58 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



dead bee in the cage, and I introduced her 

 safely while the thermometer ranged from 

 20 to 25 degrees above zero. 



I have Italianized nearly all my bees, and 

 won't I just enjoy manipulating those yel- 

 low beauties next spring ? If any of the 

 bee-keeping friends will do us the favor to 

 call at Crystal Spring Farm Apiary, they 

 will be most cordially welcomed. 



Edw. Smith. 



Carpenter, 111., Dec. 15, 1893. 



Got Honey of Fine Quality. 



One of my bee-friends calls on me very 

 often for instructions. His apiary is on 

 the roof of his building. We had a good 

 honey season. We have had a very fine 

 quality of honey in this locality, no dark 

 honey at all. My bees gave me a better 

 average per colony than any that I have 

 heard from. I guess I have read every 

 word in the American Bee Journal this 

 far, and have found some interesting 

 points. Some are not in accordance with 

 my experience, though. J. H. Brown. 



Rochester, N. Y. 



Did Very Little the Past Season. 



My bees did very little this year. I got 

 about 20 pounds of comb honey per colony. 

 I had two colonies of Italians, and they did 

 nothing in the supers, nor did they swarm. 

 They are the meanest things to rob I ever 

 saw. They kept me in " hot water" all 

 summer. I am tired of the yellow rascals. 

 Bees didn't work any on white clover, and 

 very little on buckwheat. The season was 

 very dry here. I had some Alsike clover, 

 and the bees worked on that for about three 

 weeks. S. M. Robertson. 



Grey Eagle, Maine, Dec. 23, 1893. 



Inventing New Things — A Frame. 



I read Query 893, and was somewhat sur- 

 prised at some of the answers given by the 

 25 expert apiarists ; and yet I am glad that 

 the great majority have not yet out-lived 

 their day. The answers of some of them 

 sound like the arguments that I heard of- 

 fered by old men (when I was a very small 

 boy) against the introduction and use of 

 the double-shovel plow, and the reaping 

 and mowing machines, etc. Yet those that 

 were satisfied with the utensils then in use, 

 soon fell in line, and were as loud in prais- 

 ing the new as they had been in condemn- 

 ing them. But we have to admit that there 

 have been a great many bee-hives and other 

 fixtures patented that have proven to be 

 detrimental, or an out-right humbug, and, 

 after all. this does not prove that there is 

 nothing left for the inventor to invent, that 

 will be as useful as anything now in use. 



We have quite a variety of frames now 

 in use; each one has its good or bad quali- 

 ties, according to the way it is used. Having 

 this in view, last spring I invented a frame 

 that will always hang perpendicularly, re- 

 gardless of the position of the hive; will 



never warp or sag, and cannot be eaten by 

 the moth-worms. The queen cannot hide 

 on it anywhere. It will last a lifetime, and 

 then will be just as good as new. It can be 

 used with or without comb foundation, the 

 same as any other frame. I tested nine of 

 these frames the past summer, and got nice, 

 straight combs, with the center of the 

 comb on the center of the frame all the 

 way around. I have extracted 7 '4 pounds 

 of honey from one frame. The summer 

 problem has beeu solved to my satisfaction. 

 Now if the bees winter on these frames all 

 right, and I think they will, then I will ap- 

 ply for a patent. I pack the hives in chaff 

 under sheds 14 feet long, with nine hives in 

 each shed. W. H. Burkey. 



Very Mild Winter So Far. 



The winter has been very mild so far, 

 and bees are in fine condition. We expect 

 a fine spring crop of honey, as we have had 

 some nice rains of late. We have had 

 hardly any ice yet, and the bees fly freely 

 almost every day. W. H. White. 



Deport, Tex., Dec. 22, 1893. 



How I Managed the Bees. 



I put my bees on the summer stands on 

 April 2. 1893, and found them in bad condi- 

 tion. I had to move them about 12 miles 

 over the rough roads, and that didn't help 

 them. We had a cold, wet spring, and the 

 queens kept dyiug. I tried to rear some 

 queens, but when they would fly out to get 

 mated, it was so cold and wet that they 

 never returned. I sent to Illinois for some 

 queens, but they reported the same results, 

 and my colonies kept dwindling down, till 

 out of 35 I lost all but 19, and they were 

 weak. I covered the hives at night with 

 old carpet, and put boards around them, 

 and in the daytime I removed them to dry 

 the hives. As soon as it was settled 

 weather, and they commenced gathering 

 honey, I opened the hives, spread the brood- 

 nest, and put in one frame between. I 

 waited a few days, and spread again, and 

 this, time put in two frames between. My 

 hives being 10-frame Langstroth, that 

 makes 5 frames of brood that we have. 



I waited a few days and spread again, 

 this time I put 3 frames in between, and 

 that made 8 frames of brood. I waited a 

 few days longer, then I put on a top hive, 

 took out 5 frames of brood from the lower 

 hive, and put in the upper hive. I put in 

 empty comb below in their place, and filled 

 the balance of the top hive with empty 

 comb. I waited about two weeks, and 

 then took another hive, put in 5 or 6 frames 

 of brood from the lower hive, and filled in 

 with empty combs as before, and took the 

 top hive and raised it, setting this empty 

 one under it. I waited a tew days, then I 

 extracted from the top hive, and raised the 

 lower one and put the top one under it. 



I run my hives three stories high, and 

 this way 1 had as high as 20 frames of 

 brood in one hive. 



We had a splendid white clover flow, but 



