112 



THE AMERICAl^ BEE JOURNAI-. 



Ijy the secretary would give the reader some 

 idea of wliere the best portions of the State 

 for bee-keeping are found, but we have not 

 deemed tliis of sufficient importance to the 

 general reader to copy it from the report. 

 M. A. O'Neil. 

 Black Jack, Kan. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My Experience. 



Mr. Adair, in his article on the wings of 

 bees, holds out the idea that to cut a queen's 

 wing is like taking away part of a man's 

 lungs. I will give you my experience dur 

 ing the last year with stocks of bees with 

 queens' wings clipped — some a little oft", 

 some half ofl', and some more than half 

 off, just as it would happen in giving a clip 

 as they would run on the comb. 



I moved twenty-four of my best stocks 

 to a large poplar grove {Uriodendron tulipi- 

 fera) on the 17th day of last May. They 

 were in two-story Langstroth hives, twenty 

 frames, ten by seventeen inches, and by 

 June 5th they were crowded and began to 

 swarm. By the 13th I had to take 1263 

 pounds of honey from them with the ma- 

 chine, except 101 pounds that was in boxes. 

 I was careful to remove all queen cells, but 

 in about eight days they were swarming 

 again, sending out enormous swarms, so 

 that on the 24th I had to take 1440 pounds 

 more honey with the machine. By this 

 time I never had stocks so strong in num- 

 bers. Now if clipped queens do that way 

 I say '■'■ clipp em "every time — Gen. Adair 

 to the contrary notwithstanding — for had 

 not these queens' wings been clipped, I per- 

 haps would have lost half of tlie bees, for 

 on the day before I went to take the last 

 honey there were eight swarms out. The 

 owner of the lot where the bees were, knew 

 nothing about taking care of bees. I had 

 them so arranged that the queens could 

 crawl back into the hives so of course the 

 swarms would go back themselves. Now 

 if any one knows of queens being injured 

 by clipping let us hear from them. 



I then moved those bees to a linwood 

 gi'ove on the 20th (except two stocks that 

 were so crowded that they smothered on 

 the way). The weather set in very wet and 

 linwood bloom was worth but little, so that 

 I only got 850 pounds of honey from that 

 source. Eight of the best of the twenty- 

 four hives had on tliree boxes each (tliat 

 would hold about sixteen pounds each) 

 from May 17 until June 13, and only had 

 101 pounds of honey, while the other six- 

 teen hives gave 1102 pounds of honey, be- 

 ing 09 pounds each, while the others only 

 gave 20 pounds in tlie comb, eacli, making 

 a diftcrence of only 49 i)ounds each in 

 favor of sluny honey. 



I have now one hundred and twenty-two 

 stocks in the bee-house. I gave them in 

 the fall about 1100 pounds of "A" coffee 

 sugar, made into syrup by putting one 

 pound of water to two pounds ©f sugar and 

 let it boil a few minutes, and feed so that 

 the bees and honey in each hive wouM 

 weigh about twenty pounds, my bee-house 

 is an upper story, inside sixteen by eighteeoi 

 feet, eight feet high, double walls filled 

 with saw-dust, the temperature has not been 

 below thirty-nine degrees Fahrenheit this, 

 winter. In tlie last twenty-three days I 

 have swept up eighteen pounds of dead 

 bees — please tell me what is the matter. 

 The summer entrance of the hives are open, 

 upper story oft", and the cover laid on the 

 lower story. The hives are piled three to 

 four hives high, in four rows, with room 

 to walk in front of each row. The temper- 

 ature has been up to fifty-five degrees, two 

 or three times for perhaps a little over a 

 day at a time, it generally stands at about 

 forty-four degrees. The room is perfect- 

 ly dark with ventilator eighteen by eighteen, 

 inches regulated at will. I enter the room 

 through a trap door in the floor. 



On April 15th my bees were reduced to 

 ninety-two in number and several very 

 weak. In the last ten days I have fed my 

 bees two hundred and eight pounds of "A"" 

 coffee sugar, and if this cold Aveather con- 

 tinues ten days longer, I will have to repeat 

 the dose, which goes to show that the 

 weight of the bees and honey in the fall 

 should be more than twenty pounds for 

 some winters. That has always been 

 enough with me, heretofore. 



Last spring I had bees in forty -four 

 hives, which gave altogether a little over 

 4,000 pounds of honey. I have sold 3,600 

 pounds of it, at an average of twenty -three 

 cents per pound. The balance we have 

 used, except about 200 pounds of bass-wood 

 honey, that was gathered in very wet 

 w^eather, and has soured a little. This I 

 will feed to a few hives when the weather 

 gets warm, and observe the ettect it will 

 produce on them. P. W. McFatrid(5E. 



Carthage, lud. 



The instinct of bees in the construction 

 of their cells has always been an object of 

 wonder to those who are capable of appre- 

 ciating it. Every cell has straight lines and 

 sharp corners ; but never does any cell pre- 

 sent its sharp corner to its neighbor's cell — 

 a soft even side to every neighbor's side. 

 Each fit to each, firm to support, and yet 

 soft in the contact. No interstices are left 

 where filth might accumulate to annoy and 

 defile. Thus let man meet man as they 

 tread the crowded path of life. Always a 

 side to your neighbor that is soft and strong. 

 No sharp corner of selfishness that will 

 pierce your brother. — Arnot. 



