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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 





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^g" A. F. Unterkircher, Manches- 

 ter. o. Mich., on Jan. 16, I880, writes 

 as follows concerning the past season: 



The season of 1884 was very unfavor- 

 able for bees in tliis section, on account of 

 the weather bein« so extremely dry for 

 white clover ami fall flowers. There are 

 many acres of buckwheat witliin reach of 

 our hees, but it is most certainly a very 

 poor honey-plant. Basswood was a fail- 

 ure, and scores of basswood trees are 

 being made into pickets for fences. 1 

 obtained my first 9 colonies of bees in the 

 fall of 1881, and from them 1 now have SO 

 colonies all in good condition. I have lost 

 only one colony, which died from starva- 

 tion with plenty of honey in the hive. 



W R. P. Williams (15-15), Gold- 

 smith,© Ind., on Jan. 12, 1885, re- 

 ports thus : 



The past season was a very poor one for 

 honey here. There was an abundance of 

 white clover bloom, bnt very little honev 

 was gathered from it, and basswood did 

 not yield mucli honey. There will he 

 coiisideiahle loss among those who paid 

 no attention to tiieir bees. I started in 

 the spring with 15 colonies, and obtained 

 only oOO pounds of extracted honey, and 

 had no swarms at all. 1 never have se- 

 cured any fall honey, and never have lost 

 but one colony of bees with bee-diarrhea : 

 that was in the winter of ISSO, and 1 fed 

 it on dark sugar. 1 never take any pollen 

 from them in the fall, but let them be 

 tlieir own judge of that. They are all 

 alive yet. 



t^ 10— John Key, (,35—56), East 

 Saginaw.0 Mich., on Jan. 17, 1885, re- 

 ports as follows as to the condition of 

 his bees : 



My bees are under the snow, one-half of 

 the hives being entirely out of sight, and 

 the caps of tlie other half being slightly 

 visible. We bad a snow-storm here to- 

 day, and the snow drifted badly ; but I ara 

 not alarnjed about my bees, for I have 

 the bottom-boards cut off even with the 

 bottoms of the hives, and the hives lean- 

 ing forward. There is no chance for the 

 water to run into the hives, and when it 

 thaws I will shovel the snow away. This 

 same thing occurreil to my hives three 

 winters ago, and the bees wintered all 

 right. Tliey get plenty of air under the 

 snow. 



^ J. Rutherford, Scranton.Of Pa , 

 writes thus about " a hard nut to 

 crack :"' 



(In page .5 Mr. (J. M. Doolittle says : 

 "The first fact to which I wish to call the 

 reader's attention, as bearing on this win- 

 ter question, is that the intestines of the 

 newly liatched bee are filled with pollen 

 when it emerges from the cell, etc." 

 Now, if I understand things rightly 

 (scientifically), the intestines of the young 

 bee are not filled with pollen, because the 

 young bee in the larval state does not eat 

 pollen ; therefore, it is impossible for any 

 one to see it with the naked eye. The 

 food of the young bee consists ot a purely 

 animal secretion, which is, no doubt, pro- 

 duced by a eland in the gullet of the 

 nurse-bee, and tins liighly prejjared food 

 is absorbed by the larva, leaving no mat- 

 ter to void ; and it is also a fact that we 

 often find our ■t-frame nuclei with young 

 queen put mto winter quarters, weak 



with bees, and after four months' confine- 

 ment come out in the spring bright and 

 clean, and stron>;er than two-thirds of our 

 best colonies. Will Mr. Doolittle kindly 

 reply through the Bee .Iournai>, as all I 

 want is to get at the truth of the matter. 



[®" W. H. Miller, Berrien Springs, 9 

 Mich., on Jan. 19, 1885, reports thus : 



Last spring 1 started with 3.5 colonies 

 and increased them to (JS, which are now 

 packed in shavings on the summer 

 stands. All seem to be doing well, as 

 they remain very quiet. 1 think that they 

 have enough honey to last them tlirough 

 the winter. I obtained about 1,100 pounds 

 ot white comb honey; nearly all of it 

 being in one-pound sections. 



r^" James Heddon, Dowagiac, p 

 Mich., writes as follows about hybrids 

 and pollen : 



While we all expect Prof. Cook to lead 

 us upon all topics specially belonging to 

 the entomology of bees, 1 wish to thank 

 him tor his expression of what he has 

 found to be true regarding hybrids and 

 pollen, as given on page 41. "i have 91 

 colonies in a new cellar. This cellar is 

 damper than the old one. I have pur- 

 posely " abused the bees" in this cellar, 

 by allowing the temperature to get below 

 the freezing point, by several degrees, 

 being aware, as Prof. Cook says, and as I 

 have formerly said, that bees can winter 

 well with plenty o( pollen in the hive, if 

 all other conditions are right ; and as a 

 part of the colonies are sugar-fed and 

 pollenless, while a lesser part have honev 

 and pollen, I hope to get a test. 



t^ R. A. Rosser,Nelsonville,cK O., 

 on Jan. 19, 1885, reports as follows : 



My ai)iary is all that helped me out this 

 season. 1 have obtained 1,100 pounds of 

 comb honey from 23 colonies, spring 

 count, and I increased them to 43 coloiues, 

 by natiu'al swarming. I think that is 

 pretty good, considering the dry season. 

 1 think that the Bee Jouknai, is a great 

 help in bee-keeping. 



1^ Earle Clickenger, Columbus,© 

 Ohio, on Jan. 19, 1885, reports thus : 



In the fall of 1883 I had 35 colonies 

 packed in cl)aff-hives on the summer 

 stands, bnt I lost one by starvation. In 

 the spring of 1884 I purchased 15 colonies, 

 increased them to 54 colonies, by natural 

 swarming, and I obtained 1,.500 pounds of 

 comb honey and 500 pounds of extracted. 

 The past season was the poorest one for 

 honey in the past 5 years. 1 have 28 colo- 

 nies ill my hee-cellar, and 20 colonies 

 packed in chaff on the summer stands. 



1^ 27— F. A. Snell, (80—110) Mil- 

 ledgeville,x) Ills., on Jan. 21, 1885, re- 

 ports thus : 



I am much pleased to notice that the 

 Bee Jouunal is of age. It has done a 

 noble work in the years of its existence. 

 Through its pages a vast amount of in- 

 fonnatioii has been gleaned by its liost of 

 readers. I havekept bees for37 years (for 

 35 years in my present location), and 1 

 have been a regular subscriber to the Bee 

 Journal for 17 years, and to which I owe 

 very much of the knowledge which 1 now 

 possess. I am especially well pleased 

 with it this year. In November, 1883, I 

 put 105 colonies into winter quarters, and 

 in April, 1884, 100 of the number were 

 placed on the summer stands, having lost 

 5 from various causes. 1 sold 20 in the 

 spring, and thus commenced the season 

 with 80 colonies. I increased them to 110 

 colonies, which were put into winter 

 quarters about Nov. 30, 1884. My surplus 



lioney was fine in quality, having been 

 gathered from clover and linden bloom. 

 I obtained 3,300 pounds of comb honey, 

 and 3,000 pounds ot extracted, being an 

 average of 65 pounds per colony, spring 

 count. We had none of tlie so-called 

 honey-dew. I winter my bees mostly in 

 the cellar, which, for a long term of years, 

 has proved to be the best place or method 

 that I could find, and I have experimented 

 a great deal in this direction. The past 

 .season, with me, was below the average, 

 and those apiaries run on the "go-as-you- 

 please" plan here, produced but little or 

 no surplus honey. In the death of Mr. 

 W. W. Gary, our fraternity has lost a 

 noble brother. 



1^ Lee Emrick, Lone Tree,*o Mo., 

 on Jan. 20, 1885, reports as follows : 



The past season's honey crop was light 

 here, and consequently there was no 

 trouble to find sale for exti-acted honey at 

 15 cents per pound. Bees were in good 

 condition when they were put into winter 

 quarters. This winter, so far, has been a 

 severe one for this latituie. The temper- 

 ature was down to 13° below zero this 

 morning, and the ground is covered with 

 <i inches of snow. Cass county is on the 

 western border of Missouri, and Lone 

 Tree is 50 miles south ot Kansas City. 



1^ A. P. Lawrence, Hickory Cor- 

 ners,? Mich., on Jan. 17, 1885, re- 

 ports thus : ■ 



Last winter I wintered 34 colonies of 

 bees and bouglit some, so I had .50 colonies 

 to start with in, the spring. I increased 

 them to 84 colonies, and my crop of honey 

 was 1,000 pounds of extracted and 1,.S00 

 pounds of comb honey. One colony gath- 

 ered .50 pounds of honey in one week. 

 There was a splendid flow ot honey before 

 harvest, but there was not much honey 

 after Aug. 1. I have 91 colonies in the 

 cellar in good condition. I use comb 

 foundation, and 1 should have it if it cost 

 $1 per pound. My bees never amounted 

 to much until I used comb foundation. 

 Italian bees are my favorites— no black 

 bees for me. I liave wintered my bees in 

 the cellar for 6 years, and never lost a col- 

 ony that had honey enough to winter on. 

 I have no trouble in wintering bees if 

 they have plenty ot good honey, but the 

 worst trouble is to keep them from dwind- 

 ling in the spring. 



1^- Ellery D. Frost, Almond,© 

 Wis., on Jan. 13, 1885, reports thus : 



A year ago last spring I liad one colony 

 of bees which I increased to four. They 

 wintered well in the cellar, where I now 

 have 8 colonies with fronr20 to 40 pounds 

 of good hmiey in each hive. The main 

 source of lioney here has been white 

 clover whicli was very abundant during 

 June and July. I obtained 400 pounds of 

 honey, 140 pounds being the most taken 

 fromone colony. There are few bees in 

 this section, aiid not many wild lioney- 

 producing flowers, but clover is very abun- 

 dant. 



K^*" The executive committee of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Society have 

 decided to hold the ne.xt annual meeting at 

 Detroit, Mich., on Dee. 8, 9 and 10, 1885. If 

 there is any reason why this date is unde- 

 sirable, it should at once he made known, so 

 that the committee may be governed ac- 

 cordingly. W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



[As the Michigan State Convention has al- 

 ready decided to meet with the National at 

 Detroit, would it not be a good idea to have 

 the " Northwestern " of Chicago also meet 

 at the same time and place, and have one 

 grand, rousing meeting ?— Ed.] 



