THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



217 



stantaueous, voluminous, and interminable; and 

 Bees before unheard of, now unexampled, unexcelled, 

 unapproached, and inappreciable ! Is there not " a 

 good time coming" in ancient, wide diffused and 

 world-renowned bee-culture? And will not the 

 "apiariaii of the future" have a jolly time, and be 

 counted among the magicians and thaumaturgists of 

 that "new era?" By all means, let us have "an 

 illustration" of these new marvels, worthy of the 

 genius of a Cruikshank or a Crowquill ; and give us 

 plenty of pots, jars, demijohns, barrels, pipes, hogs- 

 heads, tubs, tuns, and tanks, for the honey that shall 

 flow— 



" in oinne voluhilis ceviom!" 



Correspondence of the Bee Journal. 



Blakei.t, Alabama, January 3S. — Our peach trees 

 arc all in bloom. The thermometer h.is stood at Q5^ 

 for the last ten days, during the day. FoUcn in pro- 

 fusion. Stocks all full of brood. I greatly doubt if 

 this precocity in the season bodes good. I fear a cold 

 time, with frosts, will cut off supplies that would have 

 been of more service later. It is a singular fact that 

 bees here conimence breeding later than at the north. 

 It is said they begin there in January, here it is 

 usually in February. But when they do begin here, 

 tiidy do so in good earnest, generally filling all the 

 empty combs very rapidly. — J. M. Wurden. 



Littleton, N. H., February 6., — How anyone who 

 keeps bees can do without the Bee Journal, is more 

 than I can tell. I am acquainted with a bee-keeper 

 who lost sixteen good stocks last winter. Last 

 December 1 bought live sM'arms of him, and then 

 I found out the trouble. His hives were made as 

 tight as he could make them by cramming in paper 

 into every entrance, without any upward ventilation 

 whatever. The bottoms and half way up the sides of 

 the hives as wet as they could be soaked. Two 

 dollars for the Journal would have saved him one 

 hundred dollars, at the lowest estimate. Is not that 

 penny wise and pound foolish? That bee feed men- 

 tioned in the January number, by John Winfield, 

 was just in season for me. I have a swarm of 

 Italians in tlie cellar that had not one pound of honey 

 when carried in. I had some honey and fed them 

 with that till I read how to make the feed. I now 

 use that. The bees like it and are doing well ; some 

 die, but I am in hopes to get them through. With 

 many wishes for your prosperity and the success of 

 the Hef, Journal and all its readers, I am respectfully 

 yours, Mrs. Laura Page. 



New Cumberland, W. Va., February 10. — The 

 summer of 1868, reduced the number of my colonies 

 greatly, on account ot the hot weather and dry season . 

 In the spring of 18G9, I transferred twenty-rtve 

 colonics from common to frame hives, none of them 

 having more than a quart of bees. The other portion 

 of my colonics was in better condition. 



I have now fifty-six colonies, all Italians of the 

 nicest kind. If any bee-men come within reach of 

 me, let them call and see how much they are ahead 

 in the bee business. 



I received from Mr. R. Wilkin, of Cadiz, Ohio, a 

 queen bee, just imported, which I think is hard to 

 beat. — The remainder of my colonies are from Rev. 

 L. L. Langstroth-s st>ick. I renewed nearly a'l my 

 queens last summer, from my imported queen. — A. 

 Chapman. 



Wilton Junction, Iowa, February 13.— I have 

 twelve stands of bees in the cellar under my house, 

 all doing well. The cellar is not a very dry one. yet 

 the bees did very well in it last winter. I fed them 

 in February and March, and they throve well last 

 summer. — tfoHN Spence. 



Fredonia, N. T., February 13.— Although bee- 

 keeping during the last season was rather an uphill 

 business, we hope by a continuous Gallnping, we may 

 come out right in the end— so keep the Bee Journal 

 coming. — L. Sage. 



♦^Wilmington, Vt., Febriiary 13. — I am a new 

 be'iinner in bee-keeping, and cannot get along 

 without the Bee Journal. Last season was said 

 to be the poorest known in this section for twenty 

 years. — J. H. Kidder. 



Old Mission, Iowa, February 13. — Bees did well 

 here last season, according to the weather, 

 which was cold during the early part of summer. 

 They bred drones in June, and again in Sejitemlier, 

 though those in large hives swarmed hardly any ; 

 but from such as were in small hives, not over 2,000 

 cubic incdies, we got plenty of swarms. 



There is a kind of spider on many of the flowers 

 here that catches the bei-s by the neck, in which way 

 many are lost. There is also a kind of long-legged 

 wasp or hornet, that builds its nest of clay under the 

 roofs of barns and out-houses, which catches these 

 spiders and carries them home to its younsi'. 



Last summer there were many birds here that 

 would sit on the fences, watching, and then dart 

 down and snap up bees aligliting on the clover 

 blossoms. Their color is dark gray, with a little 

 yellow spot above its bill ; the under part of the body 

 was white. — F. Sghliciite. 



Perrysville, O.'IO, February 13. — ]\Iy bees arenow 

 carrying in rye flour that I set out for them. My 

 hives are very strong, and as full of honey as I ever 

 had them at this season of the year. — M. A. Gladden. 



Upperville, Va., February 14.— The weather has 

 been too warm here lor my bees in the cellar, and I 

 have moved them out, as I could not keep them quiet. 

 — H. W. WUITE. 



East Liverpool, Ohio, February 18.— Bees have 

 done well here the past season. Though they did not 

 swarm as much as in some previous seasons, they 

 stored a good amount of surplus honey. I have the 

 principal part of my surplus honey stored in glass 

 boxes. It se'ls to better advantage in them than in 

 wooden ones. Honey sold here the past summer at 

 thirty-five cents per poimd. The Bee Journal is a 

 welcome monthly visitor. I hope it is prospering. — 

 A. J. Fisher. 



Mount Lebanon, N. T., February 23. — I am now 

 in my eighty-eighth year, and have ])ren in tlie bee 

 business ever sineo I m'cs old enough to carry an 

 empty hive. I thought I knew all about bees, but 

 since your Journal came to hand, I have found I was 

 but a novice in the business, as I have learned more 

 by the Journal the last four \ears than I had in the 

 whole of my life before. Any new beginner in the 

 business had better pay four dollars for the Journal 

 than not have it.— D. J. Hawkins. 



Faribault, Min.v., February 30.— Your much 

 appreciated Journal continues to enliven us through 

 tlie dull monotony of our long winters up here in 

 Minnesota. I have been in the bee business for 

 ab(^ut fciur years, and like it very well. Still though 

 I cannot give them the proper care, I have had very 

 good luck ; but have never been able to realize the 

 amount of profit that many claim for their bees. I 



