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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Last fall bees were observed gathering honey 

 plentifully from the blossoms of the European 

 Ivy {Seder a helix) on the old city walls of 

 Griiningen in Germany, which are literally 

 covered with that climber. Colonies nearly 

 destitute of stores, procured a full winter's sup- 

 ply from that source, late in September, when 

 no other plants were in bloom there. Have bees 

 been known to frequent the blossoms of this 

 plant in this country ? 



Correspondence of the Bee Journal. 



WiNTERSET, Iowa, June 28. — But few bees 

 have swarmed here yet, except Italians. These 

 have kept swarming almost every pleasant day 

 since the 26th of May. My Italians are begin- 

 ning to wake up some of those keeping bees 

 here. Several told me, a few days ago, that 

 their (common brown) bees never swarm before 

 July. A large swarm of Italians came out with- 

 in fifteen minutes after those visitois called. 

 We had alreadj^ sixteen or eighteeu swarms at 

 that time, though here June is generally a poor 

 month for bees, there being almost no white 

 clover around here yet. — M. B. 



Jefferson, Wis., June 28. — The spring has 

 been exceedingly unfavorable for bees here, and 

 the summer opens rather uupromisingly. I 

 wintered my bees very successfully, having lost 

 only two colonies out ot one hundred placed in 

 a cellar last fall, where they had to remain till 

 near Easter, before the weather allowed me to 

 remove them to their summer stands. Possibly 

 as the summer comes on pasturage may improve; 

 but until now I have had to feed my bees liber- 

 ally.— W. W. 



WiNTERSPORT, Me., June 22. — Notwithstand- 

 ing the frequent letters and communications you 

 receive, I am constrained to think that you do 

 not fully appreciate the immense benefit your 

 publication confers on beekeepers. No person 

 who possesses a decent share of brains, can be a 

 constant reader of the Journal and not be pro- 

 gressive and reasonable. It is hoped that you 

 may be able to publish it semi-monthly at an 

 early day.— G. S. S. 



Albany, III. — Please send me the Bee Jour- 

 nal another year. I could not well do without 

 it. My bees are doing very well this season. 

 They commenced swarming on the 4th of June. 

 They are hybrid Italians, and were kept in the 

 cellar till the middle of March, without top ven- 

 tilation. They came out all right. — A. B. 



Sheboygan Falls, Wis., July 21.-- -Please 

 find enclosed two dollars, for which send me 

 the Bee Journal. To-day I have accidentally 

 met with late numbers, and find them full of 

 meat — ^just the thing to be of value to the prac- 

 tical bee-keeper. — C. C. M. 



Shiloh, Ohio, July 17.— Cannot get along 

 without the Bee-Journal : wish it came oftener. 

 — W. H. O. 



ViRDEN, Ills. — I have three very fine gold- 

 colored queens, twenty -three days old. Two of 

 them have been laying for neatly two weeks ; 

 the other has not laid at all, though she is the 

 largest of the three, and looks as though she were 

 full of eggs. What can be the reason ? f do not 

 like to destroy her, as she is so fine. I have an 

 old Italian queen, very fine, which I put into a 

 stock of very poor hybrids on the first of May. 

 I took out a card of comb last Saturday, to give 

 to a nucleus to raise queens . There were three or 

 four eggs in some ot the cells. I saw the queen 

 at the time ; she seemed all right, and was lay- 

 ing. Could there be a fertile worker and a 

 fertile queen in the hive at the same time ? — J, 

 L. P. 



Chippewa, Canada.— Please send me the 

 Bee Journal another year. I trust your circula- 

 tion does and will increase. I consider the pub- 

 lication a valuable work. — F. G. N. 



Chillicothe, Mo., .June 28. — The season last 

 year here was very dry, the winter open and 

 warm, the spring late and cold, the summer thus 

 far is very wet, and bees are doing poorly. — J. 

 W. G. 



Lewisburg, West Va., July 2. — Bees are 

 doing remarkably well here this season. They 

 have not given many swarms, but are storing a 

 great quantity of honey. There is an immense 

 crop of white clover, and there has been an un- 

 usual bloom from the beginning. I hope this 

 season will close quite encouragingly to the bee- 

 culturists, as al8f> to the Bee Journal. — T. L. S. 



Hancock, N. H., June 28. — Bees are doing 

 very well here. White clover is just in blossom, 

 and the Italians are gathering honey fast. — H. 

 W. W. 



Danvers, Mass., June 30. — I will try bee- 

 keeping one year more, hoping to have more 

 success than we have had for these four or five 

 years past. This spring my bees commenced 

 with good prospects. Never better. Stocks 

 strong, honey enough to breed well, splendid 

 weather ; but lo and behold! my bees began to 

 swarm. Formerly, when I began to keep bees, 

 I watched eagerly for swarms; but now they 

 come when I do not think of them, one or two 

 a day, and sometimes two together. We had 

 two large swarms of Italians come out together 

 and unite, and we did not attempt to separate 

 them. I commenced with twelve stocks, and 

 formed one strong nucleus, besides which I had 

 fifteen swarms, at least we hived that number ; 

 but whether they all came from our hives I do 

 not know — though I know that most of them 

 did. And now, sir, where shall we get our sur- 

 plus honey ? We have had poor honey weather 

 for a fortnight ; and we cannot expect the season 

 to last more than a fortnight longer. My bees 

 are still pretty strong now, notwithstanding the 

 swarms. If we do not get surplus honey this 

 year, I shall think bee-keeping a poor business 

 as far as money is concerned. I enclose two 

 dollars meantime, hoping the season and the 

 Bee Journal will bring forth good things. — E. 

 E. P. 



