ll-13.-N.y.State,K.N.V.. &c.. at Albany.N. V. 

 Jno. Aspinwall. Sec, Barrytown, N. Y. 



Jan. 12,— Cortland Union, at Cortland, N. Y. 



D. F. tfliatlucb, Sec, Homer, N. Y. 



Jan. 12.— Nebraska State, at Liincoln, Nebr. 



H. N. Patterson, Sec, Humboldt, Nebr. 



Jan. 13.— Vermont, at Burlintiton, Vt. 



R. H. Holmes, Sec, Shoreham, Vt. 



Jan. 13.— Sheboysan County, at HinKbam, Wis. 

 Mattie B. Tbomas, Sec, Sheboygan Kails, Wis. 



Jan. 18.— N. W. nis. & 8. W. Wis., at Rockford, Ills. 

 J. Stewart, Sec, Rock City, Ills. 



Jan. 19, 20.— N. B. Ohio, N. Pa., &c., at Andover, O. 

 M. E. Mason, Sec, Andover, O. 



t^~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward lull particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Kd. 





Late Brood-Rearing. — Frank A. 

 Ea,ton, Bluffton,x) O., on Dec. U, 



1SS6, says : 



The weather was tine and warm 

 here from Dec. 9 to Dec. 1 1 , and the 

 bees had a nice flight. In removing 

 the extracting frames from a cliaif 

 hive which I had neglected to prepare 

 early, I found a fine patch of eggs in 

 one frame ; something I had never 

 seen o it-of-doors on Dec. 11. 



Bees Packed in Chaff.— Dayton H. 



Carter, Clayton,© Ind., writes : 



My 10 colonies of bees are wintering 

 nicely packed in clover cliaff. We 

 have not had much cold weather, but 

 there is time enough yet for bees to 

 freeze out. I have "wintered bees 

 three winters, and I have not lost 

 any. 1 think tliat if everybody would 

 pack their bees on the summer stands 

 they would not lose so many ; that is, 

 if they will pack them rightly. 



The Season in Nebraska.— James 

 Jardine, Ashland, o+ Nebr., on Dec. 

 13, ]8S(i, writes: 



I took my bees out of the cellar on 

 April 9— over 100 colonies. I sold a 

 few colonies in the spring, and the 

 remainder did not do very much until 

 about June 2fi, 1 should think. They 

 carried in a fine lot of basswood honey 

 and then the dry weather set in and 

 they did not do inuch until late in the 

 fall — until we had some fine showers, 

 then they gathered honey from the 

 heart's-ease and goldenrod until the 

 frost came. I got about 2,600 pounds 

 in all, hrst and second class honey, all 



in one-pound sections. Some of it is 

 very nice and white, and some of it is 

 very dark. What was gathered first 

 is dark. I have come to the same 

 conclusion as Mr. Stolley, of Grand 

 Island, Nebr., viz : that we must sow 

 more clover for our bees if we expect 

 lots of honey. They must have the 

 feed. I put my bees into the cellar 

 on Nov. 15, and they all seem to be 

 doing finely, the temperature being 

 from 40° to 45°. I think that the cellar 

 is just the place for bees in this coun- 

 try, where we have such severe storms 

 and sudden changes. I think there 

 is nothing gained by putting tees out 

 of the cellar too early in the spring. 

 Mine did nicely last spring ; they had 

 no diarrhea at all. 



The Late Drouth in Texas.— L. B. 



Smith, Cross Timbers, 5 Tex., on Dec. 

 12, 1886, writes : 



I commenced the season with 16 

 colonies, and sold 5, which left me 11. 

 Bees in this portion of the country 

 have gathered no surplus honey. It 

 has been the poorest honey season 

 since my recollection ; in fact, I had 

 to feed all of my bees through the 

 latter part of the spring and early 

 part of summer to prevent their 

 starving. Nearly all the bees in this 

 vicinity are dead. Of course the long 

 continued drouth did it. Although it 

 was a cold, backward spring, my bees 

 built up to strong colonies, and were 

 ready to gather nectar, if there had 

 been any to gather; but at the time 

 they should have been storing honey, 

 they were fighting and robbing, so 

 that it was almost impossible to open 

 a hive at any time of the day without 

 creating a general uproar in the api- 

 ary ; since that time what tew bees 

 that were left have gathered abund- 

 ant stores from the late cotton blooms, 

 for their winter's feed. My bees are 

 all on the summer stands. 



Excellent Results.— Wm. B. Mc- 

 Cormick, Uniontown,p Pa., on Dec. 

 15, 1886, writes : 



After several years of disaster and 

 discouragements, I have had one sea- 

 son of satisfactory results, though 

 nothing in comparison with what I 

 read about, but in excess of any I ever 

 knew in this county. On May 1, I 

 had 20 good colonies, most of which 

 were Italians, and from them I ob- 

 tained 1,400 pounds of comb honey 

 (nearly all in one and two pound sec- 

 tions), and upwards of 50 swarms, all 

 of which I saved, except one which 

 absconded. I would like to have pre- 

 vented so much swarming, but all my 

 efforts proved fruitless, nearly all of 

 my first swarms swarmed, and of 

 course lessened the amount of sur- 

 plus honey. One colony which did 

 not swarm gave me 132 pounds of 

 surplus. Mr. Phil Lesler, who lives 

 about three miles from here, also did 

 very well, having 70 colonies last 

 spring. He obtained 3,000 pounds of 

 comb honey, and as we are the only 

 ones who pay attention to the busi- 

 ness in this locality, we control the 

 market, having agreed not to retail it 



