178 



TITE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



propriety of my entering largtly into tlie bee 

 business, I nu\y say wbun he enters his eightietli 

 year, he may learn why entering largely into 

 any business will seem a heavy burden. 



i will add that I feel much interest in your 

 valuable journal and wish'you much success. 



Should any of your readers wish particularly 

 concerning the Eureka hive, I will send them a 

 circular ou receipt of their address and a post- 

 age stamp. I wish agents in every town. 



Jasper Hazen. 



Albany, N. T. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bea-Keeping in Eastern Massachusetts. 



YiK. Editor : — When we read in the Jotjrsal 

 stuienienls of the large profits of bee-keeping in 

 different parts of the country, such as Messrs. J* 

 L. Peabody and Andrew Byers gave us in the 

 January number, we feel as though we, in Esse.x 

 county, (Mass.,) are doing a small business, and 

 conclude that we are in an unfavorable location. 

 Such a conclusion is a correct one ; but why is 

 it so? We have plenty of bee pasturage. Wil- 

 lows are plenty ; fruit blossoms in abundance ; 

 and white clover almost without limit, from 

 early in June until about the middle of July. 

 Still we get a small income compared with otlier 

 locations. 



When I commenced bee-keeping, about twelve 

 years since, I supposed I was in a good location 

 for the business. But I soon found that bees 

 would not increase in numbers, and store honey 

 to such extent as Messrs. Langstroth and Quinby 

 speak of in their books. I was soon convinced 

 tliat the difficulty was in being situated so near 

 the sea, and getting the cold northeast wind pecu- 

 liar to tliis part of New England, from the last of 

 March to abuut the tirst and sometimes to near 

 the middle of June. 



People who lived here, and afterwards iii 

 other parts of the country, (perhaps not out of 

 New England,) say they nowhere feel such cold 

 northeast winds as we have here. Anyone, by 

 looking at the map, can at once see why it is so. 

 It comes sweeping down from the frozen regions, 

 over fields of tioating ice, and not passing over 

 much land, it strikes us with a chill almost of an 

 iceberg. After passing over a few miles of land, 

 it gradually becomes softened and loses much of 

 its harshness. 



In 1863, from March 28th to June 4th, (sixty- 

 nine days,) the wind was between north and 

 east fifty-one days. In such weather the flowers 

 yield no honey. It is so much lost time witli 

 beei. Of course, if honey gathering is checked, 

 stock breeding is checked also. Consequently 

 when white clover, which is the main dependence 

 here for surplus honey, comes into blossom, the 

 bees are not in a condition to gather it, being 

 wealv in numbers and light in stores. And by 

 the time the}^ get strong and the hive is filled 

 below the harvest is passed. If the white clover 

 could remain in blossom through July, it would 

 ol'ten make the difference between a good yield 

 and a total failure of surplus honey. 



I intended last spring to adopt Mr. Gallup' s 



metliod of encouraging breeding by placing empty 

 combs between combs filled "with brood; but 

 found no time up to the middle of ]\Iay that my 

 judgment did not tell me they needed assistance 

 to keep warm what little brood they bad, rather 

 than an increase of it. 



Occasionally we have a season comparatively 

 free from these cold winds, and then the bees 

 always do well. Such was the case in 1860, 

 1864, and 1867. Although the business is very 

 uncertain, I think it pays on the whole about as 

 good profit on capital and labor as other pur- 

 suits connected with agriculture. 



I agree with Mr. Alley in regard to the honey- 

 emptying machine. I used it last season on one 

 swarm that I judged to be strong enough to 

 work in boxes, but refused to do so. We took 

 out about ten pounds of honey, and I am satisfied 

 that they were as heavy on the first of September 

 as though none had been taken away. It was so 

 much clear gain. Bees sometimes seem to lose 

 all energy. " They will cluster outside the hive 

 when there is plenty of room in the boxes. Under 

 such circumstances, if the combs are taken out 

 and returned again, it will oftentimes set them to 

 work with vigor. If the machine is used and a 

 part of the honey taken away, they will work all 

 the better for it. But we should be careful not 

 to tfcke it away too near the end of the honey 

 season. C. Rogers. 



West Newbury, Mass., Feb. 2, 1870. 



[For tlie Americau Bee Journal.] 



Peabody's Honey Extractor. 



AVhat are the advantages claimed for this ma- 

 chine over that with a wire box, as nuide by the 

 National Bee Hive ? Well, Mr. H. O. , or Mr. J. 

 L. Peabody, please state what advantages it has, 

 and in what they consist. I think the readers 

 of the American Bee Journal would, e?i. masse, 

 be gratified to receive the information, so that 

 they might before purchasing, judge intelligently 

 between it and the old machine. Will it extract 

 honey quicker ? Is it easier to operate with it ? 

 Is it cheaper, more durable, and less liable to be 

 broken or disarranged ? Answers to such or 

 similar questions would no doubt be satisfaclory 

 information to those who propose to purchase 

 machines next spring, and be looked for w.th 

 interest. 



D. H. COGGSHALL, Jr. 



West Groton, N. T. 



CnLOROFORMrNG Bees. — " Some time after 

 this, I attempted to quiet an angry swarm of bees 

 by sli]jping under the gum a eponge containing 

 sonietliing over half an ounce of chloroform, and 

 succeeded admirably. When they had be come 

 quiet, I removed what honey could be spared 

 from their stores, and left them all c[uiet. They 

 are quiet still, for the chloroform killed the last 

 bee." 



Dr. a. Love. 

 In Southern Cultivator. 



