March, 1910. 



American Hee JonrnaTj 



that there is some chance of niixiiis at a dis- 

 tance of 6 miles or more. 



IS. No use. All right to kill them. 



I'j. Caucasians havethat reputation, although 

 Root says they are no gentler than some 

 strains of pure Italians. 



20. Perhaps Cyprians. 



21. I don't know of any way to judge ex- 

 cept by her looks, the way she fills the frames 

 with eggs, and the stock she comes from. 



22. Most men will probably be safer as to 

 a living on a farm. The man who is thor- 

 oughly qualified for it may be safer with bees. 

 Such a man, with a strong liking for bees, 

 will have a better time with them even if he 

 should not make so much. 



23. It will be all right to leave it on the 

 hives until the weather bLComes too cold. But 

 if you use a screen, so the bees can not get 

 to the honey, the moths will probably have 

 "a high old time" with the cnmh*;. 



Lots of Snow — Fair Prospect 



There is lots of snow here this winter. 

 The prospect is fair for honey the coming 

 season. J. E. Cr.^nk. 



Middlebury. Vt . Feb 2f». 



Seem to Be Wintering All Right 



My bee» were put in winter quarters Dec. 

 3. 1000. They are weak, but they seem to be 

 wintering perfectly thus far. There are no 

 siens of disease yet. H. W. Lee. 



Pecatonica. II).. Marrh i. 



A Very Cold Winter 



We have had a very cold winter here. The 

 bees have been under snow about 2 feet 

 deep. The snow has gone now, and the bees 

 flew today. Out of 15 colonies I have only ^ 

 left. James H. Knotts. 



Tunnelton. \V. Va.. Feb. 28. 



Bees Seem All Right 



I have 80 colonies of bees, all in the cellar. 

 They seem to be all right so far. The season 

 of iQo-j was a very poor one for honey in this 

 part of Xew Brunswick. There was no sur- 

 plus honey to speak of. Bees were put in 

 winter quarters Quite light in stores. I hope 

 they will come out all right. 



Geo. F. Beach. 



Meadows. N. B.. Canada. Feb. 21. 



Bees Seem to Winter Well 



Last fall I had 42 colonies of bees, and they 

 were left on the summer stands. Today it 

 was warm enough for them to fly. and they 

 all seem strong yet. But I cannot say how 

 many may die before the winter is over. I 

 hope this year may prove a good one. as we 

 have had three bad seasons for bees. 



Martinsville. Ind.. Feb. 15. J- A. Lewis. 



Coal-Oil to Keep Ants Away 



The best way to keep ants from bees in 

 summer is to plant as many posts in a row as 

 needed for the hive bench to sit on. and 

 then dig out a hole as large as a peck meas- 

 ure and cement it and fill the hole about ^4 

 full of water, and pour coal-oii on top of 

 that, as much as a half-pint in each hole. I 

 think all who trv this will find it all right. 

 William H. Clark. 



Sperryville. Va.. Jan. n. 



Distance Bees Fly for Honey 



I saw in the January .A.mencan Bee Jour- 

 nal an article written by L. B. Smith, as to 

 how far bees fly. I will tell of a little experi- 

 ence. Last fall, one warm day, my father 

 and I went out towards the mountain bee- 

 hunting. We came to an open place on a 

 tidge that led to the mountain, where we 

 put out some bait. In about half an hour we 

 heard the buzzing of the bees, and sure 

 enough one lit on the bait. So we watched 



the bait for several hours where wc first put 

 it out. and in that time we had several dozen 

 bees on it. But we were unable to tell in 

 what direction they were going, as they cir- 

 cled so high in the air wc could not tell 

 which way they led off. However, we sup- 

 posed they flew towards the mountain. So 

 we commenced to move the bail towards the 

 mountain, the direction wc thought tliey 

 were going, and finally we startea up the 

 mountain, still moving the bait, time after 

 time, until we got towards the top. when we 

 commenced to sec which way they flew, as 

 they did not circle so high, and they led off 

 to the top of the mountaiiL 



We continued moving the bait, and the 

 farther we went the more bees we had. un- 

 til we got to the top. wlien night overtook us 

 and we had to start for home. 



The next day being my regular huckster 

 day. I could not go back, but the next day we 

 went to the top of the mountain where we 

 K-ft off. We put out some bait, and in a 

 short time we had lots of bees, and they 

 llfw right down the other side. We com- 

 menced movingdown the other side until we 

 got down in the other valley, where we 

 found them in an old oak-tree. I feel con- 

 fident in saying the distance from where we 

 first put out the bait to where we found 

 them was between 3^2 and 4 miles, as it was 

 from one valley across a large mountain into 

 another valley. So I believe in a time of 

 scarcity they will fly as far as Mr. Smith 

 says; but as to the amount of honey they 

 will store I am not able to say, as that one 

 had only about 2 pounds of honey. However. 

 we have had a terrible drouth and pasturage 

 was scarce. I hope to see this subject more 

 fully discussed. T. A. Crabill. 



St. Davids Church. Va., Jan. 25. 



Bees Long Confined to Hives 



This has been the closest and longest that 

 mv bees have ever been confined to their 

 hives. They haven't had a flight for 8 weeks. 

 They are on the summer stands wrapped 

 in painted canvas, well protected from rain 

 and wind. I can hear them humming in the 

 hives. How do you think they'll pan out in 

 the spring? We have 18 inches of snow this 

 winter. It is an old-timer, away back in the 

 50's. and still snowing. I am anxious to see 

 the bees out. Is it prudent to let them out 

 on the snow, or should I keep them in the 

 hive until the ground gets bare? I would 

 like to hear from other bee-men. 



I put 2i colonies away, and am waiting 

 patiently to see the outcome of the close, 

 hard winter. C. H. Mangi's. 



Altoona. Pa., Jan. 31. 



Cold Winter for Bees 



I have been at bees for 30 years, keeping 

 onlv 8 or ic colonies, as I never allowed my- 

 self to have enough colonies to interfere 

 with my pastoral work. And for that reason, 

 and because I have never gone into serious 

 commercial honey producing, I have kept to 

 comb honey. 



I have been pastor here 11 years. In that 

 time I have not failed to get 100 pounds of 

 comb honey in Danzenbaker sections every 

 year, per colony, until 1000. when all was 

 black honey-dew — not a single section of 

 clover, basswood. or other white honey. 

 And now this is a very severe winter on 

 out-door bees, since many feared to house 

 them in the cellar with no chance to fly 

 when they had no stores but honey-dew. 



All this long lying snow will be good for 

 loio clover, but I believe many bees will be 

 lost this winter between honey-dew and 

 cold continued so steadily that they cannot 

 warm up and eat. to say nothing of taking 

 wing. We have had 6 weeks of unusual cold 

 here. Rev.) T. Chalmers Potter. 



Glasgow. Del., Jan. 18. 



No Trouble in the South from Granulation of Bulk- 

 Comb Honey 



In the January number of the American 

 Bee Journal, page 13. Mr. Greiner, in com- 

 menting on our Texas bulk-comb honey-pro- 

 duction, seems to think we would have some 

 trouble with our honey granulating while in 

 the pail or receptacle, and " that he would 

 be a little skeptical in filling the interstices 

 with extracted honey." I have been selling 

 bulk-comb honey since 1884. and have never 

 had any trouble along that line. In fact, our 

 honey does not granulate until the cold 

 weather sets in. and I have never been able 

 to supply the demand for nice comb honey 

 during the summer and fall months, for it is 

 invariably all sold out before the weather 



becomes cold enough to granulate our honey. 

 I have known a few grocers to buy in s-gallon 

 cans, and set it away out of sight of their 

 customers and have it granulate, but when 

 put up in one or one-half gallon tin-pails, 

 and put where it can be seen, it is all sold 

 before it t;ranulates. 



If Mr. Greiner will fill some of liis pails 

 with honey without filling tlie interstices 

 witli extracted honey, and show it to Ids cus- 

 tomers, he will soon know which sells the 

 best. They like it "soppy." as they call it. 



The most salable receptacles are half- 

 gallon and gallon buckets made of very 

 light tin. as that kind is the cheapest, and 

 can be sold at the same price per pound 

 as the honey. Some of our bee-men use 

 quart and half-gallon fruit-jars, but unless 

 the combs are cut in very small pieces, they 

 are hard to get into the jar. and much harder 

 to get out. Also, the jars cost so much more 

 than the tin. and are more easily broken. 



Besides all these advantages that the bulk 

 comb has over section-box honey, we are not 

 bothered with so many fixtures in its pro- 

 duction. Only a plain, shallow extracting 

 super, with a i or 2 inch starter to each 

 frame is all that is necessary; and. also. I 

 find it so much easier to get the bees to work 

 in these shallow frames than in the little i- 

 pound boxes. 



I also found it much easier to get the bees 

 to work in the 2-pound boxes when separated 

 with slatted separators, instead of the slot- 

 ted or scalloped separators. The little slats 

 are fastened at the ends by tin strips bent 

 over the ends of the strips. This gives the 

 bees free access to all the boxes, and they 

 do more storing than they otherwise would, 

 unless the separators are left out altogether, 

 but we frequently have had a bad mess of it 

 without the separators. 



I get the bees to build comb and store 

 honey in these shallow frames when there is 

 a light flow, and then they will not start in 

 the deep frames. 



I use the common Langstroth frame in the 

 brood-chamber, and with the lo-frame size I 

 seldom have brood in the supers. When I 

 do, I use the combs for extracting, which are 

 light and easily handled. 



Our bees are carrying in pollen now from 

 the chaparral and cedar, and as the plum 

 buds are swelling, the bees will soon be at 

 work on them. 



The rest of Mr. Greiner's article on winter 

 packing does not interest me this far South, 

 for we never need to do anything of that 

 kind here. D. V. Marks. 



Lorena. Tex.. Feb. 6. 



Honey-Dew— Discouraging Outlook 



This has been one of the worst years I 

 have ever experienced in bee-culture. No 

 honey, but some black stuff that looks like 

 tar. and if there is one colony out of 20 living 

 next spring, I will be surpised. as they have 

 not flown since the first of December. Those 

 that did not feed their bees will be beeless 

 when next spring comes, and have a lot of 

 depopulated hives. Nobody got any honey, 

 so they have no honey for their buckwheat 

 cakes this winter. 



The bees did a lot of swarming in June, 

 and the swarms were all dead before the 

 cold weather was here. The outlook is not 

 bright for the bee-keeper next spring. 



I would be lost if the American Bee Jour- 

 nal would not come once a month. It is all 

 right. I like to read, even if I have no honey 

 to eat. Henry Best. 



Hibbetts. Ohio. Feb. 8. 



Why Are These Things So? 



In answer to G. M. Doolittle's article on 

 "Why Are These Things So?" I would say 

 because there are too many small producers 

 of honey, mostly a class that, if they got a 

 good croo of honey one year they will dump 

 it in their home market for " any old price " 

 the groceryman offers them, and then say. 

 "Well. I have made so much on my bees 

 this year." The cost of production is never 

 figured. Some bring a first-grade of honey to 

 market, and others not so good, and, sup- 

 pose they sell it for 10 cents a section, or 11 

 cents a pound for comb honey, as has been 

 done in this town, you will readly see that a 

 first-class article will have to go begging for 

 12/4 cents a section, or 15 cents a pound for 

 comb honey. Then we must always bear in 

 mind that the more people there are produc- 

 ing any one article individually, the harder 

 it is to keep the price up. 



If we look back to the years gone by when 

 you could almost cojnt all the practical 

 bee-men on the tips of your fingers, and they 

 had the field to themselves, then you could 



