182 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Feb. 



opens and the bottom and back which hold the frames 

 (not forming the main hive) draw out and are sup- 

 ported by the bottom of the hive, which extends far 

 enough in front to support it, and the frames can 

 then be opened to the right and left or taken off, as 

 they are hung to a hook on the back, and the frames 

 are so made that they never touch together. The 

 hive is something like Mitch el's Buckeye hive, 

 although I had never seen or heard of his hive at 

 the time I got up mine. 



I had eighteen of these hives last winter ; they 

 were placed along with the other hives in two cel- 

 lars, and only two of them showed any signs of 

 dysentery, and all came out strong and gave two 

 swarms each. The second swarms were put back 

 and the old stocks gave a yield of honey. The hive 

 is not patented, and any one can have the benefit of 

 it that may wish to try it. 



C. Sanders of Chester, Vt,, writes: What few 

 bees lived through last winter have done well in this 

 section. I wintered six swarms on their summer 

 stands which came through all right. I like winter- 

 ing on summer stands better than housing. I have 

 taken one hundred and ten pounds from one swarm, 

 and one hundred and twenty-five pounds from 

 another, nice box honey, and other swarms have 

 done nearly as well. I use the Langstroth hive. 



D. D. Palmer, of New Boston, 111., "Sweet 

 Home," writes : My report for 1872 is as follows : 

 Forepart of season, very poor ; a fair increase. I 

 now have fifty-six hives, forty-six of which gave me 

 honey to the amount of 2,650 pounds, mostly slung 

 honey. My best hive was blacks, which gave me 

 205 pounds. "I might have taken more if I had 

 slung oftener." My twenty best gave me 2,000 

 pounds, an average of 100 pounds each. 



Hazard Babcock, of South Brookfield, Madison 

 Co., New York, writes : Inasmuch as Mr. Quinby 

 has given his theory on the cause of bees dying 

 last spring, I will tell what has happened to my 

 bees in the early part of this season. A part of 

 them were put into a cellar, and a part were put 

 into the ground, in all about forty stocks. Four 

 came out of the ground dead, and one out of ten 

 that were put into the cellar. Those of the cellar 

 showed signs of dysentery several weeks before 

 they were set out, on the 5th of April, while those 

 in the ground have just begun to show symptoms. 

 I supposed that the trouble was all over, then but 

 in a short time after I began to find queens dragged 

 out of the hives ; some were dead, others were 

 apparently all right and able to fly. This was too 

 early for drones, although a good many queens 

 were hatched but were lost for the want of drones. 

 I lost twelve stocks out of fifteen that killed their 

 queens. Several well populated stocks dwindled 

 away to almost nothing ; they had a queen and 

 brood and were strengthened up with other queen- 

 less stocks, but to no advantage until the queens 

 were destroyed and queen cells given them. Then 

 they went along quite well. Early in September, 

 1871, I introduced several Italian queens. They 

 had no brood that fall, nor had they any brood 

 when taken out of the ground in the spring ; but 

 have done well through this season, while others of 



the same lot of queens went up. The bees had no 

 chance to fly out last fall after the 20th of October, 

 till the 5th of April, ' 72. If they had had a chance 

 to have emptied themselves last November, a good 

 many of the old bees would have been left out of 

 the play and young ones would have been reared 

 in their stead, and the disease would not have 

 been. The honey that was taken out of the hives 

 that the bees died in was fed back to the bees this 

 fall, and they have raised brood and are all right 

 yet. This was done the first of September, and 

 in small quantities at a time. After that was used 

 up for brooding they were fed coffee sugar enough 

 for winter stores. In common winters, bees will do 

 well in a cellar that has a good deal of water in it, 

 if the hives are well ventilated at the top and set 

 high up from the bottom, and set so as not to feel 

 the least jar, the cap and honey-board taken off 

 and several thicknesses of old carpet, or any woolen 

 cloth, put over them, without any board or wood 

 on top, as that will gather dampness. 



MAKING UP LOST GROUND. 



Mb. Editor. — You will remember my writing to 

 you last June, saying I had lost all my bees the 

 past winter except two swarms. Well, I bought 

 two and went to work trying to improve them, both 

 in numbers and quality ; how well I have succeeded 

 you may judge for yourself. I made me an extract- 

 or that I think will beat a Peabody or Gray & Win- 

 der's, and cost me much less, and gently informed 

 my stock that I should expect a good report from 

 them. 



I now have on hand twenty stocks of bees, and 

 have taken 429 pounds of fine extracted honey, 

 besides selling a few Italian queens. I did not 

 extract any honey until July 10th. Most of the 

 honey was gathered from smart-tvecd, and the qual- 

 ity is very good. I have sold most of it for fifteen 

 and twenty cents per pound. 



What think you of my progress ? If I have been 

 successful, the A. B. J. can claim much of the 

 credit. "Long may it wave," only I'd like it 

 twice a month during the summer months. Can't 

 we have it ? Say yes, and oblige, 



Yours, Frank W. Chapman. 



Morrison, Whiteside Co., III. 



J. Scott, of Epworth, Dubuque county, Iowa, 

 writes : I have been a subscriber for the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for the last two years. It has 

 become one of the necessities of bee keeping, with 

 me, at least. I have not Italianized but a small 

 portion of my bees as yet, but shall next season if 

 all is well. I have tried the Italians until I am 

 satisfied that they are the bees for me. You are 

 aware that bees wintered badly in this locality last 

 winter. I lost eighteen out of forty-seven, and 

 what were left were in very bad condition, still 

 from twelve (12) swarms that I was able to give two 

 sets of combs, I took twelve hundred (1200) pounds 

 white clover honey and two hundred pounds buck- 

 wheat honey, besides leaving them abundance of 

 honey for winter. This, understand, (viz: the 

 amount above,) was extracted honey. The balance 

 of my bees I used boxes on as usual, and got not 

 to exceed forty pounds surplus. 



