72 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



failure. For the past two years I have read every 

 number of all the Bee Journals published in America 

 to my knowlediie, and the American Bee Journal is 

 ■worth more than all the rest.— G. M. D. Ruggles. 



Schuylkill Haven, Pa., Ann;. 2.— I wintered 

 twenty-four colonies of Italians in Laugstroth hives, 

 two tiers of frames. The upper box holds one hun- 

 dred pounds, and the twenty-four hives are full — tops 

 all virijin combs — making twenty-four hundred (2400) 

 pounds of honey in the combs ; besides seven swarms, 

 oneof Avhich tilled top, one hundred pounds. My bees 

 are now gathering rapidly from red clover. People 

 may tell me what they please, in reaard to Italians 

 not gathering from red clover ; for the last five years 

 my bees have averaged from twenty to thirty pounds 

 per hive, from second crop red clover. I get fifty 

 cents per pound for my honey. So you see itpn'T/s in 

 this county, right in the heart of the coal region of 

 Pennsylvania. I am now q^ieening my black bees, 

 getting the queens from Mr. Alley. They all turn 

 out, well so far. I winter my bees in the cellar, not 

 being willing to risk out door wintering. — J. P. Smith. 



Fort Atkinson, Wis., Aug. 2. — Our bees have 

 done well, though the drought has cut our honey sea- 

 eon short.— C. J. Ward. 



Natchez, Miss., Aug. 3. — Our honey crop in this 

 section, this season, has ]iroved a failure. Our spring 

 opened early and gave promise of a good yield, but 

 our hopes have been disappointed. All went well 

 until May, when a rainy spell set in, continuing f)r 

 about four weeks, preventing most of my black bees 

 (already very backward) Irom swarming. Comb was 

 started in many boxes, principally by Italians, and all 

 new swarms ; but not one box in my entire apiary has 

 been completely filled and sealed. The yield of box 

 honey in my apiaiy, consisting of fifty-two hives, will 

 not amount to more than one hundred pounds. I 

 have not had time to use the honey extractor this sea- 

 son. — J. R. Bledsoe. 



HcBBARD, Ohio, Aug. 3. — The honey harvest has 

 been better than 1 expected it would be at the middle 

 of June. We have had plentiful rains since then. 

 The white clover is not quite done blossoming yet. I 

 have taken sixty-one pounds of box honey, four full 

 sized frames of honey and brood, and a good swarm, 

 from one hive ; from another, seventy-one pounds of 

 box honey ; and from a third, which was very weak 

 in the spring, ten pounds of honey, a good swarm, 

 and six lull sized frames and brood. The honey I 

 could sell at thirty cents per pound, so that my bees 

 have paid pretty well. I use the Langstroth hive, 

 with side and top boxes. There have been only few 

 natural swarms here this season. — J. Winfield. 



North Union, near Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 7. — I 

 have only ten colonies of bees, but they have gath- 

 ered honey tolerably well for this locality. But 

 there has been no swarming, except in one instance, 

 and the swarm went off without clustering at all. 

 Last year I lost three swarms the same way, though 

 there is plenty ot shrubbery for them to cluster on. — 

 R. Honey. 



Mountjot, Pa , Aug. 7. — My bees are doing well 

 this season. I will get the largest yield of honey from 

 one colony that I ever got in one season. My bees 

 are gathering honey fast now. In July the weather 

 was too cool and too wet for honey gathering here. I 

 enclose two dollars, for a new subscriber. — J. F. 

 Hershet. 



Gebiiartsbdrg, Pa., Aug. 8. — Bees did well here, 

 this season, so I'ar as breeding is concerned ; but as 

 to honey, not so well. A large part of what I got is 

 very bitter, and not good to use. The crop of white 

 clover, which is our chief honey crop, was short, 

 owing to the dry weather, and consequently the sup- 



ply is small. I generally practice artificial swarming, 

 but this season the bees took the lead, swarms issit- 

 ing as early as the 10th of May, which is much earlier 

 than we usually have swarms in this latitude. My 

 bees are in fine condition, with still some prospect of 

 buckwheat honey. — W. Baker. 



Randolph, Wis., Aug. 8. — Bees are doing splen- 

 didly this season. — E. L. Townsend. 



Holt, Mich., Aug. 10. — Our bees have done well 

 here, this season. Mine have made at the rate of one 

 hundi-ed (100) pounds extracted honey, per hive. — J. 

 L. Davis. 



Hamilton, III., Aug. 10. — ]\Iy bees average forty- 

 two pounds of box and extracted honey, per hive. 

 The dryness of the season interfered with the harvest ; 

 yet I hope to have some honey from the summer 

 flowers. — Ch. Dadant. 



Portland, Me., Aug. 16. — Bees in this vicinity 

 have accomplished but little this season. Swarms 

 have been few, and the honey light. I have about 

 twenty-five colonies, which I think are all in good 

 order. I think the Journal grows more and more 

 interesting as it grows older ; and I would as soon 

 undertake to keep house without a wile and cook- 

 stove, as to try to keep bees without the Journal. — M. 

 G. Palmer. 



Monmouth, III., Aug. 16. — During clover bloom 

 bees here did very well, also during basswood ; but 

 since the 1st of July they have gathered nothing. 

 But little buckwheat is sown in this vicinity ; still I 

 hope to have a good yield of honey from fall flowers. 

 — T. G. McGaw. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Parricides, or Bees Attacking and Killing their 

 Queen. 



There is no doubt of the cause, iu the case of 

 Rev. Mr. Anderson's loss of a queen, it being 

 produced by poison from a bee — wliether from a 

 robber or from one of the inmates of the hive. 

 I could be more explicit and cite incidents, were 

 it not likely to make tliis article too long. 



If there be any doubt, let some one try the 

 exi^eriment, by taking a comb with queen and 

 bees from a hive, place some of the venom on 

 the queen, and she will speedily be killed, while 

 the operator will be likely to get a stab himself. 



The more bees that are cut with a knife or 

 otherwise injured, the worse the case will be, 

 even to the killing of some or all the bees in a 

 stock, or the apiary. Robberies and general 

 fights are assisted by the venom. 



The remedy is to separate the cluster, and 

 drive the bees away from the queen with smoke, 

 placing her in a cage till all is quiet and tlie odor 

 of the poison dissipated, or disguised with feed, 

 smoke or time. The safest method, and the one 

 we generally use, is to remove the cj[ueen as above, 

 and build her up a stock with combs of hatching 

 brood ; allowing the parricides to rear another 

 queen. 



Deserting stocks or swarms are generally ac- 

 companied by robbers in their fliglit ; and on 

 alighting, in their efforts to protect themselves 

 or their queen, poison is given off, and woe be to 

 the unlucky object that gets a " tninV 



J. M. Marvin, 



St. Charles, Ills., Aug., 1871. 



