AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



state that Sheridan alluded to -when he 

 said: " If I owned Texas, and owned h— 1, 

 I would sell Texas and live in the other 

 place." 



Persons residing here this winter, and 

 never before, are apt to be deceived. There 

 has been no winter here yet this season — 

 no "northers," no sand-storms, nothing 

 but the most beautiful weather that a per- 

 son could desire. Men who have resided 

 here more than 20 years have not seen any- 

 thing like it before. 



I have just received a letter from a man 

 residing in Illinois, who desires to come at 

 once, and offers to pay me liberally to 

 locate him. He desires to move bag and 

 baggage, bees and all. Now I say to all^ if 

 you have a home, or if you can make a 

 comfortable living, do not break up and 

 come to southwest Texas. You people up 

 there know nothing about '-roughing it." 

 Whole families here live on jerked beef, 

 corn-meal, and perhaps a few beans, months 

 at a time, when the drouth cuts off every- 

 thing else; and we have a drouth every 

 year — it is merely a question of severity. 

 One Who Has Seen It. 



Experience in Bee-Keeping, Etc. 



We had a poor honey crop the past two 

 years, though of very good quality the last 

 season. I have 95 colonies. I started in 

 the spring with 67, got S25 pounds of nice 

 comb honey, and received an average of 14 

 cents a pound for it. I have never ex- 

 tracted any honey, but I think I shall next 

 season. 



I put my bees into the cellar on Dec. 4th, 

 having always wintered them in the cellar. 

 I have lost but few in that way. I began 

 to keep bees ten years ago, starting with 3 

 colonies. I have taken the Bee Journal 

 for five years, and would not be without it 

 for five times its cost. I like the 8-frame 

 Langstroth Simplicity hive for comb honey. 

 My bees were a little light in stores this 

 fall. H. R. Brown. 



Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jan. 15. 



Flowers and Bees in Louisiana. 



Friend York: — I feel gratified to know 

 that you were pleased with .the blossoms I 

 sent, as noted on page 39. The golden-rod 

 I sent was picked by the wayside on Christ- 

 mas Eve (Dec. 24th), about three miles 

 from my home, and was about the last of 

 the season. The clover is now commencing 

 to bloom, so is the willow showing forth its 

 new leaves, when, I think, in two weeks it 

 wiU be in bloom. The bees are bringing in 

 pollen ■ and honey, for the Japan plum, 

 peach, maple, and other honey-producing 

 trees are in bloom. I hardly, if ever, need 

 to feed bees unless weak in numbers, and 

 then seldom. 



You are right about Louisiana being a 

 ''paradise " for bees. As I have been so 

 pleased with results the past few years, I 

 have now started another apiary further 

 down from ray home apiary, and more in- 

 land; as my home apiary is just on the 



border of the Mississippi river. I am almost 

 certain that my bees being so situated (in 

 land) will reap a rich harvest, for they are 

 entirely surrounded by trees and plants of 

 all descriptions. The hives in the new api- 

 ary are resting in a clover field, say from 6 

 to 7 inches or more in height, and with 

 plenty of honey-producing trees within 

 close proximity. John Hager, Jr. 



Arabi, La., Jan. 15. 



Favorable for Out-Door Wintering. 



The winter in this locality thus far has 

 been very favorable to out-door wintering. 

 The most of the bee-keepers in this locality 

 winter their bees on the summer stands, 

 with a small per cent, of loss, by placing 

 something like a Hill's device over the 

 brood-frames, and filling the cover with 

 dry leaves, or some such equivalent, and 

 inclining the hives toward the front 

 about 3 or 4 inches, so as to favor the drain- 

 age whenever a thaw occurs. 



I am very much pleased with the Bee 

 Journal, and examine it carefully every 

 week. I can notice a marked improvement 

 in it during the year past. 



C. O. Cornelius. 



Ashland, Nebr,, Jan. 22. 



Moving Bees in Winter. 



I notice a number asked in the Bee Jour- 

 nal during 1893, whether it would do to 

 move bees in the winter. When I bought 

 my first 2 colonies I brought them home 

 about Christmas, and it was 18 degrees be- 

 low zero the morning I hauled them seven 

 miles over the roughest road you ever saw. 

 I had a pair of stallions, and their mouths 

 were as hard as their shoulders, and full of 

 life. One hive had a loose bottom-board, 

 and I hadn't gone 80 rods until it slipped 

 off the bottom-board, and I had a time of 

 it. I finally got straddle the hive, and sat 

 down on it, and hung on to the horses as 

 best I could. Then sometimes when I struck 

 a stump or stone, it would throw me and 

 the hive nearly out of the wagon. But I 

 got them home, and had to let them cool off 

 a couple of hours before I could take them 

 down cellar ; and bees never wintered bet- 

 ter in the world. So I would say, move 

 them when you get ready, but be sure you 

 have the bettom-boards on. 



S. M. Robertson. 



Grey Eagle, Minn., Jan. 23. 



Fumigating the Bee-Cellar. 



Here is an item that may be interesting 

 to many of the brethren. In years gone by 

 I have often found my cellar run over with 

 the mold plant; and in the spring of the 

 year, on removing the colonies from the 

 cellar, I have found brood-combs covered 

 more or less with this mold, the combs wet, 

 and honey and "bee-bread" in a state of 

 ferment. This condition of things no longer 

 exists. My combs are dry now, and free 

 from mold. This has been brought about 

 by burning sulphur in the cellar about a 



