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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I shall have a stove iu my cellar next 

 winter to counteract the influence of those 

 terrible " north-westers." — August 2, 1875. 

 A. Boyd, Jay Co., Ind., writes: "This 

 has been a very poor season for the bee- 

 keeper in this portion of the country. It 

 has been so very wet there has been no 

 honey in the flowers, and the consequence 

 is that the bees have not as much honey 

 as they had in the spring. There has 

 been enough honey gathered to keep 

 them increasing fast enough, and we 

 have generally more than doubled our 

 stocks, but I know of no one getting any 

 surplus, and it has been wetter the past 

 week than before. If it does not get 

 more favorable for a fall honey crop than 

 it has been, there will have to be a great 

 amount of feeding done, or we shall lose 

 what bees we have the coming winter. 

 There is much buckwheat sown. So if 

 the weather is favorable for the secretion 

 of honey we expect our bees to fill up 

 without' feeding." — August 2, 1875. 



R. Miller, Crompton, 111., writes : " As 

 there was a great deal of talk about Cali- 

 fornia as a great bee country, I took the 

 time and money to go there last winter to 

 examine the honey and bee resources of 

 that far-famed countrj-. I have not seen 

 any place in California that I liked as 

 well, as I could find plenty of places here. 

 It is a poor mountainous country, very 

 dry, and of but little account unless it can 

 be irri2;ated. Water is the dearest thing 

 in all California. I saw more poor people 

 in California than in anyplace I ever saw. 

 There are only one in about 50 who have 

 any land, or anything else, and, as a rule, 

 they are very unsociable people. I have 

 a relative who went there with $1,600 and 

 in about one and a half years he lost all 

 he had. His bees got the foul brood and 

 he lost them, and is coiiiing back. There 

 are no advantages there that cannot be ob- 

 tained here. I can not do better than to 

 refer to the letter in the August number of 

 The American Bee Journal, page 181. 

 It tells the truth, about as near as can be. 

 — August 5, 1875. 



S. W. Stevens, Ridgefield, Conn., 

 writes: "The present season has been 

 the poorest for honey that I have known 

 for several years r We lost ten stocks dur- 

 ing winter and spring, and our remain- 

 ing 25 stocks have given us but 100 ttis. 

 of honey thus far; sumach is just coming 

 in bloom, and I think will give us a good 

 yield, if the weather is favorable. White 

 clover, which is our main dei)endence 

 for surplus honey, was nearlj^ all killed 

 by tlie severe winter, and tlie little that 

 survived the winter seemed to yield no 

 honey, as it was scarcely visited by the 

 bees. Our bees have been making brood 

 rapidly for a mouth past, and we are 

 hoping for an abundant yield of honey 

 from autumn flowers." — August 2, 1875. 



J. F. Brown, Winchester, Va., writes: 

 " This has been the poorest season for 

 honey raising we have had for ten years. 

 Up to this date last season I had taken 

 from 27 colonies 2,000 lbs. of box honey ; 

 but from 47 colonies this season I have 

 not taken 200 lbs. The blue-thistle, from 

 which we get our main supply of honey 

 is now about dried out. I had three of 

 my best colonies to burn up this spring — 

 the efi"ect of having my apiary spread 

 with sawdust. I never before had as 

 much trouble getting my young queens 

 fertilized. Out of 25 young queens I had 

 ten more lost on their bridal flight." — 

 July 21, 1875. 



James M. Marvin, St. Charles, 111., 

 writes: "Fruit flowers were nearly all 

 killed this year, as well as clover. The 

 late crop of clover yielded but little. The 

 linden flowers were eaten by an insect. 

 I only obtained five barrels of surplus up 

 to Aug. 2nd, when I should have had fifty, 

 for my stocks are very strong, and have 

 been in extra good condition this season. 

 The increase is thirty per cent in swarms." 

 — August 5, 1875. 



Louis Schnerr, Shrewsbury, Pa., 

 writes : " I have now fifty stands of bees. 

 I expect to get one thousand pounds of 

 honey. I commenced 3 years ago with 3 

 stocks. The weather has been very favor- 

 able here. We had honej' dew here for 

 over five weeks. Last year I bought half 

 a dozen queens, for which I paid $3.00 

 each, and now I am not able to raise pure 

 stock. The queens are very nice colored, 

 but their daughters are all imoure, and 

 black."— July 26, 1875. 



Will. M. Kellogg, Oneida, 111., writes: 

 " No honey yet this j^ear, but bees are 

 doing finely in regard to brood. Have 

 had too much wet weather; basswood did 

 nothing for us, and white clover little 

 better. We are hoping for our usual 

 honey harvest in Sept. Will have stocks 

 good and strong, if there is hone}^ for 

 them to gather." — August 6, 1875. 



I. Ingmunpson, Austin. Minn., writes: 

 " I have received from Mrs. Tupper, the 

 foundation 'comb. I consider it a perfect 

 success in every way, except the fastening, 

 which I think can be improved. I put 

 some in my glass-observing-hive, which 

 is for single frame, and find the bees 

 lengthen out the cells very readily. The 

 price, however, I think is too great to 

 use it extensively, but to cut it in inch 

 strips and use it for starting, it will be a 

 great help."— July 24, 1875. 



Charles Lohman, Cameron, Mo., 

 writes: "Black bees have about given 

 out in this part of the country, but the 

 Italians are doing finely. What I have 

 learned from The American Bee Jour- 

 nal, during the past six mouths, will 

 take me ten years to put fully into prac- 

 tice." — August 3, 1875. 



