AMERICAN BEE «IOURNAL. 



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ant feeling, but I was not much frightened, 

 as it had left its sting outside, and you 

 know bees never injure ripe fruit, and I 

 thought my head was tougher than ripe 

 fruit, but I was not so sure about the dur- 

 ability of the drum of my ear to stand the 

 kicks of those sharp little toes. 



I tried different ways, but nothing would 

 coax it out, until a neighbor, who was there, 

 thought of and procured a hairpin which I 

 inserted in my ear, when the bee came out 

 head first. You see it had room to turn 

 around in there, or perhaps I turned her 

 around with the hairpin. I did not know 

 there was such a hollow in my head ; but I 

 now know why I have not mastered the 

 winter problem. Next. 



Manistee, Mich. W. Harmer. 



Bees Wintering' Finely. 



I looked at one colony of the .55 in my api- 

 ary; they had three Langstroth frames of 

 brood and eggs, and are wintering finely. 

 We have not yet had any snow here, and 

 the weather is fine to-day. We had a poor 

 season last year. I got 800 pounds of ho^y, 

 and I secured 22 cents per pound for it six 

 miles from home. B. P. Beheler. 



Jumping Branch. W. Va., Jan. 8, 1894. 



Another Test (?) of Adulteration. 



Procure at a drug-store a dram of nitrate 

 of cloride of burium ; dissolve in a few 

 spoonfuls of water, then dissolve some of 

 the honey in warm water in a clear, clean 

 vial; add some of the burium solution, and 

 shake it. Set it aside for half an hour. If 

 a white powder appears at the bottom of 

 the vial as a sediment, it contains sulphuric 

 acid, and should be rejected. 



Indianapolis, Ind. Frank Burkhart. 



Absconding Swarms, Etc. 



I have at present 5 colonies of bees, all in 

 good condition ; 4 are packed in dry hickory 

 forest leaves, in a bee-shed, open to the 

 south. I lost all of my first swarms. The 

 first came out on July 3rd, and clustered on 

 an apple tree, and as soon as they were dis- 

 turbed they started for the woods. I fol- 

 lowed them up, and they only went half a 

 mile and clustered on a wild cherry tree 

 about 40 feet from the ground. They stayed 

 there about three hours, then went in a 

 very large oak tree at least 50 feet from the 

 ground. I would give a premium of $5 if 

 anybody could get them down unharmed. 

 Wm. Kittinger. 



Caledonia, Wis., Jan. 16, 1894. 



The American Italian Bees, Etc. 



We had a poor honey crop in 1893. From 

 90 colonies (Italians 50, and hybrids 40) I 

 averaged 50 pounds to the colony, or a 

 total of 4,500 pounds, mostly extracted. 



I have the beaultiful, gentle 5-banded 

 American Italians (Italians are 3-banded). 

 Well, I just reared them — I did not know it 



until some one reported 5-banded bees. I 

 dropped my Bee Journal as quickly as a 

 dog would drop a hot potato. I knew that 

 I had bees with 4 bands, and thought that 

 was all they could carry. But imagine my 

 surprise, when I went to see if there was 

 any room for more yellow bands on my 

 beauties^- The first colony that I examined 

 were 5-banded. I do not a want a free ad- 

 vertisement. Let me tell you right now, I 

 have no queens for sale — no, never ! Yellow 

 vs. mongrel bees. They are gentle, more 

 beautiful, store more honey, and spend less 

 time pottering around building brace and 

 burr combs. You can raise the combs right 

 out without using a smoker; and save 10 to 

 30 per cent, in time. 'Rah for the beautiful 

 yellow American bees! A. M. Hoyle. 



Daphne, Ala., Jan. 10. 



Bees in Good Condition. 



I have kept bees for 40 years. At present 

 I have 105 colonies on the summer stands, 

 and in good condition. The winter, so far, 

 has been mild. I am interested in bees, 

 and keep them for profit. Within an area 

 of five miles, we have a number of bee- 

 keeper novices who usually fail in getting 

 honey. M. J. Kistler. 



Collingwood, Ind., Jan. 15. 



Mild Winter— Bees All Rright. 



This has been a mild winter here so far. 

 Bees have had a flight every week or two. 

 To-day was a beautiful day, with a hot sun, 

 and the bees made the most of it. I looked 

 them over, and found them all right. The 

 most of them had a little brood and eggs in 

 the center of the cluster, and I wish to re- 

 mark that I believe there is almost always 

 some in winter, unless there is a long, cold 

 spell of a month or two, which we don't 

 often get here. 



Last summer my bees did very well, both 

 in quantity and quality — the nicest ex- 

 tracted honey I ever had. 



Thos. Thurlow. 



Lancaster, Pa., Jan. 15. 



Wintering Bees in the Cellar, Etc. 



Our 97 colonies of bees have been in the 

 cellar two months. We got them in just as 

 it commenced snowing, moving them very 

 quietly. They are under the part of the 

 house where fire is kept most of the time. 

 The temperature has been from 46 to 50 de- 

 grees—a little higher than we usually like 

 to have it, but as the bees were very quiet, 

 I concluded to let it remain there. They 

 are covered with quilts, and some with 

 straw board, as an experiment. All are 

 wintering alike good. 



The cellar has a pipe from the bottom to 

 the highest part of the roof, and a window 

 in each end, covered- with shutters inside 

 and out, but no glass in yet. This has been 

 suflicient to keep the temperature as above 

 here in our mild climate of Michigan. 



I looked over the bees in November, 

 when preparing them for winter, that is, 



