THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and aster, smart-weed and golden-rod for 

 fall. 



"The American Bee Journal is my 

 regular text book. I should be lost with- 

 out it." Mrs. N. G. Morriss. 



Grider, Ky.— Nov. 26, 1875.— "The 

 American Bee Journal has been of great 

 help to me during the last year in giving 

 information on bee culture, and I am 

 much pleaded with it. 



" I commenced this spring with 18 

 Langstroth hives, and increased to 40; 

 Italianizing only a part, and taking no 

 honey, I could have increased to 60 colo- 

 nies. 



" Besides these at home, about 8 miles 

 from here, I bought 3 old hives which I 

 increased to 10 during the season. 



" I made a hive four feet long, some- 

 thing like a New-Idea Hive, with 6 apart- 

 ments. In each division I put a piece of 

 comb, which I had taken from the old 

 colonies. These were full of brood and 

 had a few workers clinging on. I also 

 placed another piece of surplus comb in 

 each apartment. I put in a queen which 



I had taken from the stands at home, be- 

 fore I introduced the Italian queens in 

 each division. The great increase aston- 

 ished me, and the top of the hive having 

 warped, there was communication with 

 all the divisions, and I soon discovered 

 they were killing the queens in the centre, 

 and now there are only remaining two 

 queens, one at each end, with a great 

 quantity of bees in the hive." 



J. G. Allen. 



Dodge Co., Wis.— Nov. 20, 1875.— 

 " Season wet and cold ; I commenced witli 



II stocks; sold 6 in May, leaving 5 good 

 and 3 rather weak stocks, in eight-framed 

 Langstroth hives. Increased to 24. 

 Honey season commenced in July. I 

 got 85 lbs from each stock. Sold all at 

 20@25 cents. A frost came in August, 

 and I had to feed sugar syrup to many of 

 the latest swarms to get them to cap the 

 honey over. I now have 29 stocks in a 

 cave, nearly like the one used last winter 

 — 3% feet in the ground and 3J^ above, 

 covered with earth and straw 3 feet 

 thick; it is 14x16 inside. Our main 

 plants are white clover, basswood and 

 golden rod." John H. Guenther. 



Portland, Oregon. — Nov. 18, 1875. — 

 " April 1, I had 26 swarms, 4 in movable 

 frame hives, and the rest in common ones, 

 some rather dilapidated. Our rainy 

 season lasted six weeks, and then it came 

 off vcsry hot and dry. In a month the 

 white clover was done for, and otlier pas- 

 ture was scarce. The 4 swarms in frame 

 hives increased to 7; 6 of them making 

 40 Ifes box honey each. I transferred the 

 others, and that put them back. They 

 increased to 35, but no surplus. I now 

 have 32 hives all in good condition." 

 D. D. Brigqs. 



Red Oak, Iowa.— Nov. 23, 1875.—" My 

 report for 1875 is as follows: After spring 

 sales I had on hand 33 stocks ; I took 20 of 

 them three miles from home; went to 

 them once every 10 days and cut out the 

 queen cells to keep them from swarming; 

 they gave me 800 lbs. box honey and I in- 

 creased them to 46 ; the 13 I kept at home 

 I increased to 66, but in preparing them 

 for winter I found some of them deficient 

 in honey, so I broke up and united 19, 

 which left me 47 in my home apiary. 



" I now have 93 stocks in splendid con- 

 dition for winter, put them into my cellar 

 Nov. 20; the 18th was very warm for the 

 season, they had a good fly. 



" Linn blossoms produced no hon(y 

 this year. My bees gathered only enough 

 to supply their brood until after Aug. 10. 

 Our only honey source here is from full 

 flowers, principally golden-rod and 

 heart's-ease. "We have had but few fruit 

 blossoms or white clover. I would like 

 very much to have G. M. Doolittle, Capt. 

 Heiithering, R. M. Roop and others who 

 got from 1,000 to 5,000 fcs. box honey 

 this year, to give in the Journal their 

 plan of getting the bees from the boxes 

 filled with honey. I would about as soon 

 extract 1,000 lbs. as to get the bees from 

 the 1,000 lbs. of box honey. My experi- 

 ence is that fully one-twelfth of the bees 

 in boxes of lioney that is capped and 

 ready to come oft', are young bees that 

 have never left the hive. It is a job to get 

 them out; they will not leave the boxes, 

 but where a lot of boxes are piled together, 

 fully one-third of the bees will cluster to- 

 gether and stay there." E. D. Godfrey. 



ViRDEN, III. — Sept. 8, 1875. — " In the 

 September number Mr. I. Applewaito 

 speaks of a plan of hiving bees that I 

 have practiced more extensively this 

 summer than he seems to have done; in- 

 asmuch as I have frequently hived them 

 in the same manner without the queen. 

 For instance, it is no uncommon occur- 

 rence for a swarm to issue and return 

 without alighting, thus causing consider- 

 able trouble, especially if you chance to 

 be in the field, half a mile from the 

 house. Now, in order to be sure of a 

 swarm when they come out, I liave my 

 hive all ready, and if I find they arocom- 

 ing back, I move the old hive and substi- 

 tute the new one, then give them a frame 

 of comb from the old hive with a queen 

 cell on it, meantime if you find the old 

 queen on the grass, you can give her to 

 either liive you choose. I find that my 

 bees will store honey much faster in small 

 frames, placed directly over the lower 

 frames with nothing between them, or if 

 in boxes, those that have slat bottoms in- 

 stead of augur holes. I find it very con- 

 venient to keep a piece of carpet under 

 the honey board, as I can examine a hive 

 without a chisel to pry oft honey board, 

 and irritatingthe bees." S. W. Loud. 



