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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



. 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. 



One Hundred Pounds Per Colony. 



I started in the spring of 1892 with 24 col- 

 onies in box-hives. I transferred them in 

 March to movable-frame hives, and for my 

 trouble I received 2,400 pounds of nice 

 honey by Oct. 1st. 



I have taken off this spring 850 pounds up 

 to date, and have a honey-flow at this 

 writing. T. W. Whkeler. 



Menardville, Tex., June 1, 1893. 



Gathering Honey Fast. 



Bees are on a big run of linden, after six 

 weeks of starvation, until no brood was in 

 one hive out of every ten, and after feeding 

 five or six hundred pounds of granulated 

 honey. I lost only a few strong colonies, 

 but had entirely empty hives at harvest 

 time. Prime swarms were hived on full 

 drawn combs the first week in April, and 

 up to the 15th ; the same had no brood up 

 to June 1st, when basswood opened, and 

 since which I have never seen bees gather 

 honey as fast, or fill with brood. Those 

 that had bees enough to do so are now full, 

 and many in the sections. I was in doubt, 

 as the bees were too old, and may not hold 

 out, or the honey-flow may continue three 

 to four weeks or more. We will see what 

 all old bees can do. 



It would be diflicult keeping up with bee- 

 keeping without the " old reliable " Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. G. W. Bistline. 



Bly, Tex., June 12, 1893. 



Packing Bees for "Winter, Etc. 



After experimenting with sealed covers 

 and upward ventilation of bee-hives for the 

 last seven winters, I have come to the con- 

 clusion that to succeessfully winter bees 

 out-doors, or on the summer stands, the 

 bees must be packed above the brood-nest 

 with some kind of jjacking material, such 

 as chaff, planer-shavings, or sawdust will 

 do. 



The fall of 1893 I packed nearly all of my 

 bees, which was 51 colonies in good condi- 

 tion witli sealed covers, with six or eight 

 inches of packing above the sealed covers, 

 to keep out the cold from above, which I 

 was sure it would do, and now for my pay 

 I have 25 empty hives with soiled and 



moldy combs. Six of the 51 colonies were 

 packed with about six inches of chaff above 

 the brood-nest, with only a cloth between 

 the packing and the frames. These were in 

 12-frame Langstroth hives, which came 

 through in good condition. 



My opinion of the two methods of pre- 

 paring bees for winter, and the result, is as 

 follows : 



Hives with sealed covers will become 

 damp and moldy, the bees will become 

 swollen up with diarrhea, and death will 

 follow, providing the bees do not get fre- 

 quent flights, but should the bees fly often, 

 they may winter well ; and, on the other 

 hand, hives that are packed above the 

 brood-nest with wheat chaff keep dry, and 

 the chaff does not get wet and soggy as 

 does clover and buckwheat chaff. 



Do bees injure fruit and grain ? A good 

 neighbor has argued that bees do injure 

 fruit-blossoms and buckwheat when in 

 bloom, and so far I have been unable to 

 convince him that he is laboring under a 

 false idea. C. A. Bunch. 



Nye, Ind., June 7, 1893. 



Watering Brood in the Non-Swarmer. 



About the " Langdon non-swarming de- 

 vice," Mr. J. M. Davis asks on page 689 how 

 the brood left in the closed hive will be 

 supplied with water. The answer might 

 be: Close the entrance of the front, but 

 have a hole bored on the back of the hive ; 

 which hole will be easily plugged when re- 

 quired. In that way the working force 

 will still go to the other hive, while the 

 young bees will be able to care for the 

 brood. " Montreal Subscriber." 



Results of Wintering in Iowa, Etc. 



Bees, on the average, are doing well in 

 this part of Iowa. White clover is just be- 

 ginning to bloom, and about half of the 

 colonies are in good condition for the 

 honey-flow from clover. We have had a 

 splendid rain, and should the weather con- 

 tinue favorable, I think this part of Iowa 

 will get a good honey-flow from prairie- 

 grass, as Mr. Wilson says that white clover 

 and linden will be nearly a failure this 

 year. 



On page 685 is a letter from Jerry Bart- 

 lett, of Audubon, Iowa. He says that he 

 was mistaken about all bees dying that 

 were left out. Out of 150 colonies left out, 

 in and around Coon Rapids, on the summer 

 stands, there were less than 10 colonies 

 alive. C. Johnson, Mr. Bartlett's neighbor, 

 had 6 or 8 colonies left out, and he told me 

 last week there w^as one left, and that was , 

 very weak. G. W. Dewey, of Bayard, Iowa, 

 had 15 colonies, and lost all. Levering 

 Bros., of Wiota, Iowa, left out 40 colonies, 

 and wrote me they had lost all but 6, one- 

 third being in chaff hives. J. Matz, of 

 Guthrie Centre, lost 15 colonies. Wm Luck- 

 inbill had a total loss. 



I left out 35, and have 7 left. I put 63 

 colonies in a cave, and took them out in the 

 spring, and found four drone-layers. I 



