218 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



lost thirty-seven swarms in wintering last season. 

 Perhaps that bee disease Avas the cause of my loss. 

 I am wintering forty stocks this winter. So far they 

 are doing well. 1 am using the Langstroth hive, the 

 Harbison hive, and the Langstroth modified, and like 

 the latter best. I winter my bees in my cellar and 

 bee house. I have mostly let my bees swarm 

 naturally, and have lost only two swarms by flight in 

 four years. I have, been troiibled with the moth 

 considerably, I have black bees with a few hybrids. 

 I think I shall try the Italians this coming season. I 

 was born in the State of New York, lived in Ohio about 

 twenty years ; have been in this State about sixteen 

 years ; and am about forty-five years old. I am 

 bound to make bee-keeping pay. My wife is a No. 1 

 apiarian and bee-tender. Although an invalid, she 

 devotes the greater part of her time to the care and 

 study of our bees. Very little escapes her attentive 

 and observant mind and eye. Enclosed find two 

 dollars for my subscription .for the Journal. — 

 N. Travis. 



Edgefield Junction, Tekn., February 21. — My 

 bees took rye meal January 19. I had young bees 

 flying a week ago ; and pollen from bloom two 

 weeks since. I am experimenting to obtain early 

 drones ; have wintered a few in a queenless colony. 

 I sold one queen in January and sent one full stock 

 to Mobile, Alabama, in perfect safety, the queen 

 laying eggs while on her transit— there being only six 

 dead'bees found, and four of those were said to have 

 died of old age. I have ten reserve queens in small 

 colonies, in tine condition. — T. B. Hamlin. 



Natchez, Miss., February 13. — Our winter here, 

 thus far has been a very mild one. Temperature to 

 day 73^, with wind from tlie south. For several 

 days past the weather has been mild, and the bees 

 have been flying out freely, returning laden with 

 pollen. They usually commence breeding at this 

 time, and it is kept up until the swarming period, 

 during the second week of April. Our ]3lum trees 

 showed their first blossoms on the 30th of January, 

 and are now almost in full liloom. The peach trees 

 are also beginning to blossom freely, as are also some 

 of the forest trees and many flowers. Our winter, 

 liowever, is not yet over, as we usually have some 

 frosts and severe weather until about the middle of 

 March. Aly forty hives are in fine condition. In 

 tills climate the open air is best for wintering all 

 stocks. I succeeded in bringing through the se- 

 verest of our winter weather, in the open air, but 

 under shelter, about a pint of black bees and a queen, 

 in an observintj hive, containing a single " American" 

 frame, with two glass sides, and no other protection 

 than a lining o^ cloth hetween the glass and the 

 sliutters. They had dwinxlled down very much until 

 ihe 2'oth of January, when, having fed them with 

 honey, it being a mild day, the hybrids of some 

 liives in the yard made an attack on them and carried 

 otf their stores. Tlie night following being frosty, 

 they were discovered in the morning dead, and 

 without a particle of honey in the comh. Had they 

 not been deprived of their feed, I do not doubt they 

 would have come through safely, though I cannot be- 

 lieve the queen would have remained fertile. 



Our climate here is a changeable one. To illus- 

 trate, on the 16th of January, thermometer 74°, 17th 

 54-^, 19th 4G^, 20th 43^, 31st 58'2, in the morning, and 

 683 at noon ; and so it usually varies — at least after 

 the first of January, until spring fairly sets in, about 

 the middle of March. 



I have observed that when their temperature is 46° 

 F. a few bees will venture out; at 50'-^ they will fly 

 more numerously ; while at 60-^ they fly brisklj if pol- 

 len is to be had. 



Your valuable Journal reaches me regularly, and I 



alays peruse its pages with much interest. — J. R. 

 Bledsoe. 



KosHKONONG, Wis., February 25.— I am trying the 

 experiment of wintering my bees in a dark cellar. I 

 carried them in at the commencement of cold weather. 

 On the 16th of November raised one side of the caps 

 on blocks, and kept the temperature at about 35'^ F. 

 After a short trial I thought best to remove the caps 

 entirely from the hives. "After a further trial, I re- 

 duced the temperature of the cellar to from 28^ to 

 30^, in which condition the bees became sufficiently 

 quiet, and so remained till the weather moderated in 

 February, M'hen they became somewhat noisy. The 

 7th proved to be a very fine day, and towards noon 

 the thermometer stood at between 50^ and 60^. I 

 carried out my bees, placed them on their summer 

 stands, and removed the caps, and as a consequence 

 the bees took a general fly, and very few were lost. 



I have since kept them quietly in the cellar, with 

 two inches of newspaper spread over the frames, but 

 drawn a little to one side, so as to be sure to give 

 ventilation. Temperature still at from 28^ to 30^. 



I like the plan of throwing some sort of wire 

 arrangement over the frames, to keep the bees in and 

 the mice out ; and I find no difficulty in making room 

 under the wire for dishes containing feed or water. I 

 find these dishes of water to get empty every few days, 

 and as I cannot ascribe the disappearance of the 

 water to leakage, and am not willing to ascribe the 

 whole of it to evaporation, I am forced- to the conclu- 

 sion that the bees consume most of it. 



Of course I cannot tell as yet how I shall succeed with 

 bees, but I act on the principle of the ancient motto — 

 " J'erscvera7itia vincit omnia.'" — D. P. Lane. 



Orchard, Iowa, March 8.— The readers of the 

 American Bee Journal will be pleased to learn that 

 within eighteen miles of Nashville, Tennessee, bees 

 commenced carryinii in meal on the 19th of January, 

 and on the ISth of February, the silverleat'ed jjoplar, 

 the willow, the elm. the maple, and several other 

 trees were in bloom, and a few more days would bring 

 out the peach and plum blossoms. But away down 

 in Alabama, bees were swarming in January, accord- 

 ing to one correspoudent. You will see this beats our 

 time altogether. Yet in ordinary seasons, we get as 

 much honey, per swarm, as they do there — that is, as 

 near as I am able to make out. — E. Gallup. 



Shreve, Ohio, March 11. — I suppose you have 

 never heard anything on bee-culture from this part 

 of the country. I started in the business four years 

 ago, with the Italian bee and movable frame hive, 

 among a set of old rustic bee-keepers, who claimed it 

 was all a humbug ; that the Italian bee was no better 

 than the black ; and that the movable frame was just 

 a worthless pateut right, to make money of. For my 

 part, I intended to test the matter, and procured a 

 swarm of pure Italians from Mr. A. Gray, of Kiley, 

 Ohio. They have done finely, and I have proved to 

 the people here, that it is a profitable business. I 

 succeeded in getting my neighbors, within two miles, 

 to change their bees ; so that I do not expect to be 

 troubled' with black drones, next season, in getting 

 my queens mated. I have fifty stocks all in good 

 condition, and am making one' hundred and fifty 

 movable frame hives this winter, I intend to put 

 my whole time into the business. Last season here 

 was just a medium year for honey. It was not as 

 good as we have had ; yet I hope the next will be 

 better. I will send you a photograph of my apiary 

 this summer. I enclose two dollars for my sub- 

 scription to the J(mrnal. I like it very much. So, 

 hurrah for the American Bee Journal and the 

 Italian bee.— G. W. Stinebring. 



