716 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Xov. 5, 



Apis dorsata. But, really, I fear that 

 the undertaking might fail because the 

 officials would most certainly entrust the 

 management of the new bees to some 

 favorite dudes who would make a windy 

 failure of them. Say, why not organize 

 a " stock company " and do our own im- 

 porting, and put the queens under the 

 care of practical bee-men, for trial ? 



J. E. Pond — No ! Most decidedly not. 

 Some years ago the matter was dis- 

 cussed somewhat, and from what I gath- 

 ered from that discussion, I was obliged 

 to come to the conclusion that they could 

 not become a practical factor in modern 

 apiculture; and I am of the opinion 

 now, that the discussion that is being 

 made, is more to subserve the purpose 

 of some one who knows that cranks and 

 an easily-gulled public always exist, 

 and " are playing a tune to suit their de- 

 sire for dancing." This, I think, is the 

 attempt on the part of those who are 

 trying to work up a boom on the big 

 hum-bug — "Apis dorsata." 



C^ct)cral ltcrr)s^ 



No More Novels — Feeding Bees. 



I don't want to miss any numbers of 

 the American Bee Journal. I've quit 

 reading novels since I have had access to 

 the Bee Journal, but I wish it contained 

 letters and experiences from Southern 

 apiarists, for our warm climate has dif- 

 ferent needs from the North. We know 

 nothing of housing up bees here, since 

 they can work nearly the whole year. 



I tried various methods for feeding, 

 the past dry summer, and 1 hit upon a 

 grand success, by placing honey-comb on 

 plates, and filling with syrup. 



Maky F. Huddleston. 



DeWittCo., Tex. 



Not Repudiators. 



I did not get a pound of spring sur- 

 plus honey. I began to think my bees 

 were going to repudiate their subscrip- 

 tion to the Bee Journal and Gleanings, 

 but they came to time with a small yield 

 of the finest fall honey I ever had. So 

 you see they are not repudiators. 



W. E. Burnett. 



Harrisburg, III., Oct. 23. 



South Dakota Report — Golden's Plan. 



As 1 have not seen any report from 

 South Dakota this fall, I will send mine. 

 I do not know whether to call it a bad or 

 good year. I am inclined to think it 

 was a fair one, although we did not get 

 much honey, and the reason I think was, 

 the bees were quite weak last spring. I 

 got about 100 pounds of nice comb 

 honey in sections, besides a number of 

 unfinished sections. I had at least one 

 colony that did well. It was a swarm 

 that issued about Juno 4 ; I think it was 

 two swarms on account of its large size. 

 They have filled the brood-nest with 

 comb from starters, and stored .">0 

 pounds in the super, and it is now in a 

 good condition for winter. Five others 

 finished 50 pounds, while 30 others were 

 selfish, and did nothing for me, but they 

 are in a fair condition for winter. 



We found a bee-tree the other day. 

 The curiosity about it was that the bees 



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and Bright's 

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 Kills I 



Because the Kidneys break 

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 the urine 



Heed the Danger Signal 



and begin to cure your Kidneys 

 to-day by taking 



Large bottle or new style smaller one 



ut your druggist's. 



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had built the combs underneath the 

 trunk among the branches of a leaning 

 tree. 



Mr. Golden wrote an article in favor of 

 letting the bees swarm and hiving in 

 supers. What are the advantages and 

 disadvantages of this plan ? I should be 

 glad to hear some more on the same sub- 

 ject, as I did not see the object of hav- 

 ing a bee-space covered on the outside 

 of the super. If the plan would work 

 nicely, I am sure it would prove a benefit 

 to this part of the country, as the bees 

 have been able to fill the brood-chamber 

 with honey, and if fairly strong would 

 also store some surplus ; and not one 

 year in ten have the early swarms failed 

 to build brood-combs from starters and 

 store plenty for winter. The bees gath- 

 ered most of their winter supply from 

 golden-rod this fall. 



Success to the Bee Journal. 



L. A. Stverud. 



Canton, S. Dak., Oct. 27. 



Did Nothing Extra This Year. 



My bees did nothing extra this year. 

 We took 917 sections of honey from 23 

 colonies — not quite 40 to the hive. They 

 are what are called " pound" sections, 

 which, however, do not quite weigh 

 that. Albert Baxter. 



Muskegon, Mich., Oct. 22. 



Got a Small Crop of Honey. 



A year ago I was not able to attend to 

 my bees, and could not attend to them 

 last spring, or in swarming-time, so they 

 had to run themselves. I got some honey 

 this fall for the first in 3 years, averaging 

 25 pounds per colony. Some of the best 

 gave me 50 pounds of surplus. They 

 have become reduced from HO to 50 col- 

 onies. I could have had them all come 

 through nicely last winter, had I been 

 able to attend to them, and feed the 

 weak ones. The strong ones took what 

 little honey the weak ones had. The 

 honey this year is all section honey, 

 white and good quality, gathered in 

 August and the first week in September. 

 I have a home market for all of it. 



Pana, 111., Oct. 18. D. C. McLeod. 



The Season of 1896. 



As the honey season is closed for this 

 year in the northern and middle States, 

 I will endeavor to give the results of my 

 apiary, although not a very large one. 

 My spring count was 28 colonies, four 

 out of that number dying out for some 

 cause or other, which I did not fully as- 

 certain. Four more were found to be 

 queenless ; two of them were supplied 

 with a comb of brood and eggs from one 

 of my best colonies of Italian bees. The 

 four queenless colonies had laying work- 

 ers, laying, and they were producing 

 drones in large numbers. The remain- 

 ing two colonies were furnished un- 

 tested Italian queens from the South. 



Now for the results : Out of the re- 

 maining 20 we got 12 swarms, and 

 three of the new swarms cast a swarm 

 each, but I lost all three of them, being 

 the first that I have lost for a number of 

 years, so far as I know. One of the 

 swarms were good Italians ; it was not 

 entirely lost — only to myself, as it did 

 not go to the timber as they mostly do, 

 but instead of that it went right straight 

 to our town, and clustered on a cherry 

 tree, and the lady of the house sent 



