Feb. 11, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



105 



[ Our Bee-HeepinS Sisters] 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



A Wisconsin Woman's Bee-Experience. 



Dear Miss Wilson : — I have wanted to write to you for 

 the past six months, but " so much to do " is my excuse. I 

 almost feel acquainted with you and Dr. Miller, after read- 

 ing yOur writings for the past four years. Four years ago 

 this winter I took the bee-fever, and was not satisfied until 

 I possessed "A B C of Bee-Culture," and subscribed for 

 three journals upon the subject. I intend to have some of 

 the other books, also. 



I began the next spring with one colony, and the way 

 the poor bees were overhauled every day was enough to dis- 

 courage them, but they cast a fine swarm, and put up over 

 SO pounds of comb honey. I bought more bees the next 

 year, and have increased until now I have 84 colonies, 

 which I put into winter quarters the last of November. 



The last two seasons I had my bees 5 miles from town ; 

 a ladv friend was in company with me one summer, but not 

 being very strong she gave it up in the fall. Last summer 

 I ran them alone most of the time. During the honey-flow 

 I stayed out there 6 weeks, njy husband spending Sundays 

 with me, and my son would generally come out in the mid- 

 dle of the week to lend a helping hand for a day, and bring 

 provisions. 



During the spring I would ride out there once a week, 

 also after the honey-flow. In the fall I went out quite often 

 to feed for winter, as they gathered very little after July. 



During my stay of 6 weeks out there I missed my friend 

 of the year before, but had a young girl stay with me at 

 night. I was happy with my bees during the day. 



I got 3600 pounds of extracted honey from 41 colonies, 

 and 150 pounds of comb honey from 3 others. My mission- 

 ary colony put up 44 pounds. I think they might have done 

 better. I enjoy the work, and feel so well when out-of- 

 doors. Some days I have to work hard, but I am rested by 

 morning. 



I hope to attend some of the conventions, and meet the 

 good people whose writings I read with so much interest. 



Richland Co., Wis., Jan. 9. Mrs. W. J. Hillman. 



I wonder if you realize that you were having all the 

 benefits of a summer outing without the usual expense, your 

 outing being a source of profit instead. 



I was very much interested indeed in the report of your 

 missionary colony. 



I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you at some of 

 the conventions soon. The best part of the convention, to 

 me, is meeting so many nice people. 



Bees Caring for Empty Combs. 



Mrs. Griffith reports a bad year, May being the only 

 good month, and that is not usually a great month for sur- 

 plus so far north. Yet, in that month, each colony filled 

 with honey an extra story of brood-combs. After that the 

 season was so poor that not only was there no gain, but the 

 bees had to use up part of May's storing for their own sub- 

 sistence, leaving, however, some combs of sealed honey for 

 next spring's emergencies — not a bad thing to have. 



She had a somewhat unusual experience in putting 

 empty combs under colonies to be taken care of, which she 

 relates as follows : 



As I had more combs than my box would hold, I put a story of 

 them under each hive : that was the last day of April. I had 6 left ; as 

 1 had only 1 swarm that I know of, and that wastheday before Decora- 

 tion Day, I settled it, and thought all I would have to do would be 

 to go and take the one I had put under, and when I took the super 

 off the top and set it to one side, then went to lift off the top- 

 body, it was all I could lift; the bees had fllled between the two 

 bodies with wax and honey, and 1 had to pry them loose. And what a 

 time I had ! Both bodies full of honey and brood, and what a mess of 

 bees'. Then what to do was the ne.xt question. I got another hive 

 and put pan of the comb and brood in it, and put the queen in it, and 

 they were all right. 



"They had filled the 16 frames full, and had the super half full. In 

 the month of May, o of them had filled both of the bodies. One that 

 had no honey when I cleaned them up filled only its own hive-body, as 

 it was not so strong with bees. 



The bees did not have a flight lust month, and it is so cold I am 

 afraid it will not be good tor them to be confined so long without a 

 flight. 



I got only $12 ..iU cents worth of honey, but if 1 had what they 

 stored in the extra body ia hives, it would have made quite a differ- 

 ence; but the way the season turned out I would have had to feed 

 then]. Sarah J. Gkiffith. 



Cumlierland Co., N. J., Jan. 5. 



One would not usually expect bees to store so much in 

 the month of May in New Jersey, but it seems that, at least 

 in Mrs. Griffith's case, the combs needed some watching — 

 not against worms, but against honey. An extractor 

 might have done good service. There ought, however, to 

 have been no trouble with combs and honey between the 

 two stories. The probability is that there was more than 

 one-fourth inch space between the top-bars of the lower 

 story and the bottom-bars of the upper story. 



Mrs. Griffith is having serious trouble with her eyes. 

 She writes that she cannot see the least ray of light with 

 one eye, and that the other one is not good. She expects to 

 have them treated soon. I am sure she has the sympathy 

 of all the sisters in her affliction, and that they all unite 

 with me in the desire that the treatment may prove bene- 

 ficial. 





Nasty's Afterthoughts 



The " Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 





BEE-KEEPERS CROWDING EACH OTHER. 



There are some rights and wrongs which the laws do 

 not cover ; in fact, it looks as if there were some that the 

 laws could not be made to cover. What then ? Shall we 

 look on with indifference while one brother wrongs another 

 brother? No, indeed! Public sentiment is a powerful 

 thing ; and we can to a great extent make or leave unmade 

 the public sentiment. In an atmosphere of pessimistic, 

 " You can't do anything about it," the well-meaning young 

 apiarist may develop into a scoundrel. Let us. in our jour- 

 nals and in our conventions, keep the subject in reasonable 

 prominence, and cultivate the doctrine of doing right in 

 regard to every other brother's bee-territory. Furthermore, 

 let us require it of every man that he respect such rights 

 else be considered, inside the fraternity, as an Ishmaelite 

 and a scamp. 



A carefully worded and forcible declaration of these 

 rights, and our purpose to respect them in others, and claim 

 them for ourselves — the same to be signed, and the list of 

 signers published — might be one effective way to do some- 

 thing, in place of doing nothing from year to year. Our 

 previous weakness seems to have been that we delight to tie 

 the thing up into needless knots, and then drop it till the 

 next time. Page 805. 



QUEEN-EXCLUDERS AND EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Yes, Mr. Dadant, it's possible to run for extracted honey 

 and manipulate in such way as to have the honey uncon- 

 taminated and decent, and yet do without excluders. But 

 so many will not succeed in the first part of that (may be 

 not try very hard), that I regret to see such a course recom- 

 mended. It should not be considered as the regular way of 

 doing — excepting, of course, when nearly all the honey is to 

 be extracted late in the season. Wait late enough and there 

 will be no unsealed brood except near the heart of the nest, 

 wherever that is. Besides, one may not like to use half-size 

 combs to extract from. And putting empty combs above a 

 nearly full set may not seem to some as the best way. 

 Page 807. 



FLAVOR AND QUALITY OF EUCALYPTUS HONEY. 



E. V. Pagan does well to remind us that where eucalyp- 

 tus honey tries to sell in a foreign market there is lots of 

 desperate kicking about the quality of it. Sad, if we should 

 boom a honey for years only to find no one could eat it ! 

 How shall we harmonize or compromize these three dis- 

 cordant items ? (1.) The Australians say eucalyptus honey 

 is good. (2. t The British say they don't like the taste of it 

 — will have none of it — except in bottles as a medicine, and 

 not as a dessert. (3.) Our Editor has eaten excellent honey 

 alleged to be eucalyptus from California. Well, a foreign 



