THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



191 



self and give away to my neighbors for the 

 benefit of my bees; also tulip trees. If 

 Mrs. Tapper likes a portico to her hives, 

 I vk'ish she would try my adjustable por- 

 tico, it works like a charm and there is 

 no patent on it. It can be made for 15cts. 

 or less, and fits any hive." 



R. B.\C0N, Verona, N. Y., writes: — 

 "Bees in this vicinity have wintered 

 badly. Some bee men have lost all they 

 had. I could have made as good a report 

 on mine, on the 6th of April, as many 

 others did at that time; but^ since then I 

 have lost heavily. I put into my bee- 

 house, last fall, 128 stocks. Some, no 

 doubt, were not perfect or fit foi- winter- 

 ing; but I had not time to select them. 

 On the 1st of April, I had lost three 

 stocks, but after that they had dwindled 

 down to 87 stocks, and some of those were 

 weak. This spring, with me and many 

 other bee men, has been much worse than 

 this winter. I fear the bees are so reduced 

 and the season so far spent, that there will 

 not be much of a honey crop this season. 

 I see some report that they have given 

 their bees large quantities of meal. I 

 think that is wrong. Does it not stand to 

 reason that more than they want for pres- 

 ent use tends to shorten up the room for 

 brood, and does more harm than good ? 

 I hear many complain that their bees go 

 to the woods in swarming time. I would 

 say to such, if they will give their bees 

 good clean hives and shade them well 

 from the sun, they will have none of this 

 trouble. Hives should be kept in a cool 

 place before the bees are put in them." 



W. PoRTEK, Fairfield, Wis., writes: 

 " I had a plum tree blow on a hive, 

 and not wushing to destroy it, let the bees 

 swarm as they would. The first swarm 

 was secured all right ; the second swarm 

 came out and went back, another going 

 with them. The next day they came out 

 and were bound for the woods without 

 alighting, but were stopped. The next 

 day but one after, another swarm came 

 out about nine o'clock and started for the 

 wood, but were fought stubbornly for 

 about half a mile, and passing water were 

 stopped. About noon the same day an- 

 other swarm did the very same thing and 

 met the same fate. The next day another 

 came out, started the same course, but 

 being taken in time, were compelled to 

 give up the chase. Two days after this 

 another came out, and another swarm be- 

 ing out with them, they in part went to- 

 gether and stopped on a tree, but before I 

 could hive them they went the way of all 

 the others and succeeded. None of these 

 swarms were put back ; only one went in 

 to it. Five swarmed and all tried to get 

 away." 



Du. W. B. Rush, Point Coupee, La., 

 writes: "It has been a long time since I 

 wrote for the good old American Bee 



Journal. April 23d I left my native hills 

 in Pennsylvania for a warmer climate. 

 I stopped at Cincinnati, Ohio, two weeks, 

 at the suggestion of J. W. Winder. I 

 called on friend Chas. F. Muth ; he and 

 I visited Mr. J. S. Hill. We found an ex- 

 cellent apiary of 82 colonies in a condi- 

 tion that any apiarian should be proud 

 of, and as all will testify, Mr. H. is a 

 most excellent man. The next morning 

 P. M. McFabridge called on Mr. Muth 

 and the two called on Messrs. P. Curry, 

 Stevenson and Savage, and had a fine bee 

 talk. Mr. Muth is not buying as much 

 honey this year as last. Mr. Winder has 

 his apiarj'- at Lawreuceburg, Indiana, and 

 is trying to raise queens, but I think 

 queen raising north of Arkansas or South- 

 ern Tennessee, is a very expensive busi- 

 ness. In Louisiana, they can be raised 

 for $2 and tested witli more profit than at 

 $4 at the far North. Mr. Winder has 

 some queens and also Mr. Hill. I left 

 Cincinnati on May 7t.h for Louisiana. I 

 stopped off at Bowling Green, Kentucky, 

 and the outlook for bees was good — 

 plenty of fruit and clover growing. I 

 stopped at Water Valley, Miss., but it 

 seemed too sandy to do much good 

 there. I came to New Orleans, where Mr. 

 J. H. Young met me. He is quite an 

 intelligent man on bees. He has a new 

 frame that is worthy the attention of bee 

 keepers. It is the regular Langstroth 

 frame with tin supporters on the corners. 

 After 24 hours' ride oa a steamer I land- 

 ed in this parish. I met Hereford, of 

 Baton Rouge, on my way. I was the 

 guest of Mr. Chas. Parlange for two 

 weeks, and any one visiting this State for 

 bees, should not fail to call on Charley; 

 he is a gentleman and very intelligent. 

 I got one hundred colonies of black 

 bees on June 1st, and I am now waiting 

 for my machine. I will buy 100 wild 

 swarms and go into winter quarters with 

 300 good stocks. I intend to Italianize 

 all. I am delighted with the country. Mr. 

 Parlange let Mr. Webre have 65 colonies- 

 on April 1st. By June 17th they had in- 

 creased to 150 and taken 20 barrels of 

 honey. I arranged a hive for him 

 with three stories, each story con- 

 taining 9 frames— 9x17. The first three 

 weeks of June he took 18 gallons of 

 honey from it." 



A Plant Destructive to Bees. — The 

 large podded milk weed, almost invari- 

 ably causes the death of every bee alight- 

 ing upon it. The bee either adheres to 

 the plant or else bears away a small scale 

 sticking to its feet, and cripples itself 

 fatally in attemi)ting to remove the an- 

 noyance. — Agricultural Report. 



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