1870.] 



TEE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



47 



Broad Run Station, Va., June 29. — My bees are 

 doing splendidly, and I hope to reap a good profit 

 from tlieui this year, if the weather only keej^s season- 

 able. — H. White. 



Clifton, Tenn., June 29. — Enclosed find two dol- 

 lars for the sixth volume of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal ; as I am a new beginner in bee-culture (on the 

 new system) I cannot well do without the valuable 

 information obtained by its perusal. About three 

 months of the best part of the season has been lost 

 to bees here, as they gathered no honey till about the 

 20th of this month. Previous to that time there was 

 not more than one swarm from one hundred colonies. 

 Several stocks starved during May and June, caused 

 by many blossoms being killed by the late frosts ; and 

 others afforded no honey. — C. Weeks. 



Pleasant Hill, Kt., July 1. — The May number of 

 the American Bee Journal, from some unknown 

 cause, has never come to hand. Please send me a 

 copy. I felt as much disappointed at its non-appear- 

 ance as a hungry steed tied to an euiptj' manger. It 

 seems to be as necessarj' an adjuuct to the apiarian 

 as feitilizcrs are to the horticuliurist,and its perpetuity 

 has become very desirable. Present indications seem 

 to favor that happy result. — B. B. Dunlavt. 



LiGONiER, Pa., July 4. — The bee business has been 

 an uphill one here the past two years, but the present 

 is one of the best I ever saw for swarming and gath- 

 ering honey. — W. Ashcom. 



Lexington, Kt., July 7. — I have obtained from 

 eighty stocks of bees fmir thousand (4,000) pounds of 

 surplus honey, this season, making an average of 

 about fifty pounds. Don't that do pretty well ! — D. 

 Berhank. 



Batavia, Ills., July 8.— The season, thus far, has 

 been poor for swarming, in this section, on account 

 of the dry weather. We have had no rain since April 

 until this week. The honey season is past. My 

 boxes will be only about halt filled, and the season 

 will be a poor one in this section. — S. Way. 



Lima, Ohio, July 11. — Bees have been doing finely 

 since June 10th, wi'.en wo had several good showers o! 

 rain. Previous to that it was extremely dry ; no rain 

 to do any good for seven weeks. But since June lOtli 

 the bees have filled their hives to overflowing, and 

 are filling surplus boxes. Last week I put my honey 

 machine at work, and emptied out of the combs a lot 

 of as nice honey as any one «ould wish to see (as 

 well as eat). I use one of J. L. Peabody's machines, 

 and it works complete, coming fully uj) to my expec- 

 tations. It is so simple that there is no liability to 

 get out of repair. With ordinary care it will last a 

 lifetime, and pay for itself every year three or four 

 fold, with say filty hives of bees. All that is wanted 

 for every bee-keeper to get value received, iu both 

 honey and bees, is to subsci'ibe for the American Bee 

 Journal. — S. Sanfokd. 



After giving the above encouraging report from Dr. 

 Sauford, we think we cannot well do otherwise, in 

 accordance with the dictates of strict impartiality, 

 than insert the following lugubrious letter Irom one 

 who seems to have been grievously disappointed and 

 become thoroughly disgusted with bee-keeping, or 

 attempted bee-keeping rather, for he evidently could 

 not succeed in keepmg bees. How he managed to 

 come out so miserably ''at the little end of the 

 horn," is probably past finding out, unless he will 

 favor us with a detailed account of his mode of oper- 

 ating, which we should be pleased to receive for 

 publication. Certainly he read the Bee Journal to lit- 



tle purpose during the short time he received it, and 

 it is wise in him to abandon bee-culture, though it 

 may be hard to find any other pursuit to suit him 

 better, if he is not conscious of the true cause of his 

 failure in this. Much obliged for the payment of the 

 balance due, in view of which he ought certainly 

 have better "luck" hereafter; which we most 

 cordially wish him. 



Rochester, Wis., July 11. — I wish to pay for the 

 Bee Journal tent to me at Warren, Ills., to date, and 

 have it stopped. I have lived on written and pic- 

 tured sweetness long enough. Since I began taking 

 the Journal I have run out two lots of bees, and have 

 on hand sixty dollars' worth of useless hives and a 

 very small lot of patience with you or anybody else 

 on the bee question. I send enclosed three dollars, 

 which I think will pay up ; and if you knew my ex- 

 perience, circumstances, and feelings, you would be 

 sublimely thankful to got it. Whenever I get time 

 to destroy another lot of bees, or money to buy half 

 a dozen patent hives that will draw the honey from 

 the fiowers without bees, I will renew my subscription. 

 Until then I may M'ait in blissful ignorance of the 

 great inventions and discoveries in bee-culture. — N. 



WOODWORTH. 



Brandywine Hundred, Del., July 13. — Our bees 

 have swarmed more than usual this season. They 

 do not seem to have inuch surplus honey. I am so 

 situated th.it I have to be away in the swarming 

 season, and the swarms are taken by the women 

 folks, except in some cases where they hapi)en to get 

 a little ahead and take French leave. — G. V/. Har- 

 riett. 



Hubbard, Ohio, July 13. — It is a good season for 

 bees iu this section, where there is a good deal of 

 white clover, and the bees work on it very llvdy. 

 One of my stocks (an Italian), though In a large 

 hive, with plenty of room, was determined to 

 swarm. The swarm came out four different days, 

 but always went back'. So I took out four frames- 

 three of honey, and one of brood with several queen 

 cells on it ; cut out all the queen cells but one ; put 

 these frames with al the bees on into an empty hive, 

 nu)ved the old hive off of its stand and set the new one 

 in place. I could not conveniently cut out the remain- 

 ing queen ce!ls,as the combs were not all straight on ll;e 

 frames. In a few days both the old and the new hive 

 swarmed. I to'ik away the queens and returned the 

 bees, but they came out again the next day; and sev- 

 eral dajs alter, one morumg, I found ^m dead queens 

 in front of the old hive, and at another time two. I 

 caui;ht five queens one day from two swarms, and at 

 other times killed at least six, and cut out four or 

 five cells. They must have had at least twcntij-flve 

 young queens raising. I was sorry I could not make 

 use of them, as they were very good Italians. — J. 



WlNFIELD. 



TivGRTON, Canada, July 14.— I am satisfied that I 

 have come to a better locality for bee-keeping than 

 Lancaster. My bees are doing wonders here ; and so 

 they may, for I never saw more white clover than we 

 have here, and its it is natural to the soil, we shall 

 have plenty of it till frost conies. 



I met rather a singular thing the other day — name- 

 ly, two queens in one hive. Of course, young queens 

 are often found together in one hive ; but it was the 

 mother and daughter that 1 found together on the 

 same frame. The way it occurred was this : I 

 divided a hive. In my operation I discovered a queen 

 cell sealed over, but I failed to see the queen ; so I 

 happened to put the queen and queen cell into the 

 same box, and iu about ten days afterwards, when I 



