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them had very litllo to eat, yet they 

 never touched them. My bees arc 

 Italians, and will go almost any place 

 that they can get anything to eat ; but 

 thej' never touch the grapes, unless 

 the grapes are bursted, or something 

 «lse lias torn them open. The vines 

 over the hives are full of grapes, and 

 the bees have nothing to work on, and 

 yet they do not touch them. A man 

 told me that my bees destroj'ed his 

 buckwheat, by sucking all the strength 

 out of the blossoms, so that he did not 

 get half a crop ! How is that for 

 ignorance ? 



Premiums at Fairs — J. W. Bit- 

 teabender, Knoxville, Iowa, on Sept. 

 27, 1889, says : 



I had an exhibition of about 8,000 

 pounds of honey, comb and extracted, 

 and have taken eleven premiums as 

 follows : One of |25.(tO ; 2, $10.00 ; 2 

 ,$5.00 ; and 6 of $2.00. The $25.00 

 premium was the largest, and the $2.00 

 the smallest oft'cred. 



Preventing Inerease, etc. — O. 



P. Miner, Taylor Centre, N. Y., on 

 Sept. 21, 1889, writes : 



I began with IG colonies in the 

 spring, and have 19 colonies now, and 

 800 pounds of comb honej-, and 50 

 pounds of extracted honey from un- 

 iinished sections, making 53J pounds 

 per colony, spring count. My bees 

 were never in better condition to 

 gather the harvest than this year ; but 

 the weather was too cool and wet dur- 

 ing most of the basswood harvest. I 

 worked for honey and not increase, bj' 

 hiving swarms with others that had re- 

 ■cently cast a swarm, by cutting queen- 

 cells, and lastly by removing the 

 <iueen. I was only successful by the 

 last method in preventing increase, 

 3ind I believe it to be the only way 

 that it can be done ; but it is a ques- 

 tion with me whether we get as much 

 honey as by allowing swarms. Our 

 surplus honey in this locality comes 

 principally from clover and basswood. 

 I have never got a pound from buck- 

 wheat or fall fiowers. 



a comb covered with bees could be 

 taken to the house, the queen removed, 

 .and the comb replaced in the hive, 

 without dislodging a half dozen bees. 

 They are readily distinguished by the 

 white bands, which, when the bees arc 

 in the shade, give them a silvery-grey 

 appearance, which at once discloses 

 their identit}'. They may be distin- 

 guished from the blacks at once, with- 

 out trouble. The queen is larger and 

 stouter than the black queen, and 

 more of a dark-bronze color. With 

 me the Carniolans are better honey- 

 gatherers than the blacks, their combs 

 are whiter, and they use mostly wax 

 in place of propolis. As compared 

 with Italians, I am not prepared to say 

 that they are equal in honey-gathering 

 qualities. I shall watch them care- 

 fully next season. In hiving, thej' are 

 more easil3' managed than either 

 blacks or Italians ; their (pieens are 

 verj' fine. 



Carniolan Bees Compared. — 



Judge Laurens Hawn, of Leavenworth, 

 Kans., on Sept. 24, 1889, writes: 



I have 80 colonics of bees, and I am 

 preparing to winter them in the cellar. 

 I will say of mj' Carniolans, that the 

 <|ueens are larger and more prolitic 

 than my Italians ; the workers are also 

 larger, very gentle, being easily hand- 

 led without smoke. They stick to their 

 I'ombsso quietly and tenaciouisly, that 



Results of the Season. — A. C. 



Loomis, Grand Rapids, Wis., on Sept. 



27, 1889, writes : 



I increased my apiarj' from 5 colo- 

 nies to 10 — 3 colonies giving the in- 

 crease. Those 3 seemed to do nothing 

 but swarm ; the other 2 stored the 

 honey. It took about twice as long as 

 usual to get the new swarms to work 

 in sections. I had an average of 48 

 pounds per colony, spring eount,against 

 07 pounds last year. I have had seven 

 years' experience with bees, but under 

 the present circumstances I have to 

 keep a small apiary. 



will save a good deal of money and 

 time : then by working with the bees 

 it will soon be discovered that bee- 

 keeping cannot be learned in one or 

 two years — it has been a life study for 

 me, for I am learning j-et, and expect 

 to do so until I die. The little yellow 

 bees have some funny ways about them 

 very often, that will puzzle any old 

 bee-keeper, for they are full of tricks, 

 and it is hard to learn all of them. 1, 

 for one, get puzzled occasionally in 

 swarming-time. Whenever you hear 

 of a man that knows all about bees, 

 please tell him to write a book, and I. 

 for one, will give him $10 for it ; but I 

 do not want any more humbug in 

 mine. 



Knowing All About Bees. — 



John Boerstler. Vashou, Wash. Ter., 

 on Sept. 17, 1889, writes : 



When I commenced to keep bees, 

 about 25 years ago, I got " log-gums " 

 first, and boxes for some time, and did 

 not know of any bee-paper or bee- 

 books until I spent about $125.00 for 

 humbug moth-proof hives. Just think 

 of it, moth-proof hives ! Then I hap- 

 pened to get the Amercan Bee Jodu- 

 NAL, and soon after Qleanings. and 

 then I began to see where I missed it 

 by not having any bee-books to read. 

 But those days are gone, and the be- 

 ginner now can get bee books and 

 papers, and can save many dollars by 

 reading them ; for bee-keeping cannot 

 be learned in one 3'ear^the bee-keeper 

 can learn all his lifetime. Perhaps 

 some think that they know it all ; and 

 those are the kind that will never 

 learn. My advice would be to have 

 only one kind of hives in the apiary, 

 and then read two or three good bee 

 papers or books on bee-culture, and 

 then take good care of the bees, for it 



Wintering in Box-Hives. — O. 



R. Hawkins, Bollport, N. Y., on Sept. 

 24, 1889, writes : 



The season here has been very poor 

 so far, on account of the extreme cold 

 and rainy weather. In my apiary I 

 have 7 box-hives containing bees, 2 of 

 which have their hives only partly 

 filled with comb ; I have taken no 

 honey from the hives this year, and 

 expect to get very little. Will the two 

 without a full hive live through the 

 winter ? I started with 2 colonies, 

 hived 6 swarms, and had one that went 

 to the woods, and another I killed, 

 leaving 2 old colonies and 5 new ones. 



[In box-hives it is difficult to tell 

 whether the bees have stores enough 

 for winter, but as you have taken no 

 honey away from them, they probably 

 have enough to carry them through 

 until spring, if you have had any flow 

 of honey at all. That you ought to be 

 able to decide, as you are " on the 

 spot,"— Ed.] 



Sugar for Queen-Cages, etc — 



J. H. Christie, Dyersburg, Tenn., on 



Sept. 23, 1889, says : 



I have just read Mr. Doolittle's arti- 

 cle on page 581, and the idea suggests 

 itself to me. that if he would use 

 coarse-grained sugar (saj' New Or- 

 leans seconds), and fine wire-cloth, 

 the same as is used in milk-strainers, 

 all danger of sifting through into the 

 mail-bags will be obviated. By the 

 waj', Mr. Editor, you have gotten mc 

 into difliculty, and I want you to get 

 me out of it. It comes in this way : 

 I have been reading the American 

 Bee Journal for twenty years, and it 

 has taught me so much that I have 

 nicer honey than any of my neighbors. 

 so that were you to ask them if they 

 were going to take any honey to the 

 fair, they would say, " No. Why, old 



