T6 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Is sugar syrup as good as honey to feed 

 bees ; and if so, whatgradeof sugar is best.? 



Ella. 



We prefer su^ar to lioney, even at the 

 sam^ price. Have always used Coffee A., 

 but Mr. Dale informs us, tliat a good grade 

 of New Orleans sugar goes farther, and lie 

 prefers it, liaving fed it in quantities with 

 best results. 



Voice] from among the Hives. 



John II. Cientiiek, Theresa, Wis., 

 writes : — "Poinding my beesuneasy I gave 

 them water and by this means soon resorted 

 the hives to their quiet condition." 



A. Salishurv, whose directions for win- 

 tering bees were given last fail in the Jour- 

 nal, writes :— Out of near 2()() swarms of 

 bees I shall not loose one this winter. 50 

 are on their summer stands, the balance in- 

 do )rs. 



B. Y. Thornton, Knightstown, Ind., 

 writes :— I have received "]\Ionev in tlie 

 Apiary," advertised in the A. B. Journal, 

 and must say it is the poorest thing (the 

 nearest nothing at all) that 1 ever saw or 

 heard of on bee-culture, or any other sub- 

 ject. Two whole pages devoted to manag- 

 ing an apiary for \ni>\\t in that miscrahie lit- 

 tle 2x8 pamphlet, the balance all taken from 

 the A. B. Journal. They are certainly 

 all cheek to ask 3.") cents for such a misera- 

 ble little advertisement." 



JoHN^ J. Williams, Bachmanton, Ohio, 

 writes :— "I wish to ask a question. My 

 bees commenced dying last f<ill, in the 

 warm spell after severe cold for several 

 weeks. 1 founil many in the bottom of the 

 hive and in the cells dead, but puffed uji al- 

 most as large as a queen. If I squeeze them 

 they will pop, and the perfume is almost un- 

 "bearable. On the 22d, of Feb. it was a bright 

 day and the bees had a fly and the snow 

 looked like as though it had red paint thrown 

 on it. This is the first fly for 1) weeks. 1 

 winter on the summer stands. In the hives 

 that died there were no brood but plenty of 

 honey. I use Davidson's Patent American 

 Hive, made of pine wood. I don't know if 

 diet has anything to do with it. I hope some 

 one will be able to give me some light on it." 



J. P. Moore, Binghamton, N. Y., writes : 

 — "Bees are wintering finely here, though 

 the winter has been severe. 1 am using 

 saw-dust pillows this winter; over my bees, 

 and lik{! them much. They are made of 

 heavy old wollen carpet with 2 inches of 

 sawdust for in-doors, anil 4 inches for out- 

 doors ; use very coarse hemlock sawdust, 

 from a log saw, thoroughly kiln dried. I 

 raise u]) the pillow at any tiiiie and put my 

 hand over the cluster, and find it warm and 

 dry ; my out-doors hives an^ iiacked witli 

 about Ci iiiehes of buckwheat chaff, under- 

 neath and on all sides. Nome stocks have 

 died in the neighborliood, that were left out 

 in some hives, without any preparation for 

 winter. 1 think (hey might have been saved 

 if a portion of their honey had been taken 

 away and a quilt, a straw mat, or a sawdust 

 pillow had been put over them, and the cap 

 filled witti straw." 



J. D. M., Bichland, Wisconsin writes :— 

 "I have tiO swarms in the cellar, some in the 

 American hive. I built a liouse here about 

 2U years ago and got my bees from a tree 

 close to the house and saved them when 

 they swarmed." 



Geo. Perry, Peru, III., writes :— "I have 

 nine swarms in the cellar, put in the 2nd of 

 Jan. and thus far they seem to be (loing 

 well ; three of tiiem got uneasy and I gave 

 them a little water ; they have quieted down. 

 I am in hones to set the little prisoners free 

 in a few days." 



Miller Wilson, Meredith, Pa., writes : 

 "My repository worked like a cliarm this 

 winter. See page 20, Jan. 1ST4. Potatoes 

 would not have frozen had they been in it. 

 But fully one half of the potatoes is frozen 

 in this country. 



Although the weather has been dry I have 

 heard of no bees dying in tliis vxinity yet." 



J. W. McKinney, Camago, 111., Avrites : 

 "The same thing spoken of by C. Welling- 

 ton, in March number of "A. B. J.." was no- 

 ticed by me last Sept. Tlie bees were on 

 the bloom of the Spanishneedle. The un- 

 der part of their body was usually daubed 

 with a resinous, sticky, aromatic exudation 

 from the bloom. The bees appeared to be 

 stupilied as if badly intoxicated. 



1 noticed some in the same condition about 

 the mouth of the hives, daubed with this 

 Spanishneedle gummy pollen. 



II. E, Curry, Cincinnati, O., writes :— "1 

 have examined our hives and find them all 

 in good order ; some of them have brood in 

 three sheets, they got natural pollen one 

 day, but we have had cold weather since 

 and I am afraid it will be killed. I never 

 had our bees work on flour, as they did this 

 year; they were as crazy after "it as they 

 are at roblnng in August. We winter out of 

 doors with mats on, and on examination we 

 did not find the slightest trace of mould. 

 The thermometer stoo<l 12 degrees below 

 one day but I need not tell you we have had 

 a very severe winter." 



Chas. Sonne. Sigel, 111., writes :— "The 

 winter here in Central Illinois was proba- 

 bly as hard as almost anywhere. I wintered 

 on summer stands, 42 nives. r.> of these 

 were in hives which had straw packing on 

 top, on the l)ack and in front. Tiie sides 

 are double inch boards witii thick wool pa- 

 per in between. Of these 8 ilied, although 

 they had plenty of honey and plenty of bees. 

 The other 2;? were in liives which had straw 

 packing as above, but hail also straw pack- 

 ing of 4 ini'hes on both sides. Of these none 

 died. Query : Does this show that warm 

 packing saves bees ?" 



Moses Bailey, Wintersett. Iowa, writes: 

 — "J^ast May I had 13 colonies of bees with 

 queens and 2 without. I increased them to 

 74 colonies, took lUOU lbs. of honey (ext.) and 

 most of them had sufficient stores left to 

 winter well, but on account of several 

 queens mismatiug, i^:c-, (brood hybrids.) I 

 reduced the nuiiiber down to 42 colonies by 

 sale and uniting colonies, the 42 were set in 

 my cellar Dec. KHh, 1ST4, and a chance one 

 shows a slight indication of dysentery for a 

 few weeks past. Some colonies appeared 

 thirsty and I gave water two or three times. 

 Some" took it eagerly. Shall set them out 

 in 8 or 4 weeks if the weather warms up- 

 suflicient to do so." 



