THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



53 



• fitting over each hive; 4 are in common box 

 hives. I put them all in a row; put boards 

 and stravi^ around them, and are all drifted 

 in snow now. I wish you would give some 

 instructions, through the Joubnal, about 

 queen raising." Christ Miller. 



[If you will look over the back numbers 

 you will lind instructions for queen raising. 

 One plan is to deprive a colony of its queen 

 and after ten days destroy all queen cells, 

 and give the colony brood from the choicest 

 queen; from this a number of queens will 

 be started, and in about ten days from the 

 time the brood is given,each queen cell may 

 be cut out and given to a separate nucleus. 

 This nvicleus may consist of one, two or 

 three frames of the same size as those used 

 in the ordinary hives, with bees enough to 

 take care of them. Queen raising may be 

 commenced at any time after drone brood 

 is found sealed over. — Ed.] 



Blair Co., Pa., Jan. 10, 1876.—" My bees 

 have done well. I commenced in the spring 

 of 1876 with 15 colonies; increased to 21 by 

 natural swarming; have taken between 500 

 and 600 Bbs.; extracted a barrel or more, 

 and hard as the times are, have sold nearly 

 all at good prices. Comb at 35, 20, 1.5c. per 

 K).; extracted, 20, 15 and 10c. per lb. I 

 think my bees are making me a fair busi- 

 ness, considering the little attention 1 have 

 given them. I have attended to my farm of 

 90 acres, with but little help; so the bees 

 only got my spare moments. I put them 

 into winter quarters, all, with the exception 

 of 3, in splendid condition, and had it not 

 been for the Centennial, probably they 

 would have been good too; but I think one 

 could easily afford to have 3 weak colonies 

 for what they saw there. My 'little pets' 

 I think must be tired hugging close to- 

 gether, they have not had a fly since the 

 10th of Nov., and we have had very cold 

 weather. Accept my very best wishes for 

 the ' old and reliable ' American Bee 

 Journal; that it may wave long, wide and 

 high." Frank M. Glasgow. 



Wayne County, Mich., Jan. 13, 1877.—" A 

 neighbor who has some 25 or 30 swarms in 

 box hives, says he has watched the queen 

 in his glass hive, and seen her mate with 

 the drone in the hive, and in about 3 days 

 will commence laying, and in about 3 hours 

 will have all her laying done, when she will 

 again mate with the drone. Is there any 

 truth in this statement?" W. M. 



[None whatever; he fancies he saw it, 

 but was deceived. The queen never mates 

 with the drone but once, and then on the 

 wing.— Ei).] 



Hamilton, Ont., Jan. 6, 1877. — " Bees are 

 very quiet in the cellar. The mercury 

 stands at 40 deg." M. Johnson. 



Crawford Co., Mo., Jan. 8, 1877.— "I have 

 13 stocks safely wrapped in clover hay, on 

 their summer stands. They have stores 

 plenty to last till spring. Our fall flowers 

 are mountain ditny and golden-rods, and 

 are very abundant."" Job Harman, Sr. 



Cayuga Co., N. Y., Jan. 10, 1877.-" The 

 January number of The American Bee 

 Journal is received, and well sustains its 

 claims to superiority and progress. I think 

 the right man is at the helm, and wish you 

 success." J. W. Guthrie. 



Benton County, Mo., Jan. 9, 1877.—" The 

 honey season was not as good in 1876 as in 

 1875, although we extracted 397 gallons, be- 

 sides box honey not a little. I hope this 

 may find the 'old, reliable' A. B. J. with 

 more subscribers and moi'e prosperity than 

 ever." Mrs. J. W. Dick. 



Oneida, 111., January 15, 1877.— " Friend 

 Newman: In regard to queens being lost 

 by hives being placed in straight rows (as 

 spoken of, on the reading of my little paper 

 at the Mich. B. K. Association) I would say 

 that the last season my hives stood in 3 

 rows, 2 facing east at about 8 ft. apart, and 

 the 3rd at the north ends of the two rows 

 facing south. The hives stand under trees, 

 surrounded by bushes, so that all the bees 

 have to fly out into one common space and 

 go up almost straight into the air to get out 

 over the tree tops. The bees coming and 

 going, look like a huge funnel in the air. I 

 raised quite a number of queens during the 

 summer, and only lost two, and they might 

 have been killed in many other ways be- 

 sides getting into the wrong hives. My 

 hives are all of one color and look alike, 

 there is but 1 ft. between the hives." 



Will M. Kellogg. 



Brown Co., Wis., Dec. '29, 1876.— "My bees 

 have done splendidly. From 3 swarms last 

 spring, I increased to 33, and lost one by 

 robber's. I had also 160 fts. of honey from 

 them. I am satisfied that bees want water 

 from the middle to the last of December, 

 and when housed it is necessary to supply 

 them with it. Am I not correct?" 



C. K. Clough. 



[Bees may need water in winter, but the 

 fact that so many colonies have gone 

 through the entire winter, in close confine- 

 ment, in excellent condition, without any 

 water being supplied, leads pretty strongly 

 to the opposite conclusion.— Ed.] 



Harrison Co., Texas, Jan. 9, 1877.-" We 

 have had an uncommonly severe winter 

 here— snow 16 in. deep— the like of which 

 we have never seen before. Our bees 

 (which we always winter out-of-doors) have 

 suffered some— some weak swarms have 

 perished. The last season here was as good 

 as usual for honey. West of here, on the 



Srairies, bees gathered but little honey, 

 udge W. H. Andrews, in Collin County, 

 writes me that his bees did not gather 

 enough honey to keep them through the 

 winter. Out of '200 stands he has already 

 lost 30, and is compelled to feed, or all 

 would die. I had about 8,000 lbs. of honey 

 last season, and found for all of it a home 

 market at 15 to '25c." W. K. Marshall. 



Grimes Co., Texas, Jan. 5, 1877.—" In this 

 part of Texas bees have not done well du- 

 ring the past season. We had excessive 

 rains in the spring, long drouth in the sum- 

 mer and fall, and extremely cold weather in 

 December and so far in January. To-day is 

 pleasant and promising." Ira M. Camp. 



