AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



385 



never known any foul-brood in this part 

 of Texas. 



Fruit is just beginning to bloom, and 

 bees are busy, and appear to be doing 

 well. They have, however, been able to 

 get pollen and, perhaps, a little honey 

 for a month past, on warm days. 



If any one having a good location for 

 honey, will take an interest in bees, 

 purchase a good manual on the subject 

 of bees and honey, then study, read, and 

 practice what he learns, he can succeed 

 every time. 



Round Rock, Tex., March 2, 1891. 



Bees are Helnfiil to Frnlt-Growers. 



H. D. ALEXA.NDER. 



I have a vineyard of three acres, and 

 never knew a honey-bee to puncture 

 grapes until some bird had pecked the 

 berry first, or it had been cracked by 

 wet weather, and I have watched them 

 closely for years. They will alight on a 

 cluster of grapes, after the honey flow is 

 over, and if none of the berries have 

 been punctured, or cracked, they will 

 leave it, and try another cluster. 



The bees never did any damage, but 

 helped to clean out the cracked and 

 punctured ones, for after their visits, 

 the skins of such would dry up, and 

 when the grapes were picked and as- 

 sorted, they were dry and clean, where- 

 as, had it not been for the bees, the 

 cracked and punctured ones would have 

 been wet and sticky, and must have 

 smeared the sound berries and clusters. 

 For these reasons I consider Miss Bee a 

 helper, instead of a nuisance. I also 

 have an orchard of apple, pear and plum 

 trees, for them to work in, and I have 

 never yet failed of getting a good supply 

 of honey and fruit of the best quality. 



I winter out-doors, in chaff hives, 

 using kiln-dried sawdust and shavings 

 for packing. Am well protected on the 

 north and south, and am three miles 

 from Lake Champlain. 



My theory, in the care of bees, is to let 

 nature take its course, and not disturb 

 them more than can possibly be avoided, 

 and I think they do better. The hardest 

 month on bees, in this locality, is April. 



I never fed bees until last Fall, when 

 I gave those colonies that were short of 

 stores, all the sugar syrup they would 

 take. 



Last Spring, I opened 15 colonies of 

 of black bees, and found them solid with 

 bees, and having plenty of stores. After 

 having kept black bees for nine years, I 

 concluded to try 10 colonies of Italians, 



which I placed by the side of my blacks, 

 making 25 colonies in all. 



The blacks cast 3 swarms, and the 

 Italians 6 in June and July, and 2 in 

 August. The latter swarms were the 

 best and heaviest, and I fed them upon 

 unfinished sections. The latter part of 

 September they went into winter quar- 

 ters in 12-frame Bristol hives, and *at 

 this date, after a sharp, cold Winter, I 

 find them still strong in numbers, and 

 with plenty of supplies. 



From 23 colonies I took 1,100 pounds 

 of saleable comb-honey, which sold at 

 an average of 17 cents per pound. My 

 black bees stored 2 pounds of comb- 

 honey for every pound stored by the 

 Italians, and capped it in nicer style. I 

 find the Italians to be better breeders 

 than the blacks, but the blacks are bet- 

 ter honey gatherers. 



The first honey I took, in the latter 

 part of June, was amber-colored instead 

 of White, and the capping was yellowish, 

 which gave it the appearance, at the 

 first glance, of being dark honey, but my 

 customers did not exactly like it, and the 

 color hurt its sale. 



The honey flow began well, but in two 

 weeks it ceased, and no more honey, 

 white or dark, was gathered during the 

 season. 



Charlotte, Vt., Feb. 28, 1891. 



Uncle lose Stirs np tlie Bees. 



M. DOBBINS. 



I had purchased 3 colonies of bees, 

 and placed them in the garden behind 

 some rose bushes, to conceal them froto 

 the boys. 



When the weeds began to get too thick 

 in the garden, I employed Uncle Mose 

 Brown, and old negro about 50 years of 

 age, who would be perfectly bald, except 

 for a little fringe of wool, reaching from 

 one ear around the back of his head to 

 the other ear. 



Uncle Mose has a violent temper, and 

 as he usually wears a hat without any 

 crown, the boys annoy him by pelting 

 him on the top of the head with small 

 pieces of putty, blown from a tin tube, 

 whenever opportunity offers. 



He began hoeing the potatoes, and as 

 the ends of the rows were close to the 

 hives, I concealed myself behind the 

 fance, to see if the bees would molest 

 him. 



When he was within about 40 feet of 

 the hives, he suddenly dropped his hoe, 

 and, clapping one hand on his bald 

 head, exclaimed, '* Hi, yi, dar, you li'le 



