418 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



about H inch over lialf way down. The 

 third day was very warm; having omitted 

 to shadethe liive in the evening, the combs 

 had sagged a little; this I cut off, and 

 placed the two outer combs in the middle. 

 On the fifth day every cell in the hive was 

 worked out almost to its full size. I have 

 no doubt that in the comb-building season a 

 strong colony would leave no cell untouch- 

 ed within 3 days, with pure yellow wax 

 foundation having the right sized cell. 



About Sept. 13th, I took five small strips 

 of foundation of the same kind, filled a one- 

 comb 5x6 surplus box with it, placed it be- 

 tween other boxes on a colony which was 

 working a surplus. About the 20th they 

 had patched up the strips into a straiglit 

 sheet, about an inch thick, and tilled it with 

 honey. A sheet of white foundation used 

 the same way, they made no use of; it re- 

 quires more heat to work it out than does 

 tne yellow wax. C. H. Leittgens. 



©urXcttcvlJoj. 



Carson City, Mich., Oct. 9, 1877.—" This 

 has been the poorest season fer honey ever 

 known in this part of Michigan. We had 

 eleven very poor days for honey last June; 

 nothing since. Have now only enough to 

 keep them in fair condition." H. Roop. 



Burlington, Kansas, Oct. 8, 1877.— "I ex- 

 amined my bees yesterday, and found them 

 in splendid condition for winter, all strong 

 in bees, with considerable brood. I put in 

 side packing 3>^ in. thick of chaff for win- 

 ter. ]My hives have double ends, the spaces 

 filled w'ith sawdust, cushions at sides and 

 on top. They ought to winter well on sum- 

 mer stands here," J. W. Henderson. 



Chicago, 111., September 10, 1877.— "Mr. 

 Editor: The Italian nuclei hive I got of 

 you is in first-class condition for winter. 

 When I got it home, I found it had about 

 300 bees, 5 drones and a beautiful queen. 

 She is as yellow as gold and the most beau- 

 tiful one I ever saw. Her progeny are like 

 herself, beautiful. I let them remain in the 

 small frames they came in, for 3 days and 

 then put the 4 frames into one Langstroth 

 frame, gave them a frame of brood and two 

 frames of surplus honey from another hive. 

 It has now 2 Langstroth frames of brood 

 and 2 of honey, and as many bees as would 

 make 10 nucleus colonies. I shall want an 

 imported queen next spring, and several 

 hives." F. McDonnell. 



Jefferson, Wis., Nov. 2, 1877.— "The honey 

 harvest in this locality has been about half 

 a crop; the spring being too cold and wet. 

 I hacl to feed nearly all of my bees until the 

 middle of June, when white clover com- 

 menced blooming. They gathered con- 

 siderable surplus honey from white clover 

 and basswood, but stored none from fall 

 flowers. My honey crop this season was 

 between 9,000 and 10,000 lbs.— about half of 

 each. I sold all of 'my comb honey at 16 to 

 20c. (except about 600 lbs. I have yet on 

 hand). The comb honey in sections such 

 as Doolittle uses, only smaller, without 

 glass, I sold all at 20c. per ft. I have 350 

 colonies in good condition for winter, but 

 they are on their summer stands yet, and 

 to-day we have snow here." C. Grimm. 



Binghampton,N.Y.— "Friend Newman: 

 The proceedings of the National (conven- 

 tion in regard to marketing honey and the 

 essays on that subject sliould be sown 

 broadcast among bee-keepers, especially 

 those who have but few hives and little 

 honey; they are the ones that do so much 

 damage to the honey markets by selling 

 small lots at any price offered. In that way 

 they spoil the market for large producers." 

 J. P. Moore. 



[ It was that such persons may be educat- 

 ed up to their duty— that we were enduced 

 to publish that "Special Edition" contain- 

 ing the full report of the National Conven- 

 tion — and now in order to get them into the 

 hands of such persons we will make a 

 liberal reduction in the price by the quanti- 

 ty. They cost singly, 20 cents each; but 

 we will send 10 for a dollar, postpaid, to 

 any one who wishes to distribute them, and 

 thus aid in the education of small bee- 

 keepers—thereby saving the honey markets 

 from being sacrificed by the ignorance or 

 inadvertance of the unwary. 



When remitting for next year, let all who 

 can, send an extra dollar and get ten of the 

 Special edition for distribution. We send 

 out hundreds of copies every week, free of 

 cost, to such persons, and there are no 

 doubt many who will be gratified to see 

 this suggestion, and will gladly avail them- 

 selves of the opportunity of doing good to 

 themselves and the cause generally.— Ed.] 



Wyoming, N. Y., Sept. 10, 1877.—" I saw 

 an article in the August number of the A. 

 B. J., by James Heddon, in regard to comb 

 foundation. My experience has been very 

 different from his. I used some last spring 

 in transferring, to fill out some fi'ames 

 where I lacked good worker comb, and it 

 worked to my entire satisfaction. I noticed 

 one comb when it had been in just long 

 enough to be filled with sealed brood that 

 contained 6 drone cells and about 7,000 

 worker cells, nearly ready to hatch. 

 Another frame was solid with brood, and 

 had only one drone cell. Other frames of it 

 have worked in about the same way. The 

 foundation I use is made from pure yellow 

 wax, and I have had it drawn out to X inch 

 in thickness in 8 hours after putting it in 

 the hive, and eggs in it in less than 24 hours, 

 and that in the month of May when nights 

 were cool and bees were getting honey but 

 slowly. I agree with Mr. Heddon in respect 

 to Italians vs. blacks. I have failed to see 

 any Italians that would beat some of my 

 black swarms, and others of them seem 

 bound to just make a living, but I have 

 been raising queens from my best swarms 

 and replacing the old ones, and I think I 

 more than get paid for my trouble in nice 

 comb honey. Our season here has been 

 very short; first a light run of clover, then a 

 light run of basswood from July 14 to 23, 

 and after that a little buckwheat. I have 

 taken about 50 lbs. of comb honey per hive, 

 and no increase; and am now getting my 

 bees ready for winter, in the hope of a bet- 

 ter season next year." A Beginner. 



