1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



183 



out of the five commenced with only two combs 

 each, iu the spring. From each of the five I 

 have taken two queens, forcing theni to supply 

 themselves with others from sealed queen cells ; 

 and they are all now in prime condition for win- 

 tering, with their hives full of combs and bees. 



Wishing to get all my stocks Italianized this 

 season, from the other fifteen colonies I formed 

 twelve nuclei for i-aising queens to supply my 

 new swarms and Italianize my natives. This I 

 succeeded in doing, without trouble ; have sold 

 about forty dollars' worth of queens to my 

 neighbors, at reasonable figures ; and am winter- 

 ing ten queens iu their nucleus hives, seven of 

 which are purely fertilized. 



My honey account for the season, stand as 

 follows : 



Pure white basswood honey, extracted, 700 lbs. 

 Mixed and dark, " " 200 " 



In small frames and boxes, 600 " 



In large frames, in upper story, . . . 200 " 



Making in all, I 1700 lbs. 



The fifteen colonies have given me, besides, an 

 increase of twenty swarms, all of which are in 

 winter quarters in good condition. 



In extracting I only operated on my old colo- 

 nies, and such of the new ones as had been sup- 

 plied with empty combs, except where I extracted 

 from new combs for queen raising. And, by the 

 way, I get much finer queens from new combs 

 than I can get from old. 



My honey I have sold at from twenty-three to 

 twenty-eight cents per pound — averaging fully 

 twenty-five cents. 



The profit for the season would foot up as 

 follows : 

 For honey sold (1200 lbs. at 25 cents 



per lb.), $300 GO 



Honey still on hand (500 lbs. at 25 cents), 125 00 



Queens sold, 40 00 



Twenty new swarms, worth $10 each, 



exclusive of hives, 200 00 



Making a total of $GG5 00 



Or, an average of $44.33 per colony. 

 The colonies from which I extracted most 

 freely, gave me the most box honey this fall, and 

 are in much the best condition for winter, being- 

 better supplied with bees hatched late in the 

 season. From this summer's experience with 

 the extractor, I have come to the conclusion 

 that, in a season like the past, all the honey we 

 can get with the extractor is more than clear 

 gain. J. E. Benjamin. 



Rockford, Iowa, Dec. 15, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Timber for Honey Casks. 



A cori-espondent of the Journal asks for infor- 

 mation on tliis subject. I put my honey in ten 

 gallon oaken casks, and do not perceive that 

 they impart any taste foreign to the honey. 



MR. GALLUP — WHERE IS HE? 



Let's hear a word. There are some of us 



(who did not send the dollar, of course, ) who are 

 waiting patiently for the promised description of 

 his bee-hive. I am particularly interested, for I 

 adopted the form given by him in the Journal 

 some time since. 



I bought up some stocks this fall, so that I 

 have now in my cellar thirty-eight stocks in 

 good condition, according to my poor judgment, 

 and I am waiting anxiously for the end of a long 

 winter, when the little workers will show how 

 they have borne confinement. Till then, adieu. 



H. H. Phelps. 



Pine Island, Minn. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Eeport of Progress. 



Dear Journal :— We always welcome your 

 appearance on our tables, for well do we know 

 that we shall gain some useful knowledge from 

 your pages. How sorry w^e felt for Novice, 

 when reading his article in the November num- 

 ber, and found that even he can get into trouble. 

 Taking warning from his sad experience, we 

 appointed ourself an investigating committee of 

 one, and entered on duty at once. As we had 

 used our extractor rather late in the season, we 

 examined those hives first that we had taken 

 from last, and found they had filled the emjity 

 combs about half full. These we had placed in 

 the centre of the hive, as we returned them from 

 the extractor. ( Was that right ?) 



The past season was a good one for bees in 

 this locality. They worked busily on buckwheat 

 and smart weed until it was killed by the frost. 



We commenced the season with twenty-six 

 (26) stocks, and increased our number to forty- 

 eight (48), and reared about seventy-five (75) 

 queens. Our yield of surplus honey was not 

 great, yet we found our stocks all iu good 'Con- 

 dition for winter, except a few late swarms, 

 which we supplied with full frames kept in re- 

 serve. Now, thought we, all are in good con- 

 dition for winter, and dismissed the matter from 

 our mind, giving our attention to visiting friends. 

 But on moving our stocks to the cellar, we found 

 that one weak one which we had supplied with 

 honey had been robbed, and the bees were dead. 

 We also found another stock dead, with abund- 

 ance of honey. The bees were clustered just 

 below the honey, some had crept into the cells, 

 while others were clustered over them. Can any 

 one tell us what killed those bees ? 



All our bees are Italians except some few 

 hybrids. We have sold queens, bees and honey 

 to an amount of one hundred and forty dollars, 

 and have considerable honey on band still. We 

 sell all our honey at twenty-five cents per pound. 



Flattering ourself that we had been rather 

 successful iu queen rearing, we determined to 

 procure imjiorted queens, and to be certain that 

 they were imported, we concluded to play impor- 

 ter for once. Some time in August we ordered 

 a package of eight queens from Edward Uhle. 

 We waited with patience till the 12th of Octo- 

 ber, when they arrived by express. There was 

 no time lost in bringing them home, and with 



