1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



91 



The small loss, caused by the restlessness fol- 

 lowing strong feeding, I do not take into 

 account. 



Beyond this mere material profit, the apiarian 

 derives no little pleasure from the fact that he 

 is in the possession of stocks that are not 

 standing still, but making a steady forward 

 progress. I consider poor feeding as the chief 

 cause of failure in bee-keeping, as now carried 

 on by us ; in this respect bee-culture is fifteen 

 years behind the progress made in scientific 

 agriculture. Dr. Donhoff. 



Orsoy, June 12, 1873. 



P. S. — A pastor in the neighborhood of Wies- 

 baden asks me for a remedy to prevent his 

 swarms from lighting on his neighbor's trees. 

 He asks whether, if a number of dead bees 

 were strung together, so that they would pre- 

 sent the appearance of a swarm, and when 

 placed in a garden, the swarm would light on 

 them? 



My advice to bim was, to place a spare queen 

 in a wire cage, and hang it before the stock 

 about to swarm, and perhaps the swarm would 

 light on it. Dr. Donhoff. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Season of 1873. 



This has been the poorest season for bees. 

 in this locality, we have had for a number of 

 years. It was cold until in June, then we had 

 about two weeks of good honey weather, after 

 that it was too wet until after white clover 

 was gone. Basswood did not amount to any- 

 thing, as not one tree in a hundred blossomed 

 at all ; and since harvest the grasshoppers have 

 eaten up almost everything in the shape of 

 honey-yielding flowers. I sowed a piece of 

 buckwheat for my bees, and that, and a few 

 small pieces sowed by the neighbors are about 

 all my bees have to work on. 



I have one hundred swarms of Italians, all in 

 good condition for winter. Some of them will 

 yield nearly 100 pounds of surplus, whilst 

 some of the late swarms will not gather more 

 than it will take to winter them. I think they 

 will average thii'ty pounds of surplus each. 

 West Lodi, Ohio. James Bolin. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee-Keepers' Call. 



The Mississippi State Fair will open in 

 Jackson, October 13, and continue one week. 

 We desire to organize a Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, and to discuss questions of interest to 

 those engaged in bee-culture. A general invi- 

 tation is given, to send hives, extractors, and 

 other improvements pertaining to bee-culture, 

 by those who have them for sale. Direct all 

 samples to Col. J. L. Power, Jackson, Miss. 



Dry Grove, Miss. W. P. Standefer. 



Keports, Experiences, and Opinions. 



G. W. Zimmerman, IS^apoleon, Ohio, writes 

 September 8, 1873 : 



Bees have done well here this season. I 

 commenced with thirty stocks in the spring, 

 sold six, and have now sixty-five colonies and 

 thirty nucleuses. I have 100 pounds of comb 

 honey, and 2,500 machine extracted. 



H. Paul, Council Bluffs, Iowa, writes Sep- 

 tember 13, 1873: 



Bees have not done very well here this sea- 

 son. Golden rod bloomed the lOth of August, 

 but has produced no honey up to date. Three 

 years ago I had a swarm which, on the 6th of 

 September, filled its hive and two 10-pound 

 boxes from the golden rod. 1 would like to 

 hear from readers of the A. B. J. the cause of 

 such failure this season. 



P. W. McFatridge, Carthage, Ind., writes 

 September 13,1873: 



I lost, last winter, 64 colonies of bees out of 

 108; bad honey I think was the cause. I have 

 increased the balance to 70 colonies, and have 

 4,000 pounds of surplus honey, nearly all ma- 

 chine extracted. I use the two-story Langstroth 

 hive. I wintered my bees in a second story, 

 the room is about 16x18 inside, double walls 

 14 inches thick, filled with saw dust. The 

 room is perfectly dark, and well-ventilated 

 through floor and ceiling. 



R. Dart, Ripon, Wis., writes Sept. 1, 1873: 

 I have to report to you the third poor year 

 in succession, in this part of our State, for 

 bees. Still, the few bee-keepers of us left are 

 not discouraged yet, although we may have to 

 import bees here from other States. I came to 

 this State in 1840; only a year or two before 

 that, the first swarms were seen passing over to 

 the West by the Indians. My first start in bees 

 was found in the woods by myself, when quite 

 a small boy, in those early days. The honey- 

 bee is too nearly connected with my early life 

 in this country, when very new, to have me 

 give them up so easily. While I live I shall 

 keep them; their home shall be — in the sum- 

 mer — the coolest, pleasautest place in my yard, 

 and, in the winter, my large, dry cellar. My 

 bees came out of winter quarters last spring in 

 fine condition, but the spring was cold and late, 

 and the swarms were sadly reduced at the 

 opening of summer. My losses were eleven from 

 fifty -one. June, and part of July, were wet 

 and we lost our white clover; part of July and 

 August we were burnt up with drouth, but 

 thanks to some early buckwheat, our swarms 

 are going into winter quarters strong. 



There are six substances made by the bees 

 in a hive, viz : honey, propolis, wax, bee bread, 

 royal jelly and cream. Hubbr. 



