June, 1910. 



American Hee Joornal 



could go fast, and the yard was soon full. 

 Aug. 28 we divided for the last time. We 

 split 7 of the strongest colonics riglit in two 

 in the middle as nearly as we could eel 

 them that way. Of course, the larirer part 

 of the nearest hatching brood was placed in 

 the hives on the new stands with the greater 



fiart of the worker-bees; in this case we 

 eft the queens at home on the old stands. 

 Of course, all the old tield-workers would 

 come back to the old places, and that was 

 just what we wanted, because right here we 

 safely introduced 7 Italian queens. The last 

 colonies divided soon became strong. 



When we had done dividing we found we 

 had ^i colonies, but the queen of one of the 

 hives was not laying as well as we thought 

 she ought to. so we killed her and introduced 

 an Italian queen, but failed. We then 

 united this queenless colony with one of the 

 weakest in the yard, which reduced the 

 number to io colonies. I verily believe if we 

 had put in young queens in the queenless 

 parts ;is fast as we divided, we could easily 

 have increased to so strong colonies from 

 one. 



The parent colony I let Mr. Fort have. 1 

 have marked with a point of ink on the 

 cover; you will readily see it in the picture 

 which I send. Mr. Fort's boy is also in the 

 picture. 



Twenty-one colonies were packed in dry 

 sawdust. ^ in a box. last fall, in the yard, but 

 fixe<l so they could dy if the weather was 

 warm enough. The other q were put into the 

 cellar to winter. I will send Mr. Fort's let- 

 ter, and you can see for yourself how they 

 have wintered— almost perfectly. Twenty 

 colonies will be put in non-swarming hives, 

 and run for extracted honey the coming sea- 

 son, and later I will let you know how we 

 get along. The other colonies will be run 

 for increase. 



Only 23 colonies can be seen in the picture. 

 G. H. Adams. 



Rensselaer Co.. N. Y.. March x 



[The letter referred to by Mr. .\dams 

 in the above reads as follows : — Editor.] 



Friend Adams;— I was glad to liear that 

 your bees wintered successfully. My bees 

 are all alive except one colony. It was the 

 last box we put the bees in. They alt had a 

 good flight, and have been out 4 or 5 days 

 lately. This one I spoke about did not fly. 

 so I thought I would look at it. I found it 

 dead. The bees were all on one side of the 

 hive. The honey was all used up. Some 

 bees were deep in the cells. They had honey 

 in the hive, but it was on the other side of 

 the hive, so I guess they starved to death— 

 too cold to move over to the other side. 

 But I think I have done very well so far. My 

 best colony was out terrible — that pride of 

 mine, you know which one that is. I have 

 quite a few colonies that are strong. I looked 

 at those in the cellar the other night, and I 

 found them all right, except. I think, they 

 will need feeding very soon. I have sent for 

 comb foundation, and expect it this week. 

 Do you think I would better put water out 

 where the bees can get at it, and flour ? 

 What kind of flour, if any ? When should I 

 take the bees out of the cellar? Have you 

 taken yours out yet ? You said you were 

 going to take yours out in March this year. I 

 will make my hives in April. Write as soon 

 as you can because I depend all upon you. 



H. Fort. 



Washington Co.. X. Y.. March 10. 



[We received the following from Mr. 

 .'\dains May 7. which contains a further 

 reference to Mr. Fort and his bees. — 

 Editor.] 



Dear Mr. York:— Mr. Fort had a large 

 swarm from one of his colonies a week ago 

 today (April 28.. Washington County is one 

 of the northern counties of New York State. 

 I doubt if this ever happened before in all 

 the ages of the past in this northern county. 

 Allot Mr. Fort's colonies are very strong- 

 all ready to swarm. 



Everything seems to be supernatural — be- 

 yond my comprehension. In all my experi- 

 ence I have never seen the like. I have 

 never had a swarm of bees in April, and 

 never had them swarm until the latter part 

 of May. 



Twenty of Mr. Fort's colonies will be put 

 in the largest hives known— 16 Gallup frames 

 to the hive— and will be tiered 3 hives high, 

 and run for extracted honey. 'I'he balance 

 will be run for increase. I will try to keep 

 you informed regarding this superior yard 

 of bees— how much honey they store, and 

 the amount of increase secured. 



G. H. Adams. 



Rensselaer Co.. N. Y., May 5. 



Wintered Well — Early Season 



Nov. 15, iQO'j. I put 2'j colonies of bees into 

 the cellar, and on the morning of March 23d 

 I took them out of the cellar and found that 

 all had wintered in excellent condition. By 

 placing them back on the same stands which 

 they had occupied the previous season, 

 there was no confusion or mixing of the 

 bees. Upon examining the frames after the 

 bees had had their first flight. March 13. I 

 found brood in i to 3 frames in every hive, 

 and when I examined them April 0, the 

 brood was increased to .3 frames in the 

 weakest, and 7 in the strongest. If the fine 

 weather continues, bees will have the 

 swarming mania before the middle of May. 

 I am using a bottom-board with a space of 2 

 inches beneath the frames, and owing to 

 neglect I failed to put false bottoms in place 

 until April g. and. as a consequence, the 

 bees in the strongest colonies built comb be- 

 tween the bottoms of the frames and the 

 hive-bottom, and the queens were laying 

 eggs in the cells as soon as the cells were 

 anywhere near completed. So. according to 

 the rapidity in which the bees are building 

 up. the weather, pollen, and nectar must 

 be in excellent condition in this part of Illi- 

 nois. The prospect for a clover crop is fine, 

 the young clovers are plentiful, and I saw a 

 few early clover blossoms April 10. What 

 do you think of that for being early in the 

 season? C. I. Glenn. 



Geneseo. III.. .-Vpril 22. 



[We think that is altogether too early, es 

 pecially so as winter seems to have come 

 again. It was snowing hard in Chicago on 

 April 25, at 4 p.m.. and was quite cold.— Ed. 1 



Bees Doing Well 



My bees are doing as well as I ever saw 

 bees do at this time of the year. I have 78 

 colonies. b8 strong and fine. I have had 30 

 swarms, hived K in new hives, and turned 

 back the rest. Mrs. Carrie Branch. 



Ennis. Tex.. May 2. 



Reading and Hoping 



My 100 colonies of bees are strong and on 

 the i/ui five. They seem too anxious to work 

 right on through the comet's tail. The land 

 is carpeted with white clover. But. alas! 

 the weather is cloudy and cold. But I am 

 reading the American Bee Journal, and 

 hoping. J. H. Collins. 



Bardwell. Kv.. May 17. 



A Discouraging Prospect 



I will say that we are going to experience 

 a very bad year in regard to honey. It will 

 be a totally dry year for our bees this year. 

 I have 135 colonies, and I have to feed all. 

 There are still over half that have to be fed. 

 and if they can make their living until next 

 year they would do very fine. The prospect 

 of storing honey this year in this country 

 has already come to a close. The bees can 

 hardly find enough honey to make their liv- 

 ing. No rain. Louis Yanner. 



Santa .Susanna. Cal., May 14 



Distance for Pure Queen-Mating 



Some think that to secure pure mating of 

 queens there must be no other bees within 

 ioori2 miles. I think it all depends upon 

 the location. I keep 50 colonies here in a 

 small valley or pocket in the hill, and H mile 

 from me. over the hill, there are a few colo- 

 nies of black bees. As I requcen every 2 

 years. I replace 25 queens each year; and I 

 have kept a strict account of the mating of 

 my queens, and for a term of 7 years I have 

 it out of 25 purely mated. I rear my queens 

 in small nuclei. I place a virgin in the nu- 

 cleus, a perforated zinc excluder over the 

 entrance to prevent the queen from falling 

 out of the box before she can fly. and when 

 she is 3 days old I remove the zinc to let her 

 take her bridal trip. One day when I re- 

 moved the zinc the queen came out. and 

 after making a few circles around the hive 

 she flew away. I sat down to watch to see 

 how long she would be gone. In a minutes 

 she returned, entered the box. and I could 

 not see any evidence that she had met the 

 drone. She remained in the box one minute, 

 and in 10 minutes I heard her flying, but she 

 did not entM the box. I waited 5 minutes 

 longer, and she returned with plain evidence 

 that she had met the drone, and in 4 days 



she was laying, and her bees proved to be 

 well-marked Italians. 



When a queen is on the wing she makes a 

 different sound from that of any other bee, 

 so I know I am not mistaken; and as there 

 are no other Italian bees anywhere near me, 

 I believe the queen never left the yard very 

 far. At other times when I have watched 

 queens when released, they would not be 

 gone more than 4 minutes, and would re- 

 turn with evidence of having met the drone, 

 and in due time would be laying. Perhaps 

 the ilrones go farther from the hive. 



Manhattan. Kans. J. L. Young. 



Disagreeable Spring 



We have had a very disagreeable spring 

 for queen-rearing. The prospect for a good 

 crop of clover honey is good. White clover 

 is just opening up. and there is also lots of 

 sweet clover. All we want now is fine 

 weather. The last 4 days have been 

 cool and rainy, so bees could not get out. 

 The temperature on several occasions with- 

 in the past few days has been within 3 de- 

 grees of freezing. That's pretty cool for 

 this time of year in this locality. However, 

 we are hopingfor better things in the future. 



Bellevue. Ohio. June i. H. G. QUIRIN. 



Early Season — Reading Bee-Papers 



I wintered 12 colonies of bees on the sum- 

 mer stands last winter, and sold 3 colonies 

 in March, leaving g. On examination today 

 I find 8 out of them storing honey in the 

 supers— 2 had the supers two-thirds full. 6 

 had the supers halt full, and one had not be- 

 gun to fill the super yet. so I think I can say 

 that I have good bees, as this is only May 4-- 

 in fact, this is the earliest that I ever found 

 my bees storing honey in the supers in my 

 30 years' experience with bees. 



I have been a reader of the American Bee 

 Journal for several years, and believe it is 

 the best bee-paper for the person who han- 

 dles bees in a small way that I have ever 

 taken. I believe that every person who 

 handles bees ought to take a bee-paper, 

 even if having only one colony to care for. It 

 will pay well in the end. Welch Bibbee. 



Cottageville, W. Va.. May 4. 



A Beginner's Report 



Last spring I purchased my first bees (2 

 colonies), from which I received about 20 

 pounds of dark comb honey, and one swarm. 

 The colony from which I took the honey (the 

 one that swarmed) died last winter, and its 

 offspring is very weak. Now. the other win- 

 tered well, and is in dandy shape for the 

 clover, which is now coming into bloom. 

 The 2 colonies liii colonies in one hive, and 

 'A colony in the other, making 2) have pulled 

 through the winter on the summer stands 

 without any extra protection. Under the 

 conditions given, would they be more apt to 

 be 'A colony each instead of what they are ? 

 The bees gathered a great quantity of honey- 

 dew last year. too. 



Bees have not wintered very well around 

 here, but the few the winter has spared will. 

 I believe, pay for their keeping, and then 

 some. Here's hoping so, at least. 



I gain much information from the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, and also pleasure in read- 

 ing its contents. Benj. C. Shilling. 



Burkett. Ind.. May 18. 



[Under the circumstances you are to be 

 congratulated that your bees came through 

 as well as they did.— Editor.] 



Poor Wintering — Swarm Control 



Bees did not winter very well here— too 

 much honey dew. Out of 32 colonies I have 

 only 21 left, including one that is queenless. 

 One neighbor east of me lost all he had; an- 

 other one. southwest, lost out of 12. and I 

 believe about this percentage of loss holds 

 good throughout this section. I must add, 

 however, that the most of our bee-keepers 

 througli this part of the country are from 25 

 to 50 years behind the up-to-date methods of 

 bee-keeping. 



Clover is looking fine— never saw a finer 

 prospect. Fruit-trees of all kinds are loaded 

 with bloom, and the bees have been having a 

 regular picnic all through the spring and 

 summerlike weather we have had ciuring 

 the past few weeks. 



I have been reading Dr. Jones' method of 

 swarm control, and am interested in it. 

 However. I notice that the Doctor's experi- 

 ence has all been with lo-frame hives, while 



