118 



AMERICAN BEE JOURMAl. 



as I have observed them. Possibly it is 

 a matter of little consequence, yet it 

 may become important. Is it another 

 "nameless " bee disease ? It seems clear 

 to me that there is something the matter 

 with the " black, shiny bees." Can Prof. 

 Cook, or some other careful observer, 

 explain the matter ? 



Walton, Mich. D, C. Leach. 



Sweet Clover. 



I would like to know what you would 

 call the enclosed flower ? It was growing 

 in a patch of alsike clover, which I 

 sowed last Spring. I have never seen 

 anything like it. Is the one with the 

 white flower sweet clover ? Bees are 

 booming now. Basswood is just opening, 

 and if the weather continues favorable, 

 I think it will yield an abundance of 

 nectar. Swarming is rather backward 

 here, on account of the cold and wet 

 weather. I have only had 3 swarms 

 from 10 colonies, Spring count. The 

 bees would build queen-cells, and then 

 tear them out again, after they were 

 capped. I would like to know if this is 

 a common occurrence, as I have never 

 known them to do that before. I have 

 one colony that came out of the cellar 

 queenless, which I have been unable to 

 induce to rear a queen, and get her to 

 laying. Have had 3 queens hatched 

 out in this colony, and not one of them 

 ever got to laying. I saw all of them 

 after they were hatched, and then in a 

 few days they w^ould disappear. There 

 were plenty of drones flying all the time, 

 and I am at a loss to know what became 

 of the queens. My bees wintered splen- 

 didly last Winter, with the exception of 

 the colony that came out of the cellar 

 queenless. S. C. Booher. 



Danbury, Iowa, July 8, 1891. 



[That having the small white flowers 

 Is Melilotus alba, commonly called sweet 

 clover. It is an excellent honey plant ; 

 the nectar being of fine flavor and light 

 color. — Ed.] 



Cream of Bee-Periodicals. 



My thanks are due to J. M. Jenkins, 

 of Wetumpka, Ala., as I feel indebted 

 to the American Bee Journal, through 

 him, for my success in bee-keeping, with 

 the A B C of Bee-Culture, as a few years 

 ago he sent me a sample copy of the Bee 

 Journal and Gleanings, and advised me 

 to subscribe, and if at the end of sub- 

 scription, I was not satisfied, he would 



pay the bill. Since that time I have 

 taken others, but I consider them the 

 cream of bee-periodicals. 



Hamilton, N. C. S. D. Matthews. 



Wavelets of News. 



Good Quality and Fair Prices. 



Every man must support himself and 

 his family by the business in which he is 

 engaged. Therefore, when any one 

 offers what he has to sell at prices that 

 will not allow a margin sufficient to pay 

 for his time, etc., it is evident that 

 something is wrong. 



Purchasers will be safe in making it a 

 rule to always deal with reliable parties, 

 and pay a fair price for what they want. 



"Something for nothing" generally 

 proves a disappointment to the one who 

 expects it, and usually brings trouble 

 and perplexity. 



While the above is well suited to all 

 the affairs of life, it is especially appli- 

 cable to the very cheap queen traffic of 

 the present time. Good queens cannot 

 be reared at from 35 to 50 cents each, 

 and the purchaser of such queens gen- 

 erally finds only " trouble and perplex- 

 ity " at the end of such a transaction.- — 

 G. M. DooLiTTLE, in Rural Home. 



Rocky Mountain Bees. 



Honey bees are not natives of America, 

 as one of our correspondens at Salt Lake 

 City would have us believe. When John 

 Elliott translated the Bible into the 

 Indian language, there were no words 

 expressive of honey and wax. 



There is a native species in Brazil, but 

 destitute of a sting, and different from 

 the bees we have. 



The traditions of the Indians concur 

 with ours, that the honey bee came 

 from Europe, and they regarded it as the 

 harbinger of the white man, and believe 

 that as fast as it advances, the red man 

 must retire. 



How early bees were introduced into 

 this country is not definitely known. 

 They were imported into Florida by the 

 Spaniards previous to 1763, and ap- 

 peared in New York in 1793. The 

 little black bees of the Rocky Mountains 

 — those ugly little fellows with the 

 tremendous stings, always ready to 

 fight — are evidently a cross from the 

 earliest pioneer days here. — Colorado 

 Paper. 



