48 



TPIE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[August, 



went to destroy all the queen cells but one, in the box 

 which 1 supposed contained them, I discovered the 

 mother and daughter on the same comb. I never met 

 the lilve before, for in such circumstances the old 

 queen generally destroys all the queen cells. — J. An- 



DEKSON. 



Btkon, Michigan. — Enclosed please find two dol- 

 lars for the American Bee Journal for another year. 

 As for me, it is honey in the comb, and I cannot do 

 without it, so hurrah for tlie Bee Journal. Now, 

 about my bees. Last fall I had sixty-seven colonies. 

 Intending to winter most of them, some twenty were 

 put in a special depository, some were placed in a 

 bed-room, and the residue were left on their summer 

 stands. The result was that sixty-two of the sixty- 

 seven, during the winter and spring, went " where 

 the woodbine twineth," up, up, up. All, I believe, 

 died with cholera, caused by using thin or watery 

 honey, as with us the last was a very wet season. 

 But, as I am a full-blooded Yank from old Connect- 

 icut, I pitched in on a small scale (Gallup like) and 

 bought sixteen colonies in old box-hives, and now 

 (July 11) have had forty swarms from eighteen old 

 stocks (three have not as yet swarmed), allowing 

 them to do as most inclined— that is, doing their own 

 swarming ; and all of them are doing a smashing 

 business. As I have not a honey-slinger some of my 

 early swarms have gathered and stored at least a 

 wheelbarrow load of the most luscious of all sweets, 

 which, in part, was extracted from the pink blossoms 

 of Alsike. I have eighteen acres ot this clover just 

 over the fence enclosing my apiarj', and, with last 

 spring's sowing, have forty acres on the ground. I 

 am thoroughly convinced the Alsike will be the staple 

 clover for pasturage, hay, and all soiling purposes, 

 as it does not heave by the frosts of winter and 

 spring. My Alsike will do to cut about the 30th of 

 this month (July), and all who have examined it 

 think it will produce six bushels clear seed to the 

 acre. 



As to the Italian bees, I am confident of their su- 

 perior qualifications in honey gathering, as also in 

 sending out larger and earlier swarms. Besides 

 their just symmetry and beauty of color, they are 

 more docile and less inclined to sting. A.s to 

 hybrids, ail I can say in their favor, is they are great 

 workers, and perhaps as prolific, but notorious thieves 

 among the honest class of people. Their natural pro- 

 pensity is to be '^bos.s,'^ so that when they begin to 

 give orders one might as well begin to "skedaddle." 



I intend to keep none but pure Italians, and am 

 Italianizing my apiary and some others. 



And now, Mr. Editor, if you see fit to transfer any 

 part or the whole of this to the Journal, you are at 

 liberty to do so ; but if not, throw it among your 

 waste paper, and I shall remain as ever yom- obedient 

 servant, and well-wislicr to the American Bee 

 Journal. So again, I say hurrah for the man who is 

 doing most for the promotion of bee-culture. — O. E. 



WOLCOTT. 



[For the American Bee Journal] 



Peeding bees biiilclmg comb. — Will it pay ? — An 

 experiment. 



One month ago, or about the 12th of June, I 

 hived a swarm of bees in an empty Casket hive, 

 to test if it would pay to feed. The swarm was 

 only of medium size. The queen unfortunately 

 was a cripple and died. But I had taken the 

 precaution to give them a sealed queen cell. So 

 for a week, or until the young queen came out 

 to be fertilized, they did not fiy much, and only 

 used half a pound of sugar from the feeder. I 



then fed the 85 lbs. of coffee sugar, through the 

 glass fruit jar vacuum feeder, in the proportion 

 of half a pound of sugar to two pounds of 

 wafer. They rapidly filled up with comb, al- 

 tliougli not any of my other colonies seemed to 

 be storing any above their daily wants. (AVe 

 have had here a long drouth all tlirough the 

 spring, which still continues.) Then the bass- 

 wood came into blossom, and they have done 

 well. To day they weigh, (over and above the 

 Casket, ) comb and honey, thirty pounds. — The 

 Harrison or Novice bee-feeders are all right to 

 feed late in the fall or in winter, as you have to 

 use four or five pounds of sugar to one of water, 

 but would be useless as a summer feeder, as 

 the feed has to be concentrated ; and feeding 

 such concentrated feed to bees, is about as profi- 

 table as feeding a workhorse on Kingsford's 

 Corn Starch or the best Arrow Root. 



The readers can judge for themselves, taking 

 into consideration the loss of queeti, and the 

 drotight, as well as the smallness of the swarm, 

 and the present weight of comb and honey, 

 whether the feeding pays. 



.John M. Price. 



Buffalo Grove, Mca, July 12, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Improvement of Stock. 



Tn the American Bee JotTRNAL for July, I 

 notice inquiries bj^ Alonzo Barnard, that are 

 worthy of consideration. I have had some ex- 

 perience in changing the locality of bees, and 

 found it liighly beneficial. I liave known a 

 swarm from the woods put in a yard containing 

 eight or ten stocks of bees, and in a few years 

 all the bees in the yard would be the progeny of 

 the wild swarm. I advise to raise stock only 

 from the best colonies, and those having the 

 most prolific queens ; keeping all others in non- 

 swarming hives, storing honey. Thus native 

 bees may be very materially improved, as may 

 the Italians likewise : and although bee stock 

 has been greatly improved within a few years, 

 there is still mucli that may be done to advan- 

 tage in tliat line. 



Now, while I urge the improvement in 

 stock, allow me to call attention to improved 

 supplies of bee forage. Fruit trees furnish 

 foocl for man and bees, so also clover and buck- 

 wheat. But clover is the honey staple — honey 

 from it bringing the highest price in mar- 

 ket. I have found the Alsike or Swedish clover 

 much superior to the white, in quality and quan- 

 tity of the honey produced, besides furnishing 

 better fodder than eitlfer the red clover or the 

 white. This clover should be so managed as to 

 have it come in blossom in succession, some early 

 and some late, by sowing in early places, or cut- 

 ting or feeding back. Ten times the amount of 

 Jioney now raided in the States may be obtained, if 

 the pursuit of bee-culture receive the attention 

 it deserves. 



The season in this section of country has been 

 quite unfavorable for bees thus far — moderate 

 swarming and honey supplies short. 



Joel Curtis. 



Ealeigh, iV. C, July 18, 1870. 



