376 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ISr Do not write anything: for publication 

 on the same sheet ol paper with business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart withou 

 interfering- with either part of the letter. 



Have Some Nice Honey. 



No spring dwindling here this year. 

 It has been too dry for a heavy honey 

 crop, but we have some very nice honey 

 for the people here. A village of 1,000 

 people, and those living near, want lots 

 of honey. 



The 4 days at the World's Fair last 

 year, and the one hour among the honey 

 exhibits, are sometimes in my mind's eye 

 yet, and from what I learned I have 

 been paid back many times. 



O. E. Clark. 



Brillion, Wis., Sept. 10. 



Plenty of Honey for Winter Stores. 



Bees did fairly well here for a short 

 time, but we had two weeks of dry, hot 

 weather the first of August that checked 

 the honey-flow, but since then we have 

 had rain, and the weather is cooler, and 

 the bees are working lively again. I 

 harvested over 400 pounds of comb 

 honey from 12 colonies this year. I got 

 but one swarm. 



I think the bees will have plenty of 

 honey to winter on, and there will be a 

 fair crop of corn in this (Polk) county, 

 or at least a part of it. 



J. A. SCOTTBN. 



Bolivar, Mo., Aug. 28. 



Introducing and Absconding. 



On page 204 Dr. Miller says he intro- 

 duces queens after the bees have sealed 

 queen-cells. I have just lost two queens 

 by not tearing down queen-cells. I re- 

 leased the queens on the fifth day, and 

 they were accepted, as they had laid in 

 three or four frames, but when the 

 young queens were hatched they at- 

 tacked the laying queens and killed 

 them. 



In "Lessons in Bee-Keeping," Mrs. 

 Atchiey says bee-keepers may be mis- 



taken when they say bees go off to the 

 woods from the parent hive without 

 clustering. I hnow I am not mistaken, 

 as I lost one of my most valuable queens 

 in that way this summer. This was 

 their first attempt to swarm, and with 

 all that I could do I could not induce 

 them to settle, for there were plenty of 

 fruit and shade trees near to cluster 

 upon; and another queer part to me was, 

 just as I was returning from pursuing 

 them, a swarm was issuing from another 

 hive, and without clustering entered the 

 parent hive of the absconding swarm, 

 and all was happy (except myself). 



Lawson Heglek. 

 McLean, Ohio, Sept. 3. 



Bee-Keeping in Australia. 



Bee-keeping in Australia is making 

 very rapid strides, the industry being 

 largely developed in New South Wales 

 through the department of Puplic In- 

 struction sending a paid lecturer into 

 the country districts, giving information 

 to induce settlers to better their position 

 by keeping bees, and assisting those al- 

 ready started. The past season has 

 been a failure in the coastal districts, 

 but excellent in the Western plains, 

 most apiaries in the plains averaging 

 200 pounds and over per colony. I 

 happen to be in the unfortunate part, 

 and only averaged about <iO pounds, 

 though bee-keepers within 1(5 miles of 

 my bees did not get a single pound, and 

 had to feed their bees for winter. 



W. S. Pendek. 



W. Maitland, N. S. W., Aug. 3. 



XJnwired Frames — Building Comb. 



In a late issue of your excellent paper 

 (page 240) Dr. Miller attempts to point 

 a moral — and hits the unwired frame a 

 hard slap. 



Let me suggest to those who have not 

 yet tried it, to tier up by placing the 

 empty body at the bottom instead of on 

 the top, as is usually done. It is a sure 

 and excellent way to have every comb 

 securely attached to the bottom- bar. By 

 this method you may safely dispense 

 with wired* frames. 



One word of caution, however: If 

 the colony has not yet swarmed, you 

 must use full sheets of foundation, 

 otherwise you will get all drone-comb. 

 If it is this season's swarm, you may 

 safely give them starters — I use a strip 

 about an inch deep. My experience is 

 that bees will build combs much more 



