762 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL-. 



though it may be light. We are all looking 

 and wishing ' for a heavy flow of nectar 

 this year, as we have had but little honey 

 for two years. 



Bees are in extra good condition, and if 

 the honey-flow comes they will take care 

 of it. I have colonies in ten-frame hives, 

 three stories high, that are full of bees 

 from top to bottom, that are making no 

 preparation to swarm. My ! but won't 

 they bring in the honey ? J. C. Balch. 



Bronson, Kans., June 4. 



Bad Weather for Bees. 



The weather is very bad for bees at pres- 

 ent. It has been cold and rainy for nearly 

 a month. Clark A. Montague. 



Hayes, Md., June 6. 



Pastures Drying Up. 



My bees wintered well the past winter on 

 the summer stands. I lost one queen out 

 of 48. We are having a very severe drouth 

 here, and cool weather. The pastures are 

 being eaten out and drying up. White 

 clover will not amount to anything unless 

 it rains soon. Bass wood will bloom about 

 the first of July, and we may get some 

 surplus honey from it, but we never have a 

 very heavy flow from basswood. 



Perry, Iowa, June 2. Jksse White. 



Micliigan Apiarian Statistics, Etc. 



I have been a constant reader of the 

 " Old Reliable " since 1889, and there is so 

 much of interest in it that I could not do 

 without it; and thinking it n;ight be of in- 

 terest, I will give some statistics of apicul- 

 ture in Michigan for 1892-93, excepting 44 

 counties in the State from which no re- 

 turns have been received. Fourteen coun- 

 ties of these are in the upper peninsula: 



No. of apiaries 



No. of colonies of bees in fall of 1892. . 

 No. of colonies at time of taking as- 

 sessment, in 1893 



No. of colonies wintered in cellars . . . 

 No. of colonies wintered in chaff hives 



No. of colonies in bee-houses 



No. of colonies covered with sawdust 

 No. of colonies otherwise protected . . 

 No. of colonies with no protection. . . 

 No. of colonies protection not re- 

 ported 



No. colonies producing comb honey. 



No. of pounds of comb honey 



No. of colonies producing extracted 



honey 



No. of pounds of extracted honey 



No. of colonies producing wax 



No. of pounds of wax 



Atchley— on April 22, 1893. I tell you there 

 is no discount on her. She is a perfect 

 "lady " bee. 



Now did you ever hear of any one com- 

 mencing to read a book at the back ? When 

 I get the " Old Reliable " I commence to 

 read the other way. from back to front. 

 But how about adulteration ? I heard the 

 discussion at Lansing in 1893, and I am sur- 

 prised to hear the tone of some, being a 

 little more modified now than then. I have 

 said enough on that point. 



Long live the Amekican Bee Journal ! 



Ionia, Mich., June 4. Jacob Moore. 



Hard Time for Bees. 



I think the " Old Reliable " is very re- 

 liable authority, and no matter how hur- 

 ried I am when it arrives, I always find 

 time to glance through it before I open my 

 other papers. 



This is a very hard time on bees here. 

 We have been having cold, rainy weather 

 for the last 17 days, not having missed 

 raining one day during that time. It has 

 required much feeding to keep our bees m 

 condition. O. S. Brown, M. D. 



Londonderry, O., June 2. 



Rainy— Bees Almost Starving-. 



I have been wondering what kind of 

 weather bee-keepers are having in other 

 parts of the United States. It has ramed 

 here for 16 consecutive days, raining the 

 whole 24 hours several of these days, and 

 vegetation is standing in water, with bees 

 just on the verge of starvation. I have been 

 feeding some of my colonies, rain falling m 

 torrents while I did so. Farmers are dis- 

 couraged, and bee-keepers looking blue. 

 I hope the kind Father above may send us 

 clearer skies sooii. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., June 1. 



5,719 

 66,415 



42,283 



10,603 



23,555 



170 



69 



2,091 



24,295 



5,632 

 55,360 



851,875 



16,293 



187,278 



16,785 



, 9,211 



Bees in this, the 43rd latitude, are doing 

 well. My bees are doing nicely. I had the 

 first swarm on June 1st, and the second 

 swarm on June 2nd. I have one colony 

 whose queen's name is " Jennie." I named 

 her after the person I got her from— Jennie 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



About Nov. 1, 1893, I made a box with 

 about 4 inches of excelsior packing all 

 around it, with no top or bottom. The in- 

 side of the box was 3 inches larger than the 

 hive, all ways, and 8 inches higher. I put 

 this box over the hive (with a bridge over 

 the entrance), and packed the space be- 

 tween the hive and the outer packing with 

 fine oat-chaff. I then put a Hill's device on 

 the frames, and a 5-inch super on the hive, 

 and then a burlap chaff cushion in the su- 

 per on the Hill's device, and put the super 

 cover on, and then filled the box up with 

 chaff around and on top of the super, and 

 then put a roof on the box, of roofing iron 

 nailed on boards. On March 30th, my bees 

 seemed to be in fine condition, and were 

 carrying in pollen and propolis at a lively 

 rate (it being a very warm day), while my 

 neighbor, who had nothing but the summer 

 hive, lost 2 out of 3 colonies, and another 

 lost all he had, besides others I heard of in 

 the country. T. Hollingworth. 



De Witt, Nebr. 



