THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



53 



Will not your correspondnntsgivc this matter 

 a thorough "invrstiiratlon, and laid us a helping 

 Land iu^^thc clucidatiou of this very important 

 point? Pkof. Vakko. 



Washington, Pa., August 12th, 18G7. 



[For tlio Americat Bee Journal.] 



Experience of a Novice in Bee-keeping. 

 No. G. 



As I heforc remarked, my hee-keeping for the 

 summer of 180(5 was not very profitable. Had 

 I not endeavored to increase my number of 

 stocks so much, I should have done much better. 

 JMy two strongest stocks that were Italianized 

 early, made about forty pounds of surplus honey 

 each, besides having plenty for winter, which 

 was. much better than any common bees did 

 about here. 



I i)repared twelve colonies for winter, in what 

 I supposed to be the best manner. I lost four 

 of them, and among them my twenty dollar 

 queen. I will give my reasons for the loss, 

 that others may profit thereby, if they think 

 proper. 



The first three were composed mainly of bees 

 from condemned stocks, obtained from neigh- 

 bors about the last of August. They were so 

 nearly without honey, from then till November, 

 that very little brood was raised. They were 

 then fed so as to weigh twenty-five pounds 

 each, aside from the hive. They all had plenty 

 of honey in the spring, but A'cry few bees; and 

 these too all died off before it was warm enough 

 to raise more, for the reason, I suppose, that 

 they were too old, having mainly been hatched 

 in August. Bees, to winter well, should, in my 

 opinion, have honey sufficient to raise brood in 

 the fall months to winter over. 



With my Langstroth queens the case was 

 different. I intended that they should winter 

 well any way ; so I gave each of them two ht>avy 

 frames ofsealed honey, which I put at the sides 

 of the hive, supposing that they could get it as 

 they needed it, leaving several frames in the 

 middle from which I haii cut brood for raising 

 queens so late in the fall that it was not built up 

 again. I found the bees frozen as hard as a 

 bullet, apparently as though they had been un- 

 able to get at the frames on the outside at all, 

 although I had cut proper winter passages in all 

 the combs. They had proper ventilation also, 

 as the honey-board was removed, and replaced 

 by a double layer of corncobs. I think if the full 

 frames had been placed in the middle, they 

 would have been all right. 



As an expeiimenti put two fair colonies in 

 one hive. Contrary to what is generally told 

 us, they (lid consume the whole of their twenty- 

 five pounds, before some of the weak colonies 

 had c'onsumed fifteen ; and did not do much 

 better in tiie spring either, perhaps because they 

 were mostl}' old bees, as mentioned before. 



I would like to ask here what we are to under- 

 stand by the statements we have of buried colo- 

 nics passing the winter on three or four pounds, 

 or even as many ounces, as mentioned in the 



July number ? My cxpci ience would show that 

 bees eat nearly as much in the warm weather 

 in file fall, as tlu j'^ do in the winter ; and in no 

 case less than 2} pounds per month per stock. 

 Do they mean that the; bees, at ti certain tem- 

 perature, assume a semi-torpid state and scarcely 

 eat at all ? In no other way can we explain it, 

 if such is really the fact. 



The present season, here, has been much 

 better than the last, so much so that we feel 

 pretty well satisfied with the results. 



I enclose an extract from a country paper, 

 which tliough not so large in comparison with 

 the statements in the Bee Journal, is consider- 

 ably ahead of any thing we have ever had here 

 from the common bees. 



[From the Medina Gazette] 



Italian Bees and Scientific Bee-Culture. 



In answer to many inquiries we would state 

 that we have a single hive of Italian Bees, that 

 have already (this season) filled three boxes, 

 averaging twenty pounds each, with honey, 

 and a fourth box is at ])resent fully three-quar- 

 ters full, making about To lbs of box honey, and 

 are still storing it rnpidlv. The same stock was 

 swarmed once artificially the last of June, and 

 the swarm has, besides filling their hive, nearly 

 filled the second box, which would amount at 

 the i^resent time to something over a hundred 

 weight of box honey, as the proceeds of a single 

 hive. 



It having been said that all of the large state- 

 ments in regard to Italians were from interested 

 persons, so we W' uld remark before making the 

 following statement that we have neither 

 queens, bees, nor hives to dispose of, but do it 

 simply to show what may be done by Italians 

 and artificial swarming. 



On the 22d of ,Iune, a strong Italian stock 

 Avas removed while the bees were flying, and 

 an empty hive containing a young fertile queen 

 put in its place. The returning bees soon made 

 a good swarm and in twenty-four hours the 

 hive was suprisingly heavy, and in 48 hours it 

 had increased thirty pounds by actual wti-jht. 

 The hive was furnished with frames of empty 

 comb from which the bees had died last winter, 

 or this would not have been possible. 



On < he third day a box Avas given them which 

 they comnunced in immediate!}' and they are 

 now, July 2i)tli, al work on their third one, 

 having filled two. We should be pleased to 

 hear some figures in regard to common bees 

 this season, from those that have them. 



We propose taking the entire produce of our 

 best stock (the first mentioned) to our coming 

 Agricultural Fair. Respectfully, 



A. I. Root. 



Errata — In our article No. 5 in the July 

 number, aie tiirce errors, viz: — 



Line 24 from the top, "in" is superflous — 

 should be "Having something in the shape of 

 a queen." 



Line 8, from the bottom, the word iix should 

 be three. 



