THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



101 



of the season, mainly with young bees. They 

 •will thus be strong and vigorous for next 

 spring's work; and, like Novice, I have visions 

 of scores of swarms and lengthy rows of jars 

 filled with honey, in 1870. Give me the botani- 

 cal name of the enclosed plant in the next 

 Journal. — J. R. Gardner. 



Monmouth, Ills., Sept. 20. — Bees have done 

 finely here this fall. They could not have done 

 better than they did for a month past. About 

 three weeks ago, I took sixty-eight pounds of 

 box honey from a first swarm, wdiich was hived 

 on the 26th of June ; and they now have two 

 thirty-pound boxes about full. I had a swarm 

 to come off on the 18th of August, and on exam- 

 ining them a day or two past, I found that they 

 had filled all the frames in the hive. I expected 

 to have to feed them the coming winter. 



I read a great deal in the Journal about the 

 working qualities of the Italians. I liave some 

 stocks of each, the black and the Italians. For 

 industry I would prefer the hybrids, but would 

 rather not handle them much at ihis season of 

 the year. To-day I undertook to examine 

 a hive of Italians, but was glad to get away from 

 them without seting the inside. I thought at 

 the time I should have liked to have had fiiend 

 Baldiidge to try his hand at handling them 

 without a veil or bee-hat. I think it much 

 pleasanter to feel that you have j'our eyes pro- 

 tected when you hear the angry buzzing of the 

 bees about your ears. — D. M. Dungan. 



Natchez, Miss., Sept. 20. — I have now forty- 

 two hives, of which about oue-half a*e the 

 Langslrotli pattern. I commenced this season 

 with eigliteen hives of bees, most of which 

 were in good condition at the opening of spring. 

 Our past winter was, as is usual here, a not very 

 severe one. We had some days in December 

 and January during which some of my bees 

 were able to fly out and gather pollen to a limit- 

 ed extent from a species of wild mustard, in 

 bloom in sheltered places. Plum trees com- 

 menced blossoming here on the 27th of Janu- 

 ary, and were followed on the 11th of Feb- 

 ruary by the peach, and at the end of March by 

 the apple ; during which time, for the most 

 part, the weather was favorabe and the bees 

 availed themselves of the opportunity most as- 

 siduously. 



My bees commenced swarming on the 6th of 

 April, during the height of apple blossoming, as 

 is the case yearly here ; and continued swarm- 

 ing until the end of May. The season has been 

 a very favorable one here for honey gathering. 

 About a -iveek ago the weather changed sudden- 

 ly from hot to cool, and I perceived a decided 

 cessatinu of gathering immt-diately afterward ; 

 although previously, during the entire summer, 

 sufiicient was to be gathered to supply their 

 needs, without drawing upon their stores, while 

 comb building and accumulating of honey in 

 surplus boxes had not been going on since the 

 middle of July. 



I have some stocks of hybrid Italians. I am 

 sorry I have not been able to preserve the pure 

 breed thus far ; though it is my intention to 

 procure the purest next season to breed from. 



From my experience with those I have, I can 

 add my testimony to their superiority over the 

 black bees. I procured two queens from an- 

 othnr apiary last year, but did not succeed in 

 getting those raised properly mated. In De- 

 cember one of the old queens was found, on a 

 mild day, in front of the hive in a dying condi- 

 tion, from which I was unable to revive her, 

 and the colony raised an imperfect queen which 

 laid, only drone eggs, and was broken up in the 

 spring. The other old queen, whose wings 

 were clipped, came out of her hive in February 

 to die. I revived Iier by warmth and dropped 

 her among the bees at the top of the hive. An 

 hour after, I found a fine young queen on the 

 ground in front, benumbed'with cold— revived 

 her and returned her. The old queen then 

 airain came out, and I destroyed her. Next day 

 I found a young queen in front, in the same 

 condition, and destroyed her ; for, without 

 opening the hive, I come to the conclusion that 

 the old queen had failed from some cause, and 

 the colony had superseded her. It happened 

 fortunately that drones from the first hive spoken 

 of were fljiug, and I had the satisfaction of see- 

 ing this. queen return from her wedding excur- 

 sion on a fine day in March, having without 

 •doubt mated with one of her own species, for 

 no black drones had yet made their appearance. 

 She proved to be fertile, but the hive did not 

 swarm until the 20lh of Miiy. The swarm was 

 a very large one, and has given me a considera- 

 ble quantity of surplus honey, besides fil- 

 ling tlieii- hive. The bees however are dark 

 and are not at all well marked. I am constrain- 

 t;d to believe that the queens ori.i^inally sent to 

 me were not altogether pure. I have several 

 hives of hybrids showing brighter bees tlian 

 these. My hybrids have all done better than 

 the black bees. One first swarm of thf>m, hived 

 May 3, (which is late here), threw off a swarm 

 July 8th, and is now as populous as any of the 

 rest ; whilst none of my black bees have done 

 the like. — j. II. Rledsob. 



Lafargeville, N. Y., Sept. 28.— We have 

 had here the most lamentable honey season 

 within my recollection of nearly twenty years' 

 beekeeping. The weather has been wet and 

 cold. White clover blossoms in profusion. 

 The basswood seems not to blossom every year; 

 this year the trees had scarcely any blossoms. 

 But what of it— the flowers were either deficient 

 in honey-producing faculties, or the frequent 

 rains must have diluted and washed the honey 

 away. Instead of half a ton or a ton and over 

 of surplus honey, as I have been used to harvest 

 every year before, I shall this year hardly have 

 any to speak of. My apiary numbers now one 

 liundred and thirty swarms, fiftv-three of which 

 are new swarms. How many of them have 

 gathered honey enough to winter I have not 

 had time to ascertain j'et. Peaceable times, 

 however ; no fighting or attempts at robbing. 



Inclosed please find two dollars for the Bee 

 Journal for 1869-70— which credit as usual. 

 Bidding you success in your devotion of spread- 

 ing, through your columns, the knowledge as it 

 advances in apiculture, I am respectfully, yours. 



—J. N. ROTTIERS. 



