96 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



kept supplied with brood and drone 

 brood from colonies from which we 

 wished to breed. We were successful 

 in nine out of ten and would have been 

 in that, but one queen was deficient in 

 her wings, and although we tried sur- 

 gical operation for engrafting a wing 

 we failed in enabling her to fly. The 

 conditions are : there must positively 

 be no old bees in the tent, else tliey 

 will cluster on the tent, but young bees 

 will return and there will be no confu- 

 sion. We tried a similar plan in 1879 

 but were not so successful as we al- 

 lowed old bees in the tent and all was 

 confusion. We have been experiment- 

 ing some ever since. 



We raise our own stock and can mate 

 them as we wisli. Try our plan, it will 

 not cost you over $3 and we are sure it 

 will repay you, but mind the conditions. 

 No bee that has ever flown must be 

 left in ; place water, syrup and meal, 

 in the tent, and you can beautify it by 

 puttingpots of flowers, etc., in it. 



J. K. Caldwell, Hoopeston, 111. 



LETTEB BOX. 



Brother Locke: 



I have to report 

 that March — this present March — has 

 been unusually liard on our bees. 

 Heretofore I considered my bees "win- 

 tered" when the tirst of March was 

 reached. But March to this date has 

 been tlie hardest of all on the poor 

 bees, warm enough for the bees to fly, 

 but too cold and chilly for them to fly 

 safely. Our bees still hang on to life 

 and will survive it all, if the weather 

 will settle down soon. 



G. W. Demaree. 



most stores had the least number of 

 dead bees, were the strongest and 

 had the most brood. Some of the 

 patches of brood were 4X7 inches in 

 one or two combs, and were the stocks 

 that were packed the warmest. Six 

 years experience has shown that from 

 two to four inches packing under the 

 bottom of the hive (the hives being 

 double bottomed) have invariably win- 

 tered the best. They flew the least 

 each winter and had the least number 

 of dead bees every spring. 



H. L. Jeffrey. 



Marhledale, Ct. 



Barringlon, R. L, Feb. 11, 1884. 



Mr. S. M. Locke : 

 Dear Sir, 



I wish to thank you publicly for your 

 earnest endeavors in establishing a bee 

 journal for beekeepers, and one on 

 which they can rely in every way. 



The "question box" alone is fully 

 worth the price of the journal, and 

 when we consider the other valuable 

 matter to be found in each number, we 

 cannot but feel greatly indebted to you 

 for your zealous labors. The journal 

 deserveSjthe earnest support of all bee- 

 keepers; and, if, in a few years, it is 

 not the leading paper of its kind in Am- 

 erica, it will be simply because bee- 

 keepers are unable to appreciate the 

 value of a good thing when they have 

 it. 



Wishing you success in your enter- 

 prise, I remain, yours truly, 



A. C. Miller. 



Dear Sir : 

 Bees so far are wintering well where 

 they were given good stores and well 

 packed. Tliere have been but three fly- 

 ing days since Dec. 1. These were Dec. 

 11 (Feb. 18 they flew a little from some 

 hives). Mar. 14 and Mar. 18. The 18th 

 was a general and wholesale fly. I 

 took the advantage of the 18th to look 

 into nine stocks. Some had used about 

 eleven lbs. of stores others not more 

 than five or six. Those that had used the 



NOTICE. 



Mr. J. E. Pond, Jr. ofFoxboro,Mass., 

 wishes to correspond willi every bee- 

 keeper in Massachusetts who is in any 

 way interested in organizingand estab- 

 lishing a first-class beekeeper's associa- 

 tion in this state. It is time that we 

 had such an association ; we hope that 

 every person who reads this, and is in 

 any way in i crested in the matter, will 

 respond at once. 



We promise to do our sliare of the 

 work. 



