February, 1914. 



American l^ee Journal 



it contains fifty -six colonics. 1 secured ISOO 

 lbs. of sourwood honey from tins yard. The 

 bees are in tine condition for wintering and I 

 never fed tliem a pound of sugar. 



Cut No. 2 is all pure three and five band 

 Italians. This yard contains forty colonies, 

 and from it I secured 19S0 H's. of honey. You 

 will notice this yard is less in number by six- 

 teen colonies and gave 100 lbs. more honey. 

 But I am sorry to state that this yard is 

 determined to **starve to death" and I have 

 already fed it 325 lbs. of sugar. Now it is 

 only one-fourth of a mile from my Hybrid 

 yard, and as the climate and conditions are 

 exactly the same, it is a puzzle to me to ex- 

 plain this difference in the two yards. I am 

 bound to praise the Hybrids. 



Cut No. 3 is my home yard, twenty-five 

 colonies. My home and this yard are situated 

 on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 

 three-thousand feet higher than my other 

 bees. This yard is across the line between 

 North Carolina and Virginia. These bees are 

 tucked away in winter tiuarters when my other 

 yards are out working on soft maple and 

 peach bloom; it is only one hour drive from 

 my home down to the valley where I find 

 flowers blooming and bees humming. I never 

 get any honey from my home yard. I have 

 119 colonies and only had one swarm to come 

 out this season. I enjoy reading the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal and most especially the 

 Editor's travels through the Old Countries. 

 G. F. JONES. 

 Nov. 29 1913. 

 Galax, Va. 



Good for a Beginner 



This is my first year, and all 1 learned was 

 from the American Bee Journal and the book 

 that I bought of you. I had 70 lbs. of honey. 

 How was that for a beginner, his first year, 

 with no help ? 



E. F. REHBERG. 

 New Haven, Conn. , 



Stopping Leaky Joints 



Just read your editorial comment in January 

 issue "Beeswax for leaky joints in Feeders." 

 1 his has been my greatest trouble with the 

 Division Board Feeders. 1 can nail them 

 perfectly and wax them well; they may not 

 leak at first but just as soon as the feeder is 

 used a little it will swell, crack, or in some 

 way leak; the syrup will run out and incite 

 robbers. Of course, 1 got the wax only hot 

 enough to melt. You say use a preparation 

 of hot wax, rosin and fine wood ashes. Please 

 give the proportion of each. 1 suppose you 

 mean hard or English rosin made or left 

 from distilling. J. A. SMITH. 



Lawrenceville, Ga. 



I As a matter of course if the cracks in your 

 feeders are very large the hot wax will run 

 through without stopping there. The joints 

 should first be made as light as possible. 



The preparation of wax, rosin aivi ashes is 

 usually made with one part of beeswax to 

 four parts of hard rosin, melted together. The 

 ashes are added in such quantity as may be 

 necesary to harden the preparation. A lit- 

 tle trial will give the proper proportions. The 

 less wax is used, the harder the preparation 

 becomes. It becomes hard very quickly. 



Feeders made of light wood and not coated 

 with some sort of preparation or paint will 

 soak the feed and swell. Then if allowed to 

 get dry they shrink and leak again. 



We have stopped very large cracks in bar- 

 rels with the wax and rosin preparation above 

 mentioned. For large cracks more ashes are 

 used. In melting rosin, beware of its tend- 

 ency to get afire or to boil over when hot. 



Does Beekeeping Pay ? 



V\'e commenced the season with 150 colonies, 

 took 500 twenty-four lb. cases of very fine 

 honey and increased to 185 colonies and have 

 quite a lot of chunk honey left for our home 

 trade. We ran short of sections just when 

 we needed them most. We hope to do bet- 

 ter next time. Our secret of success is young 



Home ok G.F.Jones, and Some of His Helpers. 



queens and strong colonies. Bees are packed 

 in chaff and are wintering nicely. Will need 

 a few good queens to breed from in June as 

 I want to change the stock just a little. This 

 year our best colonies made nearly three- 

 hundred sections but our average was about 

 five cases to the hive, spring count; not quite 

 as well as Dr. Miller did. 

 Colorado. J. E. WALCHER. 



wise good market. I shipped about one and 

 a half tons this fall and sold nearly a ton of 

 hone>' at home. I work for comb honey. 



J. C. DAVIS. 

 Marshfield, Wis. 

 Jan. 5, 1914. 



Good Crop in 1913 



I have thirty colonies of bees and all in 

 good shape. Honey crop was good this year 

 but not quite as good as last year. We have 

 not had any snow here yet. Our bees are 

 all on the summer stands. 



CATHERINE WAINRIGHT, 

 Tilton, Iowa. 

 Jan. 10, 1914. 



Dry Season but Good 



I ilid not lose any colonies last winter. I 

 had ten colonies to begin with and increased 

 to fourteen. I harvested six hundred pounds 

 of honey from the ten, spring count. 1 had 

 two that gave 112 sections each. The out- 

 look is not very good for next year. 



HENRY BEST. 

 Hibbetts, Ohio. 



Fair Yield 



My bees did fairly well the past season. I 

 have extracted 712 lbs. from twenty colonies 

 winter. I would have made a big run this 

 season if the linden trees had bloomed. 



ED. WINKING. 

 Jan. 8. 1914. 

 Ouincy, III. 



A Good Wisconsin Report 



Had six colonies spring count; received 

 something like 900 lbs. of honey, mostly comb 

 honey of best quality. Extracted sold for 10c 

 lb. and comb for IGc lb. 



MR. J. E. BALZER, 

 Sauk City. Wis. 

 Dec. 17, 1913. 



Prospects Not Bright for 1914 



This is my third season with bees. Twenty 

 colonies. Spring count, gave me 1,000 lbs. of 

 honey this season; about 280 lbs. comb and 

 the balance extracted honey, all of good quality 

 and a very dry season at that. 



J. A. HORN. 

 Westwood. N. J. 

 Dec. 10, 1913. 



WESTERN BEE KEEPERS i^^oUera^d 



get the best floods obtainable, especially 



made to meet Western condition. Send for 



new catalog and special price list to 



Colorado Honey-Producers' Association 



Denver, Colorado 



Good Prospects in Texas 



Prospects for early honey and queens were 

 never better here at this time of year. Bees 

 are getting pollen now and our beU honey 

 plants are up in fine shape and be^ nning to 

 bloom. No frost here yet this winter. Thc- 

 floods did some damage in my section. I 

 was water bound a week in the flooded portiot. 

 of the State. There is no place like Soutb 

 Texas. GRANT ANDERSON. 



San Benito, Tex. 



Nearly Three Tons of Comb Honny 



1 try to study the nature of the honey bee. 

 for the nearer one comes to nature, the neai 

 er he comes to perfection. There are many 

 things we can do to assist nature and there- 

 by profit by our work. There are so many 

 who keep a few bees and have no knowledge 

 of the real instincts of the little workers, 

 also no knowledge of the value of their pro- 

 duct so that sometimes they spoil an other 



Poultry and Bees 

 Biggest Profits 



This is the year to add poultry to your bee 

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 and eggs, on account of meat shortage, boosts 

 prices highest ever. Let out great Free Serv- 

 ice guide you. Free for the asking. Start 

 right with 



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