600 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



hive, the bee-keeper looked out for the 

 queen, and found her on the ground 

 some 25 yards oflE from the hive, in this 

 position : 



I hope to be able to show this couple 

 in natura, to visitors of the World's 

 Fair, as I have been selected as a dele- 

 gate to the Columbian Exposition for the 

 Kingdom of Prussia. H. Reepen. 



Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper witn business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



The First Swarm on May 1st. 



My " Italians, " in dovetailed hives, with 

 an outside winter-case for protection, win- 

 tered nicely, and are now in splendid con- 

 dition. Black bees in box-hives did not 

 fare so well — many died of cold and starva- 

 tion. I received my first swarm to-day — 

 May 1st — and it was a '■ dandy." As I was 

 fortunate in having the queen's wings 

 clipped, they were hived without any 

 trouble. Who can report an earlier swarm 

 in the same latitude I All my colonies 

 show indications of swarming early. The 

 Bee Journal is my most welcome tveekly 

 visitor. L. Posey. 



Torch, Ohio, May 1, 1893. 



Bees Starved with. Plenty of Honey. 



I will give a short account as to how our 

 bees have wintered in this locality. All are 

 not yet taken out of the ground, but those 

 that were left on the summer stands with- 

 out an extra amount of protection are 

 nearly all dead. Some that were wintered 

 in good chaflf hives are in good condition. 

 Those wintered in cellars are all right, with 

 a very small loss. But taking it all around, 

 there has been an unusually big loss of bees 

 the past winter, some claiming that they 

 froze to death, but I think they nearly all 

 starved, although some of them died with 



20 or 30 pounds of honey in the hive. It is 

 very easily explained. On Dec. 7th we had 

 a very heavy snow-storm here, and then it 

 set in cold, and scarcely thawed on the 

 south side of a house for nearly six weeks, 

 so it did not get warm enough for the bees 

 to move their cluster, and when they had 

 eaten the honey that they were clustered 

 on, they could not move out to get any 

 more, and starved with plenty of honey 

 within" two inches of them. A great many 

 late swarms did not have enough to carry 

 them through. Joseph Beeson. 



Casey, Iowa, April 1, 1893. 



Wintering Bees Upstairs, Etc. 



I was born and lived in Otiio until grown 

 up, when I came to where I now live, 27 

 years ago. I have tried bee-keeping a good 

 many times by cellar wintering, and lost 

 nearly all I had every year with mold. 

 Four years ago I thought I would try put- 

 ting them upstairs in a darkened room; 

 since I have kept them upstairs I have not 

 lost any that I put in with enough stores of 

 honey to keep them through the winter. 

 They always come out dry and in good con- 

 dition. I put in 22 colonies last fall. I use 

 the frame hives. I did not get a very large 

 yield of honey last year, as the spring was 

 a very late one here. I think all the bees 

 left out here the past winter have died. 



GoodeU, Iowa, Mar. 25. M. L. Wiles. 



Hard Winter on Bees. 



It has been a very hard winter on bees 

 here ; 75 per cent, of the bees have died ; 

 some have lost all they had. I have 10 col- 

 onies that I have kept for the last two 

 years, thanks to the Bee Journal. I took 

 100 pounds of honey from them last faU, 

 and I sold it all for 20 cents a pound, and 

 could have sold a good deal more if I had 

 had it, and at same price. D. R. Calef. 



De Kalb, Mo., AprU 17, 1893. 



Experiences of an Aged Bee-Keeper. 



I am 76 years old, but I have not lost my 

 interest in bees. I have kept them for 40 

 years, off and on, in box-hives. Moths 

 would get in, ants would trouble them ; 

 cold, long winters, with frost in the hives, 

 would kill them, and sometimes I would get 

 run out of bees, and then go without a few 

 years ; then I would commence again on a 

 small scale. Five years ago I had 4 colonies 

 in box-hives. I covered them over with 

 boards on the summer stands in November, 

 and closed the entrance with wire screen. 

 On April 1st I examined them, and found 

 them all dead. The hives were full of frost, 

 and the water dripping out of the entrance 

 — suffocated. 



One year ago I had another run of the 

 bee-fever, and bought 3 colonies of Carnio- 

 lans in Laugstroth hives. 1 waited for them 

 to swarm until the middle of July, but they 

 swarmed not. Then 1 made 3 more by 

 dividing, taking 4 frames from each of the 



