Bees all right. Have 74 swarms. Win- 

 tered on summer stands. 



James Anderson. 

 Farmers P. O., Sanilac Co., Mich. 



Average Results. 



No page of the Journal, is, to me, more 

 interesting than the statement of the opera- 

 tions of the North-Eastern Bee-keepers' 

 Association. From the one given in the 

 last American Bee Journal, the follow- 

 ing averages may be obtained, as the labors 

 of 34 bee-keepers : 



No. of colonies in the fall of 1876 1777 



springofl877 1239 



" " lost in wintering 538 



Making a loss of 30 per cent. 



As the result of the summer's work: 



Commenced with 12t>5 colonies. 



Increase 850 " 



Box honey taken 68360 pounds 



Extracted 7166 



Total 76532 



Wax 494 



Extra Italian queens raised 197 



The average per hive (in spring) was: 



Box honey 54 " 



Extracted 5% " 



Total 59% " 



The increase of colonies was 67 1-5 per cent. 



Average depth of frame used, 10}^ inches. 



Annual increase of colonies from the fall of 1876 to 

 the fall of 1877, 17 per cent. 



B. LUNDERER. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Hives— Boxes— Wintering. 



Dear Editor :— In reading the Michigan 

 Agricultural College Apiary Report, of 

 1877, I see that Prof. Cook speaks in the 

 highest terms of the Eussell honey box.— 

 While I have always contended that it was 

 the best box in use, for all purposes, still, 

 I claim to have a better one now. 1 have, 

 since our Convention, invented a device for 

 glassing the light, bent-wood section, ex- 

 hibited at our Michigan Convention, by 

 Prof. Cook ; thus making a lighter, cheaper, 

 and neater, single-comb box than my old 

 one, or any other that I have ever seen or 

 heard of ; susceptible of being glassed 

 before or after being filled. I will send one 

 to your Museum within a few days. 



He also makes favorable mention of the 

 Russell hive, but does not think it quite as 

 convenient as the Langstroth. By way of 

 explanation, I wish to say that Prof. Cook 

 has. I tliink, one of the first lot that I made, 

 with inside fastenings at the top and bot- 

 tom, which made them rather inconvenient 

 to handle. I saw it, and almost immedi- 

 ately improved upon it, by putting side 

 fastenings on the outside. With the advan- 

 tage of this improvement, and others that 

 I have made since. 



I will make this offer, viz : I will give, 

 to any man, hives enough to furnish his 

 apiary for one season, who will handle as 

 many frames of any movable hive, in the 

 same length of time, and kill as few bees as 

 I do in my sectional hive ; all other condi- 

 tions being equal. To be done at the next 

 State Fair, at Detroit. 



The Professor also speaks of having read 

 in "Bevan, on the Honey Bee," of essen- 

 tially the same thing. I have a hive in my 

 possession, presented to me by Mr. Hether- 

 ington, who has them in practical use, one 

 of the late Mr. Quinby's last inventions, the 

 brood chamber of which is essentially the 

 same. A closed-end frame, or sectional 

 hive, tied together with a string, and very 

 expensive, though the principle is right, in 

 my opinion. A closed-end frame, a box 

 hive, or a sectional hive, are the only ones 

 that I have ever seen that 1 consider fit to 

 do out-door wintering in. In either of these, 

 every comb is nature's division-board, and 

 the bees are able to adopt themselves to 

 their own circumstance, and are not de- 

 pendent upon the apiarist to move the divi- 

 sion-board whenever there is a change in 

 the internal condition of a colonj\ 



I will close by saying that out of 120 colo- 

 nies I have not lost one, and don't expect 

 to. I examined 100 colonies in my cellar, 

 yesterday, and find them as sweet as a rose, 

 and in better condition than I ever had a lot 

 of bees at this time of the year. They have 

 not had a flight since November 1, and they 

 will not need one until they can get pollen 

 and honey. I have kept the temperature 

 between 40 and 50°. They have not con- 

 sumed over .5 lbs., on the average, yet ; 

 some not over 3 lbs. The warmer you can 

 keep them and have them quiet, the less 

 honey they will consume. Those wintered 

 on their summer stands are all right. 



Adrian, Mich. A. H. Russrll. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bees and Honey in Scott Co., Iowa. 



As there has been no report through the 

 Journal, during the past year, from this 

 county, in regard to bees and honey, I will 

 give a few items: 



The present winter has proved, so far, the 

 mildest during the 24 years I have resided 

 here. Bees are wintering splendidly. I 

 liave not heard of the loss of a single colo- 

 ny yet. In the winter of 1875, I had 32 

 colonies; it was a mild winter here, lost but 

 one swarm. The winter of 1876-7, I tried 

 to winter .50 colonies, but from the middle 

 of November until the last of January, it 

 froze all the time. I had my bees protected 

 by straw, all around, except in front, also 

 chatt' in caps ; plenty of honey, yet I had 

 the sad satisfaction of being the owner of 

 but 10 colonies, by April 1. I did not wish 

 to lose so much valuable comb, so I pur- 

 chased 20 colonies of Mrs. Grimm, of Wis. 



Commenced with 30 colonies, increased to 

 66 and got 1400 lbs. of comb honey, and 

 about 400 lbs. of extracted. The past sea- 

 son was not extra good, but when I get an 

 average of 60 lbs. per colony, I will not 

 grumble ; 6 of my Grimm colonies filled a 

 case of 24 frames each ; average, 44 to 46 lbs. 



In this county, our main honey crop is 

 from white clover ; but very little bass wood 

 can be found. I have been cultivating 

 alsike, for the past 8 years ; find it splendid 

 for the bees, and when sown with timothy 

 makes better hay than red clover ; it never 

 has winter-killed with me, while red clover 

 often does. 



