THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



119 



M.D.I)., Newburgh. N.V., writes :— " I liave 

 a little to relate in tlie bee line, liaviiiij just 

 eoiniueneed the business by purciuising three 

 hives of eonnium bees, one of thcin without 

 any honey, as I soon diseoveretl. Of course 

 they had to be fed or starve. 1 determined to 

 feed candv. 



liast fall a eandy store in tliis eity was 

 ovt>rruu with honey-bees, so completely were 

 they starved out here. 1 asked them what 

 kind of candy they worked on, they showed 

 me some made in harscaUed vanilla chocolate 

 candy, that is candy made very soft and 

 tlavoi'cd witli vanilhi and covered witii choco- 

 late to kec]) it toj;cther. The bees woidd take 

 every bit of the inside out and leave nothing 

 but a mcr(> shell of chocohite. I bought some 

 and fed it to the ln'cs. they seemed verv fond 

 of it, I also put some in sugar syrup and they 

 were ixMtecfly crazy for it. It a])])ears to me 

 to be just thethingwith plain syrup making 

 it taste almost as good as honey. Would not 

 vanilla be a good thing to i)erfume the hive, 

 to give them'all one smell wlu'U uniting them 

 etc., etc '.' Has any one tried it '? 



I want a bee feeder, and getting an idea 

 from one of your corresiKJudents about a tin 

 can with end" melted otf, 1 am going to make 

 one a little dilferent. I will describe it thus : 

 Tin can. ends otf, over this tie factory muslin 

 (outside), letting it down inside to near bot- 

 tom, placed over the hole on top of the box. 

 Then fill nearly full of syrup. But you may 

 say it will run "out too fast. Well, that can be 

 easily obviated, put clean tine sand into the 

 bottom, with syrup sufHcient to regulate the 

 flow, then you have a feeder, and a perfect 

 filter also, costing less than two cents. 



J. P. MooKE, Binghampton, N. Y., writes : 

 — "I commenced the season of 1873 with 

 seventeen stocks of bees, having lost four 

 in the spring and sold one. Ten were in fair 

 condition by the 20th of ^Nlay ; the other seven 

 were much reduced, but by taking brood 

 from the strong ones, I was able to build up 

 five of the weak ones by the time honey com- 

 menced to yield. The other two I run for 

 increase and sui-plus queens, and was able by 

 feeding and using my four hives of empty 

 comb to increase the two to eight full stocks 

 and five half stocks or nuclei. Two of the 

 nuclei died in the winter, and the other three 

 are very weak (I prefer full stocks for winter), 

 and raised ten surplus (pieens. The fifteen 

 that the boxes were put on, were run entirely 

 for box honey, without increase, as we have 

 things so arranged now that when we get a 

 hive filled with brood, in time to put on boxes, 

 we can have them put all then- surplus in 

 boxes, if the (jueen is prolific, without at- 

 tempting to swarm, and without the trouble 

 of handling the brood. The product of the 

 fifteen stands thus : — 



By returns from honey shipped, 1864 



lbs. at an average ot about 27%c., ?t;498.32 



Honey sold at home, 120 ll)s. {w Ifiq., .$19.20 



Honey reserved for home use, .50 lbs. .tiiS.OO 



Total .«.52.5..52 



Or an average of about 1:5.5 lbs. (.'!i!35.00) per 

 hive. Two of my neighbors hav(^ done (luite 

 a,s well, and perhaps better. Their avm-age 

 ha,s not been c^uite as high on surjilus, l)ut 

 they have more nicrease. Bees have wintered 

 very nicely in this section, but the weather 

 is quite cold now, and snow is on the ground." 



W.M. HouTZ, Milton Cc^itre, O., writes :— 

 "My losses are heavy this spring. I say this 

 spring, because I lost no bees until after the 

 4th (if March. .Since that date I have lost 

 thirteen swarms, and am sure of losing more. 



because the weather is so cold that they can- 

 not increase any. and the clusters are so 

 small that they will not live long enough to 

 raise any brood. Out of thirty swarms put in 

 winter ((Uarters 1 think 1 will probably have 

 ten left. Ilow is that for imiirovcd hives ? I 

 \isited a bee-kee|ier that used nothing but a 

 l)ox about twelve inches s<inare and fourteen 

 inclu^s deej). lie started into tln^ winter witli 

 thirty-six swarms, and let them set on the 

 summer bench without any |irotection at all, 

 taking otf the suri>ius l)ox that sut loosely on 

 to]>. and laid on a thickness of brown paper, 

 and then laid boards tight on that, and 

 he saved every one. I was sur])rised to see 

 that he lost noiu\ whihi I lost heavily. Yet I 

 am more enthusiastic than ever this season. 

 1 am determined to make it a success in 

 wilder. We can all raise bees and get honey 

 in the summer-time to our satisfaction, but 

 winter— or ought I to say long-continued cold 

 springs ?— is the great and imiiortoiit ques- 

 tion. Well, if I had worked last fall to the 

 ideas that I had in view at that time, 1 would 

 have been a good many stocks better olT, but 

 it got too cold before I commenced, conse- 

 (luently I could not handle the bees as I knew 

 tliey should be.'' 



Francis M. Woodland, Fairfield, HI., 

 writes : — "Last spring and early summer the 

 rains w^ere so constant that the flowers se- 

 creted no honey, or at least the bees could 

 gather none in this part of south-eastern Illi- 

 nois. In consequence, the drones were killed 

 off. and the bees swarmed out to leave the 

 few drops of honey in their hives to the 

 hatching brood. Tliey then turned their at- 

 tention to the grocery stores, and bushels of 

 them were destroyed in the windows before 

 they could be relieved by feeding. On the 

 first of June they were weaker than at any 

 time in the winter, and were all poor, besides, 

 with no brood. The black bees did not re- 

 cover, but the Italians soon rallied, and be- 

 came so strong by August that they poured 

 out in large swarms to such an extent that I 

 had my hands full for more than two weeks. 

 Then the .Spanish needle bloomed and — I will 

 only say that I believe Gallup and Hosmer 

 both. Spanish needle bloom lasts ten to 

 twelve days ; does not yield as much as Liu, 

 but is of a better (luality, of the color of 

 bright gold, and very thick" My bees are now 

 in fine condition, with brood and stores, and 

 peach buds are just opening. And now I wish 

 to know if any one has a similar experience, 

 as I do not remember to have seen anything 

 written on the subject. It is this : when a 

 fertile worker was " running a hive " and a 

 card of brood and eggs were given them, I 

 have never succeeded in ])rocuring queen 

 cells on that card at the time. But always, 

 upon the introduction of a second card with 

 eggs and brood, (pieen cells were at once 

 started on it. Qiicn/: Were tlie old bees of 

 the hive too old. and the young bees from the 

 first card foo i/oinu/, to start ([ueim cells be- 

 fore the eggs weic too old ? And did the bees 

 hatched from the first card start the cells on 

 the second ? Who will answer ?" 



Abnek ,]. Pope writes: — "At the last 

 meeting of the N. A. 1>. K. ,S.. the following 

 resolution was adoi)ted : •Ilesolved, That the 

 Secretary make an ollicial report, in pamphlet 

 form, of the proceedings of our annual meet- 

 ings, as soon as he has the funds to do so.' All 

 that desire to become members and have the 

 proceedings, should send immediately their 

 names and postoftice address, and the annual 

 memberslnp fee of sl.OO, to Abner J. Pope, 

 Sec'y, ITO Park Avt'iuie. Indianaiiolis. Ind. ' 



