AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



473 



night. I hope we will have a good houey- 

 flow this year, and that the bees may 

 prosper. 



I see in the Bee Journal a great deal of 

 talk about skunks in the apiary, and there 

 are also very many ways of exterminating 

 them. In this part of the country we are 

 not bothered with those pests. We rarely 

 get to see one, unless it is one that went 

 astray. 



I have 2 colonies of Italian bees that are 

 the nicest I ever saw. They have several 

 frames of hatching brood, and are so gen- 

 tle. I have not received a single sting from 

 them yet. 



I do not believe I could keep bees if it 

 were not from the American Bee Journal 

 and Oleaiuiig.s. There are not very many 

 bee-keepers around here that will take a 

 bee-paper; they let their bees go the way 

 of " work bees or die." One thing is sure, 

 not one of them ever has any surplus honey 

 at the end of the season. 



If you want a nice, large bee-book, just 

 save the numbers of the American Bee 

 Journal for one year, and see if you will 

 net have a 1,664-page book at the end of 

 the year. 



The editorial given on page 199, on 

 "Heddon and Adulteration," strikes me 

 about right. By all means, do not stop the 

 cry of adulteration! Give it to them; 

 make it hot for the adulterators, and see if 

 it doesn't do some good. Keeping still 

 about such a thing is so much the worse. 

 Again I say, do not give up the battle, for 

 we may win yet. We have no honejj mar- 

 ket at Prairie Home, and need not be afraid 

 of adulteration. Honey around here sells 

 at 13 and 15 cents per pound for comb 

 honey, and I think about 10 cents for ex' 

 tr acted. 



I have both the Simplicity and the dove- 

 tailed hives ; the latter is my favorite. I 

 like the thick-top frames and the section- 

 holders very much. I have not tried sep- 

 arators yet, but I think I will try them this 

 year. P. N. Blank. 



Prairie Home, Mo., March 19. 



How to Ijainpen Sections. 



Lay a double fold of sheeting between 

 two beveled pieces 8 or 10 inches long, and 

 tack them together. Place the sections side 

 by side, have a small quantity of water in 

 a tin pan, and dip and move through the 

 grooves. It can be done without wetting a 

 finger. Michael Haas. 



Mendon, Mich. 



How I Manage My Swarms. 



After my young queens have mated, I 

 clip one of their wings : I usually do this 

 about the first of May. I get my hive ready 

 to receive the swarm and set it by the side 

 of the hive, or near by, at least. I am on 

 the lookout for the swarm, and when it 

 issues I find the queen on the ground near 

 the hive, with a few bees with her. I cage 

 her in a Miller's cage, and lay her on the 

 entrance of the new hive, and remove the 



old one to a new location, and close it so no 

 bees can get in. I then put the new hive on 

 the old location from which the old one 

 was taken, and if the swarm does not set- 

 tle, they will by this time be returning, 

 and will enter the new hive. As soon as 

 they begin to enter pretty lively, I release 

 the queen and let her crawl in, and the 

 work is done. 



If the bees settle, I wait till they begin to 

 return to the hive as before, which they do 

 in a short time, usually. The other hive 

 is then opened. 



In this way I get the field-bees in the new 

 hive, which gives good results in surplus 

 honey, and has an effect on the old colony 

 to prevent after-swarms. I give plenty of 

 room to the old colony in the surplus de- 

 partment, keep them well shaded if I fear 

 an after-swarm, and should such occur, I 

 hive in a hiving-box and set it on a board 

 as though it was a little box-hive. I then 

 cut out all queen-cells in the old colony 

 (provided I can find all) and return the 

 swarm to the old colony, 



J. W. SOUTHWOOD. 



• Monument City, Ind., Apr. 3. 



Mild Winter — Virgin Queens. 



The past winter was a mild one. Bees on 

 the summer stands have had frequent 

 flights, and wintered nicely. The forepart 

 of March was delightful weather, bees were 

 bringing in pollen gathered from maple 

 and willow bloom three weeks earlier than 

 usual, and brood-rearing commenced in 

 earnest. I have SO colonies, but 6 of them 

 did not show the usual signs of prosperity. 

 On examination I found them all queenless. 

 I doubled up, making 3 strong colonies, and 

 gave them each a frame of brood. 



To-day finds me with 3 virgin queens, 

 and no drones, but snow and ice and sickly 

 bloom. What are the prospects for success 

 with my early queens ? If drones from 

 laying workei-s are not sterile, I hope to 

 have some to mate with the virgins. 



A. B. Baird. 



Belle Vernon, Pa., March 26. 



Discouraging Weather. 



From March 3nd to the 34th bees brought 

 in pollen about every other day. I never 

 saw them breed up faster so early in the 

 season. Our pears, cherries and plums were 

 just getting into bloom, and the bees work- 

 ing on them a little, when on the morning 

 of the 34th it turned cool, and kept getting 

 colder until yesterday morning the mer- 

 cury was at 14 degrees above zero, and all 

 day yesterday below the freezing point, 

 though the sun was shining brightly all 

 day. This morning it is 13 degrees above 

 zero. Of course all the fruit just blooming 

 is killed, and the bees will have little or 

 nothing to work on for months, and prob- 

 ably much brood will be killed by the ex- 

 cessive cold. It is no use to cry over 

 spilled milk, but our bright prospects have 

 gone under a cloud for the present. 



E. T. Flanagan. 



Belleville, Ills., March 36. 



