6-4 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



state that I informed Mr. Peabody of it, and that 

 he has promised me that if he succeeds in raising 

 some fine queens, he will send me one. 



B. F. WlOGIlS'TON. 

 Scotlvil'e, 111, July 14, 1872. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Summer in Orchard, Iowa. 



Deak Bee Journal : — You will probably 

 wish to know how the bees are doing up in 

 tiiis part of the heritage. My first swarm came 

 out June 2d, and here was the trouble with the 

 Italians. They would rear brood and swarm 

 when they could uot gather enough to build any 

 comb whatever. I therefore used what spare 

 comb I had, and bought some of my neighbors, 

 and then had to suppress swarming entirely. 

 Not one square foot of comb was built in my 

 apiary up to July 11th, by either stock or swarm, 

 excepting by one swarm in the Adair section 

 hive, and that swarm I fed all they could con- 

 sume, as I had no comb to spare for that hive. 

 By the way, I may have something more to say 

 to the beekeepers about hives this winter, even 

 though it may cause my friend Furman to have 

 another spasm. 



July 11th. The bees commenced gathering 

 honey, and I then set nearly every stock to 

 building comb. My old thirty-two pounder 

 gathered one hundred and twenty pounds in just 

 six days. They had no combs to build. I have 

 now, July 24th, extracted fourteen hundred 

 pounds. Yesterday and day before, it rained ; 

 to-day they have gathered rapidly, and I have 

 commenced going over them again, and find them 

 all full. The first crop of Linden dried up or 

 blighted, but the second crop is doing better ; 

 still, the season thus far, is no comparison to 

 the seasons of 1870 and 1871. 



E. Gallup. 



Orchard, Ioica. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Transferrins: Bees. 



Per-haps many persons would do better not to 

 transfer bees. If you have only box hives, by 

 all means transfer at least one ; but if you have 

 part box and part frame, you can keep the box 

 hives busy making swarms. This spring, I had 

 five box hives and two weak frame hives. I 

 have placed the box hives on empty frame hives, 

 obliging the bees to go down through the empty 

 Langstroth, and then when they were strong 

 enough to spare a swarm, I removed the box 

 hive to a new locality, a rod or two distant, and 

 put a frame or two of brood into the empty 

 hive, when the returning bees from the box hive 

 made a moderately good swarm. If I had a 

 queen ready, I gave them one as soon as they 

 had started queen cells. One box hive was made 

 with feet, so I bored a hole in the bottom of a 

 Langstroth hive, and placed it on top of the box 

 hive, fastening the entrance to the box, and 



obliging the bees to go up through the frame 

 hive. I found I could take a swarm from each 

 box hive once in two weeks, if honey yielded. 



C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, III. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Honey Yield in Milledgeville, 111. 



We take a little leisure to write a few lines 

 for your valuable journal. Out of thirty-four 

 stocks of bees put into the cellar last fall, on 

 the first of March, we had twenty-four remain- 

 ing. They were quite feeble, but gained slowly 

 during May. From the blossoms of the fruit 

 trees, I did not realize much. Clover yielded 

 but little honey. The hive placed upon the 

 scales denoted a gain of but one or two pounds 

 a day until about the 10th of July, when I 

 came to note an increase, up, up, 3£, 4, 5, 6 and 

 7 pounds. The 11th of July, eight pounds was 

 gained. Novice like, I looked in earnest to see 

 from what source this change comes, when I see 

 the bees come nearly all from the east loaded 

 with Linden honey, from a grove one-and-a-half 

 miles away. 



July 12th, 9 pounds gain noted. 

 " 13th, 10 " " " 



" 14th, 9^ " " " 



" 15th, 8 " " " 



" 16th, 6 " " " 



" 17th, 2 " " " 



" 18th, " " " 



" 19th, " " " 



Since the 19th a little loss has been sustained. 

 We use the extractor with two sets of frames. 

 We could not dispense with the frames. One 

 can hardly conceive the satisfaction they afford, 

 until they have tried them. We have been suf- 

 fering from a drouth, but things look bright 

 now from a recent shower, and we look for bet- 

 ter times for bees. Friends Marvin, Lee, Hub- 

 bard, and a host of others, let us hear from you 

 a little oftener. 



With many good wishes for the Journal, we 

 remain its friend. 



F. A. Snell. 

 Milledgeville, 111, July 22, 1872. 



[For the American Bee Journal. 



Supers. 



After an experience of three seasons with 

 nearly every variety of sdper, I still cling co 

 the Colvin chamber, as by far the best means of 

 gathering surplus honey. This chamber gives 

 you the double advantage of a large receptacle, 

 with a facility of subdivision (through the small 

 movable sections of which I spoke in a former 

 communication) equal, if not superior to any 

 box arrangements, and solves the difficulty as 

 between large and small receptacles so com- 

 pletely, that I wonder the system is not more 

 generally adopted. 



Alley's hive, I am obliged in justice to say, 



