April. 1913. 



American V^@ Journal 



the bees. If there is no honey I have lost 

 my time, and you will have to lose your 

 bees unless you furnish me with honey to 

 feed them, in which case I would feel com- 

 pelled to do the work. 



But if there is a crop and I make some 

 money, you are entitled to a part of the 

 profit. 



The custom is for the man who furnishes 

 the bees to furnish the material, hives, sec- 

 tions, etc . and the crop and the swarms 

 are divided equally. This is a fair division 

 between labor and capital. 



2. Regarding the moisture in your cellar, 

 you have not enough ventilation. 



An Ontario Letter 



So far this winter lias been mild and favor- 

 able for bees in this locality, along the south 

 shore of Lake Ontario. The mercury has 

 been playing between 4 degrees and 40 de- 

 grees until Feb. 20. when the thermometer 

 went up to (jo degrees, and the bees on the 

 summer stands have nken a good flight, 

 seeming to be all right- Those in the cellar 

 are doing fine so far. and remain very quiet. 



1 he writer has been a bee keeper close to 

 50 years as a side issue, and over 10 years for 

 pleasure .yet still remains as one who has fol- 

 lowed the old Swiss saying. "Drink, drink, 

 drink;' in order to accomplish anything in 

 the bee-fraternity worthwhile. 



, , ^ Kev. ,T. M. Wismer. 



Jordan Station. Ont. 



buildings, and on the west by a high fence. 

 This is my eighth year as a beekeeper. My 

 crop, last year, was 0000 pounds of finished 

 sections, a large portion of which was 

 fancy. ' Bell E. Berryman. 



Central City. Nebr.. Feb. 25. 



Discouraged With California 



Prospect for a good honey crop in Cali- 

 fornia is very poor at present. The rainfall 

 so far has been very light, but we may have 

 P'entyot rain yet. This has probably been 

 the coldest winter ever experienced in Cali- 

 fornia since it was settled by the American 

 people; but it is too early in the season to 

 tell whether it has had any bad effect on the 

 honey-producing plants, such as the sage 

 and mountain buckwheat. 



Last year was very poor.no crop at all. 

 aiin a great many bees died from paralysis, 

 i he honey business in California is too un- 

 certain to be depended upon alone for a 

 living, and should be run in connection with 

 something else. L G, Smith. 



San Benito. Calif., Feb iq. 



Wintered Well Out-of-doors 



I am sending this photograph of my apiary 

 01 100 colonies in their winter quarters. This 

 IS March 4. and I have not lost a single col- 

 ony, and they are in splendid condition in 

 every \yay. I expect to harvest 25,00(1 pounds 

 ot section honey the coming season. 



1 he apiary IS protected on the north by 



Early Spring in Nebraska 



Up-to-date bees have wintered well. Maple 

 came near starting in southern Nebraska 

 over a month ago. My bees were in the cel- 

 lar from Dec. i to Feb. 20. As there was too 

 much moisture in the hives. I set them in 

 clustered groups and protected them from 

 winds. They enjoyed two fairly nice days 

 after being set out. T. Hi'l.L. 



Tobias, Nebr. 



Fears Danger of Spraying 



I am in the bee-business in a small way I 

 wintered 10 colonies on summer stands, and 

 they all seem 10 be in very good shape from 

 outward appearace, as I have not opened 

 any of the hives yet. Yesterday, Feb. 21. I 

 found the bees bringing in pollen, which is 

 the earliest that 1 ever knew them to be 

 bringing in pollen in this part of the coun- 

 try. We are having a very warm spell just 

 now. The thermometer registered 72 de- 

 grees yesterday, which accounts for the 

 bees being at work so early in the season. 



I am fearful that our bees will be short of 

 stores this spring on account of such a warm 

 winter, and unless we have a very favorable 

 spring we will have to do some spring feed- 

 ing to guard against spring dwindling and 

 loss. 



I have always wintered my bees on sum- 

 mer stands, and have not lost any so far, 

 but I always aim to protect them by cover- 

 ing them well and having a windbreak. 



I am very much afraid that the reckless 

 manner in which the fruit-men have been 

 spraying will soon put an end to bee-keep- 

 ing in this part of the country. Bees are 

 worth more to the fruit-men than to the 

 owner of the bees, in the way of pollenizing 

 the Iruit. In the spring of I'Jio my neighbor 



had an orchard right by my bees, and when 

 the trees were in bloom it was cold and the 

 bees could not get out very much, and the 

 trees that were closest to the bees were the 

 only ones that had any apples on. 



The owner asked me liow I accounted for 

 that ? My idea was that the bees did not get 

 very far from the hives, and only distributed 

 pollen on the nearest trees, for one part of 

 the orchard had as much bloom as the 

 other did. Welch Bibbke. 



Cottageville, W. Va., Feb. 22. 



A Report from Maine 



The outlook for the bee-keeper in this' 

 great potato country is not very bright at 

 present. The past summer was too wet 

 and cool, and bees went into winter quar- 

 ters rather light in stores, and not up to the 

 standard in bees. 



The winter has been the mildest known in 

 this section for many years up to February, 

 with the lightest snow fall. In consequence, 

 the clover fields are covered with a coat of 

 ice. Since February came the mercury has 

 tried to hide, most of the time in the glass 

 bulb at the bottom of the tube. It is 15 de- 

 grees below zero today, with a strong wind 

 blowing. 



Bees are wintered in cellars here, but an 

 open winter like this badly injures the 

 clover on which we depend for our surplus 

 honey. If Burbank could be persuaded to 

 make the potato blossom yield a liberal 

 quantity of nectar of good quality, this 

 would be a bee-keepers paradise. 



We who have sighed for the sunny skies of 

 southern California feel a little more con- 

 tented in our northern homes since that 

 terrible freeze. We have heartfelt si'mpa- 

 thy for our brother bee-keepers and the 

 citrus fruit-growers of that sunny (frost bit- 

 ten! clime. May they never see anything 

 like it again. Perhaps there is a lesson hid- 

 den in the frost and ruin that may reveal it- 

 self for the good of all. Let us hope so. 



Caribou. Maine. Feb. H. O. B. Griffin. 



Report from Illinois 



I had 22 colonies last spring. My time be- 

 ing taken up with other business. I made ar- 

 rangements with J. M. Bent, of Milledge- 

 ville. to take care of my bees on shares. Mr. 

 Bent also has an apiary of his own. 



I now have =;» colonies. All the increase 

 is from the 22 except 2 swarms. We got 

 nearly 3000 pounds of extracted honey and 

 3';o pounds of comb honey this season. The 

 picture only shows the west end of my bee- 

 house. It extends 24 feet east. My bees are 

 all in a healthy condition at present. 



Polo, III. O. L Sauer. 



Blossoms of Almond Trees 



I am sending you some pictures of the 

 almond trees in full bloom. There are hun- 

 dreds of acres of trees just like those here. 

 The honey from the almond is bitter, but as 

 it comes in February.it is fine for building 

 up colonies. What swarming my bees do is 

 in March, but in toi2 I had 23 colonies and no 

 swarms. I'hey gave me 2800 pounds of 

 honey R- V. Bryner. 



Oakiey. Calif.. Feb. 26. 



Bees Wintering Finely 



Bees are wintering finely so far; however 

 we had one day that was pretty rough on 

 them. It was warm, and the sun was nice 

 and warm, but a cold wind was blowing. 

 There was all of a pint of chilled bees scat- 

 tered around some of the hives. 



Oiirin-the-Queen-Breeder. 



Bellevue. Ohio. 



Mild Winter in South Dakota 



The winter has been very mild for this 

 part of the country, and there has been no 

 snow so far. I am afraid the prospect for 

 clover is not improved by this condition. 

 My bees are wintered in the cellar, and are 

 doing well. The thermometer has not va- 

 ried 5 degrees from 45 since they were put in. 



South Dakota. Geo, F. Webster. 



Bell E. Berryman's Lone-Tree Ai'iarv Wintering Well. 



Early Pollen 



Mr. Scholl's comments on the need of 

 early pollen caused me to remember a pho- 

 tograph taken in 1006, of bees working on rye 

 flour. When the bees were examined that 

 spring, late in March, a number of strong 



