548 



inile or so from home. I would like to 

 hear from some one who raises both, 

 the costs of selling and producing each 

 kind. The year 1879 has been the 

 worst year ever known in Louisiana, 

 colonies not averaging more than one 

 gallon each of surplus. 



[We have no doubt but that so much 

 more of extracted honey than of comb 

 honey can be produced to pay the pro- 

 ducer better, especially if he is sure of 

 a market for it. As to the exact cost of 

 production, we would like to hear from 

 those who have made it a study.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Spring Dwindling. 



N. H. BROWN. 



In my communication published in 

 the August number, I promised to give 

 what I thought was the cause and cure 

 of spring dwindling. This trouble, un- 

 doubtedly, has its orgin in a variety of 

 causes, such as the long confinement 

 during the winter months, which en- 

 feebles the insect, and this, added to 

 the sudden changes of temperature 

 incident to early spring, causes a great 

 waste of their numbers ; and then, bad 

 honey, lack of pollen, queeniessness, 

 and a variety of other incidents, may 

 cause a diminution of numbers; but 

 none of these causes can account for 

 the wholesale loss reported by some bee- 

 keepers in the periodicals and conven- 

 tions, for in most of the above cases a 

 fertile queen and good flow of honey in 

 the flowers will soon cure the evil. 



It is note worthy that in all cases of 

 serious loss complained of in the dis- 

 cussions on this question, that the bees 

 have been wintered either in the cellar 

 or some place requiring their removal 

 from their summer stands. In fact, 

 some very respectable authorities have 

 traced the cause of the trouble to in- 

 door wintering. I believe this gives a 

 clew to the cause of the trouble, not as a 

 necessary consequence of housing, but 

 indirectly. 



It happens in this way; the bee- 

 keeper some cold day proceeds to take 

 in his bees and store them in the cellar 

 or house. Not knowing or disregarding 

 the instincts of the insect, he fails to 

 properly mark his hives and stands, so 

 as to return them when spring comes to 

 their proper location, the result is that 

 when they are put out for a fly, proba- 

 bly 4 out of 5 are not at home, and when 

 thev attempt to return they go direct to 

 their old location ; which being occupied 

 by strangers, they are either driven out 



to wander about and perish, or are 

 slaughtered at the entrance. 



Last February I put my bees out for 

 a fly on a warm day ; one of them I 

 placed in a new location, thinking to 

 establish them there ; but in 15 minutes 

 one half of the bees from that hive 

 were circling about their old location 

 utterly lost, and would undoubtedly 

 have perished had I not returned the 

 hive there. Another hive was accident- 

 ally faced the opposite direction from 

 that occupied the previous summer. An 

 hour or two afterwards, while going by, 

 I observed as many as a pint of bees on 

 the side opposite, vainly trying to effect 

 an entrance. 



When I remove my bees to the cellar, 

 I number each hive on the front side, 

 placing the same number on the front 

 side of the cap ; the hive is then re- 

 moved and the cap taken off and placed 

 on the stand, the numbered side where 

 the entrance should be. Consequently, 

 when the bees are put out for a fly or 

 permanently placed on their summer- 

 stands, there need be no mistake about 

 the exact location of each colony ; and 

 should any one make such a mistake, 

 either when putting out for a fly or per- 

 manently, they may be assured they 

 will have a bad case of "spring dwind- 

 ling." 



Apiculture is a decided failure in this 

 section this year. I took 45 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey — no box honey ; have 42 

 colonies, out of 43 wintered. The only 

 one wintered out-doors, after a vain 

 struggle for existence, succumbed in 

 September. Eight out of the 42 will 

 winter without feeding ; 6 of these are 

 pure Italians, and 2 hybrids ; 3 of these 

 six Italians furnished the 45 lbs. of 

 honey. All the rest, except 2 queen-' 

 breeders are either blacks, hybrids, or 

 Italianzed in June of this year ; conse- 

 quently too late to assert their qualities 

 this season. Who says black or hybrid 

 bees are best ? 



Plainview, 111., Oct. 6, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Queens Duplicating Themselves. 



J. H. MARTIN. 



We wish to inform Mr. A. F. Moon, 

 that if he will hold his proposition open, 

 as given on page 400 American Bee 

 Journal, until next spring, we will 

 send a queen to Prof. Cook, that will 

 duplicate herself every time. I have 

 had two queens this summer that have 

 produced queen daughters that were 

 uniformly as light-colored and marked 

 just like the mother. I will not say 



