T^MS mmiMMitsmn mum j&iaKnxi^. 



59 



and we call it " golden-rnd houey." I have 

 been watching for bees on golden-rod, and 

 had ui}' ueighiiors to do the same, ami we 

 have yet to find the first one to report that 

 he has ever seen a single bee working on 

 golden-rod. There is no fall flower that 

 grows which receives as much attention 

 from the bees as our white aster (commonly 

 termed "bee-weed" in this county). 



Give us the wild asters for our national 

 flower, and wo will have a flower of no 

 mooted question as to its nectar-producing 

 qualities ! I am, as yet, an amateur in bee- 

 culture, but I think from my own observa- 

 tion (and that of many bee-keepers of 

 Southern Illinois), that if the life of the 

 honey-bee depended upon golden-rod, there 

 would not be a live bee in Illinois to-day. 

 I have bees that came from the best breed- 

 ers in the United States (and I think that 

 there are no better in the world) ; I am 

 proud of them, and am thankful that there 

 is plenty of flowers that produce nectar to 

 feed them, and which yield a surplus to 

 spare — but I am for a known honey-produc- 

 ing flower as our national flower, and I ob- 

 ject to so much praise of a flower that is 

 neither useful nor ornamental, viz : Golden- 

 rod. Ika Reeves. 



Carmi, Dls., Jan. 3, 1890. 



that those wh(» are wintering their bees on 

 the summer stands had bettor bear in mind 

 that the bees may run short of honoy dur- 

 ing this warm weather. Owing to the e.x- 

 cessive exercise that they have during this 

 warm weather, they consume a great 

 amount of honey. 



My bees are all in the cellar; the only 

 trouble I have had, has been to keep the 

 temperature low enough. I have boon 

 obliged to have the doors open at night, to 

 keep the temperature low enough. I find 

 that my bees are jjerfectly quiet when the 

 temperature is at -18 to 50 degrees; 54: de- 

 grees is too high, and 45 degi'ees is too low. 

 My bees are all in loose-bottom hives, the 

 bottom-boards being left on the summer 

 stands. I make a rim -i inches deep, of %- 

 inch lumber, the .same size of the hive; on 

 this I nail a sheet of burlap, then place a 

 break-joint, slotted honey-board on each 

 hive, with one of these rims above it; the 

 rim is then filled with chaff, and the colony 

 is ready to carry to the cellar. 



Geo. H. Kirkpatkick. 



New Paris, O., Jan. 13, 1890. 



Sections^ Filled FliisU to the Eds;e 



I use wooden frames on the three sides of 

 my tin and zinc perforated separators, 

 made of strips of wood %x5-16 of an inch, 

 grooved }^ of an inch to take the separators, 

 and mitred at the top, leaving the bottom 

 open for the bees. Dip the joints into 

 melted wax to hold them in place, and you 

 will ensure the sections being built flush to 

 the edges. My bees are on the summer 

 stands, with very little snow on the ground, 

 and the temperature at 40 degrees above 

 zero. The golden-rod produced largely and 

 of good quality, increasing our fall crop of 

 honey. I think that alfalfa is useless for 

 bees or anything else. B. Losee. 



Cobourg, Ont., Jan. 13, 1890. 



A S'tvarni-IIiver and Its Use. 



I made and used the swarm-hiver last 

 season, and gave others the privilege to 

 make and use it, supposing that I was the 

 only one that ever thought of the like. On 

 May 20, 1889, I attached the swarm-hiver 

 to my only colony of bees ; and on June 8, 

 I had the pleasure of seeing a swarm of 

 bees hive themselves. It looked nice to me, 

 for they swarmed twice the summer pre- 

 vious, but went — well, I do notknow where, 

 but I know that I run myself very tired for 

 the last swarm that leftine, trying to know 

 where they went. I used wire-cloth for the 

 connecting-tube, with a nice strip of wood 

 on the bottom, as a floor, for her majesty to 

 walk on, if she chose to do so. Five strips 

 of perforated-zinc, for a wood-zinc honey- 

 board, will make the entrance-guards for 

 both hives, costing 5 cents ; wirecloth cost- 

 ing 3 cents, will make the connecting-tube, 

 to convey the queen and drones to the 

 empty hive. H. T. Sewell. 



Pleasanton, O., Jan. 10, 1890. 



Bees fVinteriiis: Splendidly. 



Bees in this locality are wintering splen- 

 didly, the greater number being on the 

 summer stands. There has been no cold 

 weather this winter, to speak of— the only 

 ice we have had was on Thanksgiving Day ; 

 since that time we have only had a few 

 frosts. There have been warm days every 

 week since Thanksgiving, which have been 

 warm enough for the bees to fly. Bees are 

 carrying in pollen and water, and the indi- 

 cations are that they are breeding. I think 



Bees antl Crops are For*rard. 



My bees have been gathering pollen for 

 the past ten days. They are on the summer 

 stands yet, with plenty of stores. Wheat 

 is now in joint, and on looking out over the 

 fields, it waves like it does the first of May. 

 We are fearful of its being too forward. 

 R. W. Tallet. 



Hornbeak, Tenn., Jan. 13, 1890. 



in all l,a(l() priunds o( comb lioney from 8 

 colonios, spring <'<)unt. This was gathered 

 mostly during the summer months, as we 

 did not got much fall honey. If any reader 

 of the Bee JounNAr, in our State cau beat 

 this, for the season of 1889, I would like to 

 hear from him, or her. The bees were put 

 into winter cpjartors with plenty of stores 

 of their own gathering. Thi.s, however, 

 ought to settle the question so much asked 

 — Does it pay to keep bees? 



Geokge Fkev. 

 Geneseo, Ills., Jan. 6, 1890. 



I>ead Bees— Carryinar Pollen. 



I have 38 colonies, all in good condition 

 except three, which have plenty of honey, 

 but there are a good many dead bees. What 

 is best to do about it? The rest are carry- 

 ing in pollen rapidly. Jack Shafeh. 



Deposit, Ky., Jan. 11, 1890. 



Bees in Fair Condition. 



I started the past season with 100 colo- 

 nies of bees, and at present I have 150 

 colonies. I took 9,000 pounds* of honey, 

 which is nearly all sold. I have not put my 

 bees into the cellar yet, and I do not think 

 that I shall, unless we have colder weather 

 than we have had so far. Bees are in fair 

 condition yet. E. F. Meeker. 



Duncan, Ills., Jan. 1, 1890. 



Xlie ^Veather is too Warm. 



We had a very varied season for honey 

 in 1889— some times too cold and wet, then 

 too hot and dry, yet our average was satis- 

 factory. We secured 42 pounds per col- 

 ony, all in one-pound sections. Bees are 

 in good condition now. They have been 

 carrying in pollen nearly every day for the 

 last three weeks. We have had no winter 

 yet. It is too warm ; we fear for the fruit 

 and bees. Peach-trees and strawberries 

 are in full bloom, and everything looks like 

 April. T. M. Edw.irds. 



KerrvUle, Tenn., Jan. 3, 1890. 



Experience tvith Bees. 



I began in the spring of 1889 with one 

 colony in a log-gum, from which I have 

 now, on the summer stands, well packed in 

 fine meadow hay, 4 strong colonies in ten- 

 frame Simplicity-Langstroth hives, which 

 I have reduced to 6 frames in each hive, 

 leaving a surplus of 4 frames, averaging 

 from 4 to 5 pounds each, which I shall re- 

 turn to the hives in the spring. I have fol- 

 lowed up the instructions given in the 

 American Bee Journal to my best ability. 

 It was a " picnic " to see the bees, after I 

 had read the American Bee Jocrnal, for I 

 would go straight to them and give them 

 the benefit of my new reading; they ob- 

 jected to so much of scientific cultivation, 

 but we kept on pretty good terms. I sold 

 89 pounds of surplus honey taken from the 

 first swarm that came out. I had 13 pounds 

 of pieces of honey from the log-gum, when 

 I transferred them to a Simplicity hive. 

 I. E. Myers. 



Grant, Minn., Jan. 7, 1890. 



Well Satisfietl tvith the Results. 



I am well pleased with the American 

 Bee Journal, and the permission it gives 

 all enthusiastic bee-keepers to tell of their 

 methods and prosperity in bee- culture. I 

 commenced last spring with 8 colonies, all 

 Italianized and in good condition, and in- 

 creased them to 18, by natural swarming. 

 My idea was to let each one swarm once, 

 and then check them by cutting all the 

 queen-cells out but one, after swarming. 

 In this I was successful, although two of 

 the young swarms swarmed once each, be- 

 cause I did not overhaul them and remove 

 the queen-cells, for I did not look for any 

 of the young ones to swarm. By not let- 

 ting them swarm but once, each colony re- 

 mained very strong. I obtained 1,100 

 pounds of comb honey in one-pound sec- 

 tions, and 100 pounds of comb honey in 

 frames, holding from 6 to 8 pounds, making 



eood Vield from Alfalfa. 



The Bee Journal is a very welcome vis- 

 itor at our house ; it is the first read out of 

 five or six papers. It has been a great help 

 to me for the last three years, as I get the 

 experience of men who have been in the 

 business for thirty or forty years. We had 

 beautiful weather all the past fall, and up 

 to Christmas. At present the ground is 

 frozen one inch deep, with two inches of 

 snow on it. The mercury is 30 degrees 

 above zero. I had 22 colonies, spring 

 count, increased them to 45, and took 1,300 

 pounds of comb honey. For the honey I re- 

 ceived $210 in cash ! How does that sound 

 for alfalfa as a honey-plant? Bees are in 

 fine condition for winter. I winter them 

 on the summer stands. I wish that some 

 of the bee-fraternity would tell, through 

 the Bee Joiurnal, how they return swarms 

 to the old hive, when the queen's wings are 

 not clipped. F. H. McDon^ild. 



Star, Idaho, Jan. 1, 1890. 



Report tor tlie Past Season. 



I began the spring of 1889 with 20 colo- 

 nies, increased them to 45 colonies, and 

 then in the fall I reduced them back to 38. 

 I put 36 of them into the cellar, and have 2 

 colonies in the bee-shed. If I have 35 colo- 

 nies in the spring, I will be satisfied. I 

 think that my cellar is too warm, as there 

 are a great many dead bees on the ground. 

 I put them in on Nov. 13. I will clean up 

 the dead bees every month. It has been 

 very warm and rainy weather here all fall 

 and winter so far. My honej' crop, I think, 



