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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



merely living. I have heard of a few 

 swarms being cast, but none of mine 

 have swarmed so far as I know. 

 • The recent rains almost insure a good 

 honey-flow from horsemint, in a short 

 time, and it is more plentiful than usual 

 this Spring, 



The buffalo clover is a lupine ; flowers, 

 all shades from deep blue to pure white, 

 on long raceme ; the deep blue being 

 most plentiful. 



There is also a small wild pea, with 

 pale blue flowers, which is very plenti- 

 ful, on which bees are working some at 

 present. 



I wish to call attention to one of the 

 grandest trees in the world (if I am 

 allowed to call it a tree), with its thick 

 columbar, palm-like trunk, sometimes 

 12 or 15 fe€t high — the Spanish bayo- 

 net, or yucca, with its compound panicle 

 of showy, cream-colored flowers. I had 

 one in my yard with a panicle of hun- 

 dreds of flowers in a solid mass, 2}i feet 

 long, and over 18 inches in diameter, 

 and it kept fresh and beautiful for four 

 weeks. The yucca is an evergreen. This 

 variety has persistent linear, or sword- 

 shaped leaves, sometimes 3 feet in length, 

 and sharp as a needle. The older and 

 larger they are, the more panicles they 

 bear, one on each limb. 



I have been feeding some of my bees, 

 and whenever I find a colony of bees 

 very stupid, and flying but little, I know 

 they are out of honey ; or if they are 

 carrying out their brood, or have the 

 diarrhea this time of year, that shows 

 that they are out of honey, and are 

 living on pollen, and it is astonishing 

 how soon they will get over this when 

 fed on honey. 



I sometimes feed my bees granulated 

 honey, and they do well on it, but about 

 the handiest and best way for me is to 

 take a two-quart Mason glass fruit jar, 

 fill it with honey, tie a piece of cheese 

 cloth, or other thin stuff, over the mouth, 

 and, if a two-story hive, take out two 

 frames and place it upside down on the 

 top of the lower frames ; if a one-story 

 hive, take out two frames, lay two small 

 sticks on the bottom, and place the jar 

 on them, mouth downward, and the bees 

 can get the honey. This is on the prin- 

 ciple of the pepper-box feeder, and 

 almost any kind of can will do as well. 

 I have no trouble with robbers when I 

 pursue this plan. 



Referring to Query 762, page 506, I 

 will say that a 10-frame Langstroth 

 hive, when every frame is full, will not, 

 hold much over 50 pounds of honey, and 

 all of the combs in the brood-nest are 

 never full — rarely over two-thirds full. 



I certainly would not disturb them, and 

 if I fed them comb-honey, I would let 

 them uncap it themselves, which they 

 will do when they need it. 

 Round Rock, Tex., April 23, 1891. 



Prize Essay on tlie Honey-Bee. 



KATE RICHMOND. 



In point of antiquity at least the bee 

 is deserving of honor, since it, in all 

 probability, was a native of the Garden 

 of Eden. I wonder, in those halcyon 

 days of the early purity and innocence 

 of man, when the long and beautiful 

 days must have seemed to the two 

 human inhabitants, an endless paradise 

 of glorious Summer, if the beautiful 

 silence was ever displaced, or, perhaps, 

 made more restful, by the " humming " 

 of the bee, as it winged its drowsy flight 

 from blossom to blossom, gathering the 

 honey that must have been spread with 

 such a lavish hand in that queen of 

 gardens. 



Amongst the ancient Egyptians the 

 bee was the hieroglyphical emblem of 

 royalty. I do not know whether it be- 

 came the emblem of royalty to them from 

 the fact that something analogous to a 

 monarchy has frequently been erro- 

 neously supposed to exist in a bee-hive. 

 True, there is one of the members of the 

 colony known as the queen, who, at cer- 

 tain seasons, is the object of particular 

 regard on the part of all the other mem- 

 bers, but only because the instincts of 

 all are variously directed towards hier, 

 at that time, as one indispensable "to the 

 objects for which the bee-community 

 exists ; but, beyond the fact of having 

 this attendance upon her, those who 

 make a study of the subject, tell us that 

 there is no evidence whatever of any- 

 thing like authority exercised by the 

 queen. 



To modern nations the bee furnishes 

 an example of all that is inspiriting and 

 patriotic. The patriotism is there, at 

 any rate. You do not find the members 

 of a bee-community taking exception to 

 the way in which the affairs are man- 

 aged. There is no clamoring for pro- 

 motion, but each insect fills the place for 

 which it was intended, without ques- 

 tioning. 



They all co-operate towards the com- 

 mon benefit of the community, and agree 

 that " union is strength," since in re- 

 pelling invasion, or avenging aggression, 

 the whole community become as one, 

 inasmuch as their several energies are 



