THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



181 



one bee-keeper where there were ten several 

 years ago, and is not this loss often greatly 

 endangered by tlie too free use of the ex- 

 tractor, often leaving hives in a starving 

 condition at the close of a good season ? 



Some of our largest raisers and shippers 

 of box honey are among those who do not 

 report their experience through the bee 

 journals. 



A few years since Capt. J. R. Ilethering- 

 ton of Cherry Valley, in tins State, sent to 

 New York market 2."), 000 pounds of box 

 honey " as reported" of his own raising. 

 The same fall Baldwin Bros., of Sandusky, 

 N. Y., shipped to the same market 10,000 

 pounds, mostly from their own apiaries, 

 although at the same time extensively en- 

 gaged in raising Italian queens for sale. 

 . I w^as informed by a commission mer- 

 chant that a firm in Steuben Co., made one 

 shipment of 5 tons. Besides these large 

 quantities there were a great many smaller 

 lots varying from 500 to 5,000 pounds 

 yielding to the producer an income of no 

 mean significance. The same course has 

 been pursued every fall since, except per- 

 haps not on quite so extensive a scale. 

 Could the managers of these apiaries be 

 induced to give their experience through 

 the columns of the bee journals, what an 

 amount of testimony would be given in 

 favor of using boxes, besides adding a 

 large amount of practical information to 

 their columns already so replete with use- 

 ful knowledge. It inatters not how large 

 may be the crop if we have our surplus in 

 suitable shaped, four-sided glass boxes, it 

 will find quick sale at good remunerative 

 prices without return or loss of barrel, as 

 box honey in this shape sells at gross 

 weight without any question, the boxes 

 often paying 100 per cent, above cost of 

 manufacture. We are well aware that 

 glass weighs heavy, yet consumers want it 

 in this shape and are willing to pay a fancy 

 price for a fancy article, and in this case it 

 pays better to let them have their own way, 

 and not be quarelling about tare on old 

 wooden boxes. The season for 1874 is 

 now at hand, and as many apiaries will be 

 run almost exclusively either for box or 

 extracted surplus, I hope at its close those 

 of us whose lives are spared will have the 

 benefit of a good many favorable reports 

 pro and con ; yet with many others I am 

 loath to believe that fancy box honey will 

 ever be supplanted by the extracted article. 

 C. R. ISIIAM. 



Peoria, Wyoming Co., N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Report from my Apiary. 



On making an cixamination of my sixty 

 odd stocks last August, I found all excei)t 

 about ten, on the verge of starvation. I 

 immediately commenced feeding, and in 

 the early part of September united so many 

 as to reduce my stocks to fifty, and then 

 fed my bees over three barrels granulated 

 sugar. Wintered on their summer stands 

 without the loss of a single one. Found 

 one this spring, queenless, which I united 

 with a weak one. My bees now, are in 

 splendid condition; good brood in all, and 

 ])lenty of stores. 



On returning home from church on yes- 

 terday, and after getting my dinner, I 

 walked out in my Ijee yard, and the first 

 thing that attracted my attention, was a 

 swarm just issuing, this one being the first 

 of the season. Was not expecting a swarm 

 so soon. I have to report the loss of hund- 

 reds of colonies in our county last winter. 

 The cause wns nothing more nor less than 

 starvation. The old idea of luck in bee- 

 keeping has with me entirely exploded. 1 

 am buying plenty of nice, empty worker 

 comb at twenty -five cents per pound. The 

 season so far has been very unpropitious 

 for the honey -gatherers. The " oldest in- 

 habitant" says we have had more rain this 

 spring than was ever known before. The 

 rains are followed by cold and cloudy days. 

 The main honey crop here is gathered 

 from wdiite clover, which is said to be (this 

 spring) unusually good. As last season 

 here was the poorest ever known, I am in 

 hopes this will be the best know^nfor years. 

 Will. Wilson. 



Bardstown, Ky., April 27, 1874. 



When a hive of bees is kept in a state of 

 alarm by the tormenting ingenuity of mis- 

 chievous boys, the time in which they 

 would be ranging over the fields in search 

 of honey and pollen, will be lost in defend- 

 ing their premises. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Queen Clipping. 



The extent to which this practice is now 

 being carried, is to my mind, truly alarm- 

 ing ; bids fair to endanger the very exist- 

 ance of the Italian race of bees, and thus, 

 if persisted in, break up bee culture as a 

 pursuit. 



I do not stop to enquire how far Gen. 

 Adair may be right or wrong in his scienti- 

 fic theories, or his opponents in opposing 

 them ; but am firmly convinced that to 

 maim anything, impairs its efficiency. 

 There are a few considerations which seem 

 to me conclusive arguments against this 

 practice. 



1st. Those from analogy. We look for 

 stout offspring from stout parents ; weak 

 from weak. We are told that fish found in 

 the Mammoth, and other caves are blind, 

 having been shut out from the light for 

 generations, — showing that the proper ex- 

 ercise of the muscles, nerves, and othei" 



