THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



419 



Eidffefield, Conn.— "Tlie past season has 

 been the poorest for lioney that we liai^? 

 ever known. Our 32 stocks were very 

 strong in tlie spring;, and increased by 

 natural swarming to 4(J, but we have taken 

 only about 200 lbs. of surplus honey this 

 season." S. W. Stevens. 



Winnebago Co., 111., Oct. 23, 1877.-" My 

 bees did well; I had 3 stands last spring, 

 and increased to 6; got 30 lbs. of extracted 

 and 450 lbs. of box honey. My bees would 

 have done better but for the dry weather in 

 July. 1 like Italians best, because they are 

 more peaceable. I piu'chased a fine queen 

 of H. Alley, in Sept. I would not be. with- 

 out the Journal for anything." 



M. Adams. 



Camden Point, Mo., Oct. 28, 1877.— "Have 

 increased this season from 9 to 28 colonies. 

 The crop of honey was fair; below the 

 average in the spring, but after Aug. 20th, 

 good. I only took the actual surplus, leav- 

 ing them large su])plies for winter. I have 

 1,000 lbs. of nice honey; it sells here for 

 16^ to 20c. per H). I shall infuse new blood 

 into my apiary next spring. May the 

 JouKNAL live long and prosper." 



Tom M. Mooke. 



Breakabean, N. Y.. Nov. 8, 1877.—" I had 

 65 colonies last fall; lost 1, the bees killing 

 2 or 3 queens after I had given them a frame 

 of eggs several times. They all did well 

 till March 25, a warm day witli south wind, 

 when nearly all my bees went out, but few 

 returning— the wind blew them to the 

 ground, and they perished. The last of 

 June my barn was destroyed by fire and I 

 lost 3 swarms then. From 40 colonies I got 

 1,700 lbs. It is usual for many colonies to 

 be lost by going to the woods, but I never 

 lost one "in that way. I do not unite weak 

 stocks; I can make them all strong." 



Wm. B Burgett. 



Strait's Corners, N.Y., Nov. 5th, 1877.— "I 

 could not do without the Journal in the 

 management of bees. My bees did very 

 well. I commenced the season with 10 

 colonies in box hives; increased by natural 

 swarming to 34; doubled down to 28. My 

 young swarms I put in hives 12x12x14 in. 

 deep inside, with stationary bars at the top. 

 Several of my young swarms stored in the 

 2X-lb Isliam box, 22 to 70 lbs. each. One 

 first swarm stored 83 lbs. Some of my old 

 swarms stored from 10 to 25 lbs. each, after 

 casting 3 swarms. I intend to use the 

 Langstroth hive next season. Tlie honey 

 crop was rather light in this section." 



Isaac E. Pelham. 



Vermont, 111., Oct. 7, 1877.— "I had 75 

 colonies of hybrids and Italians on Mayl; 

 15 of these I made into 2 nucleis each, in 

 order to raise queens. Of the 60 left, 15 

 were weak, leaving but 50 to run for honey. 

 1 imported some queens from Italy— 3 of 

 them were impure; proving conclusively 

 that there are black bees in Italy. A Cy- 

 prian colony, with its increase, gave 346 lbs 

 of honey. Average for all hives, 80}^ lbs., 

 which 1 sold at an average of 18c. Total 

 amount of honey sold, 4,227 lbs,; cash re- 

 ceived for honey, |i760.80; for queens, $417.- 

 60; for swarms. .'S20S.50. Total, f 1,386.90. 

 Cash paid out, $886.90— leaving me a profit 

 of $500 over all expenses." H. Ha^;nes. 



Garden Plain, 111., Sept. 29, 1877.— "The 

 season for surplus having closed, bees 

 generally are in good shape for winter. I 

 will give results for this season. I com- 

 menced with 75 colonies; 10 of them light 

 in bees, the rest strong, but with scanty 

 stores. T had to feed to keep up brood- 

 rearing; they did not get honey enough to 

 supply their 'wants, before the second week 

 in June. I increased to 105, and took 4,000 

 lbs. of honey— 1500 lbs. being comb, mostly 

 in section boxes. I am selling to the con- 

 sumer: extracted, 1234c. per lb.; comb, 16c. 

 to 18c. I think if my health had been good, 

 through June and the first of July, I could 

 have had 1,000 lbs. more, as some of them 

 crowded the queen too much, and there 

 were a few poor queens that needed chang- 

 ing; but where the queens were all right, 

 they are still raising plenty of brood to 

 have young bees to go into winter with." 

 R. R, Murphy. 



Springfield, O., Oct. 16, 1877.—" Friend 

 Newman: I just reached home last eve- 

 ning, from a trip to the northern part of the 

 State. I went with my own conveyance, 

 and so saw a great many hives, and lots of 

 them empty; and the universal cry was 

 ' poor lucK.' I saw hives 7 or 8 in. square 

 inside and over 3 feet high, and the owners 

 complained of 'poor luck!' strange isn't it? 

 I saw on Oct. 12th, box hives of from 3,000 

 to 3,.500 cubic inches over-run with bees and 

 so full of honey that I could just lift them, 

 but could not step with them (and I'm stout 

 too, weighing to-day, with light clothes, 202 

 lbs.), and the owner had 'poor luck,' no box 

 honey; but if better counsel don't prevail, 

 brimstone will bring the honey. My bees 

 have done pretty well this season, but not 

 as well as last, t have adopted Alley's plan 

 for introducing queens with tobacco smoke, 

 and have not had a failure yet. Some 

 Italian queens I got of Alley have produced 

 as fine bees as I ever saw. Success to the 

 'old reliable' Journal. A. B. Mason. 



Wayne, Mich., Nov. 8, 1877.— "At the Na- 

 tional Convention, in a paper there read, 

 some one gives ' Mrs* Tupper's plan' for 

 making ariificial or forced swarms. It is 

 given in the third edition of Langstroth, p. 

 ISO and 181 (also, if my memory serves me, 

 in both former editions). My impression is 

 that the third edition was published prior 

 to the time Mrs. Tupper engaged in bee- 

 keeping at all, certainly the first editions 

 were. Perhaps Mr. L. stole it from Mrs. 

 Tupper, as Mr. King informed said conven- 

 tion that Langstroth pirated the invention 

 of the movable comb or frame hive. Per- 

 haps he will be so kind as to inform us why 

 some of these noted and prior inventors did 

 not use their own inventions until Mr. L. 

 gave to the world a detailed description of 

 their hives ? That is a question the answer 

 to which would be extremely edifying to 

 beginners. I think these gentlemen came 

 as near the discovery of a practical movable 

 frame as Samson did, and no nearer. There 

 is a model of one of them at Washington 

 (by Munn, I think), with as near the same 

 plan (so far as the movable frame is con- 

 cerned) as the ribs were to frames in Sam- 

 son's lion — to wit, with a hinge atone end! 

 Seriously, why did not some of this array of 

 original inventors use their own inventions 

 instead of attempting to pull down the 

 temple built by others?" E. Rood. 



