What I would like to see, is some way of making these Stations more useful than they now are. Not all the men who are in charge of them are competent to fulfil the duties assigned them.
A correspondent writes saying he was in hopes The Stinger would be put into winter quarters and not taken out again until the spring. The Stinger thanks the aforesaid correspondent, and would say that he regrets that the witless correspondent did not sign his name to the letter, that I might pay my respects to him in a way that would make him sorry for his impertinence.
The Stinger is not the kind of a bear that has to seek some den during the winter months; nor is he exactly like the bee that has the misfortune of living in a cold clime. The Stinger is out every day in the year, and if he does not come your way often, do not feel you have escaped a pestilence. It is generally the man with a guilty conscience that fears to have his misdeeds ventilated.
A correspondent has written me to know what he should do with his surplus honey. The way I do when there is any surplus honey in our house, after we have brought home a jar of honey, and it is not all consumed at the first meal, is to put it aside until the next meal, when the surplus will surely disappear.
Never kick a hive of bees when you are down; wait until you are up and can run away.
Why is killing bees like a confession? Because you unbuzz ’em.--_Ex._
☞ Do not write anything for publication on the same sheet of paper with business matters, unless it can be torn apart without interfering with either part of the letter.
The bees are wintering finely so far. They had a good cleansing flight on Dec. 23rd and 24th. Last year was a very poor one for honey here, on account of the severe drouth, but we hope for a boomer next year.
Say, do not let “The Stinger” sting so hard. He might lose his sting, and die like the bees.
Bees did fairly well here the past season. The bees in this neighborhood are nearly all blacks, and are mostly kept in round and box hives, and but very little attention is paid to them. Mine are Italians and hybrids, and are in good condition for winter. I am well pleased with the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.
I will say for the benefit of Mr. Spencer, of Farmersville, Mo., that I am well acquainted with the Cherokee Strip south of Hunnewell, Kans., and I have kept bees here (due south of his location about 60 miles) for the last three years, and although I have a better location for bees, my bees haven’t made their own living, nor do I think they will more than one year in five, and my advice to all Strip settlers is, to let bee-keeping for profit severely alone for the present.