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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



December 29, 



for the mature as for the immature bees. Bumble-bees are so 

 like the honey-bee in their habits, work, aod life history, that 

 I believe what is true of the one is largely so of the other. I 

 think the main part of the pollen is for the brood, but that the 

 honey is quite as much for the mature beea» 



Again, I feel sure that the species of Audrena do at times 

 take from the honey of the hive. There are many records of 

 such pilfering on the part of the small black bees. I have 

 often had such bees sent me. 



I was glad Prof. Bruner spoke so well of the value of 

 bees as pollinators, and said of a truth that honey-dew is 

 exclusively the product of insects. There is little doubt but 

 such is the truth. Los Angeles Co., Calif., Dec. 12. 



Mosquitoes aud Other Pests in Cuba and tlie 

 South. 



BY F. DANZENBAKBR. 



I went to the Omaha convention hoping to meet Mr. O. 0. 

 Poppleton, but I failed to see him. I was very greatly pleased 

 with the valuable information given in his interesting paper 

 on honey-production in Cuba, as I wanted to learn still more 

 of the drawbacks, if any, that might be there. 



Mr. Lathrop wisht to know if there was foul brood there, 

 but no one present could answer the question. Mr. Poppleton 

 now says there was none iu Cuba. 



I am under further obligation to Mr. Poppleton for his 

 calling attention to what I askt about — other pests that might 

 be there to make miserable the life of the bee-keeper. I did 

 not say how many mosquitoes were in Cuba — I said I had askt 

 returned soldiers, and others from there, about mosquitoes, 

 gnats, fleas, and sandflies, but no one that I had met seemed 

 able to answer, and I wisht to know if there were none there ; 

 perhaps those I met had not been outside of the cities enough 

 to know. 



Having spent the greater part of the past 22 years in the 

 South, I am aware of the insects and creeping pests that infest 

 that otherwise favored region. Take them away, and for me 

 it would be an earthly Eden ; and I have desired for years to 

 learn if there is any place in an all-time summer-land free of 

 Insect pests. If so, I would like to go there to live, as I have 

 no use for frost and snow. I have been on the east coast of 

 Florida several seasons, and I know of no place in the United 

 States where as much health and pleasure can be had for the 

 outlay as on the Halifax and Indian rivers, and the region of 

 Lake Worth and Biscayne Bay, on the east coast of Florida, 

 from October till May. But I have been told by people that! 

 met in their own homes on Key Largo, that during the sum- 

 mer months mosquitoes sometimes covered the sides of their 

 houses till the color of the boards was hidden by them, and 

 they were forced to shut themselves in-doors to escape the 

 mosquitoes at certain hours of the day ; but there were sand- 

 flies and gnats, fleas and jiggers or redbugs so small that but 

 few people can see them without the aid of a glass ; the poison 

 of their bites lasts for days. I would rather endure a thou- 

 sand mosquitoes that I can shut out, than one of these red-' 

 bugs, as th«y threw me into a fever. I have scars that I have 

 carried for 20 years resulting from their bites, before I learned 

 how to destroy them, which can be done by heating the flesh 

 at an open flre, hot enough to kill them, which also cures the 

 terrible itching and swelling caused by their poisonous bites. 



I would not suffer these things anywhere, even if I could 

 produce 1,000 fancy sections of honey to the colony; and I 

 would be very glad If Mr. Poppleton, or any one else, will tell 

 what we can learn nowhere else of the dark side— what the 

 bee-keeper must meet that makes his life miserable in Cuba. 



District of Columbia. 



A Reply to a Criticism on the Golden Method 

 of Producing Comb Honey. 



BY J. S. HABTZELL. 



In presenting to the readers of the American Bee Journal 

 the product of my apiary, etc., for 1898, on page 657, I had 

 thought I would not write anything more for publication be- 

 fore the close of the season of 1899, if spared, and then make 

 up my account; but through the kindness of an esteemed 

 friend and fellow bee-keeper I have been introduced to 

 another "Doubting Thomas "—Mr. R. L. Taylor— who has 

 appeared on the arena, presenting in the columns of the Bee- 

 Keepers' Review his criticisms on my report and the Golden 

 method of comb honey production. 



Before replying to Mr. Taylor's criticisms, I wish to say I 

 would esteem it but just and right that when any article is 



criticised, the criticism should appear in the same journal the 

 first article had been publisht. Otherwise it would necessi- 

 tate the taking of all journals pertaining to apiculture to keep 

 informed in relation to the articles written, which would be a 

 costly expedient ; for had it not been for the friend spoken of, 

 sending me the November issue of the Review, I would not 

 have known of the critic's criticism. 



Mr. Taylor appears very much surprised that the 40 col- 

 onies on the Golden plan yielded 46 13^ '20 sections per col- 

 ony, while the 21 colonies run on the ordinary plan yielded 

 only 28 2/7 sections per colony, of completed honey. These, 

 liowever, are facts. 



Mr. Taylor says : " Mr. Hartzell seems to be imprest with 

 the idea that this nakecJ stofemc7if should be sufiicient to con- 

 vince any one of the great superiority of the new plan, but I 

 [Mr. Taylor] doubt if any one will be convinced." 



Now, fellow bee-keepers, is that surprising ? Doubting 

 Thomas saw the Lord after his resutrectlon, but would not be 

 convinced that It was He, until the Lord requested him to 

 reach hither his finger and behold His pierced hands, and 

 reach hither his hand and thrust it into His side, and be not 

 faithless (doubting) but believing. After which, in astonish- 

 ment, Thomas cried, "My Lord and my God!" Doubters! 

 yes, bless you, plenty of them. The antediluvian world doubted 

 the admonitions and preaching of Noah, and perisht after a 

 lapse of 120 years, when the fullness of time had come ; the 

 Jews doubted the coming of the Christ, or Messiah, and are still 

 in doubt. Three-fourths of the residents of the United States, 

 and of the world, are doubters of Christianity, or, if not, would 

 be identified with the Christian church. I will not, therefore, 

 undertake to convert Mr. Taylor, for his doubting is so deeply 

 implanted in him that I deem it would be a useless endeavor 

 :to try to get him to test the Golden plan. 



The next quotation from Mr. Taylor's criticism reads 

 thus : "In the first place, it is entirely too good to be true;" 

 and follows by saying : " I am not questioning the truth of 

 Mr. Hartzell's statement." This appears to me very strange 

 logic — "too good to be true;" yet "not questioning the 

 truth," etc. See how unjust Mr. Taylor is. It still remains, 

 however, that " truth crusht to earth will rise again." 



The statements made by me concerning the products of 

 my apiary are true, and Mr. Taylor's references to exactness, 

 scale tests, etc., are quibblings of his. I made no selections 

 of colonies, and to fully satisfy myself I applied the Golden 

 method promiscuously throughout my apiary. No feeding 

 was done, no account taken of weight, or of young or old 

 queens ; the swarms on the Golden as well as on the ordinary 

 plan were returned, and the entire apiary managed without 

 Increase. 



Mr. Taylor, I presume, from his inqulsitiveness, is in no 

 sense competent to criticise the Golden method, else he would - 

 not make inquiries as to what was done with swarms from 

 each class, weights of each brood-nest at the end of the sea- 

 son, etc. Bless you, Mr. Taylor, on the Golden plan we want 

 all colonies to swarm, but the swarms are to be returned, and 

 if you will turn to Mr. Golden's article publisht in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal of July 30, 1896, your eyes may behold the 

 dawning of a new era In bee-keeping. 



I tested six colonies on the Golden plan in 1S97 (see my 

 report on page 741 of that year). That experiment with the 

 Golden plan satisfied me as to Its worthiness, and the past sea- 

 son's experience doubly convinced me of the superiority of the 

 Golden method over any other in vogue. 



Has Mr. Taylor ever tested the Golden plan ? If not, will 

 he be manly enough to give it a fair trial in 1899? Or will 

 he continue his criticisms without applying tests, and thus re- 

 main a doubter ? 



O, could we make those doubts remove— 

 Those gloomy doubts that rise. 



Somerset Co., Pa. 



Lang'Strotli on tlie Honey-Bee, revised by 

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Xbe Xames and Addresses of all your bee 

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