1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



331 



BUY "DIRECT FROM FACTORY," BEST 



M*IXED PAINTS 



At WHOlrESALE PRICES, Delivered FREE 

 For Houses, Barns, Roofs, all colors, and SA\"K Dealers 

 profits. In use ."i-t years. Endorsed by Orange & Farmers' 

 Alliance. Low prices will surprise you. Write for Samples. 

 0. W. 1 NGERSOLL, 239 Plymouth St. , Brooklyn , N. V. 

 1 2 A 1 3 Mtntimi. uie American Bet Jourtuii 



We have killed hiph prices. Give me a trial 

 order and be convinced that good Queens can 

 be reared for 50 cts. each. Untested, 50 cts.; 

 Tested, 75 cts. Golden Italians. 3-Banded I- 

 talians, and Silver-Gray Carniolans, all the 

 same price. Best of References given. 



C. B. BAIVK.STOIW, 



13Atf CHRIESMAN, Burleson Co., TEX. 



Menuc'it ,'.»vf. A>vjf^'vcan Bee Jcv/rnal, 



BETTER TH^N 16 TO I. 



We are constructing 14 miles of fence for a Michi- 

 gan railway. As an inducement to sell right of way. 

 farmers were given choice of fences. All but ttVPO 

 preferred the Page. . An elastic fence supported by 

 such solid lat-ls is invincible. 



PAGE WOVEN WIRE FFNCE CO . Mrian.l^s'^^. 



When Answering this advertisement, Mention this JouRNAt- 



A New Method 



uf refining wax without acid. 



Result Better 



Comb Foundation. 



My prices are also the lowest. 



A Job-Lot of No. 2 



Polislied Sections 



Equal in finish to anv No. I's. 1 M. $1.75; 2 M 

 $3.40; :iM,.Jt.SO: 5 M, $7.50. Or I can furn- 

 ish a cheaper quality. Also, a full line of 



HIOGIi\SVIL,L.E ISl!PPL,IES. 



See my List with prices. 



:5 W. J. FIMCH, Jr., ^''^^l^ilf^^" 



^ IF YOU WANT THE 



BEE-BOOK 



That covers the whole Apicuitural Field more 

 completely than any other published, send 

 $1.25 to Prof. A. J. Cook, Claremont, Calif., 

 for his 



Bee-Keeper's Guide. 



Liberal Discounts to the Traiie. 





% 



California 



If you care to know of its Fruits, Flowers 

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 of California's Favorite Paper— 



The Pacific Rural Press 



The leading Horticultural and Agricultural 

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 Sample Copy Free. 



PACIFIC RURAL, PRESS, 



220 Market St., - SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



TEXAS QUEENS. 



If you are in need of Queens, let me have 

 your^order. Prlce-Llst Free. 

 8A26t J. D. GIVENS, Lisbon, Tex. 

 litmmtm. the American Bee Jour%ak 



vas awning over it, as close together as 

 they would go, and two rows deep, the 

 lower row on the summer stand, which 

 is two 2x4 scantings on posts 15 inches 

 high ; no packing of any sort. The hives 

 I left out are single-walled ; I made no 

 change in them at all, and the bees in 

 them came through as well as any. 

 Those I lost were too weak to keep 

 warm. 



By the way, the next day after the 

 last cold snap this spring, I brushed all 

 the bees, including the queen (of the 

 hive referred to at the first of this letter), 

 off the frames on the ground, thinking 

 they were frozen to death, and then 

 when the sun shone on them, and they 

 began to crawl about, I gathered them 

 up again and put them back into their 

 hive. 



I think the bees are getting all the 

 stores they are using, as I have had 

 hard work to use up the frames of honey 

 from the five hives from which the bees 

 died, and in order to use the last two 

 frames, I took out one frame of brood 

 and shook all but two or three bees on 

 each side of it off, and put it into one of 

 the three weak colonies ; they at once 

 killed and threw out their queen. What 

 was the matter ? If I had left any bees 

 on the frame, I should lay it to them. 

 One of the colonies I lost was a case of 

 foul brood ; they were of medium 

 strength. I killed their queen, put the 

 bees into another hive with a weak col- 

 ony and no brood, extracted the wax, 

 and made a bonfire of the frames, hive, 

 top, bottom and all. The colony I united 

 the bees with, have sealed brood now, 

 with no sign of foul brood, and there is 

 not a trace of it in any of my other hives. 



This spring is the most favorable for 

 bees we have had here for at least six 

 years. E. L. Ddnham. 



Greeley, Colo., May 2. 



A Stingless Joke. 



One of as old a bee-men as we have 

 here was with mo looking at my bees, 

 and one dabbed him on the cheek. He 

 pulled out the sting, turned to me, and 

 said : "That will he a drone ; it lost its 

 sting." And I could not convince him 

 that he was not right. 



Pollock, Mo. Andrew Cotton. 



The Wintering Problem. 



Having just passed my fifth experi- 

 mental year in wintering bees, I will 

 briefly rehearse my method of prepara- 

 tion and report results. 



In the fall, about the time the brood 

 is hatched, I examine every colony I in- 

 tend to winter, taking out every frame, 

 and making a careful estimate of the 

 amount of honey. If any colony is short 

 of. 30 pounds, I feed sugar syrup — not 

 percolated — until they have fully that 

 amount. This insures them honey 

 enough till the flow commences in the 

 spring. My observation teaches me that 

 colonies with plenty of stores in the hive. 

 In the spring, will build up faster and 

 be stronger than colonies with scanty 

 stores, and fed to stimulate them. I 

 know I should have better courage for 

 labor, with my cellar and granary filled 

 with a competence, than I should to de- 

 pend on small items coming in from un- 

 certain and unknown sources. Is it not 

 so with bees ? Living from hand to 

 mouth is not Indicative of prosperity. 

 My bees build up well and early, always 



ready for early fruit-bloom. They know 

 nothing about spring dwindling, neither 

 do I, except what I read in the journals. 



Before feeding in the fall, I see that 

 every colony is strong in bees. This I 

 secure by uniting. Last fall I reduced 

 43 to 20 colonies, thus saving all my 

 bees. 



I winter them on the summer stands, 

 putting an outside case over every hive, 

 packing the enclosed space with planer- 

 shavings, or some other dry, porous sub- 

 stance. Over the frames I place a dry, 

 porous cushion. I placed a sealed cover 

 (that is, if the bees would seal it) over a 

 few of the colonies ; I see but little dif- 

 ference in their condition, but would 

 give the preference to the porous cush- 

 ions. I leave the entrances open, shaded 

 by a board leaning against the hive. 



From the 12th to the 16th of this 

 month I examined every colony, finding 

 every one strong in bees, with ample 

 stores, seeing either a queen or capped 

 brood in every colony. My bees are now 

 working finely, bringing in natural pol- 

 len. 



As far as I learn, in this and adjoining 

 towns, losses range from 25 to 100 per 

 cent. J. P. Smith. 



Sunapee, N. H., April 25. 



Bees Have Done Well. 



Bees have done well the last two 

 weeks, but it is getting dry now. I have 

 82 colonies, two being stolen about a 

 month ago. I don't think they are doing 

 very well. I got a little over 1,000 

 pounds of honey last year from 30 colo- 

 nies — about one-third comb honey, and 

 the balance extracted. 



L. V. MiLLIKAN. 



Spiceland, Ind., May 6. 



Poor Season in Australia. 



This season was a very poor one in 

 Australia. The Australian Bee-Bulletin 

 reports few bee-keepers doing first-rate. 

 But I don't hear of anybody in Queens- 

 land having much surplus this season, 

 even our leading bee-keeper — H. L. 

 Jones, inGoodna — wrote that he has had 

 terrible trouble in queen-rearing this 

 season. E. Hansen. 



Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. 



Sweet Clover Hay — A Correction. 



Owing to pressing business, I had 

 lately somewhat neglected reading the 

 American Bee Journal, and thus was 

 not aware of the request to state as to 

 the amount of sweet clover hay I had 

 made, it being understood by some that 

 I had 200 tons of it, and to tell how to 

 treat sweet clover for hay. 



Dr. Miller, on page 259, has it right. 

 I have never said that I had 200 tons of 

 sweet clover in one year, but of hay of 

 all kinds. The entire area I have in 

 sweet clover is about 10 acres, of which 

 but 6 acres were cut but once, giving 

 me about 20 tons of hay. 



I think that I fully explained in my 

 article on sweet clover, how it should be 

 treated when used for hay. (See page 

 806, for 1895.) Also Mr. John Mc- 

 Arthur, on page 243, describes cor- 

 rectly how it should be treated, and 

 those interested can read it there. 



I gather all my hay with a hayloader, 

 which is the most economic way of 

 securing it, particularly clover. So as 

 not to lose the leaves, the cured melilot. 



