204 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



mxx%ctUx^ox. 



Logansport, Ind., May 10, 1877.— " Bees 

 are doing very well here." M. Mahin. 



Austin, Minn., May 12, 1877.— ''The Bing- 

 ham smoker is received, and is complete in 

 every particular. It works to a charm and 

 is substantial in its construction." 



1. Ingmundson. 



Montgomery Co., N. Y., May 11, 1877.— 

 "My bees wintered well. Had 118 in cellar, 

 and lost one, and two were queenless." 



C. C. V AN Deusen. 



Douglas Co., 111., May 11, 1877.— "I lost 4 

 colonies out of 230 in wintering. It no 

 doubt occurred because of a lack of honey 

 last fall. Our honey gathering here was 

 only in June and July, so the bees went in- 

 to winter quarters aged and infirm." 



A. Salisbury. 



Bruce Co., Ont., April 28, 1877.—" Bees 

 wintered good here, gathering pollen for 

 two weeks. I wintered mine in a cellar; 

 the temperature being 35 to 38°. They ate 

 very little all winter." A. J. Mackay. 



Cedar Co., Mo., April 23, 1877.—" My bees 

 have wintered well, on their summer 

 stands. 1 have 32 colonies, all in good con- 

 dition. We have taken 1,600 lbs. of extract- 

 ed and 400 lbs. of comb honey during the 

 past season." Ph. Bossert. 



Kokomo, Ind., May 10, 1877.—" Colonies 

 that were strong in the fall, have here win- 

 tered well, both in and out-of-doors; but 

 many failed to secure suflicient honey in 

 the fall, for the winter, and not being fed 

 perished before spring." A. T. Wright. 



Hartford, N. Y., May 7, 1877.—" I have 

 run my apiary for both extracted and box 

 honey.' Honey mostly from white clover; 

 but little basswood and fall pasturage. I 

 winter in a dry cellar. The following is 

 my report for the past year ending May 1st: 

 Dr. 



To 53 .swarms <^ $10 $ 5.S0.00 



40 hives @ $2 SO.OO 



Improvements in bee house and yard 200.00 



Steam entiiue, 1}^ h. p 175.00 



Honey ex t racier lO.nO 



Wax extractor -1.00 



Cart V).Oi) 



Tools, etc "O.OO 



$1044.00 

 Cr. 

 By 3000 lbs. extracted honey, @ 143^c. . . $ 43o.00 



J200 lbs. box honey. @ SOc 340.00 



16 swarms (sold bees only) (&> $5 80.00 



20ibswax@30c 6.(0 



90 swarms, in tall, @ $S 720.00 



Total Cr $14.S 1 00 



Total Dr I(i44.00 



Balance in favor of Cr. $ 4.'i7.00 



"During the past winter I lost 2, and 

 found 4 queenless, which were united witli 

 others. 1 have now 83 swarms. Those 

 that were doui)led in the fall, came out 

 extra strong. I hope to make balance in 

 favor of Cr. show hetter this year. Bees 

 have wintered well here." 



J. H. Martin. 



Pottawattamie Co., Kansas, May 5, 1877.— 

 " The grasshoppers have done but little 

 harm, and I think we are out of danger 

 now; we have croakers who belong to the 

 do-nothing class, just waiting to make their 

 predictions verify, but those who folloAV 

 the advice of experienced farmers and 

 plowed late and early, turning the eggs and 

 young 'hoppers under, deep, for manure, 

 have nothing to fear, but will have the 

 satisfaction of raising extra crops, as from a 

 sprinkle of guano. Eggs are only deposited 

 in bare lands, so that the plow proves their 

 destruction, while they benefit the land by 

 fertilising. Twenty years residence here 

 has taugiit me the above. I expect ],.500 bu. 

 of peaches, and apples in abundance, 

 besides a large crop of grain and honey this 

 season." Jacob Emmons. 



Georgiana, Ont., May 10, 1877.—" My re- 

 port for the year ending May 1, 1877, is as 

 follows: Began the year with 4 colonies, 

 increased to 9 and took 2 cwt. of comb and 

 extracted honey. Went into winter quar- 

 ters with 9 hives on Nov. 27th, placing them 

 in one corner of my cellar which I had 

 petitioned off with boards and lined with 

 newspapers, forming a dry, dark and w(irm 

 apartment 4x10 ft. in size, in accordance 

 with the number of hives; left nothing on 

 the top of hives but the quilts and some 

 straw matting made out of old packing 

 covers of bottles which I singled out. For 

 ventilating the apartment I bored 6 one-in. 

 holes 12 in. apart through a 2-in. joist on top 

 of cellar wall, thus obtaining a current of 

 air from tlte draught holes in the foundation 

 of the house. In these inch holes through 

 the joist I had stops, so as to close them in 

 extreme weather and open again when 

 milder. By this means, I could regulate the 

 temperature so evenly that the thermome- 

 ter averaged 40° all winter. Some of my 

 stocks becoming a little uneasy during the 

 fine weather of Feb., 1 gave them a fly on 

 March 1st, they then remained perfectly 

 quiet till April 14th, when, owing to the 

 early spring, I placed them on their sum- 

 mer stands, all in good condition but one 

 which proved to be queenless and swarmed 

 out. The remaining 8. by May 1st, had seal- 

 ed brood and was in every way doing well." 

 D. P. Niven. 



Jones Co., Iowa, April 30. 1877.— "I put 38 

 swarms in cellar on Nov. 15; set them out 

 on Jan. 31; average temperature of cellar, 

 about 45°— a little too warm for strong 

 swarms, as they were somewhat uneasy. 

 Lost none, but 4 were queenless; loss of 

 bees very small, and those building up fine- 

 ly now. Feb., pleasant; March, cold; 

 April, very pleasant until the 27th, when it 

 turned to winter again, snowed all day 

 yesterday and froze quite hard last night." 

 J. E. Hunter. 



Henry Co., Iowa, May 1. 1877.~"Last fall 

 our apiary numbered 55 swarms; this 

 sin-ing only 44. Our bees had dysentery, 

 some of them are very weak. We wintered 

 about 30 swarms in the cellar. Father 

 thinks those out-doors wintered the best. 

 We have been feeding them rye meal this 

 spring. They are carrying in pollen. We 

 extracted 4 barrels of honey last summer, 

 and had 1,000 lbs. of box honey. Honey is 

 not readily sold here. The spring has been 

 rainy and'backward." Miss L. J. Noble. 



