THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



49 



right aud were my best hives last season. 

 It has not been a very good season here ; 

 the most of mv honey was gathered from 

 tlie golden-rod. I had ;5,100 fts of box 

 honey in two fc bo.xes and 1,000 fts ex- 

 tracted taken from partly tilled boxes. By 

 using one-comb boxes, I can extract all 

 my partly filled boxes, aud save the 

 combs, but if I had boxes with two or 

 three combs and partly filled, I would 

 have to let the honey remain. . I can get 

 more honey in two tt> boxes than in larger 

 ones. Still it makes a great deal more 

 work to get honey in small boxes than in 

 large. I box my hives on the back of 

 frames and on top. I can get the bees 

 to work in the back boxes tie same as on 

 top. Bknj. Franklin. 



Len.\wee Co., Mich. — Dec. 24, 1875. - 

 " 2,000 tt) of box honey all sold at 20c 

 to 25c per lb. This is my crop for 1875." 

 J. F. Temple. 



Henry Co., Ind., Dec. 27, 1875.—" I see 

 from the reports sent to you that there was 

 a very poor honey harvest in nearly all 

 parts of the country. Siill the markets 

 are better supplied with extracted honey 

 (sugar syrup) than in any previous year, 

 and prices for comb aud extracted honey 

 range lower than for many seasons past, 

 thus pToving it to have been a good sea- 

 son for sugar at least. One needs now 

 only one dozen swarms of bees to obtain 

 as many tons of honey. It is not only 

 disgusting, but actually discouraging, to 

 all honest bee-keepers to see the markets 

 flooded with tiie so-called 'Extracted 

 Honey,' when the reports from all parts 

 of the country show a very light harvest. 

 If we have to resort to deception and 

 fraud to make money out of our bees, we 

 had better retire from the business. Ex- 

 tracted honej^ is a failure, and belongs to 

 Mr. Judd's columns of humbugs. 



" The outlook in bee-keeping is anything 

 but flattering at this time. The only hope- 

 ful indications are that the people will 

 soon see the deceptions and frauds prac- 

 ticed upon them by bee-keepers and honey 

 dealers, and refuse to take a pound of 

 their so-called ' Extracted Honey ' at any 

 price. All the space in the Journal now 

 taken up in discussing the merits of Ex- 

 tractors and Hives adapted to the use of 

 them, might be more profitably employed 

 in giving directions for obtaining box 

 honey in quantity and good shape for 

 market. 



" From one strong stock of pure Italian 

 bees, I last year (1874) obtained 84 lbs of 

 box honey and two swarms of bees. The 

 first swarm stored 12 lbs of honey in 

 boxes. I use the two-story Langstroth 

 hive of the form used and sold by Chas. 

 F. Muth, of Cincinnati, Ohio. These 

 hives contain three boxes or cases in- the 

 upper story, each case holding 8 small 

 frames, holding, when full, 1^/^ lbs honey 



each. Tiic only assistance the bees re- 

 ceived from me was three or four pieces 

 of drone comb taken from another hive 

 aud fastened in the small frames above, to 

 give the bees a start. My otiier hives 

 with ordina.iy boxes gave not more than 

 half the quantity of honey." B. Y. T. 



DeKalb Co., III.— Jan. 13, 1876.— 

 "Mr. Newman: The splendid Chromo 

 came to hand duly, and is admired by all 

 who see it." A. Stiles. 



Desha Co., Ark.— Jan. 8, 1876.— " I 

 commenced last spring with five stands of 

 black bees; increased to 20; took near 700 

 lbs. of box honey ; sold surplus at 25 cents 

 per lb. I am a beginner, and have never 

 seen an extractor. The woods are full of 

 wild bees ; they never freeze to death here. 

 We have linn, red sumac, white clover 

 and catnip; besides thousands of flowers 

 all over the woods of difi"erent kinds, from 

 which the bees gather honey. Some of 

 our brother bee-keepers, who think of go- 

 ing to California, had better look at this 

 country before going there. This country 

 is especially well adapted to bees and 

 fruits, the lands are very rich and cheap. 

 What we need is men of experience in 

 bee culture. The winter so far has been 

 very mild; bees have worked almost every 

 day. Turnips were in bloom last month. 

 The American Bee Journal is a great 

 help to me." John Hugh McDowell. 



Hastings Co., Ont.— Dec. 23, 1875.— 

 " Last spring I commenced with 59 hives, 

 nearly all Italians. I have taken 5,750 

 lbs of extracted honey, and have increased 

 to 100; I have 99 in winter quarters. One 

 lost its queen, and I united it with another. 

 I use the Thomas hive; some are very 

 large, having 20 frames; the 16 frame 

 hives are just as good. ,1 extracted all 

 the clover and basswood honey, and let 

 them fill up with buckwheat honey, and 

 then I divided them and gave each hive a 

 queen. Let me tell you what one of my 

 large hives did in ten days during bass- 

 wood bloom : On July 23, I extracted all 

 the honey, 45 lbs. On the 24th, it gained 

 241^ lbs; on the 25th, 30 lbs; on the 26th, 

 123>|i1jS; on the 27th, I extracted 66 lbs. 

 That was a windy day, and it gained only 

 51/^ lbs. On the 28th it gained 38 lbs; and 

 on the 29th, 22 lbs. On the 30th I ex- 

 tracted 70 lbs, and the same day it gained 

 171^ lbs ; on the 31st it gained 17 lbs ; Aug. 

 1st, it gained 4Klb3. Total in 10 days. 

 1713^ lbs. Ihadlton platform scales all 

 the time, and weighed it every morning. 

 W.'C. Wells. 



Sherman, Texas.— Nov. 6, 1875.— "I 

 lost 7 out of 14 colonies last winter; they 

 have increased bj' natural and artificial 

 division to 21. I had seven very weak ones 

 in April. Cold, bleak winds kept them 

 back until late. I got about 60 lbs. of 

 honey and a plenty for winter. Our best 

 honey plants are china (a wild tree), 



