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who was thoroughly acquainted with 

 the business at that time. I i-ead A. J. 

 King's and Rev. L. L. Langstroth's 

 books, and last of all I got the " A B 

 C of Bee-Culture." I am now reading 

 the American Bee Journal, and do 

 not see how I could do without it. I 

 have not kept more than from 35 to 40 

 colonies at one time, but I have pro- 

 duced a good deal of comb honey since 

 keeping bees, and received a fair price 

 for it. I have never been able to sup- 

 ply the home demand. I produce 

 comb honey altogether. 



IHild Weather— Bees all Right. 



— ^Leslie Stewart, Jefferson, N. Y., on 

 March 20, 1889, writes : 



The weather is very mild here now, 

 though we have had some severe 

 weather at times ; but take it the win- 

 ter through, I think that it has been 

 the most open one that I have ever 

 known. The bees appear to be winter- 

 ing much better than usual, but of 

 course the ne.xt month will tell the 

 story. Last j'ear it was April 25 be- 

 fore I removed my bees from the cel- 

 lar, but I think that the weather will 

 be warm enough to safelj^ remove them 

 this season by April 1. Those bee- 

 keepers who are wintering their bees 

 out-of-doors, report the bees in good 

 condition. 



Bees Wintered Nicely. — John 

 Scherer, Lena, Ills., on March 18,1889, 

 says : 



All of my bees wintered nicely ex- 

 cepting 2 colonies. I have examined 

 them as closely as I could, and they 

 had lots of honey and pollen. They 

 were all in one bunch, with lots of 

 honey around them. I would like to 

 know what caused their death. The 

 otker bees were flying nicely on March 

 15. 1 have them packed in chaft" j'et, 

 and I will keep them there for a while 

 yet. 



IHanzanltas — Now Extracting 

 Honey. — S. L. Watkins, Placerville, 

 Calif., on March 16, 1889, writes : 



All indications at present point to a 

 prosperous honey season in this part 

 of California this year. All colonies 

 are carrying in pollen and honey at a 

 wonderful rate. The willows and 

 alders along the margins of streams 

 are in bloom, and furnish an abun- 

 dance of pollen, while the manzanitas 

 that clothe the mountainside keep the 

 bees roaring over their fragrant bell- 

 shaped flowers from morning until 

 night. The manzanitas are very rich 

 in nectar. The honey, when first 



gathered, is very thin, and will run 

 from the combs with the slightest jar. 

 It generally candies about six weeks 

 after gathering. All the colonies are 

 breeding up rapidly ; hive-entrances 

 are crowded with young bees out sun- 

 ing themselves ; and others are on the 

 wing in front of the hive, marking 

 their home preparatory to starting 

 after their first load of pollen, or honej', 

 as the case may be. Several colonies 

 of Carniolan bees filled their hives so 

 fall of honey last fall, that I had to 

 take awa}' several full frames, and in- 

 sert empty combs in their places to 

 give breeding-room. I shall begin ex- 

 tracting in a few days. 



W^intering in Oood Condition. 



— N. M. Hollister, Fayetteville, Ark., 

 on March 22, 1889, saj-s : 



Bees here are coming through the 

 winter in srood condition so far. A 

 few of my hybrid colonies are the 

 strongest I ever saw, for the time of 

 year. I like the weeklj^ visits of the 

 American Bee Journax very much. 



De-Queening Colonies. — Friede- 

 manu Greiner, Naples, N. Y., on Mar. 

 23, 1889, writes : 



Forty-two j'ears ago. Rev. Dr. Dzier- 

 zon first spoke of the practice of " de- 

 queening a colony of bees to increase 

 the honey crop." Baron von Berlepsch 

 afterwards experimented in this direc- 

 tion, and after some experimenting, 

 gave up the practice as an unsafe one, 

 in 1856. Of late, we find nothing of 

 the kind mentioned in the German 

 bee-literature, which fact leads to the 

 conclusion that the practice is not a 

 popular one at present. 



Rye Flour for the Bees, etc. — 



Mrs. L. C. Axtell, Roseville, Ills., on 

 March 26, 1889, says : 



In our apiary we have entirely dis- 

 carded the feeding of meal or flour to 

 bees, as it is considerable bother and 

 some expense ; and we think that our 

 bees are better oft' without it, as they 

 had better stay in the hive until they 

 can get natural pollen, in this vicinity. 

 I would like to know who of our ex- 

 tensive bee-keepers still practice it. 

 We are much more successful in pro- 

 ducing and selling comb honey than 

 extracted honey. 



I opened the hives of 4 colonies this 

 forenoon, that were wintered out-of- 

 doors ; one had 4 combs with brand- 

 new sheets of capped brood ; two hives 

 had 3 sheets ; one had two sheets of 

 capped brood ; and all had some cap- 

 ped drone-brood and plenty of honey. 



The bees apparently have not con- 

 sumed as much honey a^ is usual in 

 the winter, so we consider the pros- 

 pect for a large yield of honey very 

 favorable, so far as the bees are con- 

 cerned ; but we are having very dry 

 weather now, and our honej' crop will 

 depend upon whether we get sufficient 

 rains or not. All our bees that wei-e 

 wintered in the cellar, came out 

 strong, with no loss. 



Small LiOss in W^intering. — J. 



Van Deusen & Sons, Sprout Brook, N. 

 Y., on March 26, 1889, write : 



The winter has been very mild, and 

 there are prospects for an earh' spring. 

 The loss of bees in wintering has been 

 very light. 



Carrying in Pollen. — F. Hent- 

 rick. Wall Lake, Iowa, on March 26, 

 1889, says : 



I have taken my bees out of the 

 cellar. They did not do verj- well. I 

 saved one colony out of six, and one 

 on the summer stands, making two. 

 They are doing well now. They car- 

 ried in pollen on March 23 and- 24, 

 which is early for this latitude. I like 

 the American Bee Journal, and 

 would not do without it. Some of my 

 neighbors' bees are doing well, on 

 account of reading the Bee Journal. 

 I hope that I can handle bees better in 

 the future. 



Honey from Cappings. — Mark 



Coffin, Milton, Ky., on March 23, 1889, 

 writes : 



Query 617, on page 149, asks about 

 the best way to get the honey out of 

 cappings, and I read carefully the an- 

 swers from the veterans, expecting 

 that some, or at least one, of them 

 would give my answer. I thought it 

 strange that some of them had not 

 tried it ; then I thought that perhaps 

 they had, and found it worthless ; but 

 then, "wise men do not always think 

 alike." As I have been working for 

 comb honey, I have had no experience 

 in extracting, and have had no cap- 

 pings to "squeeze." My way of doing 

 it would be, to take a frame (of course 

 I would want two) and tack on No. 16 

 wire-cloth on one side, fill it with cap- 

 pings, tack on a thin board on the 

 other side, or wire-cloth on both sides 

 (so that it could be turned, as in ex- 

 tracting a comb), put it into the ex- 

 tractor, and sling out the honey. If 

 the veterans have tried this, and find 

 it will not work, let some of them say 

 so, and save me and others the trouble 

 of trying it. 



