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140 



THE AMERICAN BEE ' jTCiuMAL. 



[Dec. 



Reporfs, Experiences, and Opinions. 



W. C. Wells, Thurlow, Ont., in renewing his^ 

 subscription, says : ; ' 



My bees have done well this season., I haji 

 70 stands last spring; have sold $515 yvprth of 

 honey, and increased 22 stands. 



H. W. Wixom, Mendota, 111., writes Nov. 18, 

 1873: 



This has been a poor season for honey gath- 

 ering, on account of exceeding drouth, yet bees 

 have, as a general thing, gathered sufficient 

 honey for winter jjurposes. 



J. N. Walters, Winchester, Iowa, writes Nov. 

 15, 1873 : . • 



The bee season h©re-has been tolerably fair. 

 Last winter I lost 98 colonies out of 102, the 

 remaining four of which I have increased to 30 

 strong stocks during the past season. ^. 



H. Hudson, Fennville, Mich., writes Oct. 30, 

 1873: 



Bees have done well in this vicinity — what 

 few there were left. I had 40 stocks last fall, 

 and lost all but three during the winter, which 

 I have increased to nine, and have realized from 

 them 300R)S. box honey, and about lOOltis ex- 

 tracted. 



C. L. Young, Bricksville, Ohio, writes Nov. 

 20, 1873: 



I have kept bees 44 years, and have one hive 

 34 years old. The first ten years I was not very 

 successful, but have been moderately so since 

 then with the box hive, with cap on top as 

 an accessory. I have now commenced with the 

 frame hive and the Italian bee. The last sea- 

 son was so poor that I have not made much 



David Brokaw, Oconomowoc, Waukesha Co., 

 Wis., writes Nov. 4, 1873 : 



Last winter I lost one quarter of all the bees 

 I had. After setting the remainder out on 

 April 7th, I lost by desertion and cold weather 

 30 many of these that I had left but one quarter 

 of what I originally possessed. I increased 

 these to four good stocks, and have obtained 

 2001bs. of surplus honey in boxes, and a good 

 prospect of wintering well, the bees having a 

 sufficiency of good sealed honey. 



Seth Hoagland, Mercer, Pa., writes Nov. 10, 

 1873: 



We started last spring with five colonies, 

 which we increased to twenty, and received 

 600fbs. surplus honey. 



By 15 swarms, $15 each, - ■ - $225 00 

 " eOOlbs. comb honey @ 30c. - - 180 00 



Total, $405 00 



We realized $81 per colony. My bees are 

 Italians, kept in the Keystone and Langstroth 



movable comb' iiiVes. Our swarms were made 

 ftrtiffcially, and are all in good order for winter. 

 'White clover and silverhulled buckwheat were 

 'the principal sources from which the honey 

 was gathered. 



J. F. Brown, Winchester, Va., writes Nov. 17, 

 1873: ■ 



The past season has been rather more than an 

 average one for the bee business. I ha^., when 

 the spring opened, 20 colonies of hybrids, 

 all in good condition, except four, one being 

 in an old gum, which I transferred to a Lang- 

 stroth in May. I increased my twenty colonies 

 to twenty-seven by dividing. I have taken off 

 and sold l,1771bs. net of comb, and 335R)S. ex- 

 tracted honey, and have reserved for next 

 spring's feeding lOOffis. extracted. I do not 

 expect to need this for that purpose, but will 

 keep it, in case of an emergency. The 4351bs. 

 extracted honey, and 44 nice straight combs, 

 were taken from four hives ; the combs are now 

 all empty, waiting for next season. Of 

 course, this doesn't compare with the suc- 

 cess of many of our honey raisers, but I think 

 it is doing pretty well for me, considering that 

 all the attention my bees got during the season 

 was about a half-hour that I would take from 

 business three times a day at each meal. My 

 27 stands are now in good order for wintering. 



Leonidas Carson, Frederick, Mahoning Co., 

 Ohio, writes Nov. 1, 1873: 



The winters of '71 and '72 were a death-blow 

 to many beekeepers, Italians faring no better 

 than black bees. The past season was very 

 poor for the apiary in this location, Italians 

 doing much better than black bees. I have one 

 colony of Italians that I have taken forty 

 pounds nice box honey from, also made one 

 artificial colony from which I have taken 

 twelve pounds comb honey. Both colonies all 

 in good, strong, healthy condition. I doubled 

 my colonies this season, all in very good condi- 

 tion ; while the black bees in this part of the 

 country cast but few swarms that cannot win- 

 ter, some of which are now dead. A season 

 like the past must convince beekeepers of the 

 superiority of the Italian bee, but some of the 

 old fogies are so bigoted that they will not see 

 it. One man even went so far as to say that 

 the Italian bee was the cause of the black bee 

 running out, but the trouble is. our beekeepers 

 are not posted in regard to beekeeping, the 

 old let-alone plan not answering any more. A 

 great many beekeepers have yet to learn that 

 bees must be cared for like any other stock, to 

 pay ; and the only way for that class to do, is 

 to read up, by taking some good bee journal. 

 »-• 



As early as 1765, a premium of £200 was 

 offered in England to beekeepent who would 

 obtain from their own stocks, lOlbs. of clear 

 wax, and at the same time jireserve the bees, 

 and leave enough stores to winter them. 



