AMERICAN BEE JOURNAU 



251 



fruit-blossoms. We have some stock, but 

 the chickens make such a nice part with all 

 the others, and go with the bees nicely. 



We enjoy the Bee Journal so much, and 

 think some of the writers are so good. We 

 thought when reading Mrs. Atchley's ac- 

 count of the preachers and bee-wagon, that 

 when the preachers were playing lion there 

 was a possible chance for a bear. We like 

 the Chinaman's writing, also. 



Joel T. Hodson. 



Bangor, Iowa, Jan. 27. 



A Prosperous Year was 1893. 



Last year was a very prosperous one for 

 me, as I secured about 4,000 pounds of 

 honey from 43 colonies, spring count. If I 

 do as well this year, I will be well pleased. 



I am very busy building now, enlarging 

 my poultry business. I will probably raise 

 4,000 ducks this year, besides a large num- 

 ber of chickens ; so with a farm and 75 col- 

 onies of bees, I have my hands full to look 

 after every thing. This has been a very 

 warm winter so far, and my bees are win- 

 tering finely. I have lost none so far. They 

 had a good flight this week. 



The Bee Journal is always welcome. 

 Edgar Briggs. 



Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Jan. 27. 



Poor Season for Bee-Keeping. » 



The bee-business has been very poor for 

 the last three seasons in this part of the 

 country, the last one being the poorest of 

 them all. The springs have been cold, 

 backward and rainy, so much so that the 

 bees could not breed up in time to gather 

 any surplus. We winter most of our bees 

 on the summer stands, in double-walled 

 hives. The colonies that are light in stores 

 we winter in the cellar, with good results. 

 M. Zahner. 



Shawnee, Kans., Jan. 28. 



Rough Weather in Southwest Texas. 



Our oranges and bananas have got the 

 '• grip," and they have got it badly, poor 

 things — victims of their own recklessness. 

 Every well regulated ranchman out here 

 has constantly on hand, during the winter, 

 an extra suit of flannels, which he gets into 

 immediately when Dame Nature gets on a 

 tantrum, but they, unsophisticated, and 

 not yet acclimated, insisted on keeping on 

 their summer clothes, and the grip — Jack 

 Frost — has got them sure enough ; that is 

 to say, if there are any. 



I wrote a week ago that we had had 

 nothing but spring weather ; there had not 

 been a day until last Tuesday (Jan. 23rd) 

 that bees did not get a little pollen — no 

 honey. On Monday morning, the 22nd, we 

 had a warm shower. After 10 o'clock it 

 was clear and fine — 90 degrees above zero 

 at noon, 70 degrees above at sunset, but 

 just at dark a genuine "Norther" came 

 down, and it came to stay. It filled the air 

 with dirt, sand, and everything that it 

 could lay its hands on, and at midnight it 



was down to 30 degrees above zero, and 22 

 degrees above at sunrise on Tuesday morn- 

 ing, with half an inch of ice. 



It continued to freeze in the shade all day 

 Tuesday, and Wednesday morning it was 

 20 degrees above at sunrise, and continued 

 to freeze in the shade all day Wednesday, 

 and Thursday morning it was down to IS 

 degrees ahove, with 1^ inches of ice, and 

 continued to freeze until Thursday after- 

 noon. 



Well, it is fortunate for bee-men that it 

 came as soon as it did. All of the earliest 

 honey-plants were budding, and a few had 

 a little bloom ; two or three weeks more of 

 the warm weather would have brought all 

 the flora forward so that the freeze would 

 have made the honey-crop a complete fail- 

 ure for the year, unless we should chance 

 to have rains in the fall. 



January 27. Southwest Texas. 



Doing Nicely in the Cellar. 



Bees are doing nicely in their winter 

 quarters. I have got 19 colonies in the 

 cellar. I raise the hive 2 inches from the 

 bottom-board, put a stick one inch thick in 

 the center, sharp at both ends, across the 

 brood-frames, and put on the cloth cover, 

 then fill the top with clover chaff for an 

 absorbent, and lift the cover up J^ inch by 

 placing small sticks in under the covers. 

 The mice bothered them some, but I put 

 out some strychnine on pieces of cheese, 

 and melted it in. If any of my brother 

 bee-keepers have a better remedy than 

 this, please let us hear from them through 

 the Bee Journal. Frank Cole. 



Mecosta, Mich., Jan. 29. 



Gathering Honey in Florida. 



I am off on a bee-hunt to-morrow, in the 

 cypress swamps, and later I will try to re- 

 port our success. My colony left on my 

 veranda last May, is still here, and has 

 worked every day for the last four weeks. 

 Peach and plum, jassemine and other 

 flowers, are in full bloom, and honey is 

 coming in fairly well. Bees are building 

 up rapidly. 



One hundred quarts of strawberries were 

 shipped out by express yesterday, by one 

 man. It does not seem like winter here. 

 The trees are full of oranges, and new wood 

 8 to 10 inches long. Grass is green, and 

 mocking-birds and robins are singing. 



C. F. Greening. 



Orange Park, Fla., Feb. 6. 



He is Not Complaining. 



I have been a bee-keeper for about eight 

 years, commencing on a small scale. I have 

 learned to like the business, and would 

 keep bees for pleasure if nothing more. 



Last spring I had a sale, at which I sold 

 all of my bees and appliances, and inside of 

 one month I had purchased about 80 colo- 

 nies, mostly in Langstroth chaff hives, with 

 all necessary appliances. I have both 8 



