THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Voices from among the Hives. 



Watseka, III.— Dec. 9, 1875.—" My bees 

 went into winter quarters in good condi- 

 tion. Tliey gave me 35 to 40 per cent, 

 profit this year. That is better than year- 

 ling steers have done for me the past year." 

 T. N. Marquis. 



Waveland, IND.-Dec. 20, 1875.—"! 

 have about 30 hives in good condition in 

 the cellar. They are Italians and hybrids, 

 and I am patiently waiting, in good 

 spirits till spring, and liope for a good 

 season." Isaac Sharp. 



KosEviLLE, III.— Dec. 17 1875.—" We 

 had 48 colonies which wo fed from apple 

 blossom time till the first of August, in- 

 creased to 63, making only 15 swarms 

 from 48. They galliered quite well from 

 buckwheat for a few days, and then wet, 

 cold weather set in, and we got scarcely 

 nothing from any other source. We took 

 nearly all the honey from the bees and fed 

 them sugar syrup for their winter sup- 

 plies. In all we got about 1,500 pounds 

 of honey, and fed during the summer and 

 fall about 220 or 225 dollars' worth of 

 sugar, but our bees go into winter quar- 

 ters in splendid condition, never better. 

 We had about 9 acres of buckwheat which 

 we cut with a reaper and thrashed with 

 a thrashing machine, which gave us 137 

 bushels of grain. We realized from the 

 flour about $1.00 per bushel, which paid 

 me this year better than other grain." 



L. C. AXTELL. 



Buffalo, N. Y.— Dec. 20, 1875.—" I 

 commenced last spring with 10 colonies, 

 one queenless, and they have given me 

 21 new colonies, and 105 six-pound boxes 

 of honey, and 120 nearly full. Some 

 were full but not capped over, and otliers 

 had two cards full, and I could have got 

 much more honey if I had been able to use 

 the Extractor or have taken care of them. 

 My health has been so poor the past few 

 years that I could not see to them, but I 

 am satisfied with what they have done, 

 and while I have strength to walk to my 

 apiary, and am able to read. I must have 

 my bees and Bee Journal." 



Mrs. William Harris. 



Lafayette Co., Mo. — Dec. 14, 1875. — 

 " I Lave about 100 stocks (made up of 

 Italian, hybrids, and blacks;. The latter 

 have acquitted themselves equally as well, 

 or better than the yellow and mixed bees 

 this season. Have taken from 80 strong 

 stocks, mostly in small glass boxes, some- 

 thing over 5,300 pounds comb honey, or 

 about 67 pounds to the hive — balance of 

 the hives average considerably less — don't 

 bother with strained or extracted honey. 



"June swarming not equal to last season ; 

 smart-weed and other plants very rich in 

 August — swarming then nearly equal to 

 June — use chiefly the American hive. 



Practice mostly natural swarming; hive 

 the swarm in common box ; place same by 

 the side of the original hive, and inside 

 of four days cut out queen cells and re- 

 turn the swarm. 



" This method has its objections and dif- 

 ficulties, which every practiced bee-man- 

 ager knows, but having orchards, farm, 

 etc., on hand, such suits me best. 



" Pack and ship in November, and sell 

 at current rates — the price ranging from 

 20 to 30 cents, according to grade and 

 season. 



" This is not considered a fine honey pro- 

 ducing section. The general average not 

 being up to the present season." 



Alsike. 



Columbiana Co., O.— Dec. 12, 1875.— 

 " I have been keeping bees for over twenty 

 years with moderate success, the prin- 

 cipal inducement is to supply our own 

 table with honey; hence, I have become 

 a regular reader of The American Bee 

 Journal, and got Italian bees and im- 

 proved hives. My bees generally do a 

 little more than supply our table, but this 

 season was so wet — the rain seemingly 

 washed all the sweet out of the flowers 

 before the bees could collect it, and the 

 freezing weather killing the fruit bloom 

 — that the fore part of the season was very 

 unproductive. 



" The principal sources of honey here 

 are linn and white clover; the soil has 

 been cultivated so long, and sheep raising 

 is so common, that wild flowers amount 

 to but little, except smart-weed is gener- 

 ally plentiful in the fall, and is much 

 visited by the bees. Spanish-needle is 

 plently but scarcely visited by bees." 

 Job Huestis. 



Benton Co., Mo.— Dec. 11, 1875.— "Mr. 

 Newman: I did itot tell you all of the good 

 part, in my late report. I forgot to say 

 that, in addition to 4733-^ gallons of ex- 

 tracted honey, we got 600 pounds of box 

 honey." J. W. Dick. 



Cass Co., Mo.— Dec. 14, 1875.—" There 

 are no Italian bees in this neighbor- 

 hood but mine. I have 74 stands in good 

 condition. They stored 3000 fts. in comb 

 and extracted honey from August 10 till 

 frost." PaulDunken. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y.— Dec. 16, 1875.— 

 " There is no monthly visitor more wel- 

 come at my house than the American 

 Bee Journal, As long as I am' in the 

 apiarian business it shall have my warm 

 support." H. Root. 



Williamson Co., Tenn.— Dec. 4, 1875.— 

 " I made no honey this season until about 

 3 weeks ago. I extracted some to give the 

 queens more room. There has been no 

 brood for several weeks and the brood 

 chamber is filled \<ith honey. 



" The principal honey plants here are 

 white clover, linn, and poplar for spring, 



