62 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



resented. Tlieu we shall have something tangi- 

 ble to talk about. We have kept bees for 

 several years, and have written more or less for 

 the American Bee Journal, but have never 

 spent our time in blowing up patent hives. 

 When we can find nothing more interesting to 

 the readers of the Journal, we do not write. 



H. Alley. 

 Wenham, Mass., Aug. 3, 1871. 



[For tho American Bee Journal.] 



Prom New Jersey to New Hampshire. 



Since last writing for the Journal I have re- 

 moved to this place, and being busily occupied, 

 have found but little leisure for writing. 



The section of New Jersey where I was lo- 

 cated did not suit me, as the coast winds were 

 so troublesome that I could get very little nice 

 honey in the spring and early summer. A large 

 quantity of buckwheat honey may be obtained 

 there, but is not very salable. 



The best honey localities we find, on reading 

 the Journal, are not adjacent to the coast. Cool 

 weather in the spring, and dry weather during 

 most of May and June, prevented an early yield 

 of honey, though breeding was carried on pretty 

 well. 



The severe drouth of last year, followed by a 

 dry 3Iay and June, cut oif most of the clover 

 crop, except what was in the hay-fields. Bees 

 commenced storing honey rapidly the latter part 

 of June, and when the hay was cut early in 

 July the storing of surplus honey ceased. In a 

 short tune my bees stored an average of per- 

 haps thirty pounds to each good swarm. One 

 colony stored nearly sixty pounds. All of it 

 was removed with a machine. 



In the last half of July none but the largest 

 stocks gathered more thau enough to supply 

 their daily wants. Then the second crop of 

 clover, golden rod, and other fall blossoms, 

 caused better times. 



In feeding bees in the fall I have been best 

 pleased with upright tin feeders, holding about 

 five pounds each. These are supplied with a 

 float, and their inner sides are coated with wax. 

 I like to fill them every day until the bees have 

 enough, placing them in the cap. When neces- 

 sary to feed in winter, I have used glass fruit 

 cans with good success. By filling them full, 

 tying on a thin strainer cloth, then inverting 

 quickly and setting them on tt>p of the frames 

 or over a hole in the honey board, and covering 

 with the cap. I do not advise waiting till win- 

 ter, as the later feeding is put otF, after the fail- 

 ure of natural supplies, the greater the danger 

 of injury to the bees. A few years ago I made 

 fifty Beebe feeders for spring use, and found 

 them very good for feeding syrup, but have 

 never made use of them for feeding meal and 

 water, as recommended. 



Last spring I tried one of Mr. Peck's automa- 

 tic feeders, and it seemed to be a very good 

 thing to use in moderate weather. I was pai'- 

 ticularly pleased with some of its features. It 

 has uo wood about it to shrink and swell, or 

 sour. It is consequently easily cleansed thor- 



oughly. Then it is absolutely impossible for 

 bees to get drowned or daubed in it, when proj)- 

 erly adjusted. I intended to make one on the 

 same principle, but of large si;^e, to try it this 

 season, but have not had time or i\se for it. I 

 bought a Harrison feeder when tliey first came 

 round, and used it twice. The first time a little 

 sediment in the feed choked the strainer, and 

 the next time the feed ran through in a much 

 larger stream than was useful or desirable just 

 then. 



J. L. Hubbard. 

 Walpole, JV. H., Aug. 5, 1871. 



[For the American ?.ee Journal.] 



Mr. Alley in Business Transactions. 



Mr. Editor: — Please find enclosed the 

 amount due for another year's subscription to 

 the Journal, and accept my heartiest wishes for 

 its inci'easing prosperity. 



I beg leave to avail myself of this opportunity 

 to say that I was both surprised and concerned to 

 find two severe strictures in the August number 

 of the Journal, on Mr. Alley, of Wenham, Mass. 

 Of course I know nothing of the particular 

 points in these two cases, but as I have had 

 several transactions with Mr. Alley, and in every 

 instance have found him fair, upright, and, in- 

 deed, must say very liberal, I deem it no less a 

 duty than a privilege to give him the benefit of 

 this counter statement. ,, 



The hive I bought of Mr. Alley is, in my 

 humble judgment, a model of neatness and ex- 

 cellence in its construction ; and whilst I have 

 neither the wish nor the ability to speak of its 

 comparative merit, I can only say that I am de- 

 lighted with it now that the bees have gone 

 fairly to work, and are filling the boxes with 

 honey equal in point of beauty to any I ever 

 saw, the combs being of unusual and extraor- 

 dinary thickness. 



Like others, I have experienced some delay 

 in the receijjt of Italian queens ordered from 

 Mr. Alley, but I was persuaded that this delay 

 was iinavoidable, and due entirely to the causes 

 so fully and frankly stated in his private letters 

 and in his published statements. And as my 

 jjatience and confidence has just now been re- 

 warded by the receipt of three beautiful queens, 

 so I hope, '"by the same token," that Dr. Aus- 

 tin's longer probation has been crowned by the 

 same happy result ; and that we shall hear of a 

 pleasant reconciliation in the next number of 

 the Journal. 



We have had a fine honey season in this 

 region in spite of many adverse circumstances, 

 such as the failure of the locust and fruit blos- 

 soms, for which we were fully compensated by 

 the abundance and richness of the white clover. 

 From twenty-six stocks I had only eighteen 

 swarms, but even this was far above the general 

 average. 



B. J. Barboub. 



Oordonsville, Va., Aug. 11, 1871. 



Honey was one of the first articles of human 

 nourishment. 



