708 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



months since the bees have had a chance 

 to gather anything but pollen, and only 

 now and then a day suitable even to 

 get that. The most of the bees that 

 were housed or kept in-doors during the 

 Winter, were put out on the summer 

 stands in March, and the bee-keeper has 

 been continually looking, from that time 

 up to the present time, for days that 

 were suitable to work with bees, and 

 give them the help they so much need. 



The last two months have been ex- 

 ceedingly hard on them. It has been 

 wet and cold five days out of six, and 

 rained the most of the time for the last 

 three or four weeks, and it is still at it, 

 and if it continues much longer there 

 will not be enough bees left for seed. 

 Up to this lime we have had the maple 

 bloom, the elm, the willow, and some of 

 the earliest Spring flowers, and put 

 them all together, they have not bene- 

 fited the bees one particle, for it was 

 almost certain death to venture outside 

 of their hives. 



I have spent some time, of late, to find 

 out as near as possible the niiraber of 

 colonies of bees lost, by those that I am 

 well acquainted with, and who live near 

 me, but as people do not care about 

 every one knowing their ups and downs 

 in life, I will omit the names and quote 

 by numbers from one to twenty, and I 

 think that will be a fair representation 

 throughout this section of Wisconsin. 

 These numbers, I think, will be less 

 than the actual loss at this present time 

 (May 17) considering the weather, as it 

 is still raining and blowing, and the 

 prospect looks very discouraging indeed. 

 The following will be the losses from 

 twenty bee-keepers : 



No. 1. — 50 per cent. 

 No. 2.— 45 

 No. 3.— 25 

 No. 4.— 80 

 No. 5.— 50 

 No. 6.— 50 

 No. 7. — 75 " 

 No. 8.— 70 

 No. 9.— 90 

 No. 10.— 75 

 No. 11.— 100 

 No. 12.— 50 

 No. 13.— 30 

 No. 14.— 40 

 No. 15.— 25 

 No. 16.— 100 

 No. 17.— 50 

 No. 18.— 40 

 No. 19.— 50 

 No. 20.— 90 

 The chances for bee-pasturage is good, 

 providing we have favorable weather 



from now on, for the fruit-bloom buds 

 are about ready to open, and there is a 

 good chance for white clover to follow 

 up in its turn. 



Boscobel, Wis., May 17, 1892. 



BuinMe-BeesasWax-Proiiicers. 



GEO. E. FELI.OWS. 



I send the following from the Orange 

 Home, thinking that it might be inter- 

 esting reading to those who take the 

 American Bee Journal, : 



IMPORTING bumble-bees FROM INDIA TO 

 PRODUCE WAX. 



The Department of Agriculture is 

 about to send an expedition to India for 

 the purpose of procuring certain giant 

 bees which are wild in that country. 

 They are the biggest species known in 

 the world, and they build combs in the 

 forests as large as ordinary house doors, 

 giving enormous quantities of wax. If 

 they could spread themselves in the semi- 

 tropical forests of the United States, 

 they might be made to supply consider- 

 able crops of the finest and most valua- 

 ble wax. 



Curiously enough, the drones are no 

 larger than ordinary bees, and this fact 

 affords reason for hoping that they will 

 mate with the females of colonies 

 acclimated here. These wonderful in- 

 sects have longer tongues than are pos- 

 sessed by other bees, and the belief is 

 entertained that they could secure from 

 many kinds of flowers honey which now 

 goes to waste. 



Bumble-bees are generally supposed 

 to be of no particular use in the world. 

 They are active and industrious honey 

 gatherers, but there are never enough 

 of them in one colony to make a store 

 that is worth taking. When Winter 

 comes the queen-bee seeks a place for 

 hiding during the cold months, beneath 

 moss, or in a heap of leaves. The warm 

 sun of approaching Summer awakens 

 her, and she crawls out. Immediately 

 she looks about for a nest to breed in. 

 She then begins collecting pollen for the 

 nest, fetching load after load until she 

 has formed a ball, perhaps as much as 

 an inch in diameter. In the ball of 

 pollen she lays her eggs, and after a few 

 days they are hatched, bringing forth 

 little worm-like larvio. 



The larviC feed upon the nutritious 

 inaterial, consuming the portions nearest 

 at haiui, until each on(! has cleared a 

 little room. Then it. proceeds to spin a 



