124 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



bees. They all had plenty of sealed stores 

 when they died, and fell down on the bot- 

 tom-board. All of my other colonies are 

 wintering well, that have honey stores. 



Now, if Mrs. Atchley wants to try sor- 

 ghum next winter, I think if she will go to 

 jSome of her colonies of bees in warm, dry 

 weather in October — some that have plenty 

 of bees and not much honey — and rai.se the 

 front end of the hive a little higher than 

 the back, and pour in the pure sorghum 

 just a little for one or two evenings, to get 

 them started to eating it, then increase a 

 little more, feeding every evening, I think 

 in a week or so her bees will have plenty of 

 sealed stores to last them through the win- 

 ter—if they should live that long. But I 

 don't think they would. 



I don't wish Mrs. Atchley to feed her bees 

 on sorghum, nor any one else, unless you 

 want to lose your bees, for that you will do 

 if they are fed on pure sorghum. 



Some Northern bee-keepers may think 

 there is a disease among my bees, but such 

 is not the case. There never was any dis- 

 ease among bees in this country, that I 

 know of. N. E. Cleveland. 



Decatur, Miss., Dec. 33, 1893. 



Getting- Statistics on Bee-Culture. 



I notice on page 743 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1S93, under heading of ''Comb Honey 

 in the United States,'' a request for all 

 manufacturers of honey-sections to report 

 all sales of sections to Dr. Miller, for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the amount of 

 honey produced, etc. That would be one 

 way to guess at the amount, but I don't 

 think it would be very much of a guess. 



It appears to me that there is but one 

 way to get at the amount of honey pro- 

 duced in the United States. Every assessor 

 has a long list of questions provided on 

 purpose to get at the statistics of the coun- 

 try. When these statistics are finally com- 

 piled, they are sent out all over the coun- 

 try, and we can see at a glance just how 

 much wheat, oats, corn, etc., each State 

 has produced the previous season. Now, I 

 don't think it would require very much 

 persuasion on the part of the bee-fraternity 

 to secure the placing of two or three more 

 questions on that list, viz. : 



1. How many colonies of bees -did you 

 have, spring count, on June 1st, last year ? 



2. How many pounds of comb honey did 

 you produce ? 



3. How many pounds of extracted honey? 

 This would bring out a full report of the 



amount of honey produced in the United 

 States. It would also show the number of 

 colonies of bees kept by the States. 

 Kasson, Minn. C. H. Pond. 



Value of Bee Papers and Books. 



There is little use trying to keep bees, 

 either for pleasure or profit, without at 

 least one live bee-paper to awaken interest 

 and enthusiasm, and keep the apiarist 

 abreast of the times. When we see an 

 apiary that shows neatness, taste and pros- 



perity, we need not be told that the owner 

 or manager has access to bee papers and 

 books; and wben we find a bee-yard with 

 hives huddled together regardless of order, 

 distance or taste, with many of the colo- 

 nies dead and dying, we are sure that the 

 knowledge, skill and enterprise that come 

 from the study of apiarian literature, have 

 never reached that desolate and forlorn 

 spot. Of course the bees are black, but no 

 darker than much of the filthy comb and 

 honey inside the hives. By neglect, much 

 of the worker comb has become unfit for 

 brood-rearing, and hence drones are reared 

 in superabundance, and these deteriorated 

 male bees fill the air for miles in all direc- 

 tions, to vitiate the pure blood of all well- 

 kept apiaries. 



But the inielligent, careful, painstaking 

 apiarist will find encouragement in the as- 

 surance that all bees kept by such slipshod 

 methods are doomed, and on the principle 

 of "the survival of the fittest" must go, 

 and the sooner the better for all concerned. 



Bees in this section did well last season, 

 and went into winter quarters in excellent 

 condition. The recent warm spell gave 

 them a fine airing (those on the summer 

 stands), and now they should winter with 

 but little loss. S. S. Butts. 



Wyalusing, Pa.. Dec. 28, 1893. 



The Season of 1893, Etc. 



I read the Bee Journal with much pleas- 

 ure, for my bees are almost all the comfort 

 that I have left, as I have no family now. 

 My wife died last February. I have two 

 daughters, but they were married years 

 ago. I have a comfortable home, and 

 enough of this world's goods to live on, but 

 what matters that, when the ties of love 

 are forever broken ? 



Well, the last season was not very good 

 for the bee-man in this part of the State. 

 The dry weather set in just as the basswood 

 came into bloom, and cut it short. It was 

 just a little cool for white clover, so our 

 crop was short. I have always worked for 

 comb honey, and for that reason I have 

 never had very heavy returns. 



My bees came out of the cellar in fair 

 condition last spring. I put away 20 colo- 

 nies, and lost 4 through my neglect (the 

 breaking up of my family unnerved me 

 for business). The bees increased to 30 

 colonies, which are now in the cellar, as 

 that is my method of keeping them. They 

 are heavy with winter stores, and so far 

 are doing well. They were put in on Nov. 

 22nd. 



I want to say a few words in favor of the 

 yellow bee, as I have both. They stored 

 nearly all the surplus. In a good season 

 the blacks will do just as well, but when 

 the crop is short, the yellow bees are the 

 best for me. 



I have sold 500 pounds of honey, and 

 have 100 or more of uncapped honey left. 

 D. C. Wilson. 



Viola, Iowa, Dec. 19, 1893. 



Great Premium on page 101 



