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THB «MEMIC^E« BE® J©iPRPiSIc. 



Uuildiiig' i^traiglit Combs.— Mr. 



Daniel E. Robbius, Payson, Ills., on Dec. 

 31, 1888, writes : 



I think that " B. C," who asks Query 600, 

 on yia^e 837 of the Amf.ki'^an Bee .Jour- 

 NAi. for 1888, either neglected to level his 

 hives across the frames, or put the founda- 

 tion in so as to rest on the bottom-bar of 

 the frames. In the first case the combs 

 would not hang in the centre of the frames, 

 but would be attached to one edge of the 

 bottom-bar, or even to the next frame ; in 

 the other case they would bulge in a most 

 unsatisfactory manner. 1 find the Dadaut 

 light brood-foundation heavy enough with 

 wired frames. I have also succeeded in 

 getting straight combs built in the frames 

 ■with only starters, or even without them, by 

 proper spacing of the frames, aud leveling 

 the hives. Bees usually, however, build too 

 much drone comb when foundation is not 

 furnished them ; yet 1 think that it is good 

 policy to let them have one or two empty 

 frames to fill, as otherwise 1 think that the 

 secreted wax goes to waste. Let us hear 

 from the veterans about this matter of comb 

 building. 



'Wintering' in <••« Cellar. — C. D. 



Barber, Stockton, N. Y., on Dec. 34, 1888, 

 says : 



It is with pleasure that I enclose .?1.00 as 

 my dues to the Union. My bees are in the 

 cellar, where I put them on Nov. 17. They 

 worked very fast here up to Nov. 15, which 

 •was the last day that they could work. I 

 put U colonies into the cellar lor the win- 

 ter ; but one colony will not winter, as it 

 has the diarrhea, and its bees are dying fast. 



Ues^inuing^ in Ilee-Keepliigf- — J. 



H. Scherer, Lena, Ills., on Dec. 28, 1888, 

 says : 



In 1886 I caught 3 swarms of bees, and 

 that is the way I begun bee-keeping. I did 

 not know anything about the business, but 

 I packed them in chaff tor the winter. In 

 18S7 I increased tliem to 8 colonies, and took 

 ■200 pounds of honey in 2-pound sections. By 

 the spring of 1888 I had lost all but 4 colo- 

 nies, and those I have increased to 13, and 

 obtained 300 pounds of honey in 3 pound 

 sections. The last two were bad years tor 

 beginners in bee-keeping. I could not get 

 along without the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. I like it better every week. 



IVe^v Uee-Hoiise, etc. — CH. Brader, 

 Sperry, Iowa, on Deo. 25, 1888, writes : 



I mentioned the misfortune that I had 

 last March, in the burning of my bee-house 

 (which greatly darkened my home and this 

 vicinity, as published on page 200 of the 

 American Bee Journal for 1888) ; but 

 Providence has again permitted me to view 

 a new bee-house in my apiary. It has both 

 delighted and suprised me and my neigh- 

 bors to see that I had the courage and spent 

 the labor and time to forward this work 

 again after so nnich obscurity. My new 

 bee-house is a little frame one, 16x34 feet, 

 and 13 feet high. It exceeds by far the old 

 one in size, value and appearance, with 

 drop-siding placed to the weather, and 

 lined with .ship-lap, in order to hold the 4 

 inches of sawdust placed between the lining 

 and drop-siding. 1 purchased 13 colonies of 

 black bees in boxhives, and transferred 

 them into eight-frame Langstroth hives 

 about June 1, 1888, and increased the num- 

 ber to 24, which I placed in my bee-cellar 

 on Dec. 20. My yield was about '2M pounds 

 of comb honey, worth about 15 cents a 



{)ound, and about SO pounds of extracted 

 louey, worth 10 cents a pound. 



The year of 1888 was one of abundant 

 harvest to the farmers of eastern Iowa. 

 They had very favorable weather, and were 

 nourished with sufficient rains in the grow- 

 ing parts of the year. The value of the past 

 two months cannot be estimated in the way 

 of people preparing themselves for winter 

 quarters. We had warm weather, and hard, 

 dry roads until Cliristaias eve, when we had 

 a transient shower, and the next morning 

 the mercury was at freezing ; toward noon 

 it raised to 40', and as Christmas night came 

 on it again commenced to rain, and now 

 shows a continuance of rains. 



Bce-Hawk.~Dr. Wni. Leers,* Sigel, 

 Ills., on Dec. 29, 18S8, writes : 



On page 839, Mr. W. H. Shaner says that 

 a neighbor told him that "he sa-w one of 

 the big Italians catch a black bee and fly 

 away with it." That is certainly a big mis- 

 take. He doubtless confounded a "bee- 

 hawk " (AsiJiis) with an Italian bee. The 

 former were, in the past season, very 

 troublesome. Every day I caught, imme- 

 diately in front of the apiary, from 40 to .50 

 (and sometimes more) with a net of mos- 

 quito-gauze. 



[Certainly. Mr. Shaner mentioned the 

 matter just to show the ignorance of his 

 neighbor, who also proposed to spread a net 

 and catch a lot of Mr. Shaner's bees, as they 

 crossed the line into his clover field ! He 

 did not know the difference between an 

 Italian bee and its dreaded enemy, Jthe 

 AsUus Missourioisis.—ED.] 



Prickly Asli as a Iloney-I»ro- 

 diicer. — D. D. Johnson, Summit Mills, 

 Pa., on Dec. 15, 1888, writes : 



Are any of the readers of the Bee Jour- 

 nal acquainted with a small tree as a 

 honey-producer, called by some "prickly 

 ash ?" I have a few of them, and I have 

 never seen as many bees on so small a tree 

 at one time, at work, as on this tree. It 

 blooms in September, and lasts about one 

 month. The bees w<irk on it from morning 

 until night. It is a great tree to sprout ; the 

 buds and twigs of the summer's growtli are 

 about ,' J to 's of an inch in diameter. The 

 bunch on wliich the blossoms are, is about 

 13 to 15 inches long, and full of smaller 

 branches growing from that one, on whicli 

 the small (lowers are by the hundred. The 

 whole tree is full of sharp thorns. It blooms 

 the third and fourth year after planting, 

 and grows readily. If any bee-keeper is 

 acquainted with the quality of honey that it 

 produces, it might benefit others if he would 

 answer, as my trees are too few yet to test 

 that, but I am planting more. They grow 

 on any rough groimd. 



[Prickly ash {Xanthoxylon fraxincum) 

 has been reported as a good honey-producer 

 in Texas, Kentuckj', etc. It blooms in July 

 and August, and as that is between the 

 summer and fall honey harvests, it is of 

 value to the bees. The honey is said to be 

 of good quality.— Ed.] 



Itiitton-Itall Honey, etc. — S. A. 



Shuck, Liverpool, Ills., on Dec. 31, 1888, 

 writes : 



I have been some 60 miles down the Illi- 

 nois river, and 1 find that all along the river 

 bottom bees have done fairly well, where 

 they have received proper attention. The 

 honey is mostly from the button-ball. This 



honey is very fine. The combs are beauti- 

 fully white, the nectar clear, and the flavor 

 mild and pleasant. Mr. Wm. Markly, near 

 Marble Town, Ills., obtained 1,800 pounds 

 of comb honey from about 80 colonies of 

 bees. At Snicarte, some thirty miles south 

 of here, a groceryman told me that honey 

 was worth from 6 to 10 cents per pound. 

 This results from bee-keepers not taking 

 and reading the American Bee Joukn.vl. 

 Mr. Wm. Riley, of Breed-", Ills., obtained 

 3,000 pounds of honey. Mr. R. is probably 

 the most extensive bee-keeper in this coun- 

 ty. His apiaries number 140 colonies, 

 mostly hybrid bees. The weather so far 

 has been exceptionally fine, the Illinois 

 river, a very sluggish stream, having but 

 little ice along its shores. My 135 colonies 

 of bees are tucked away in the cellar. In 

 consequence of the fine weather, the tem- 

 perature in the bee cellar is at .50% with tlie 

 inside door wide open day and night. I ob- 

 tained 4,.500 pounds of honey, all of it being 

 from the button-ball ; of this, 1,600 pounds 

 was taken in the comb. 



IVinterins: Well.— Mr. C. V. Lindsey 

 Attica, N. T., on Dec. 27, 1888, says : 



My 150 colonies of bees had a good flight 

 yesterday, and are wintering well on the 

 summer stands ; but I tear that some are 

 short of stores. Our pursuit does not pay, 

 but I must still read up with the times, or 

 fail. 



Fears Early ISreeding.— C. E. 



Woodward, Newbury, O., on Dec. 31, 1888, 

 writes : 



We have had some very changeable 

 weather this winter— a great flnctuation in 

 the temperature. There has been no snow 

 to speak of yet, and bees have just had a 

 nice flight. In this locality they are winter- 

 ing nicely, aud have consumed from 6 to 8 

 pounds of their winter stores. I am inclined 

 to think that our bees will begin breeding, 

 if the temperature does not become colder. 

 If tney do begin breeding too early, and on 

 too large a scale, the results will be disas- 

 trous. 



Kee-Keepins' in Pennsylvania. 



—Geo. Spitler, Mosiertown, Pa., on Dec. 20, 

 1888, writes : 



Here in northwestern Pennsylvania, like 

 almost all the rest of our brother bee-keep- 

 ers the world over, did not meet with much 

 success in securing surplus honey. Bees 

 came through to the spring of 1888 in good 

 condition, tliough there were a few heavy 

 losses in wintering. The first of the spring 

 was very promising; maple bloomed pro- 

 fuselj', and yielded' much nectar, especially 

 the hard maple, bees even storing some for 

 future use, which was sorely needed ; for 

 not in years was May weather so rough on 

 the bees. The colonies did not seem to be 

 as strimg the last of May as they were in 

 the forepart. White clover yielded just 

 honey enough to stimulate brood-rearing, 

 which was done rapidly. Basswood yielded 

 no honey, excepting those trees which stood 

 in very moist ground ; which proves that 

 the drouth of the past two, or in fact three, 

 years did the damage. Alsike clover yielded 

 some honey, but there is not enough of it 

 .sown, or at least not to do much good. Last 

 spring there was quite a large area sown to 

 Alsike clover. Fall flowers yielded enough, 

 so that almost all colonies stored suHicient 

 on which to winter. Golden-rod yielded 

 more honey the psst fall than it had done in 

 years. I got but 400 pounds of honey from 

 30 colonies, spring count. There were but 

 few swarms. 



