464 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



bees, old enough to work out-doors, were 

 dead ! But the young bees and the brood 

 still remained in the hives. The honey sea- 

 son that year was very short, still I secured 

 about 1,500 pounds of comb honey and 3,000 

 pounds of extracted. The honey was sent 

 to Chicago, and that which was in the 

 comb netted me 11 J^ cents per pound. 



In April. 1893, I had 220 colonies of bees. 

 On the first of June, owing to spring 

 dwindling, I had only 60 colonies ! The 

 spring was so cold and backward there was 

 no more brood the last of May than there 

 should have been the first day of March. I 

 bought 30 colonies in any style of hive I 

 could get, and transferred them to my own 

 hives, and thereby managed to secure 1,000 

 pounds of extracted honey and 4,000 

 pounds in sections. I shipped the honey to 

 Chicago, and it netted me a trifle less than 

 8 cents per pound. 



I have this spring 150 colonies of bees in 

 good condition. We winter our bees in 

 Utah out-of-doors and on the summer 

 stands. Owing to spring dwindling nearly 

 three-fourths of all the bees in this region 

 died a year ago. I have been in the bee- 

 business for the past 15 years. The last 

 two years have been the worst in my ex- 

 perience. 



Our main crop of honey comes from 

 sweet clover and alfalfa. They both yield 

 about the same quality and quantity of 

 honey, which, when granulated, is about 

 as white as refined sugar. 



A few years ago, the latter part of 

 May or forepart of June, the bees in my 

 apiary in Richland county. Wis., began 

 to die off at a very rapid rate. At the 

 time this occurred, if I remember cor- 

 rectly, the bees were very busy bringing 

 in honey, and chiefly from honey-dew. 

 The ground in every direction, in and 

 about the apiary, was literally covered 

 with bees of all ages, both dead and 

 dying. Other bees in the neighborhood, 

 and even in yards miles away, were 

 similarly afflicted. 



This condition of affairs came on very 

 suddenly, and lasted for two or three 

 days. Many bee-keepers, myself in- 

 cluded, were apprehensive that our hives 

 would all be depopulated of their work- 

 ing force. But about that time there 

 came on a rain-storm which washed 

 away the honey-dew, and then the bees 

 as suddenly quit dying as stated. Now, 

 some of us thought that the bees were 

 in some way poisoned by the so-called 

 honey they were gathering at that time. 

 That is still my belief. Possibly the 

 same trouble existed in Utah, and that 

 it was not in reality the well-known 

 " trembling di.sease" that was doing the 

 damage to which my correspondent re- 

 fers. 



St. Charles, Ills.. March 20. 



BulUing Op Bees for llie Honey-Flow. 



Written for the Canadian Bee Journal 

 BY WM. M'EVOY. 



I will explain my methods of building 

 up for the honey-flow, which begins with 

 me in the fall. 



In the fall I crowd the bees in every 

 colony on six combs of sealed stores, 

 with division-boards on each side of the 

 combs. I then pack each colony in a 

 wintering-case with four inches of dry 

 leaves at each side, front and back, and 

 about six inches on top. I pack the six 

 inches of leaves on the cloth that covers 

 the frames, and then place the hive-lid 

 on top of the leaves, which allows all 

 dampness to evaporate from the brood- 

 chamber at all times. I then cover all 

 with the lid of the winter-case. 



The bridge between the hive and outer 

 case has an entrance in it of about % 

 high by 23^2 inches long. I keep the 

 snow away from the entrance all winter 

 so that the hives won't become filled 

 with steam from the bees, when the en- 

 trance gets blocked up with snow. My 

 colonies come into spring booming in 

 bees, and in grand condition for busi- 

 ness. Then the brood-rearing goes rap- 

 idly on in these packed hives where the 

 colonies do not feel the effects of the 

 sudden changes that so often recur in 

 spring. 



In warm evenings in the spring, just 

 before the bees begin gathering honey, 

 I take out the division-boards and fill 

 out the brood-chambers with comb. 

 When removing the division-boards, if I 

 come across any colony a little short of 

 stores, I put in combs with honey, which 

 I always save in the fall for this purpose. 



When the bees begin gathering honey 

 from the willows, maples and other 

 early honey-producing trees, I go to 

 work in the evenings and uncap the 

 honey in every colony, put a queen-ex- 

 cluder and half-story filled with combs 

 on each colony. I then pack all around 

 and on top of the half-story, and then 

 cover all with fche lid of the winter-case. 

 During the night the bees in these well- 

 packed hives will rush the uncapped 

 honey into the half-story which will 

 leave more empty combs in the brood- 

 chamber for the queen. Soon after that 

 the combs in the brood-chambers will be 

 filled with brood clear up to and all 

 along the top-bars. The bees will also 

 continue storing honey in the half stories 

 when once started this way. 



Last spring my colonies went in for 

 swarming at a lively rate before; the 



