AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



663 



The Soldier's Grave. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY C. J. ROBINSON. 



Breathe not a whisper here : 

 The place where thou dost stand is hallowed 



ground ; 

 In silence gather near this upheaved mound- 

 Around the soldier's bier. 



Here liberty may weep. 

 And freedom pause in her unchecked career, 

 To pay the sacred tribute of a tear. 



O'er the pale warrior's sleep. 



That arm now cold in death. 

 But late on glory's field triumphant bore 

 Our country's flag ; that marble brow once 

 bore 



The victor's fadeless wreath. 



Rest, soldier, sweetly rest ; 



Affections gentle hand shall decli thy tomb 



With flowers, and chaplets of unfading bloom 



Be laid upon thy breast ! 



Richford, N. Y. 



IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTXX XXXXXXXXXXXi 



. 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. 



Wintered Without any Loss. 



My bees winteted well the past winter 

 with no loss. The first pollen they got this 

 spring was on April 3rd. We had a big 

 snow to day, and the hives are almost cov- 

 ered up with the snow, which is six inches 

 deep, on the level. G. W. Nance. 



Anthon, Iowa, AprU 26, 1893. 



Lost Only One Colony. 



The bees here are nearly all blacks, and 

 mostly in box-hives, so of course they store 

 very little honey. Mine are Italians in 

 Simplicity hives. They did not do much 

 good last season, as it was too wet. A 

 great many bees have died here the past 

 winter. I wintered IS colonies with the 

 loss of only one, on the summer stands, 

 some in cliaff hives, and others packed in 

 chaff. I could not keep bees without the 

 Bee Journal. Winchester Riokel. 



Burket, Ind.. April 25, 1893. 



No Surplus Honey Last Year. 



No surplus honey was obtained here last 

 summer. With all the best flowers in 

 bloom, I had to feed to get drones out to 

 fertilize queens. While clover, basswood 

 and Alsike were all blooming at the same 

 time, yet not a colony was in the upper 

 story. I have been reading the Bee Jour- 

 nal for 22 years ; here one writes, •' Clover 

 is all right." Which kind ? Where is the 

 clover, in his garden lot, in a pasture, or is 

 it every place ? 



Excepp Dodge and Washington counties, 

 where white clover is grown for seed, the 

 outlook for this year is that it will take 

 almost a whole train to take it to market. 

 It yields from 2 to 11 bushels per acre, and 

 sells at from f4.50 to $10 per bushel. Fully 

 a fourth part of all the soil is left with this 

 clover this year. The fields look snow- 

 white in June, till July. Alsike is crowded 

 out on account of spoiling the other seed. 

 What this will do, is not in our power to 

 foretell yet. 



What kind of bees are the most enduring 

 in this hard time ? I say of 8 Cyprian colo- 

 nies, 6 are up with bees and brood, while all 

 others seem to be losing in strength. I 

 wintered 44 colonies out of 47 the past win- 

 ter. John H. Guenther. 



Theresa, Wis., AprU 29, 1893. 



Stored but Little Surplus. 



My bees did not store much surplus honey 

 last year. Over one-half of the bees died 

 the past winter in this part of the county. 

 One of my neighbors, who has been in the 

 bee-business for a number of years, had 65 

 colonies that he thought were in good con- 

 dition for winter, but he lost all but 12 or 14 

 of them. I put in 30 colonies into the cellar, 

 and they came out all right. I lost 3 colo- 

 nies out of 10 in double-hives, that I left on 

 the summer stands. Winter before last I 

 put 43 colonies into the cellar, and lost one. 



D. B. Blair. 



New Providence, Iowa, April 24, 1893. 



Mrs. Smith Lends a Helping (?) Hand. 



I notice some reports by lady bee-keepers 

 in the -Bee Journal, and as I come pretty 

 nearly being a bee-keeper, I thought I 

 would write for the benefit of some bee- 

 keepers' wives who may know no more 

 about bees than I did. Well, what I do 

 know I have learned by experience. 



My husband has been in the bee-business 

 for four years, and has met with success so 

 far. He takes the Amsrican Bee Journal. 

 in which I often read a little, but thinking 

 there was not much to learn, I thought I 

 might assist him some. Well, yesterday 

 (April 12th) in the afternoon I had a 

 chance to try it. 



Mr. Smith carried out on the summer 

 stands a few colouies, and theu he went 

 away on business. A very hard wind came 

 up. and took the cover off from one hive, 

 also the oil-cloth. Thinking that was not a 

 very pleasant way for bees to remain, I 



