THE SMERICSK BUE JO^RKSlLr. 



139 



the leading manufactures. Of one 

 thing our bee-keeping friends may be 

 certain, viz : That we shall hereafter 

 be more particular when buj-ing honey, 

 to examine veiy closely the quality 

 and thickness of foundation used in 

 their sections. We hope they will con- 

 sider their own and our interests iden- 

 tical in this nuitter, and govern them- 

 selves accordingly. 

 Wethersfield, Conn. 



GRAPES AND BEES. 



Poi§oning; the Bees, as Advised 

 toy the " Messenger/' 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY G. B. OLNEY. 



No doubt any one would have been 

 surprised to have overheard the in- 

 terview which I had on Feb. 11, with 

 our Atlantic "Wiley," the editor of 

 the death Messenger. After exchang- 

 ing a few compliments, etc., I accosted 

 him with the following : " I would 

 be pleased to know the author of an 

 item published in the Messenger a short 

 time ago, proposing a plan of admin- 

 istering an active poison to the honey- 

 bee, for the purpose of protecting the 

 grape-culture of our vast and noble 

 country, of this free and independent 

 America." 



" Well, yes," said Mr. Wiley, " I re- 

 member there was an article some- 

 thing of that nature in one of the back 

 numbers, and, by the way, in some 

 places the bees are creating sad havoc 

 with many grape-tields, and I don't see 

 why .something isn't done to rid such 

 parts of the country of the little pests. 

 In some places there are State laws to 

 protect certain districts wherein gi'ape- 

 fields exist to any great extent." 



Where do such laws exist, Mr. 

 Wiley ? " Why, in California, for one." 



Any other place ? 



" Well, that is the principal place 

 where grape-growing, as a general 

 thing, is made a specialty, and the 

 growers have to be protected." 



By what authority do 3"ou say such 

 laws exist in that State ? "" Why, Dick 

 Harding told me, and he came right 

 from there." 



Dick Harding ! said I. That little, 

 low-lifed, brainless, one-horse lawyer ! 

 Is it possible. Hank, that you have 

 come to this, to lay yourself bare to 

 the world from information received 

 from a some-and-substance of a com- 

 plete nothingness. If you are no better 

 judge of caliijre than that, I pit}- jou. 



I then gave him the Bee Journal 

 of Dec. 21, 1887. He looked at it, and 

 then with a clinched fist, " banged " 

 upon it, and roared aloud : "There's 

 a lie right there ; he says it is a local 

 sheet !" It was no sheet at all ; it was 



a slip. I saw it before the fellow sent 

 it, and I didn't know until lately that 

 there was a Bee Journal published. 



Wiley, I beg to inform you that that 

 Bee Journal was first edited at Wash- 

 ington, D. C. by Samuel Wagner, in 

 1861 ; then in Chicago by Thos. G. 

 Newman, and has a circulation through- 

 out every civilized nation on the globe. 

 I do wonder what you have been at 

 the last twelve years of your editorial 

 life ! Not dead, are you ? but sleep- 

 ing ! And now, sir, I think you have 

 a much larger wad than you can con- 

 venientl}' swallow, and unless jour 

 throat is more elastic than I think it 

 is, it maj' choke a little before you get 

 it down. It is not likely you could do 

 much harm araid the intelligent men 

 and women that might perchance read 

 your article ; but there are some that 

 might think they had struck a bonanza 

 on " protection," and adopt your ne- 

 farious scheme of extermination, thus 

 laying themselves liable to the law, 

 damage the innocent, and do untold 

 mischief. 



I then left him in his dilemma, and 

 called on a Mr. Bates, editor of the 

 Cass County Democrat who is a gentle- 

 man, and an honor to his profession. 

 He readil}' caught up the line of 

 thought intended, and requested me to 

 leave the number of the Bee Journal 

 with him. I did so, of course, and in 

 the next issue of the Democrat he gave 

 the Messenger and his nefarious article 

 a severe censure. 



Atlantic, Iowa. 



STARTERS. 



Fastening Foundation in the 

 Sections. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY ELIAS FOX. 



I would say in reply to Mr. Eden's 

 article, on page 27, that he is a veiy 

 good mathematician, and so far as he 

 has gone, he has figured correctly. I 

 would like to have him compute the 

 cost of fastening starters by using 

 melting wax. I have tried both, and 

 for 7ne my method is cheaper, better, 

 and more speedy. 



I never have found any starters 

 curled to one side, and I have had 

 them stand all winter. If they are 

 properly fastened by my method, they 

 will not cui'l. 



Mr. Eden also says that if I should 

 use a starter that would reach across 

 the section, I would find that it would 

 prove very unsatisfactory. In reply 

 to tliis I would say that I use the same 

 implement for fastening foundation in 

 brood-frames, and prefer it to any 

 other method. 



In reference to Mr. Haag's article 

 on page 42, I suggest that I did not 

 saj- that my method of fastening foun- 

 dation was the only satisfactoi-y 

 method. It has i^roven so for me, and 

 if Mr. Haag does not approve of it I 

 would advise him not to use it. I have 

 tried his method, and discarded it on 

 account of the waste of time and wax. 

 I said that not one starter in 500 would 

 drop oft', if properly put on ! You can- 

 not get bees enough on one to break it 

 loose. I have no use for grooved 

 sections. 



My bees seem to be in as good con- 

 dition as when I put them in the cellar, 

 which was on Nov. 8, 1887. 



Hillsborough, Wis., Feb. 2, 1888. 



WINTERING BEES. 



Bees ^Vintered in the Cellar- 

 Rearing Queens. 



Written inr the American Bee Journal 

 BY WM. H. FORD. 



In the fall of 1886, I put into the 

 cellar 23 colonies of bees, and they 

 wintered well. I took them out in the 

 spring about March 28, with the loss 

 of but one colony, 'its queen having 

 died of old age. So I had 22 colonies 

 to commence with last season. They 

 built up fast, and were strong by the 

 time apple trees bloomed. Swarms 

 were expected early, but on the ac- 

 count of the dry weather there was 

 scarcely any colonies that swarmed. I 

 had only 5 or 6 swarms, but only one 

 did anjthing, and the rest I doubled 

 up. 



I purchased one imported queen on 

 Aug. 25, and a 3-frame nucleus. Can 

 I rear queens from them in the spring? 

 What method is the best for early 

 spring ? 



I put 23 colonies into the cellar last 

 fall, and I think they are wintering all 

 right. They did not gather any honey 

 the past season. Basswood bloomed 

 about Jul}' 1, but on account of dry 

 weather it did not yield any honey ; so 

 I had to feed my bees for winter stores. 

 I put them into the cellar on Nov. 14, 

 1887. 



I owe the A.merican Bee Journax 

 many thanks for what knowledge I 

 ha->e obtained from it. This report is 

 written for my apiary located in 

 Marshalltown, Iowa. 



Yorkville, Ills., Feb. 6, 1888. 



[Yes ; you can rear queens from the 

 imported bees in the spring. Remove 

 the queen, and let the bees start queen- 

 cells. If you want several queens, 

 transfer the cells to nuclei, and when 

 the queens are laying, you can intro- 

 duce them to full colonies. — Ed.] 



