1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ill 



some of your readers know that Alley can raise 

 honey as well as queen bees, I enclose a short 

 report that was intended to be shown to the 

 " Honey Committee," at the Essex County Fair ; 

 but as I was the only person who exhibited bees 

 or honey (except four small boxes by Mr. Gould, 

 of Ipswich,) I did not submit it. Of course Alley 

 got the hio'hest "premium," under such circum- 

 stances. I suppose if I say that the stock that 

 did best was in one of Alley's hives, some one 

 will think that this article is meant only for an 

 advertisement. Well, I cannot help that ; so 

 here goes for the report, and all who do not want 

 to believe it, can accommodate themselves in that 

 ■line, and I will find no fault. I do not, myself, 

 believe more than only just what I think is true, 

 even Avhen I see it in the A. B. J. : 



Hive No. 1, filled sixty-eight 2|^tb. boxes, and 

 cast one small swarm. The honey was sold at 

 thirty-five cents per pound, box and all. Weight 

 of boxes and honey ITOlbs. ; weight of the sixty- 

 eight boxes empty 341bs. ; net amount of honey 

 stored 136ft)S., which, at 35 cents per pound, 



is $47 60 



One young swarm 3 00 



Whole amount $50 60 



Hive No. 3. This was a stock transferred from 

 a box hive to. a movable comb hive. May 26th, 

 1870. It filled thirty 31b. boxes, and the honey 

 was sold at thirty-five cents a pound, without in- 

 cluding the boxes. Net amount of honey stored 

 751bs. ; which, at 35 cents per pound, is... $26 25 



Hive No. 3, filled two 151b. boxes, and cast 

 two swarms. The first of these swarms filled a 

 new hive, from which I have taken twenty-five 

 pounds of honey, and it now has enough to win- 

 ter on, without feeding. The second swarm I 

 used to rear queens, and it was worth five dollars 



to me. Value of first swarm $7 00 



Value of second swarm 5 00 



551bs. of honey at 35 cents per pound 19 25 



Whole profit from Hive No. 3 $31 25 



The i^rofit from these three hives is one hun- 

 dred and eight (108) dollars. 



I omitted to say that I took twenty-five pounds 

 of honey from Hive No. 2, as late as August 

 20th. That hive now has honey enough to win- 

 ter well. 



Since September 20th, the bees have put in a 

 considerable amount of honey, but not in surplus 

 boxes.' Even my nucleus hives put in enough 

 from September 20th, to keep them — making a 

 saving to me of twenty-five (25) dollars. 



If other bees in this vicinity have done as well 

 as mine, few colonies will starve in this county 

 next winter. My article is getting long. I will 

 stop just hei'e. 



II. Alley. 



Wenliam, Mass., Oct. 3, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bees at Binghamton, N. Y. 



Virgil recommends the hollowed trunk of the 

 cork tree as a hive, than which no material 

 would be more admirable, if it could only be 

 easily and cheaply procured. 



Mr. Editor : — Having gained so much instruc- 

 tion and pleasure from the jierusal of your valu- 

 able paper, I think it no more than right to send 

 you a report of the season's operations here. But 

 tliere are so many of your contributors so much 

 more successful, that my account will api^ear 

 tame in comparison ; yet when compared with 

 what has been done by my box and Kidder hive 

 neighbors, it seems to be quite a success. 



Tlie season has been favorable in this locality, 

 thougli rather dry for many crops, yet honey 

 j was more or less abundantly yielded all through 

 the season. The weather has been such that the 

 bees could gather honey almost every day, from 

 the first of May until the i^resent time. 



We placed ten (10) swarms in the cellar in the 

 fall of 1869, all of which wintered in good con- 

 dition and came out strong in the spring. Four 

 of them were Italians, and six blacks, seven in 

 movable frames and three in box hives. Those 

 in the box hives were transferred in April ; the 

 black queen killed about the first of June, and 

 young, fertile Italian queens of my own raising 

 substituted for them. One hive was broken up 

 into nuclei in May, and also the first swarm. We 

 have run from six to ten nuclei all through the 

 season, to obtain, if jiossible, a pure queen for 

 every hive ; but we have not succeeded in getting 

 all full marked workers in more than half of the 

 stocks, as our box hive neighbors kept us flooded 

 with common drones. 



We have taken this season, as surplus, eleven 

 hundred (1100) pounds of honey — eight hundred 

 (800) pounds being comb or box honey, and three 

 hundred (300) pounds extracted ; and have in- 

 creased our stock to fifteen (15) full swarms. 

 Besides the surplus, we have forty Langstroth 

 frames filled with comb and honey, averaging 

 two pounds each. This is not counted as sur- 

 plus, but reserved for next season's operations. 



After transferring last spring, and cutting out 

 drone combs, our hives lacked from one to two 

 frames each, from a full complement. Having 

 constructed a slinger this season, we are enabled 

 to lay by a goodly store of combs for future use. 



Our best stock gave us twenty-four six pound 

 boxes, Aveighing one hundred and forty-four (144) 

 pounds, and twenty-five (25) pounds of extracted 

 honey ; besides ten frames of brood and honey, 

 taken from the body of the hive at different times 

 in the season and replaced with empty frames. 

 It is now in good condition. 



This is the first season that we have practiced 

 non-swarming on the true principle of making 

 box honey, and had we had the knowledge and 

 experience that we now have, we are confident 

 we could have attained still more favorable re- 

 sults. We are no friend to increase, and would 

 never increase more than is absolutely necessary. 

 Nor can we understand how some men are so 

 well satisfied with a large increase and a small 

 amount of surplus. Yet we have not seen any 

 feasible plan put forth whereby a large amount 

 of surplus can be made without a slight increase. 



After having tried both kinds to our entire satis- 



