.Iiino, 1915. 



209 



American IBee Jonrnal 



colony per week ? In the sprine should 1 

 feed Ihe bees after they benan to gather 

 pollen ? 



4- I noticed drones in one of my colonies 

 March 27. Is that unusually early or not ? 

 Ten N ESSE K. 



Answers.— I. I don't know. Hardly be 

 cause one of the queens was not so prolific 

 as the other, [irovided the two were of etiual 

 streriKth at the time the swarms were hived. 

 for it is quite likely that most of the surplus 

 was stored by the bees that went with the 

 swarm, although if there was an important 

 late How the new bees might count. It may 

 be that there was a difference in the 

 strength of the two swarms at the time 

 they were hived, and it must be remembered 

 that a colony twice as strong as another 

 will store a good deal more than twice as 

 nijch surplus. The difference may have 

 been in the character of the bees. Some 

 bees are more industrious than others. 



There may have been other causes, or a 

 combination of causes. 



2. For your locality it would be hard to 

 find anything better. 



3. Like enough you will get best results if 

 you feed not at all, either fall or spring, 

 making sure that the bees have abundance 

 of honey in the hive of their own storing. If 

 they haven't enough, then you must feed, 

 whether it be fall or spring. I haven't done 

 any feeding for some time, and am rather 

 proud of it. In one sense, however, I do 

 feed, for each spring I give to any needy 

 colony one or more combs of sealed honey 

 saved over from the previous year. If my 

 hives were larger this might not be neces- 

 sary. 



4. It would be very early for northern Illi- 

 nois, and I suspect it is for l"ennessee. A 

 bit of danger that you may have a queenless 

 colony. 



WINTER SCENE IN INDIANA-MONASTERY APIARY OF THE FRACISCAN 

 FATHERS AT OLDENBERG, IND. 



A Monastery Apiary — Dr. Bonney's Chaff 

 Hive — Wintering, Etc. 



Although the winter has been unusually 

 rigorous, bees in this section seem to be 

 wintering in first-class condition. In most 

 cases they went into winter quarters heavy 

 with well-ripened stores from the aster and 

 goldenrod. and this, with judicious packing, 

 assures good wintering. 



The crop was almost a total failure in 

 many parts of the country, but we of Frank- 

 lin county can make no complaint, as we 

 reaped a bounteous harvest. The spring 

 flow was mostly from whitewood {I.huidcii- 

 droit tulil'ijir.i), and the fall flow which was 

 an unusually heavy one was, as is generally 

 the case, from the white aster and the gold- 

 enrod. From II colonies, spring count, we 

 extracted about 700 pounds. 



Dr. Bonney's chaff hive, a drawing and 

 description of which was given in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for July. igi4. has i)roved a 

 grand success. I made one last summer and 

 put a medium colony in it in August, and 

 that colony stored, during the fall flow, a 

 surplus of 65 pounds of extracted. This was 

 from 20 to 35 pounds more than any other 

 colony produced. All the colonies seemed 

 to be of about equal strength in August. 

 and therefore I am inclined to think that 

 the /(/I'l- was the main factor in putting this 

 colony so far ahead of the rest. I think the 



readers of the Bee Journal owe Dr. Bonney 

 a vote of thanks for the many useful hints 

 he has given us from time to time these 

 many years. 



In the pictures I am enclosing, the hive in 

 question can be plainly seen; it is the last 

 hive on the right in the first row. Just be- 

 hind and a little to the right of this hive you 

 will perceive a unique winter-case. It is 

 nothing more than an old trunk; but it fills 

 the bill to a "I." I have learned from ex 

 perience that bees will build up much bet- 

 ter in spring if they have good protection 

 during winter. Next winter will find all our 

 bees in winter cases like those shown in the 

 first row. as I intend to make them during 

 the summer vacation. 



lama theological student, and find that 

 studying and beekeeping work well together 

 and go hand in hand. I study during the 

 winter and work with the bees during sum- 

 mer. 



St. Francis of Assisi. whose follower ! am. 

 was a great lover of nature, and. with him. 

 I believe there is nothing so conducive to 

 our appreciation of the greatness and good- 

 ness of God than an intimate association 

 with His lowly creatures which serve to in- 

 crease His glory among men. I number first 

 and foremost the honey-bee. the most 

 thought-provoking and the most wonderful 

 of them all. Bro. PAUL. 



Oldenburg. Ind.. Feb. u. 



Aster for Wintering— The Caucasian 



So many cotntilaints have been made about 

 bees not wintering well on the fall asters 

 and other flowers that 1 began to think my 

 bees were going to do the same Our cellar 

 is an ideal one. and the temperature seldom 

 varies more than 2 degrees from 44 Kalir. 

 Tlie bees were set out on April 14 with a 

 very small iiercenl of loss, and that was all 

 among the llali^iii and their crosses. 'I'his 

 ai>iary consists about equally of Italian and 

 Caucasian, and they were all of the same 

 weight and condition, as they were all run 

 for extracted honey, and all had the same 

 treatment. I did not think of trying any 

 experiment to see if there was any differ- 

 ence in the kind of stores. This apiary is 

 near a very large marsh and there is an 

 abundance of wild flowers from April 15 to 

 heavy frost. 



The first honey is taken off. and they are 

 allowed to fill the hives with Spanish-needle 

 and aster honey for winter stores. This was 

 an extraordinary year for fall honey with 

 us. and all hives were full and there was no 

 occasion to feed. They were set in the cel- 

 lar about the first of December, making the 

 confinement about 135 days. 



All pure Caucasian colonies were set in a 

 part of the yard by themselves and the rest 

 occupied the other part. We did this as we 

 are going to move all but the Caucasians to 

 another yard, which will be our clover 

 honey yard, 'Fherefore. we had a very good 

 chance to observe the difference in the win- 

 tering of the two races. We found that 

 among a good many of the Italians we had to 

 change the bottom-board, as it was so badly 

 daubed from dysentery that the entrance 

 was nearly closed. Of course, this occurred 

 to only a few. but the Caucasians were en- 

 tirely free from any trace of dysentery. We 

 were more than pleased with the way they 

 came out. There is another great trait of 

 the Caucasians, and that is the way they 

 stick to their location after they have had 

 their flight. We found practically no drift- 

 ing with them, but not so with the Italians. 



The Caucasian bee will come into its own 

 if we only give it free and unbiased trials. 

 They are the first to build up in the spring, 

 and the first to enter the supers, and are 

 very quiet, no disturbance excites them; 

 and the best of all is they cap their honey 

 snow white, which means thick well ripened 

 honey. The queens are long lived, doing 

 good work at five years if well bred and well 

 developed. They are the best bees ever im- 

 ported into this country. A. D. D. Wood. 

 Lansing. Mich. 



Backward Spring 



This is a very backward spring. Soft ma- 

 ple has not bloomed yet, and peach trees are 

 just beginning to bud. 



Bees are strong and carrying willow pol- 

 len. They wintered very poorly in this sec- 

 tion, with a 45 percent winter loss taking all 

 the apiaries, good and bad. I only had a I2 

 percent loss in all seven yards. Some yards 

 lost none, while others lost heavily, 



W. L. LOVEIOY. 



Clarkston, Mich.. April 19. 



Good Record 



I put 121 colonies in the cellar last winter. 

 I lost three, one starved to death, and two 

 were queenleess. At present I have 118. and 

 all are strong. We have a good prospect for 

 honey here now. W, W. Lester. 



Glidden. Iowa. 



Good Prospects 



Bees wintered finely. I put 114 colonies in 

 the cellar and lookout 114 alive. They are 

 building up in good shape. Clover is looking 

 well. It has been dry for some time, but we 

 have just had a fine rain. I cannot see any 

 reason why we should not get a good clover 

 flow if we get plenty of rain. 



W. S. Pangburn. 



Center Junction. Iowa. May 5. 



Bees in Bad Shape 



Bees in this locality wintered poorly. One 

 party i'* miles from here, lost all he had— 70 

 colonies. I had 168 colonies in the fall, and 

 have only about 30 in fair condition, and ten 

 poor ones now The reason for this loss it 

 was too cold and we had too much rain last 

 year up to July 8. when the Mississippi river 

 recorded the danger line. The flow came 

 very late. Bees, in the meantime, had been 

 working on fruit trees i(nd melons, wherever 



