184 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Feb., 



no small degree of anxiety did we proceed to ex- 

 amine box after box. To our surprise and joy 

 we found every queen alive. We expressed one 

 to a friend, and now came our trouble. Seven 

 valuable queens to be introduced, and so very 

 late in the season ! 



Tet the trial must be made. "We caged the 

 queens, destroyed those of the stocks, and imme- 

 diately hung the cages containing the strangers 

 into the several hives, left them thus four days, 

 then raised the cages and tied over the top of 

 each a bit of newspaper smeared with honey, 

 replaced them, and left the bees to liberate the 

 queens at will. On examining them ten days 

 after we found each queen lively and perfectly 

 at home among her American subjects. 



If we are successful in wintering them, we 

 shall be able to furnfsh pure Italian queens to 

 all who may favor us with their orders next 

 season. Having been successful in importing 

 we shall continue to make new importations 

 from time to time, in order to keep our stock 

 good. 



Mks. K. a. D. Moegan. 



Pella, loica, Jan. 3, 1873. 



[For the Ame:ican Bee Journal.] 



Eeport of a Season's Work. 



Mr. Editor : — Not having very much to do at 

 present, I thought I would give the readers of 

 your valuable Journal some account of my last 

 season's operations, 

 f On the first of May I found all my stocks in 

 the weakest possible condition. There were 

 forty-eight colonies in all, having lost twelve 

 during the winter and spring from having forced 

 queens. I raised several queens the previous 

 season, and by the first of June every one was 

 dead. Hence I consider forced queens of but 

 little account, as I bought several such, and 

 never had one to live a year from the time I got 

 her. 



Thus on the first of May I had forty-eight 

 stands. They were so weak that I only got 

 seventeen swarms from the whole. The first 

 swarm came out on the ninth of June, and the 

 remainder afterwards, up to the tenth of July. 

 The first swarm gave me one hundred and twenty 

 pounds of honey, and my bees, old and young, 

 sixty-five stands, averaged me nearly eighty 

 pounds of honey each. About one-half of this 

 was extracted, for which I got fifteen cents per 

 pound. For box honey I obtained twenty cents 

 per pound. From the 1st to the 15th of August 

 I took all the honey from each and every hive. 

 After that they had nothing to work on but 

 buckwheat. Some twenty-five stands made from 

 eighty to eighty-five pounds of honey each. 

 That is they filled their hives, which required 

 from forty-five to fifty pounds, and filled besides 

 some twenty-five boxes with from thirty-five to 

 forty ])ounds each— all from buckwheat. The 

 rest filled their boxes full and put from ten to 

 thirty pounds in their boxes. Every hive I have 

 on the place has rather too much honey, as they 

 are not wintering well, and this is the greatest 

 trouble I have in wintering bees. I have seen it 



stated by some that their bees did not get enough 

 honey to winter on. Now such a thing I have 

 never known here. My pasture is all artificial 

 now, but I have sold my farm and bought another 

 in the grove, some six miles to the south. Here 

 I am going to put out a large pasture, such as 

 alsike clover, mellilot clover, and buckwheat. 

 There are plenty of thorn bushes, wild plums, 

 crab apples, elm, maple, and hickory trees, and 

 not less than one hundred acres of basswood or 

 linden trees within a mile of this location. If 

 there is any honey in linden I expect to get 

 some. I think I have the most favorable situa- 

 tion for bees that could be found in a long travel. 



R. Miller. 

 Ma^ugin Grove, Ills. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Few Inquiries. 



Mr. Editor.: — As the time has come around 

 for my subscription I wish to ask a few questions. 



1st. At what time does the "basswood" blos- 

 som in Central Illinois? I live on the prairie 

 several miles from timber, and never saw bass- 

 wood in bloom. I am thinking of planting a 

 grove in the spring, and should be pleased to 

 hear from parties having basswood trees for sale. 



2d. At what age does the basswood tree begin 

 to yield honey? Our honey supplies in this 

 locality consist mainly of white clover, buck- 

 wheat and Spanish needles. In wet seasons 

 bees have abundant pasturage, but in dry ones 

 they "go for the grapes" and any other fruit 

 that suits their taste. There are hundreds of 

 pounds of grapes destroyed by bees in this 

 neighborhood in the past two seasons. 



Our town site is one mile square, and there 

 were about four hundred colonies of bees located 

 on that area last season, but owing to the drouth 

 and the great number of bees, I fear a portion of 

 them will fail to take wing in the spring of 1873. 



I wov\ld also like to ask Mr. R. M. Argo if he 

 kills more bees when manipulating his close 

 fitting frames than he does when using frames 

 that hang half an inch apart. 



I close by jnoposing three cheers for Gallup 

 and the American Bee Journal. 



S. W. Loud. 



Virden, Ills., Jan. 8, 1872. 



^M° We doubt whether the bees injured the 

 grapes as charged. We have never yet been 

 able to find one attacking a sound ripe grape, 

 jjeach, or other fruit, though we have often seen 

 them appropriating the juices of such as had 

 been injured by wasps, or other insects, or birds 

 — thus making themselves useful by gathering 

 up and saving what would otherwise have been 

 lost. Let grape growers and fruit culturists use 

 their own eyes carefully in watching birds and 

 insects, and they may be undeceived. The re- 

 cently introduced European sparrow, however 

 valuable it may possibly prove to be, as a cater- 

 pillar exterminator, is almost certain to do more 

 damage to vineyards in one season than bees 

 have done since the day that Noah became a 

 viguerou.— [Ed. 



