20 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[July, 



giving them plenty of room. The coldest 

 weather this winter I opened the hives and 

 found them nice and dry. Their winter stores 

 were syrup made from powdered sugar. This 

 spring, as soon as they would feed, I gave them 

 rye flour and syrup. They went to breeding 

 fast, and now are in splendid condition. At 

 the present time the locust is in bloom. Some 

 of my hives have their boxes nearly full. I have 

 the nicest boxes in this part of the country. 

 They are made with four dressed posts, French 

 plate glass, washed clean, and hold 3 and 6 lbs. 

 Already I have taken off 40 pounds, which was 

 snatched up eagerly at 40 cents per pound. 



The winter of '71 and 73 I lost 3 hives by 

 dysentery, which, to my mind, is caused by 

 dampness. This winter I did not lose any, 

 because I kept them nice and dry all the time. 



A friend on Walnut hills lo.st 21 out of 28 

 hives, mostly by dysentery; another 18 out of 

 21 ; two others all last year's swarms, (10) by 

 starvation. T look among bee keepers in this 

 neighborhood of 2 miles, and find there are 

 living about 50 colonies that I know of, about 

 two-thirds Italian. 



A friend just in, (Mr. D.,) took your name, 

 and will send for a sample number. I want all 

 bee keepers to take the bee journals. I would 

 like them to come out twice a month. 



My apiary is in Pendleton, up the river from 

 the city four miles. I have one of the coziest 

 apiaries in the country. I am a coach maker 

 by trade, and have every thing around me in its 

 place, even to scrubbing out my bee house when 

 dirty, and carpet on the floor. Should you ever 

 come to the city call and see me at 55 E. 5th 

 street. , 



T. B. Hamlin, of Edgefield Junction, Tenn., 

 writes, June 4, 1873: 



Bees are doing finely. We are in the midst 

 ot white clover and tulip harvest. 



Wm. Perry, of Lynnville, Tenn., writes, 

 June 4, 1873 : 



I am but a recent reader on bee-culture, 

 though an old man, and kept bees for the last 

 forty-five years in the log or gum hive ; but 

 from the depradations of the moths and other 

 inconveniences, had almost despaired of, and 

 really was receiving no benefit from, them ; not 

 enough to pay for the hives. But last year I 

 purchased the right to use the Langstroth 

 Hive, and am delighted with it. I now have 

 fifty-nine colonies in them, that I think are 

 doing well. I cannot get along without the 

 American Bee Journal. 



J. B. Rapp, of Owensville, Ohio, writes, 

 June 13, 1873: 



We have tons of honey going to waste for 

 want of bees to gather it. The face of the 

 earth is white with white clover blossoms, and 

 rich in honey. 



My bees iiuve filled their hives, and I intend 

 using the extractor to-day. 



Long live the American Bee Journal! I 

 would as soon try to farm without a plow, as to 

 keep bees without the A. B. J. 



J. W. Johnson, of Shelbyville, 111., writes, 

 June 21, 1873: 



Editor American Bee Journal, Dear Sir: — 

 Aliosv me to say that my bees wintered well — 

 first-rate. I left them on their summer stands, 

 with no protection whatever, all tipward venti- 

 lation complefelj/ cut off, thermometer one day 

 indicating thifty-une degrees below zero. While 

 this process may be in violation of the rules 

 laid by the fathers and mothers of bee-culture, 

 yet while [ can go into winter quarters with 

 twenty stands, and come safely through as long 

 and severe winter as the last, I shall give little 

 heed to upward ventilation. Bees, left to them- 

 selves, invariably close their hives above so as 

 to effectually prevent the upward escape cf 

 warm air, of which they certainly have little 

 enough in our cold j^rairie land. At least, this 

 has been my experience. Bees have not done 

 well so far, or especially, during fruit blooming 

 time. Too much wet and cold. Yet mine are 

 full, and I am using the extractor. 



F. H. Harkins, Home, Brown County, writes: 



The honey season so far, in this section, is a 

 repetition of last year, namely : the pets are 

 not making their own living. Too much rain. 

 Out of 85 stocks I am now feeding 45 ; but I 

 know, from experience of last year, that it is 

 honey lent at a big per cent., for last year I fed 

 some 80 pounds to 30 stocks out of 72, and 

 received from the whole 5 barrels extracted of 

 42 f^allons each, and sold about $140 worth of 

 comb honey at 25 cents per pound, saying noth- 

 mg of what was used in the family and given 

 away. 



Year before last I did better, for out of 35 

 stocks in tlie sprin<j, I extracted 3,800 pounds, 

 and increased them to 72, whereas last year I 

 only increased 15, losing 2 each winter. 

 ♦-♦- • 



Controlling Sex in Butterflies. — A sug- 

 gestive article as to the possibility of controlling 

 sexes in butterflies has been communicated to 

 the American Na'uralist by Mrs. Mary Treat, 

 and from the results of numerous experiments 

 she finds occasion to believe that the larvae to 

 which the freshest and most tempting food was 

 supplied in unlimited quantity nearly always 

 developed into female butterfiies, while those 

 for which the supply of food was limited, al- 

 most uniformly proved to be males. Dr. Pack- 

 ard is, however, inclined to think that the sex 

 of this insect, as well as all animals from eggs, 

 is determined at or about the time of conception, 

 or, at least, early in the embryonic condition. 

 In the honey-bee, especially, it has been proved 

 that the sex is decided at the time the egg 

 leaves the oviduct. The sex in man, according 

 to Koelliker, becomes fixed toward the end of 

 the second month of foetal life. 



