664 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



thought I -would uow start to work among 

 the bees. So I went out. feeliug quite 

 brave. I walked right up. and tried to put 

 the cloth on. but. oh. you should have seen 

 those bees all come out of that hive as if 

 ready to swarm, and after me! Well. I 

 can assure you it did not tj\ke me long to 

 get into the house. 



After fighting a while with those that 

 •were bold enough to foUow me right into 

 the house. I thought I would not l^ a cow- 

 ard, but would try it again. So I started, 

 feeling not quite so brave as liefore. but 

 better fixed for a fight, having enough 

 wrappings around me. and a large overcoat 

 in my hand, thinking that if I could not 

 cover them with the hiven'over. I would 

 throw that coat over the whole business, 

 and have them in safe and comfortable 

 until Mr. Smith would i-eturn. 



Well. I did throw the coat over them, but 

 the l>ees came after me just the same as 

 before. For all that I trieii to do them 

 good. I received nothing but stings as pay : 

 and that is not all. when Mr. Smith came 

 laome I thought he would say. " How brave 

 you were, and how good to keep my pets 

 warm and comfortable:" but. instead, he 

 laughed, and went and got the coat. and. 

 to my surprise, the coat was almost covered 

 with' bees that had killed themselves by 

 stinging the coat. 



I am unerly discouraged in the l>ee-busi- 

 ness. It reminds me of religion. I thought 

 I was doing right to the bees. and. through 

 ignorance, caused myself lots of pain, and 

 their death. Many Ivlieve. and think, they 

 are living right, but through ignorance lie- 

 cause they do not study the Bible to learn 

 the right way. they cause their own and 

 others" destruction : and sometimes if you 

 want to tell them, and do them good, they 

 will do just as the bees did unto me. 



Plum City. Wis. Mk?. F. C. Smith. 



Winter Losses frora Carelessness. 



The past winter, in this locality, was one 

 that will be long remembered by bee-keep- 

 ers, on account of the heavy loss of bees. I 

 think that I am sjife in saying that 75 per 

 per cent, of the l>ees that were wintered 

 out-doors, in single-walled hives, are dead : 

 as several winters l>efore the one just past 

 have l^en very mild, and bees needed little 

 or no protection, therefore many of the 

 bee-keepers got a little careless, thinking 

 that the old-time winters were a thing of 

 the past, and now they regret the very 

 moment they alloweii such a thought to en- 

 ter their minds. I think that l^es will be 

 better careil for. for awhile, especially un- 

 til their keepers get careless, and another 

 Ivick-set that will take them several years 

 of labor to make up their loss. 



I do not consider bees the worst proi>erty 

 a man can own. therefore I protect them 

 from the cold, winter storms. It always 

 looks strange to me to see people care for a 

 hog or a sheep and let the bees shift for 

 themselves, rsow. it is right to take good 

 care of and protect our stock, but while we 

 do this, let us not forget our little friends — 

 the honev-bees. 



I wintered 11 colonies in the cellar, and 



so far (March 14th^ in splendid condition. 

 I left 14 colonies outniooi-s. of which I lost 

 4. the cause being as follows : 



Last fall I had a sale, and sold quite a 

 number of colonies. Some parties failed to 

 come after them, and those did not get any 

 protection : but the 10 colonies that have 

 wintered out-doors are in fair condition. 

 But I shall try a larger per cent, of my bees 

 in the cellar hereafter. 



If those who keep bees, if but a few colo- 

 nies, would get some good bee-paper, such 

 as the Amekicax Bee Joirxal or GUttiiings 

 in Btt-CiiUiirc. it would be a great help to 

 them. As for me. I would not think of 

 doing without a good bee-paper to read, as 

 long as I keep bees. 



Pioneer. Ohio. Cuakles E. Falkxer. 



Bees Frozen in Tennesee. 



The winter has been extremely bad here 

 in the South, freezing a large number of 

 bees to death in each colony. I did not lose 

 a colony, but a good many were queenless 

 this spring. The queens lost were all 

 blacks and hybrids, of which I had about 

 half. Tue Italians came through without 

 the loss of a single queen, the blacks being 

 in the l>est condition in the fall, so I am in- 

 clined to think the Italians will winter the 

 best here. The spring has been more favor- 

 able, and bees are breeding up faster than 

 last spring. We had a frost here on April 

 '24th ; the timber being green, the tenderest 

 vegetation was injured slightly. 



R."A. Shultz. 



Cosby, Tenn.. April 26. 1S93. 



Bee-Diarrhea — Hardy Bees. 



On page 531. Dr. Miller does not agree 

 with me about bee-diarrhea, and when he 

 disagrees with a person he does it in such a 

 pleasant way that it makes one love him 

 better. He says if the bees of which I spoke 

 could have had a flight in time, they might 

 have l^een saved. Now. all of those bees 

 were on the summer stands, and had lieen 

 all winter, and were traijsferred about I'v, 

 weeks before. They had a flight for nearly 

 every day for two or three weeks before 

 they died, it being very warm alx>ut that 

 time. They might have died of something 

 else. They had honey when I transferred 

 them, but they certainly had a terrible case 

 of the diarrhea, while all other colonies 

 were all right — all transferred about the 

 same time. 



The most of my l^es are in Illinois. 60 

 miles from here, yet I have two colonies 

 here in lK>x-hives that I got in March : one 

 has a half-inch crevice in the top. front, and 

 two sides, and the other has a hole rotted 

 out on top. 5 inches wide across the box, 

 with nothing over it. It rained and snowed 

 in on tlie combs and bees all winter, and 

 sometimes the mercury was V2 degrees l>e- 

 low zero. Now. May 1st. they are very 

 strong colonies, and at work witli a vim, 

 with a few immature bees lying at the front 

 of the hive for a month or more, which is a 



