796 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bee. 10. 



out. A Kreen hand at this may lose 

 lots of good trees by being a day or two 

 too soon, and for the benefit of any one 

 who may be interested, 1 will tell how 

 you can easily know whether the swarm 

 is in the tree or whether the bees are 

 merely preparing it. 



When bees are cleaning out to go into 

 a tree, you will always find a few bees 

 flying up and down the body of the tree, 

 as if they were looking for a hole, which 

 proceeding stops as soon as a swarm 

 go in. Another way to tell is by the ac- 

 tions o£ the bees at work. The nearer 

 they get to the completion of their work, 

 the more bees seem to be at work ; and 

 it is easy, when once learned, to tell by 

 their actions whether they are carrying 

 in honey or not. They act much like 

 bees playing when they are cleaning out 

 a tree, instead of shooting straight in 

 and out of the hole when carrying in 

 honey. 



Although my experience has been a 

 wide one, in hunting wild bees, it has 

 never been my good fortune to get a 

 barrel of honey out of any one tree I 

 ever found. 



Now I want to say a word about bees 

 reasoning. One thing I have noticed 

 closely for several years, and I wish 

 others to notice the same thing, is, that 

 when bees in swarmiug-time are bad to 

 abscond, and hard to keep, look out for 

 a poor honey season in that locality. 

 When your bees are easily controlled 

 and hived, and contented when hived, 

 look out for honey that season. When 

 you hear of lots of swarms passing in 

 every direction, look out for honey in 

 that locality that season. But when you 

 see and hear of swarms all going in one 

 direction, there is a good honey-flow the 

 way they are headed. This has been 

 ray experience from long watching, and 

 is worth your attention. 



Pollock, Mo. Andrew Cotton. 



Not All Had Failures. 



Although the Secretary of our Con- 

 necticut bee-association reports this year 

 as one of failure, on page TSi, I am 

 able to say I obtained 34:0 pounds of 

 comb honey from 10 colonies. I was 

 able to do so only by keeping all colonies 

 strong in bees, and by returning the 

 swarms to the old stands. I practice 

 the method of requeening at the swarm- 

 ing season, by killing all old queens, and 

 tearing down queen-cells, if I wish to 

 keep any particular queen. I have been 

 able to secure a fair surplus — even for 

 the last three years, with their drouth 

 and excess of moisture, by this method. 



I sell nearly all my honey in the home 

 market for 15 cents per pound, and al- 

 ways run short before the new crop 

 comes in. 



I intend to increase my colonies next 

 year, as I take great pleasuse in them, 

 and believe as Mr. Doolittle says, that 

 individuality is the keynote of success. 

 C. H. Chittenden. 



Middlesex Co., Conn. 



Eating Honey — Being "On Time." 



Would it not be kind in Dr. Gallup to 

 explain in the Bee Journal how to avoid 

 the sickness experienced by some after 

 eating honey ? I cannot eat strawber- 

 ries from the vine without having an 

 experience with the colic. What must I 

 do. Doctor, to avoid this result ? 



I have kept bees for about 15 years, 

 with varied success. This year has been 



aj? remedy for all the ordinary S 

 I ilk nf lifpat wHl a* a "^IIRH J 



ills of life as well as a sure 

 CURE for t; .... 



BRIGHT'S DISEASE, 

 URINARY DISEASES, 

 FEHALE COnPLAINTS ^(^ 

 GENERAL DEBILITY, ^ 

 nALARIA 5» 



and all diseases caused by ^E 



disordered kidneys and liuer W 



»at the Country Store. . . . ^ 





a PURELY VEGETABLE PREPARA-^ 

 TION that has cured thousands 

 and will cure you. Large 

 bottle or new style smaller 

 bottle at your nearest store. '^,. 



Mfymio 



'/'■' ', 



COMB FOUNDATION 



Wax always wanted forCaslioriQ Exchange 

 for Fdn. or other Supplies. My trade is estat)- 

 Ished on I<otv Prices and the merit of my 

 Fonndatiou. Orders filled proniptly. 



^'"Working Wax into Fdn, by the Lb. a 

 Specialty. Wholesale prices to dealers and 

 large cousuniers. Send for Prices and Sam- 

 ples to— GlIS DITTMER, AUGUSTA, WIS. 



Seference— Aujfusta Bank. lAtf 



ONE MAN WITH THE 

 UNION ^^^1^^^^'°^ 



Can do the work of four 

 men using hand tools, in 

 Kipping, Cuttlng-otf, Mi- 

 tring, Rabbeting, Groov 

 Ing. Gaining. Dadoing 

 Edging-up. Jointing Stuff, 

 etc. Full Line of Foot and 

 Hand Power Machinery 

 Sold OD Trial. Calalosne Free. 

 SE.VEGA FALIiS MFG. CO., 

 46 Water St., SENEGA FALLS, N. T. 



1 Aly Mtniinn the American Bee Joumdt, 



HATCH Chickens ^* steam- 



EXCELSIOR Incubator 



Simple. Perfect, Self-Regulat- 

 ing. Thousands in suixe-sTuI 

 oiieratioQ. I..owc'«i priced 

 flrHt-elnxH Ilutt'lier miidf. 

 UEO. II. STAIIL. 



44 A2 6 1 Mention the Avncrican Bee Journal. 



READERS 



0<' this Journal TO&i 

 write to any of otii; 

 advertlBers, either Ic 

 :>rderlng, or asking about the Good.; 

 offered, \rill please state that they sate 

 ■'be AdT eTtlaement In this paper« 



a good one, both in swarms and surplus 

 honey. The first swarm that I saved 

 this spring issued on May (>. A neigh- 

 bor had a rousing swarm May 3. How 

 is that for central Iowa ? 



Bees have plenty of good stores for 

 winter, and the prospect is good for next 

 year ; but most of the bees in this part 

 died in 1893 and 1895, when I had to 

 feed to keep mine, and then lost a good 

 many by not feeding early enough, and 

 heavy enough. 



One may know all about the bee-busi- 

 ness, and then fail by letting go till to- 

 morrow the duties of to-day — as I did 

 with part of my bees that I intended to 

 put into the cellar. We have had four 

 or five days real cold and windy ; the 

 bees were outside, and I sat inside with 

 a big boil on my neck. It is always best 

 to be " on time ;" the train is not apt to 

 wait. T. S. Hdrley. 



Tama Co., Iowa, Nov. 30. 



Did Better than for Years. 



I had five colonies in box-hives last 

 spring, and have now gotten rid of those 

 hive?. My advice to every one is to let 

 box-hives alone. Bees did better last 

 summer than for many years ; the last 

 part of the season was poor, but the 

 bees have plenty to eat, and so have I. 

 People prefer to buy flour rather than 

 honey. 



I now have 13 colonies In the cellar, 

 with about one-half bushel of bees in 

 each hive, and plenty of honey to winter 

 on. 



I have bad the Bee Journal nearly two 

 years, and have read it all, which I can- 

 not say of any other paper I have ever 

 taken. It is worth more to me than any 

 story book I ever saw. 



J. V. B. Herrick 



Hennepin Co., Minn., Nov. 28. 



Best Year in Four for Bees. 



I can't get along without the American 

 Bee Journal. I have several neighbors 

 who keep bees, but I cannot get them to 

 take a bee-paper — they think they know 

 it all, but I notice that I scoop them all 

 when it comes to getting honey. They 

 all say that this has been the worst year 

 here since bees have been in this part of 

 the country. Now I have been keeping 

 bees for four years, and this has been 

 the best year for me, and I give the 

 American Bee Journal the credit for it, 

 as I got the information out of it, which 

 I used at the right time and in the right 

 way, so that I had my bees ready for 

 the honey-flow when it came, instead of 

 having them ready after the flow was 

 over — like most of my neighbors. I got 

 about 50 pounds of honey per colony, 

 spring count. I think that is first-rate 

 for an off year. All hail, the old Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal ! J. W. Sefton. 



Whatcom Co., Wash. 



Bees Almost a Failure. 



The bee-business is almost a failure 

 here on the prairie. We have had two 

 years of no honey. Two years ago I 

 had about 150 colonies of bees, and last 

 spring I had 57 colonies with queens. 

 By watching them very closely I did not 

 lose a swarm. I fed them 200 pounds 

 of sugar, and moved them 12 miles to 

 the timber, so as to get to the basswood. 

 I got 2,-1:00 pounds of basswood honey, 

 and 000 pounds of buckwheat, all es- 



