THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



47 



A Dozen of the Same Ilk. 



Yesternay about a dozen bee-keepers met 

 at the house of Mr. Teiinant, about seven 

 miles uortli of Eureka. We spent the day 

 in talking bees and t(ii)ped off witii a line 

 supi)er. Wiiile we were in "eouneil asseni- 

 bleu'' in a large npjier room, tiie wives of 

 the sturdy be'e-nianipuhitors tallced bonnets 

 etc. Ac, below. 



Those present represented about 800 stocks 

 of bees, and about 15(>0() lbs. honey, of which 

 TOOO was comb and sikki cxtrai'ted. 



Nearly all doubled their stocks during the 

 season. Mr. Bardwell, of t)nu-o, got 2200 

 lbs. extracted, and n)ade no comb honey, he 

 sold most of it at :iO cents jier lb. 



Mr. Editor, this was a nioddel bee-keep- 

 er's convention, for we agreed at least on 

 one thing, and that is, that 4.5 degrees is 

 about tbe right temperature to keep bees in 

 winter. 



Our next meeting'will be held July 1st. af- 

 ter which semi-annually. No initiation, no 

 fees, no blow, but a good social time ; we 

 hope this may give others a hint. 



Berlin, Wis. ' J. D. Kkuschke. 



Voices from among the Hives. 



C. McDermot, Malone, N". Y., writes :— 

 "I wish some one would advertise cat-nip 

 seed in the Americax Bee Journal. I 

 would sow some if I could find the seed." 



A. E. KiTCHUM, New Garden, N. C, 

 writes : — "In answer to your enquiry as to 

 the number of bees kept in this State, I 

 estimate 18,000, or about an average of five 

 colonies to each keeper." 



Egbert T. Jones, Flat Eock, N. C, 

 writes : — "I would recommend all who wish 

 a hedge fence to plant the holly. It is an 

 evergreen, and in a few years vvill make a 



f:ood impenetrable fence, in good soil, from 

 he seed. The seed should be sown before 

 spring. It is difficult to transplant, unless 

 taken up with great care. 



J. M. Teller, Chandlerville, 111., 

 writes : — "I have 3<3 stands stands of bees, 

 and four are late swarms. Last smnmer 

 out of 32 stands I had 2,200 lbs. of honey in 

 the comb. Can any one beat that ? My 

 bees are nearly all Italians, never allowing 

 more than one swarm from each stand, and 

 sometimes none. The season will decide 

 about that." 



Joseph Jones, Pittsburgh, writes : "This 

 has been a poor season for Bees. Very few 

 swarms and little honey. The spring was 

 cold and backward. 1 commenced with 

 nine in the spring, all weak. Increased to 

 sixteen in fair condition for wintering. I 

 winter in a double-walled house this winter. 

 Will let you know how they come out in the 

 spring." 



H. Goodlander, Leesburg. Ind., writes: 

 — "My bees are all right, so far no signs of 

 dysentery, nor the famous "bee disease," 

 (except stocks under experiment), while my 

 neiglibors' bees are badly affected with the 

 dysentery, and I think fully one half, if not 

 more, will die pefore spring. If Mr. J. W. 

 Margrave will send me his P. O. address he 

 can have the information asked for. Some 

 one has sent me 151.00 for seed but gave 

 no name or address." 



M. VooLE, Boyne, Mich., writes:— The 

 Decend)er and .lanuary luunbers of the Bc- 

 soiirccs ofCdlifoniia contains particulars 

 about Mr. Harbison's apiaries in San Diego, 

 his crops, sales itc, with the honoring testi- 

 mony tliat our brother bee-keepers there are 

 the best settlers of the country. The edi- 

 tor says: "We are informed that the bee- 

 men alone have done more in the settlement 

 of the country of San Diego this year than 

 all other classes, and more than had been 

 done in the past five years. I long for a 

 chance to sell liere to go there." 



.John W. Wilson, California, writes ; — 

 "This seems to be the natin-al home for 

 honey bees. They do extremely well in al- 

 most any kind of box, keg, barrel, or hive, 

 for they are kept in all those things here. 

 Of late there has been considerable im- 

 provement made by a few enterprising bee 

 men in this lower country, in the mode of 

 keeping and managing bees. We started in 

 the spring with 120 stands, .50 of which were 

 weak and in the old box hive, which we 

 transferred to frame hives. The other 70 

 were in frames deeper than we wished to 

 use and we had those to cut down ; so we 

 had rather a l)ad start. Our stock increas- 

 ed naturally to oOO stands. We have taken 

 nine tons oi extracted honey and one ton of 

 comb. I took 302 lbs. of comb honey from 

 one of our early swarms, and they, made % 

 of the combs themselves. Our bees are all 

 doing well and leathering some honey now. 

 If the season eoiitinues as it has set in, we 

 will have swarming in February." 



Aaron Benedict, Bennington, O., 

 writes:— "The instinct of the bee is to void 

 its excrement only on the wing, and will 

 not do it any other way, as long as it can 

 possibly contain it; hence the advantages 

 of the box. The boards should not be less 

 than a foot wide. Place the hive in the 

 warm room near a window, and the bees 

 will take wing readily and discharge their 

 accumulated fteces— keep bees well sup- 

 plied with flower as soon as they will work 

 on it. Wheat screenings is as good as any- 

 thing. JNlany bees starve after they are 

 nearly wintered; when a little food would 

 save them. If honey is not at hand to feed, 

 take Coffee A Sugar, add soft water suffi- 

 cient to make a syrup about the consistency 

 of thin honey, bring to a boil, audit is ready 

 to feed. Take connnon glass tumblers, till 

 nearly full with syrup, tie a piece of cotton 

 cloth over them, turn bottom upwards, place 

 them immediately over the bees on the 

 frames ; or if common box hives, over holes 

 in the top, place a box, to keep out the rob- 

 bers. If bees have to be fed when it is too 

 cold for them to fly out, and void their fceces 

 make a box of suitable size to cover the 

 hives, make the box without bottom or top, 

 for the upper side, tack on wire, screening 

 or bobinett will answer; take the bees into 

 a warm room, place the box over the feed on 

 top, and let the bees have a chance to fly. 

 There must be strips of cloth or paper 

 spread over the frames, or the bees will 

 smear the tops of the frames. After the 

 bees have consumed their feed and had a 

 good fly in box let the room gradually cool, 

 and the bees will go down and cluster in the 

 hive, they should then be set out on their 

 regular stands. In the above manner I have 

 saved many colonies that otherwise would 

 have perished. Bees should not be fed with 

 liiiuicl food, unless they can fly out. 



