162 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Harrison Co., Incl.. April 15, 1877.—" Bees 

 are working on yellow willow and hard 

 maple. Everything looks favorable for a 

 good honey harvest." David Grabble. 



Fayette Co., Ind., April 1.5, 1877.—'' 1 win- 

 tered 43 colonies in a house with a 6-inch 

 wall filled in with sawdust, and lost one. I 

 had 8 on their sunnner stands, packed in 

 corn fodder and lost 2. Those in the house 

 did the best." Daniel Wurth. 



Ingliain Co., Mich., April 20, 1877.—" I 

 have wintered 65 colonies, and they are all 

 in fine condition. I^ast season I wintered 

 64 colonies, and tor 2 years have not lost a 

 single colony, and have but little spring 

 dwindling." James Harper. 



Jeiferson Co.. Iowa, April 18. 1877.—" My 

 bees have wintered well, and are now at 

 work." Andrew Simons. 



Plumas Co., Cal., April 12, 1877.—" I win- 

 tered 30 colonies on summer stands; they 

 are all right and have been working lively 

 on willow and alder for the last month. I 

 don't favor wintering inider the snow; it is 

 too damp. I have tried it." E. Culver. 



Vermont, 111., April 19, 1877.— "I com- 

 menced last year with 19 colonies; increas- 

 ed to 56, bought 25. making me 81. I lost 

 and sold 6, so that I have 75 to begin with 

 this year. I got 2,456 lbs. of box honey." 

 Hardin Haines. 



Dearborn Co., Ind., April 10, 1877.-" My 

 bees are all alive, and are gathering pollen 

 nicely. I noticed several combs of brood 

 and some drones in a hive in Feb. The 

 hive had a fertile queen." 



S. Humfield, Jr. 



Pottawattamie Co., Kansas, April 8, 1877. 

 —"My bees are gathering pollen. The 

 peach blossoms are nearly ready to expand. 

 1 hope we shall have a good season, and 

 that the ' hoppers ' will not trouble us 

 seriously this spring." Jacob Emmons. 



Crawford Co., Pa., April 6, 1877.— "! 

 started last winter with 133 colonies; 103 

 wintered in-doors and the balance out, in 

 large double hives, packed all around with 

 buckwheat chaff and hay; chaff at the 

 sides and hay on honey-board, with slots 

 for surplus boxes all open. With four ex- 

 ceptions they wintered splendidly, very 

 much better than those in the bee house. 

 The bees smothered in the four, by the en- 

 trance becoming stopped up with snow. I 

 was away from home a part of the time, and 

 neglected them, The hives were 2 to 3 feet 

 under the snow, part of the time. I shall 

 hereafter winter out-of-doors altogether, as 

 I have never wintered in-doors to suit me. 

 With a few hives in a house they do well 

 enough, but with a large number and the 

 house closed up, so as to maintain a tem- 

 perature of about 40 to 42 deg., the bees 

 were out of the hives too much ; the air is 

 too close and impure, and in order to over- 

 come this defect I have to open the ventila- 

 tors so wide that the temperature sinks 

 below freezing point; and in this condition, 

 according to my experience, they are worse 

 off than' out-of-doors, without protection 

 save that given by a single board hive." 



H. y. See. 



Atchinson Co., Kan., April 20, 1877.— "My 

 bees wintered well in the cellar. Peaches 

 are in bloom now and honey gathering has 

 commenced." F. Schletzbaum. 



Montcalm Co., Mich., April 19, 1877.—" I 

 wintered 190 colonies in the cellar. They 

 came out in good order." H. M. Roof. 



Blackhawk Co., Iowa, April 14, 1877.— 

 " Bees wintered well here. I winter in the 

 cellar under my kitchen, and ventilated 

 through the stove pipe. I lost 4 out of 35 

 colonies; they were queenless, but had 

 plenty of honey. The Italians are more 

 active than blacks. I would not do without 

 the Journal if it cost $5 a year." 



L. L. Triem. 



Butler Co., Pa., April 18, 1877.— "I put my 

 bees into winter quarters on Nov. 25; took 

 them out Feb. 7, returned them the 9th, and 

 put them on their summer stands April 3rd. 

 I lost but one out of 100 colonies. They are 

 all Italians and in good condition. I win- 

 tered part in a cave and the balance in a 

 bee-house; the walls filled in with 5 in. of 

 clay. I used chaff boxes in place of honey- 

 board. They are dark Italian bees, such as 

 Ch. Dadant imports— none of the light- 

 colored Italians for me. If a hive dwindles 

 away in spring, it is one of those ' beautiful 

 light ones.' " Jacob Patterson. 



Iron Co., Mo., April 16, 1877.— "A lady got 

 me to 'doctor' her bees, last week. They 

 were in the ' Buckeye,' a hive that has an 

 upright case; the frames being hinged on a 

 carriage, the bottom of which is an exten- 

 sive moth trap. One hive had not been 

 opened for 2 years and the other was filled 

 last year. The box room was scanty and 

 inconvenient, while boxes had been put in, 

 but in one hive they refused to work in 

 them because they had no starters. The 

 bees had made all fast in the case, both top 

 and sides. A large knife had to be freely 

 used before the carriage-bearing frames 

 could be withdrawn. Both had plenty of 

 moths and roaches, and from one I took a 

 gallon of dead bees; yet the colonies were 

 strong and stores abundant. The hive 

 deserves an advertisement as a nuisance. 

 Most of the bees hereabout died last win- 

 ter; cause— worker comb filled with honey 

 and breeding stopped. Some went in with 

 '20 stocks, but came out with one. Neai'ly 

 all in old box hives or gums, and left on the 

 summer stands." Wm. Cam. 



De Vall's Bluff, Ark., April 16, 1877.— 

 '• Having sold some, I commence the pres- 

 ent season with .54 colonies. Last season I 

 commenced with 45, and secured over 5,000 

 lbs. of very choice comb honey, in sections, 

 and had an increase of 50 per cent, in 

 stocks. This season I expect to beat that." 

 W. W. HiPOLiTE, M.D. 



St. Clair Co., 111., April 21, 1877.— "Bees 

 did moderately well, last year, but I lost 

 most of them during the winter. On 

 examination, I think it was dysentery, 

 caused probably by the sour, uncapped 

 honey, with which the combs were partial- 

 ly filled. Have just the number of colonies 

 now that I started with last spring, but 

 stronger ones. Want of proper attention 

 the chief cause of loss. Generally, bees 

 wintered well here." L. C. Bornman. 



