240 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



®nx%ciUx^03t. 



Manitowoc Co., Wis., June 11, 1877.— 

 *' Bees have not done much yet, as the 

 weather is cold. Manj' have died in this 

 vicinity." Fked Claussen. 



Woodbury Co., Iowa, June 14, 1877.— 

 "Bees are doing poorly, this spring; cold 

 and wet weather the cause." 



B. P. Yeomans. 



Chillicothe, Mo., June 1.5, 1877.—" I flatter 



myself I have the nicest apiary in this 



country. I really don't think I have a 



crooked or irregular comb in 40 full stocks." 



J. W. Gkeene. 



Cincinnati, O., June 5, 1877.— "The honey 

 season has begun to open, and the prospect 

 never was better, if we may judge by the 

 abundance of white clover covering the 

 commons." C. F. Muth. 



Wabash Co.. Ind., June 6, 1877.— "My 

 bees are doing finely. Just had a nice rain, 

 which will cause the honey to flow in abun- 

 dance, from the white clover that now 

 covers the ground everywhere." 



J. H. Washburn. 



Garden Plain, III., June 14, 1877.— "1 have 

 a swarm of bees on the scales that was 1.5 

 tts. heavier this morning at 6 o'clock than 

 at the same time yesterday. I was not at 

 home in the evening to test it before there 

 was any evaporation." R. R. Murphy. 



Waterloo, La., June 9, 1877.— " Bees are 

 gathering honey slowly, here. It is very 

 dry. The last rain we had was on April 28. 

 My hives are full of honey, but I cannot ex- 

 tract yet for fear of robbers. Bees are not 

 gathering fast enough." L. Lindsly, Jr. 



Mower Co., Minn., May 28, 1877.— "I put 5 

 colonies into winter quarters on Nov. 7th; 

 lost 4, owing to 40 days of continual freez- 

 ing; the bees could not get at their honey; 

 they starved witii plenty of honey in the 

 hives. Gave the remaining swarm a good 

 fly in Feb.; another in March; it is doing 

 well now. I bouglit 3 more of I. Ingmund- 

 son, and one from Ch. Dadant. All are 

 doing finely. The bees I bought of Mr. 

 Dadant proved to be not perfectly pure. 

 They were well-marked, but not as fine as 

 my others. I notified him, and witiiin ten 

 days he sent me a beautiful queen, by ex- 

 press, to replace the other; tested and war- 

 ranted pure, without further charge. This 

 is honorable and upright dealing, which 

 should be encouraged. He will hear from 

 me again, should I have the misfortune to 

 loose any of my bees." C. F. Greening. 



San Bernardino Co., Cal., June 8, 1877.— 

 "The Bingham smoker is received. I am 

 much pleased with it; it is one of the best 

 things iu the way of a smoker I ever saw. 

 I cheerfully recommend it to all apiarists. 

 Would like it better if the tube was a little 

 larger." Wm. G.Bailey. 



[Friend Bingham now makes a larger 

 tube— price .^2.00. We can send you one, if 

 desired.— Ed.] 



San Bernardino Co., Cal., June 7, 1877.— 

 "Through Feb. and March my bees did ex- 

 ceedingly well, building comb fast; April 

 and May was wet and cold, giving us three 

 old-fashioned Eastern thunder storms, ac- 

 companied by hail and rain. Our bees are 

 now very strong in numbers, many of them 

 being built up to 3 stories in Langstroth 12 

 frames. We are looking for a good yield of 

 honey." G. B. Wallace. 



Winnebago Co., 111., May 30, 1877.— "My 

 bees have done well. Last summer I got 

 125 lbs. of box honey from several of my 

 hives, besides what I extracted from each 

 of them. I put 60 colonies into my bee- 

 house in the fall; I lost none, nor have I 

 lost one in 6 years. They had plenty of 

 brood and drones when I took them out on 

 April 1st. I have kept bees for over 30 

 years but do not think I would consent to 

 keep them without The American Bee 

 Journal. I wish it abundant success." 

 John H. Hodgkins. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y., June 11, 1877.— " I 

 have kept bees more or less for about 30 

 years, usually with good success, wintering 

 in my cellar. To save labor, last fall, 1 

 tried wintering out-doors. I packed most 

 of them in straw, underneath and all 

 around, except front, and the caps I filled 

 with straw. The snow came on deep, and 

 the hives drifted under to the depth of 4 ft; 

 there being no frost in the ground, they 

 became very damp, but wintered through 

 witii the exception of 3 or 4, which had lost 

 their queens. About March 25, 1 set them 

 out heavy in honey and strong in bees. 

 They began to dwindle; what did not die 

 in their hives would swarm out and unite 

 with other swarms, leaving plenty of honey, 

 clean combs, and some of them a good 

 queen. After they commenced, the swarm- 

 ing seemed to be contagious, 3 swarms com- 

 ing out in about 15 minutes— not a very 

 good way of uniting swarms. And now the 

 result is out of 61 or 62 swarms I have but 

 21 which are doing well, although some of 

 them are quite late in getting to work. Al- 

 though this would properly come under the 

 head of "blasted hopes," I do not propose 

 to quit the business. Fifty per cent, of the 

 bees in this locality are dead." 



Edwin S. Edwards. 



St. George, Kan., June 10, 1877.— "It has 

 been wet here for a month. The Kansas 

 river is now full to the banks, and 43^ in. 

 of rain fell last night and it is still raining. 

 The valley will soon be overflown for tne 

 first time since 1844, when steamboats could 

 have run where Man batten. North Topeka, 

 and many small cities now stand. The 

 prospect is terrible, but we hope for the 

 best. My farm was visited by a terrible 

 hail storm on the 2d, which destroyed about 

 $1,000 worth of fruit, buckwheat, and other 

 produce, so my bees have to live on sugar 

 for the present. My river-bottom fann I 

 fear will be submerged with .500 bu. of corn 

 in the crib, and this is the fate of hundreds 

 and perhaps thousands of farmers. My 

 home farm is on the 2d bottom, 50 ft. or 

 more, above the river bottom. I hasten this 

 letter as communication will be suspended 

 for a while, by the floods." 



Jacob Emmons. 



