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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and let all strife and discord about them 

 cease. This is the season for " Peace on 

 Earth, and Good Will to Men." Let ns 

 all realize it, and be happy. — Ed.] 



Western Wisconsin Bee Botes. 



REV. STEPHEN ROESE. 



At the opening of the season of 1891, 

 bee-keepers of this section of country 

 looked forward with a hope of a bounti- 

 ful honey season. White clover seemed 

 to come in season, and quite plenty of it, 

 but it secreted very little nectar, and 

 basswood proved only of short duration 

 — only for 3 or 4 days the busy bees 

 seemed to visit it ; after which there 

 was a honey dearth for sometime, until 

 buckwheat came into blossom, but it 

 seemed to yield no honey. My apiary 

 was located right in the center of about 

 100 to 125 acres of buckwheat, and I 

 never extracted one pound which I would 

 call buckwheat honey. 



Golden-rod and wild aster yielded 

 some honey, but not much, as from 80 

 colonies I had only 150 pounds of Fall 

 honey, and of this amount a goodly part 

 had to be fed back to those in need, for 

 many colonies did not gather enough to 

 breed on, and, iu consequence, breeding 

 went on at a very small scale, especially 

 late breeding, for many colonies left off 

 breeding early in September, except 

 those which had been kept stimulated 

 by feeding. As many bee-keepers in 

 this section of country do not keep up 

 with late improvements, nor keep pace 

 with the spirit of the times in apicul- 

 ture, the result" will be that the mor- 

 tality among bees this Winter and the 

 coming Spring will be great, for many 

 even leave their bees on the summer 

 stands at the mercy of a Wisconsin 

 Winter. 



I harvested a honey crop last season 

 of about 2,600 pounds, and thought, at 

 the close of the honey season, that all 

 colonies were moderately prepared for 

 Winter, but on removing them into the 

 winter repository on Nov. 26, I found 

 that nearly one-fourth had less stores 

 than they ought to have. Frames of 

 honey were given to those in need, as 

 far as they would reach, but quite a 

 number were marked for February 

 feeding. 



One hive and about 150 pounds of 

 honey were stolen the last of August, 

 on the first chilly night wo liad, and the 

 next morning, as soon as the sun came 



up, quite a commotion and flying of bees 

 was noticed in the yard, and on exami- 

 nation it was found that the double hive 

 was missing, and the bees stolen. Those 

 which could take to their wings, re- 

 turned to their old stand, and, not find- 

 ing their home, tried to enter the neigh- 

 boring hive. Another hive with combs 

 was placed on the stand of the former, 

 in which all returning bees took refuge. 

 Toward 10 o'clock, when the bees in the 

 apiary began to fly, a perfect black 

 stream was noticed in the air, bees com- 

 ing and going, and on following the 

 stream of bees, I was led to the spot 

 where the beeS had been carried dur- 

 ing the night, the hives and frames 

 broken up, and the spoil divided among 

 the thieves ; and by noon, the spot 

 where the honey had been cut out of the 

 frames, and spilled on the ground, the 

 grass and weeds for about 4 feet square 

 was covered with bees about 3 to 4 

 inches thick, cleaning off the besmeared, 

 unfortunate bees, and by nightfall 

 hardly a sign of honey could be seen. 

 Fully two-thirds of the colony had re- 

 turned to the new hive on the old stand, 

 which seemed to be on the evening in a 

 far different mood from what they were 

 in the morning. 



I sent immediately to the South for a 

 queen, to be given on Its arrival to the 

 unfortunate colony. It arrived in due 

 time, and was placed over the cluster of 

 bees on the frames, but the bees did not 

 seem to care much for their Southern 

 " stepmother," showing no friendship 

 nor any enmity. After three days it 

 was decided to release the new queen, 

 and see what she would do in the way 

 of replenishing the hive with young 

 bees before going into winter quarters. 

 The cage was opened, but before letting 

 her step in, it was thought best to let 

 the unfortunate colony undergo a spe- 

 cial examination, and to my surprise I 

 found 3 frames partly filled with newly- 

 laid eggs, as a result of the feeding, for 

 the old queen must have returned, which 

 fact accounted for the bees not caring 

 much for their Southern stepmother : 

 and ere the warm September days passed 

 away, the unfortunate colony had quite 

 recruited up for Winter, and the South- 

 ern queen was given to a colony which 

 was queenless, and showed signs of a 

 laying worker. 



This makes 13 hives that I have had 

 stolen from year to year, since keeping 

 bees in this locality, and in each case 

 the right ones were spotted as the 

 thieves ; but, in the last one stolen, the 

 bees betrayed the thief, in whose yard 

 they were found, in such a manner that 



