year was 18,000.000 lbs. and 700,000 lbs. of 

 wax. The entire honey product of the 

 world is about 35,C00,000 lbs. 



J. F. Hershey started in the spring with 

 62 colonies. Now the account stands thus : 



CR. 



By sale of 725 lbs. box honey at 20c $145 00 



80 1 bs. extracted honey at 15c 12 00 



1 colony 12 00 



146 Italian Queens 233 60 



" 17 nuclei colonies, queen in, on 



hand 51 00 



Total $453 60 



DR. 



To stuff for honey boxes $10 00 



" postage for queens and letters 3 00 



" to sugar fed to bees 40 00 



$53 00 



Profit of the season's work $400 60 



This is not much for 62 colonies but 

 the spring was not favorable. His bees are 

 all in good condition for winter ; plenty of 

 honey to last till spring. 



I. G. Martin reported as follows : 



The number of colonies of bees I had 

 under my management in the spring was 19, 

 a few of which belonged to my neighbors 

 and which I managed the same as my own. 

 These 19 increased to 38 colonies, and they 

 stored 912 lbs. of surplus honey, or an 

 average of 48 lbs. for each colony I had in 

 the spring. Of this, 224 lbs. was extracted 

 honey, 686 lbs, was comb honey, most of 

 which was put up in sections of IX lbs. 

 each. 



The honey season was rather poor in the 

 early part of the summer. Nearly all my 

 comb honey was gathered from the second 

 growth of red clover, which was between 

 the 20th of July and the 10th of August, 

 after which there was no surplus honey 

 produced. I have sold some of my bees ; so 

 I now go in winter quarters with 29 colonies. 



Elias Hershey reported that he had 15 

 colonies in the spring ; now has 26 ; he got 

 about 400 lbs. of box honey. 



D. H. Lintner had 8 colonies in the spring; 

 increased them 100 per cent. He got about 

 135 lbs. of box honey. They are in good 

 condition for winter. 



H. K. Meisky had 16 colonies in the spring 

 and has 23 now. He realized about 300 lbs. 

 of honey. 



Jacob Christ wintered 5 colonies last year; 

 out of 3 of them he got 100 lbs. of honey. 

 Two of them did very badly. 



Peter S. Keist had 25 colonies in the spring. 

 He had 17 natural swarms, and has realized 

 about 600 lbs. of comb honey. His bees are 

 now in fine condition for winter, notwith- 

 standing the unfavorable season. 



Rev. S. K. Boyes had 2 colonies, 1 black 

 and 1 Italian. He got 30 lbs. of honey from 

 the two. The Italians made nearly twice as 

 much as the other. 



John Musselman had 7 colonies and now 

 has 18. The honey yield was small, per- 

 haps 50 lbs. 



WINTERING BEES. 



I. G. Martin said : 



My mode of wintering is on the summer 

 stand by preparing them in the following 

 way : I remove all the frames but 6, and if 

 the colony is not very strong, 1 take them 

 all out but 5, or even 4, and then 1 put in a 

 tight division, so that the bees are very 



much crowded ; then they can keep warm 

 much better. 1 then make a large box that 

 will give about 3 inches space between it 

 and the hive all around, and 6 inches higher 

 than the hive. The hive is then set in the 

 box and a passage is kept open between the 

 two by placing 2 strips of board, 3 inches 

 long and % inch thick, on the bottom of the 

 box — que on each side of the entrance. A 

 piece of board, 3 inches wide, is then laid 

 across the two strips, so that the bees can 

 pass out and in "when the weather will 

 permit. The cover is then taken off the 

 hive and 2 sticks, % inch thick, are laid 

 across the frames, and a piece of cloth is 

 spread on the frames, covering the whole top 

 of the hive. Then all the space around and 

 over the hive is filled with dry wheat chaff; 

 then a tight cover should be put on to keep 

 it dry. 



1 will give a few reasons why I think 

 wintering bees packed in chaff is preferable 

 to any other method. First. The work 

 can be done as soon as the honey season is 

 past, and with small colonies as early as 

 August. Second. It can be done at odd 

 hours, when it will not interfere with other 

 business. Third. The packing prevents 

 the escape of any scent of honey from the 

 packed hives to aitract bees from other 

 colonies, hence, if all are so packed, robbing 

 is effectually prevented in the bee-yard. 

 Fourth. The bees have an opportunity to 

 fly at any time during the winter when' the 

 weather will permit— an advantage which, 

 we think, no one will dispute. Fifth. 

 There is no carrying of heavy hives filled 

 with honey to and from the the bee-house. 

 Sixth. During the cold weather of April 

 and early May these packed hives will be 

 much warmer than those outside. The bees 

 will spread over more surface of comb, a 

 larger amount of brood will be found there 

 and the colony will increase in size much 

 faster and sooner than it could possibly be 

 made to do if kept at this time on the sum- 

 mer stand without protection by any known 

 process whatever, except it be by the 

 addition to it of bees and brood from other 

 hives. Seventh. After the bees are prepared 

 for winter, they need no more care till the 

 following April, leaving the bee-keeper at 

 liberty to attend to other business for 5 or 6 

 months. This is, of course, o'.ly when good 

 colonies with plenty of stores, are selected 

 for wintering. 



The cost of boxes is considered by some 

 who have not used them an objection to 

 their use. A box can be made of good pine 

 lumber, with a good bottom and tight board 

 cover, at a cost of about 60 cents, and if they 

 are put in the dry through the summer they 

 will last for years. 



J. F. Hershey has wintered bees in vari- 

 ous ways, but never succeeded on summer 

 stands. Bees do not winter in low situa- 

 tions nearly so well as on more elevated 

 ground. He has a regular house where he 

 winters his colonies. 



D. H. Lintner winters his bees on summer 

 stands. He takes out all the frames, leaves 

 only combs enough for the bees to cover 

 easily. He hangs some old cloths over the 

 top, and on these he places a board to keep 

 them in place. He has always had good 

 success. 



