THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



15 



Henry Co.. Ind., Dec. 6, 1876.—" I am a 

 minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church 

 in active service as a Presiilini,' Elder, and 

 keep bees as a recreation, and for tlie help 

 they afford in making up the deficiencies in 

 my salary. I have been, 1 think, quite suc- 

 cessful and have found the employment 

 profitable. My bees have paid me not less 

 than .$'300 over all expenses tliis year, not 

 counting the value of H hives increase. I 

 obtained 1,500 lbs. of choice honey. I have 

 now .51 colonies of Italian bees, nearly ail 

 pure, and in good condition for winter. I 

 always had a liking for the handling and 

 managing of bees, and to my enthusiasm in 

 the matter 1 attribute my success." 



M. Mahin. 



Waterbury, Conn., Dec. 11, 1876.— "I feel 

 exceedingly indebted to the bee journals 

 for almost all of the knowledge I possess 

 on bees, although 1 think there is much 

 chaff amongst the grain, and I do not know 

 where the most of it can be found unless it 

 be on the subject of Wintering; because so 

 far as my experience goes both wintering 

 and springing are very simple— long-winded 

 orations to the contrary notwithstanding. 

 My practice has been to shelter from the 

 uortn and west, give upward ventilation, 

 have 1)4 inch hole above the packing on top 

 of the hive and in both ends of top. This 

 will winter a pint of bees if the hive is con- 

 tracted and the entrance made in the vacant 

 end of the hive and under the division 

 board. I thank our old friend Gallup for 

 the hint on entrances. But if I should not 

 be as successful this winter as I have for 

 the last 16, I may have to follow suit and 

 fill my garden full of well curbs, as some 

 seem desirous of doing. Seven of my hives 

 have glass on all sides, 2 panes 9}.^xl4, and 

 two, 9x9. and when these are packed be- 

 tween the glass and shutter with an old 

 newspaper, I believe will winter quite as 

 well as the rest. I do not think so much of 

 large colonies as most bee-keel)ers seem to, 

 as my small colonies seem to do quite as 

 well in spring as the large ones. To be 

 sure they need earlier attention, earlier 

 feeding, but then a small stock does not eat 

 much, and you have the fun of feeding and 

 fussing over them after the long respite of 

 winter and when there is little else you can 

 do. I think it the very quintessence of en- 

 joyment tinkering up a little swarm, and 

 with a good queen it is astonishing how fast 

 they will breed up to strong stocks. I use 

 the Gallup frame. 12 and U frames in a 

 hive. Being out of health all last summer, 

 I could do but little for my bees and they in 

 consequence did but little for me. I am 

 now in readiness for next year's work." 

 Wm. H. Kirk. 



Noble Co., Ind., Dec. 16, 1876.—" Septem- 

 ber was wet and cold, and as my bees could 

 not gather honey, they destroyed their 

 brood. As I was sick in bed I could not 

 feed them; so now I have none but old bees, 

 and they are dropping off fast. I have sduie 

 packed in sawdust, some in buckwheat 

 chalf, some in large bins (one holding ?0 

 hives, entrance free to all, so that they can 

 fly out at pleasure), some in store boxes,and 

 some in a "dugout," leaving the front open. 

 I ha€l 27 stands in the spring; increased to 

 75, but obtained only 300 lbs. of extracted 

 and box honey. I have kept bees ever since 

 1845." F. R. Davis. 



Clifton, Tenn., Dec. 4, 1876.— "As there 

 was no surplus honey the past season here, 

 bees are in a very poor condition for win- 

 tering." C. Weeks. 



Putnam Co., 111., Dec. 1, 1876.— "My bees 

 made honey very fast until July 20; having 

 then made 400 four-pound boxes of honey. 

 There was then nearly 1,000 boxes partly 

 tilled, which they have since eniptied." 



Otto IIalbleib. 



Stephenson Co., 111., Dec. 14, 1876.— "I had 

 11 stands of bees in the spring. I increased 

 to 29. Got 1,1713^ lbs. of box honey. My 

 best swarm gave 126 lbs. surplus." 



BoBERT Jones. 



Fredonia, N. Y., Nov. 8, 1876.— " In May 

 last I had 49 stocks of bees, which increased 

 to 106, giving 1800 tbs. of box honey. The 

 fore part of the season, from June 1st to the 

 middle of July was very fine, but about that 

 time the drouth came on, shortening the 

 honey season about two weeks. The most 

 of our honey is i)roduced from white clover, 

 and baswood. Will Mr. , the great Min- 

 nesota apiarian give his method of winter- 

 ing, &c., through The American Bee 

 Journal?" P.Miller. 



Allegan Co., Mich., Dec. 18, 1876.—" Two 

 years ago I bought a black swarm in a box 

 hive, and in the spring, after they had 

 swarmed, transferred them to what we call 

 the Johnson hive, which is a modilication 

 of the Langstroth. Both swarms wintered 

 well, and this last summer I made 10 

 swarms of them, and all have their hives 

 (9 frames) well filled. I have 132 lbs. of box 

 honey. This I think is good enough for a 

 beginner." Henry Bird, Jr. 



Bureau Co., 111., Oct. 2.3, 1876.— "This sum- 

 mer, while crossing the pasture to the har- 

 vest field, I was about to pull up a bunch of 

 weeds, but my attention was called to the 

 number of bees at work on them, so I let it 

 stand. Afterwards I thought them honey- 

 producing plants, and would gather the seed 

 and sow it. I found them to be cat- 

 nip. So I followed the hedge fence where I 

 thought most likely to find it; cut it off 

 with my knife (got pretty well scratclied), 

 dried and rubbed it out. It is a small seed, 

 an ounce will sow quite a patch. "^ 



E. Pickup. 



Fulton, 111., Dec. 18, 1876.— "I commenced 

 the season with .50 swarms, 15 of them very 

 light; have increased by natural swarming 

 and division to 80; have sold 5i!415 worth of 

 honey and beeswax (only made wax from 

 the uncappings from extracting), and have 

 on hand and given away and used in family 

 about $50 worth. The honey was all gather- 

 ed from white clover, in about 3 weeks, ex- 

 cept about 400 lbs. of late honey. The fall 

 of '76 was the neai'est a failure of any since 

 1862 here. The extracted honey I sold at 

 12>^c. per lb., and comb from 16 to 20c. per 

 lb.; all in my home market. I use the 

 Langstroth hive and Italian bees, and for 

 convenience in handling, for extracted or 

 comb honey I have not seen a hive its equal 

 in my estimation; and as to bees I would 

 not have black bees while I can get Italians, 

 as the Italians are more gentle, more prolific 

 and better workers; or at least they are for 

 me. I have 3 imported queens in my apiary 



