THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



119 



Sharpsburg, Texas. — April 7, 187G. — 

 "Bee Journal comes regularly. I have 

 never lost a number. Bees doing well. 

 Though everybody was not made for a bee- 

 keeper, any more than for other occupa- 

 tions, it is a business in which "pluck" 

 will tell." I see that some of your corres- 

 pondents are trying to learn the bees to 

 stay out all the time, i. e., winter out. 

 How can this be done, when the bees of 

 one winter, never see another. I have 

 never been able to learn bees anything, 

 nor learn myself, the half they know 

 about themselves. John W. Baylor. 



Caldwell Co., Ky.— April J), 1876.— 

 "My husband has 46 colonies, all in Lang- 

 stroth hives, and working finely at pres- 

 ent. We take great interest and pleasure 

 in bees, and hope for a successful and 

 prosperous year for bees, honey, and the 

 'old reliable American Bee Journal.' " 

 Mrs. V. M. Larkins. 



Putnam Co., 111. — "I started in the 

 spring of 1874 with 170 stands — mostly 

 hj'brids — in good working order. In the 

 following fall I had 285 stands and sold 

 1500 worth of honey. The winter of 1874 

 and 1875 proved to be the hardest ever 

 known in this section on bees. In the 

 spring of 1875 I had but eighty stands 

 left, and they in an enfeebled condition. 

 The season of 1875 was a very short one 

 for making honey, and I did not sell but 

 $100 worth of honey, but I came out in 

 the fall with 176 stands in good order, 

 having lost none the past winter, and they 

 are now in splendid condition, full of 

 life and activity." Otto Halbleib. 



AspiNWALL, Neb. — April 8, 1876. — ' I 

 have an excellent bee range here. I win- 

 tered my bees in an open shed, low and 

 tight on north and west, open on south- 

 east, and all have come through safe and 

 in good condition. I have ready sale for 

 all the honey I have or can get, in nice, 

 clean, smoothly finished lioney-boxes 

 weighing at from four to six tt», at prices 

 so far above extracted honey that I don't 

 want extractors." J. S. Minick. 



Dodge Co. Wis.— April 17, 1876.— "I 

 have two queens fertilized this spring, 

 March 4th and 22d. My stocks have con- 

 sumed thrice as much as last winter and 

 on an average are weaker than they were 

 then. I have lost one out of 24 bj^ star- 

 vation — our cave was not warm enough 

 toward spring." John H. Guenther. 



Natchez. Miss., April 3, 1876. — " Our 

 winter has been a very open and mild 

 one. Many fruit trees blossomed several 

 weeks earlier llian usual, and many trees 

 have been killed by late cold weather, so 

 that the prospect is a poor one for a good 

 honey season. My bees have wintered 

 well, which in fact they have never yet 

 failed to do, and are preparing for swarm- 

 ing, which begins here about the 10th of 

 April every year." Jno. R Bledsoe. 



Cuyahoga Co., O., April 14, 1876.— • I 

 have kept bees forty-seven years, and tak- 

 ing all things into consideration, have 

 been moderately successful. I have one 

 hive in which the bees or comb have not 

 been changed for thirty-seven years, and 

 they are now as good as any I have. I 

 have not been very successful witli the 

 Italians as yet, but shall try them a while 

 longer. They don't seem to be very lon^^- 

 lived, and will not stand the cold equal to 

 the blacks." C. L. Young. 



St. George, Kansas, March 6, 1876 — 

 "We have had a warm winter. I put 48 

 colonies in the cellar in January. Took 

 them out a few days since in good condi- 

 tion with the exception of two queenlcss 

 colonies. I lost several late queens List 

 fall, and think some are now queenkss. 

 I hope for a good season this year to make 

 up for my losses during the past two 

 years. Our honey plants are: willow, 

 small sorrel, wild grapes, fruit bloom, 

 sumac, linn, Indian currant, several Vfi- 

 rieties of golden rod, and buckwheat." 

 Jacob Emmons. 



Breakabeen, N. Y., March 10, 1876.— 

 "Last spring I lost 7 out of the 29 stocks 

 I put in my cellar. It was damp. I got 

 700 lbs. honey and 17 swarms last season. 

 I intend to have 70 colonies next season, 

 but shall not put them in the cellar again, 

 as I can winter them better out doors, or in 

 mynew apiary house, which I builtlastfall. 

 It is 12x14 feet." Wm. B. Burget. 



BoscoBEL, Wis., April 10, 1876.— "Last 

 November I put 53 stocks into my apiaiy 

 house; 49 were Italians, and 4 hybrids. 

 I now have 48 in good condition. The 

 winter here was rather warm for winter- 

 ing inside. March was a severe month, 

 the thermometer marking once, 9 degrees 

 below zero. April commenced quite cold 

 but on the 7th the weather moderated so 

 suddenly that I ventured to set my bees 

 on their summer stands. They have bec-n 

 working on rye meal splendidly, and to- 

 day they gathered pollen from the bluff 

 flowers, which make their appearance "ex- 

 ceedingly early. One year ago I had 27 

 stocks. I obtained 2,939 lbs. of honey, 

 mostly extracted from them ; I sold nearly 

 all of it in our home market. I think 

 there is no locality in the State that will 

 surpass the Wisconsin valley for early 

 and late forage. Plum and wild crab 

 blossoms are abundant. White clover 

 was quite plenty last year. Bass-wood is 

 very plenty and lasts two weeks. Buck- 

 wheat is raised in considerable quantities. 

 The sand prairie bordering the river is 

 covered with wild balm, and produces 

 better honey than buckwheat, and la>its 

 till the third or fourth frost comes. I am 

 not a professor or an expert, but intend to 

 give the business my whole attention, as 

 I am quite sure there is a little money 

 that will 'pan out.' " Edwin Pike. 



