142 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Voices from among the Hives. 



Archibald Smith, Roswell, Ga., writes: 

 — "The season lirrc, altliough mild, has been 

 so %vet since January, that bees have hardlj' 

 got a living; notwithstanding the fruit bloom 

 was very abundant." 



John Daavson, Pontiac, Mich., writes:— 

 " This has been a poor spring for bees. 

 They wintered well enough till March, but 

 there have been many days that were just 

 warm enough for bees to fly and get lost. I 

 have known bees to gather pollen from the 

 gray willows, on the 7th and 8th of March; 

 but it was April 30th, this year, before any 

 wer(^ taken in, and we have had frosty nights 

 and cold, bleak days ever since. The buds on 

 fruit trees have hardly begun to swell yet." 



W. A. B., Bridgeport, Ct., writes:— "The 

 best thing I have ever tried for ee-stings, is 

 to first pull out the sting, and then take a 

 small tube, the end of a liollow key for in- 

 stance, and fi]uily press round the sting for a 

 short time. The reasons for its action, I 

 think, are two : first, it jiresses out the poison ; 

 second, it bruises the flesh so as to partly 

 stop its spreading. It must be done very 

 quick to do any good. I have tried it, and "a 

 good many other remedies, and this has done 

 the best." 



H. W. WixoM, Mendota, Ills., writes:— 

 " The past winter has been easy on bees, l)ut 

 the spring has been very rough. I have lost 

 nearly one-third of mine since the middle of 

 March. There lias been so much high and 

 cold wind it seemed to i^revent them from 

 breeding, and the old bees ai-e thinning out 

 very fast. Those that are left will be' very 

 weak. The case is about the same generally 

 throughout this section of country. It is 

 now raining and cool, and it is hard to tell 

 what the final result will be." 



Henky Claussen, Mishicott, Wis., writes: 

 — " My bees have wintered well. I ]Hit them 

 into the cellar Nov. 5, seventy-one in number, 

 and carried forty-two of them out April 2, 

 and the rest April S. I lost only one hive, 

 because they had nothing more to eat. Three 

 colonies lost their queens. One was an old 

 queen, but the other two were raised last 

 sinimier. My bees are all in good condition, 

 although the weather has been cold almost 

 all the time since I took them out. On A]iril 

 20 we had a snow storm; the snow was lying 

 about a foot deep, and a good deal of it is 

 lying on the ground yet (April If)). Some of 

 my colonies have brood in four, and some in 

 five frames. I hope for a good season." 



E. A. Sheldon, Independence, Iowa, 

 writes: — "My nineteen stands of bees that I 

 put in cellar "on Nov. 18, w(>re taken out April 

 17, all alive and in si)lendid condition, save 

 two that died for want of bees enough to 

 keep up natural heat. They had plenty of 

 natural stores. The seventeen that are left 

 are working at a rapid rate, bringing in both 

 honey and pollen, although no fruit trees are 

 in blossom yet. They have gathered from the 

 willow, mostly, of which we have an abund- 

 ance here. I wintered in a dry cellar, with 

 caps off, board raised, and front entrance 

 open full size. The thermometer ranged 

 from 32degs. to 40 degs., generally from 34 

 degs. to 38 degs. Occasionally I raised it to 

 50 degs. by artificial heat. They were quiet 

 all winter, and had no disease or mouldy 

 combs, are now about one-half full of brood. 

 I use the Oalhii> frame hive. I have used 

 other sizes, but like this best." 



Wm. Morris, Sidney, Iowa, writes:— "The 

 past winter has been a long one with us, but 

 rather mild, and bees seem to have consumed 

 more honey than usual. The spring is very 

 backward, and now (April 20th) the ground is 

 covered with snow. We have had two days 

 since the elm came out in bloom, that the 

 bees gathered pollen. With that exception, 

 they have been unable to get any forage, ex- 

 cept flowers fed them. I am trying to keep 

 bees, and hitherto have had reasonable suc- 

 cess, up to within the last two weeks. Since 

 that time, the conceit has gone from me, I 

 went into winter quarters, with twenty-seven 

 colonies. They were in the Champion hive, 

 part of them in the size containing eight 

 frames, and part ten. In the fall I removed 

 to the cellar twelve colonies, part in the large, 

 and part in the small hives. In February, 

 those in the cellar were all in good condition, 

 but those on their summer stands were more 

 or less aifected with the dysentery. On ex- 

 amination I found every small hive affected, 

 but no signs of dysentery in a single in- 

 stance ambng the large ones. A few warm 

 days seemed to set all right, and I was 

 pleased at having come through the winter 

 without hfsing a colony, but my rejoicing 

 was of short duration. About two weeks ago 

 the ^^'eatlu'r was pleasant, and the bees flying, 

 when to my suri)rise four colonies left their 

 hives. AVe succeeded in settling one, but the 

 other three went " where the woodbine twin- 

 eth." I examined the deserted hives, and 

 found all nice and clean, and plenty of honey- 

 brood and eggs. It is a mystery to me what 

 caused it. At first I feared that it was caused 

 by having previously examined them to see 

 if all was right, but my neighbors sufl:'ered 

 loss in the same manner. They had a large 

 colony in a hive, which came out and settled 

 on a tree. They knocked tiie hive to pieces 

 and transferred the cond) with what honey 

 they could save, to a movable comb hive, and 

 then hived the bees in it. They went to work 

 immediately, as if nothing had happened. 

 The remaining honey in the hive weighed 40 

 lbs. So neither disturbance nor want of 

 honey could be the real cause. Now what I 

 desire to know is: Are large hives less liable 

 to be affected with dyseiitery, than small 

 ones ? And what is the cause of bees leav- 

 ing their hives, stores and brood, as ours have 

 done ? Can some of your nmnerous corres- 

 pondents give the desired information ? " 



D. D. Palmer, Eliza, 111., wTites :— Wish- 

 ing to in-ocure a basket-full of new chips, I left 

 New Boston at 4 p. m. April l(i, in a covered 

 buggy drawn by the iron horse and reached 

 Keokuk at 9 : 1.5 p. m., crossed the Mississipj)i 

 on the iron bridge, and on awaking next 

 morning I found myself at Hamilton, III., 

 and within about two miles (bee-line) of Ch. 

 Dadant and Son. According to directions I 

 followed up the creek, occasionally stop})ing 

 to view nature's works, which in this place is 

 grand and )ucturesque, till I came to a town 

 composed of bee-hives of various colors and 

 arranged in rows under the shade of a natxu'al 

 grove. At the upjier end of Main Street and 

 near to the above mentioned town is the resi- 

 dence of the i)roprietor ; to which I hastened 

 my stei>s and found myself in time for break- 

 fast. BtM's and bee-keepers was the topic of 

 conversation during which I was shown 

 photographs of a few apiaries and of many 

 euuuent bee men of Eurojie and America, 

 besides an endless nuudx'r of circulars of 

 bees and hives. Every letter and circular 

 receiv(Ml finds its appropriate place for pre- 

 servation. 



I have formerlv thought, when reading an 



