242 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bloomfield, Iowa, June 22, 1877.—" Wlien 

 is the best time to plant basswood seed?" 



D. M. D. 

 [ Early in the spring.— Ed.] 



Franklin Co., Kansas, June 19, 1877.—" I 

 bought a swarm of Italian bees in June, 

 1876. They swarmed twice after I got them. 

 I have had 3 swarms this spring— making 6 

 in all." J. Wemmer. 



Antrim, Minn., June 18, 1877.— " This is 

 the land of the 'festive hopper.' I am hap- 

 py to say, however, that they seem to be 

 rapidly on the decrease. This is a fine 

 agricultural region, but I think rather un- 

 favorable for bees— too windy on the prai- 

 ries. I have no bees here, but could not do 

 without the Joubnal, and think you are 

 keeping it well up with the times." 



L. M. LlNDLEY. 



"I see in the last Journal that Mr. Per- 

 rine advertises comb foundation at 5Uc. per 

 fi). Does he sell it at that price for a single 

 pound ? Please tell us in the next Jour- 

 nal." Jacob Greene. 



[No; he sells no smaller package than 100 

 tt)S. at that price, and that only of 12x18 

 size; he does not cut it to suit frames at 

 that price. — Ed.] 



Brown Co., Wis. June 25, 1877.—" Our lit- 

 tle industrious workers have had rather a 

 §oor season thus far, in this portion of the 

 tate. The winter was severe on them, but 

 not so hard as the spring. The extremes of 

 cold and heat caused a falling off of about 

 an average of one-third of the colonies; and 

 then it has been very dry the most of spring 

 and summer up to June 6th. So the bees 

 have had all they could do to gather enough 

 to live on thus tar, and very many colonies 

 that were not fed starved to death. I fed 

 my bees freely and they were doing well in 

 brood until June 3nd, when they got a 

 severe check by the destruction of my farm 

 buildings by fire, consisting of 4 large, well- 

 furnished farm barns, sheds, grain house, 

 hog pen, dwelling house, out-buildings, 

 household effects, farm machinery, wagons, 

 carriages, harness, etc., and the most of my 

 apiary equipments; and it came near des- 

 troying all my bees. My loss is estimated 

 at from $7,000 to $8,000. Have commenced 

 extractinj:. White clover is now in bloom 

 and bids fair to afford good pasturage." 



Chas. R. Clough. 



Sumter Co., Ala., June 14, 1877.—" I will 

 ask a few questions concerning my bees, 

 which I shall be glad to see answered in the 

 next number of the Journal. 



" One of my hives (No. 6) wintered in a 

 fine condition, and this spring sent out two 

 fine swarms which have been doing well. 

 The parent hive seemed to be doing well, 

 except that it would not go to work in the 

 honey boxes; and I thought perhaps there 

 was something wrong, and opened the hive 

 and found that there was not a single egg 

 or young bee in the combs. I did not look 

 for the queen, because they were busy at 

 work filling up the brood chamber with 

 honey. I took it for granted that she must 

 be there or they would cease work. Can 

 you tell me why there is no brood in the 

 combs? When I first opened the hive I 



thought perhaps they had just hatched out, 

 but looked again in a few days and still 

 there was no brood there. 



"I have just received my extractor and it 

 works like a charm. I have some* trouble 

 in getting the bees off the combs when I get 

 ready to extract. Please give me your plan 

 of getting rid of them. My bees are gather- 

 ing honey very fast. They fill up after ex- 

 tracting, in 3 or 4 days. 



" Three or four of my strongest hives 

 seem to have more bees than can work in 

 them at once; they come out every day and 

 cover the sides of the hive, those that are 

 not in my house; and those in the house 

 collect at the entrance. Can you tell me 

 why? My hives are 12x14 in. inside. Do 

 you think that large enough for the brood 

 chamber? Do you use quilts or not on the 

 top of your frames? If so, how do you keep 

 worms from the top of the frames?" 



A Subscriber. 



[ Queens are liable to become impotent, 

 and if that colony had one, she was evident- 

 ly in that condition or there would be 

 brood. 



A sharp jerk of the combs usually dis- 

 places the bees; or they can be easily 

 brushed off. 



Your hives are large enough; but tliis 

 idleness is caused by too confined space 

 within. Either divide them, give them 

 boxes, or use the extractor to give them 

 room to work. 



We do not use quilts; strong colonies will 

 usually dispose of all bee enemies.— Ed.] 



California Bee-Keepers' Meeting. 



The Bee-Keepers' Association met at Los 

 Angeles, on May 19th at 11 o'clock. A. J. 

 Davidson in the chair. The secretary being 

 absent. Win. Muth-Rasmusson was chosen 

 temporary secretary. A. J. Davidson read 

 a letter from Prof. Harbison on the honey 

 prospects for the season, when a general 

 discussion of the same ensued. 



It was moved and adopted that the time 

 of meeting hereafter be at 11 a. m. instead 

 of 1 p. M. 



Reports of committee appointed at the 

 last meeting was received. 



Mr. S. D. Barber, a prominent apiculturist 

 of Mattoon, 111., was introduced and ad- 

 dressed the meeting in regard to the size of 

 hives, when the subject was discussed by 

 Mr. Butler and others. 



T. A. Garvin, E. A. Beardsley and J. M. 

 Smith were admitted to membership. 



J. E. Pleasant stated that the bee men in 

 his neighborhood had issued a call for a 

 meeting to be held on Saturday, the 26th 

 inst., for the purpose of organizing an As- 

 sociation. 



Overstocking was then discussed by Da- 

 vidson and Levering. 



J. W. Wilson then exhibited a specimen 

 of canned peaches preserved in honey, 

 which gave entire satisfaction to all who 

 sampled them. 



The meeting then adjourned to meet at 

 the same place on the third Saturday in 

 July, 1877. Wm. Muth-Rasmussen, 

 Sec'y, pro tern. 



