1903 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



syrup from the coflfee pot into a pail- 

 cover having a dozen or more holes 

 pnuched through it. from the inside. If 

 these holes are punched just right one 

 con fill combs quite fast, and after fill- 

 ing them over a vessel that will catch 

 the drip, then hanging them up to drip 

 off. after filling is of 20 I commenced 

 placing them inside the brood chamber 

 close up to the cluster, exposing the 

 bees little as possible and repacking 

 them snug and warm again. This way 

 seemed to me to be the best, under the 

 circumstances to feed them; although 

 several have been robbed out and have 

 died of starvation since I first fed. The 

 weak colonies I have united with 

 strong ones. I do not expect to have, 

 out of my 150 colonies in two apiaries, 

 more than 50 left. Others are in the 

 same boat, in this part of the country. 

 Yours truly. 



E. J. Haight. 



Philadelphia. Pa.. April 15, 1903. 

 Editor Bee-Keeper: 



The Philadelohia Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, one of the oldest, if not the old- 

 est bee association in the United 

 States, met at the residence of Dr. 

 Townsend 1514 Vine street, Philadel- 

 phia in April, where Air. E. L. Pratt 

 read a very interesting paper, "What 

 I Saw in Florida." Several matters 

 from the question box were afterwards 

 discussed. 



On the 13th at Forest Hall, Colum- 

 bia Ave.. Philadelphia, by invitation 

 of "The Royal Arcanum" Mr. W. E. 

 Flower, vice-president of the Bee As- 

 sociation gave a lecture on bees, illus- 

 trated with many stereoptician lantern 

 slides of bee life, and views of apiaries 

 in the neighborhood, in Canada, Eng- 

 land and France. 



Yours truly, 

 John M. Hooker. 



Shoemakersville, Pa., April 17, 1903. 

 Editor Bee-Keeper: 



There are so many bee-keeping 

 friends who go to great trouble and 

 expense in making bee-cellars and put- 

 ting bees in the cellar in the fall and 

 out on the summer stands in the 

 spring, which I think is not necessary. 

 I winter my bees just as well on the 

 summer stands with very little trouble 

 and expense, and I have very little 

 loss. About November I put corn- 



fodder around the hives except in front, 

 and in the spring I generally have 

 strong colonies: and in March, or as 

 soon as the bees commence to fly I 

 put wheat flour in pans and place them 

 about a rod or two in front of the 

 hives: and when the honey flow comes 

 I have strong colonies and early 

 swarms. I have tried the corn-fodder 

 for five years with good success. Last 

 winter or the winter of 1901-2 was a 

 severe one for bees: nearly all the bee- 

 keepers around here lost half or even 

 nearly all their bees, while I lost only 

 one out of six colonies and last winter 

 I lost none, out of eight colonies and 

 my bees are in first-class condition, and 

 I exoect early swarms this summer .If 

 you think it proper j'ou can publish my 

 plan of wintering bees in the American 

 Bee-Keeper for the benefit of our 

 brother bee-keepers. 



Yours truly, 

 F. F. KaufTman. 



With the return of spring — the sea- 

 son of gentle showers alternated with 

 balmy days and fitful bursts of sun- 

 shine, apple blossoms, dandelions, hum- 

 ming bees and yellow pollen — the en- 

 thusiasm of the bee-keeper is rekindled. 

 There is a peculiar fascination about 

 the sight of the first pollen-laden work- 

 ers returning from the fields of early 

 springtime, and the thought that once 

 morp we are at liberty to mingle with 

 our pets and assist their faithful ef- 

 forts to accumulate a store. We are 

 not all similarly constituted, of .course, 

 but to us it seems that the bee-keeper 

 who fails to derive a large degree of 

 inspiration from this glorious awaken- 

 ing of nature, had better discontinue 

 his apicultural efforts, trade his bees for 

 a very poor boat and take to the high 

 seas. 



With reference to the Mississippi 

 floods, of which he himself, had been 

 living in danger for some time. Dr. 

 Blanton wrote us April ist, from 

 Greenville, Miss.: "Mr. Robert Adams' 

 apiary of 200 colonies, in suburbs of 

 the city was in a few hours swept away, 

 and his extracting house was rolled up 

 against the Illinois railroad, 300 yards 

 distant. Where his apiary stood the 

 water is now twelve feet deep." This 

 is indeed a great loss, and one which 

 will elicit the sympathy of bee-keep- 

 ers. 



