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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Fulton, Ills., April 17, 1876. — •■ Bees 

 have wintered well in this section, so far 

 as I have heard. Some of mine have 

 double the number of bees they had when 

 I put them into winter quarters." 



R. R. Murphy. 



Edgefield Junction, Tenn. — April 6, 

 1876. — "The winter has been disastrous to 

 all the early blooming trees and shrubs. 

 Fruit, except apples, is all killed. Straw- 

 berries and blackberries may produce a 

 crop. Bees are, of course, badly aflected 

 by the loss of all the early bloom. No 

 honey has been gathered, nor is likely to 

 be till clover, except what may come 

 from the apple bloom and poplar." 



T. F. Bingham. 



Clay Co., Iowa.— April 14, 1876.— 

 "This morning find the ground is covered 

 with a six inch snow. I dread the loss of 

 bees that will be occasioned by their 

 alighting on the snow. I have 22 stands; 

 kept them in cellar; lost four by being 

 queenless when I put them away. I am 

 completely isolated in the business, — no 

 bees in the county but mine." 



W. W. Moore. 



Saratoga Springs, N. Y. — April 16, 

 1876— "About the 1st of last March I sent 

 $1.50 to John Long, of New York, for 

 one pound of bleached, or unbleached 

 wax comb foundation, to be sent imme- 

 diately. Mr. Long received my money 

 order, but never sent any combs. Ac- 

 cording lo the price of comb foundation 

 now, my bees can make comb cheaper 

 than I can buy it." S. Ruggles. 



Cumberland Co., Maine, Feb. 4, 1876 

 — "I took 380 lbs. of hurplus from one 

 hive last season, all in glass boxes, which 

 I sold at 33 cents per lb. I fed the stock 

 early in spring to encourage early breed- 

 ing, and kept it strong all through the 

 season." Mrs. L. E. Cotton. 



Lea.man Place, Pa., April 18, 1876.— 

 " I wintered 32 colonies on their summer 

 stands, and now they are all good and 

 strong. The only protection I gave them 

 was quilts on the top of frames and cap 

 over the hives. The prospects are excel- 

 lent for a goiid honey season." 



Elias Hershey. 



Palo Alto Co., Iowa, April 18, 1876. — 

 " In this new county, bees have to depend 

 almost entirely upon wild flowers. There 

 is no clover here, but we have some bass- 

 wood and a great profusion of wild 

 prairie flowers. I put five swarms of 

 Italians in my cellar about the middle of 

 last November, and never disturbed them 

 until about the first of April. They came 

 out in fine condition, well stocked with 

 bees and Iioney. I intend to increase 

 lliem to about fifteen swarms this sum- 

 mer, and get a good supply of honey be- 

 sides." T. W. Harrison. 



Hamilton, Ont., April 30, 1876.— "I 

 had my bees all out of the cellar for a fly 

 last week. I have them in a large, dry 

 place, full size of my show-room. I 

 never saw bees in such fine order as they 

 are. Have increased almost double in 

 number since I put them in last fall. I 

 returned them same night, to remain until 

 about 5th of May, when I intend to take 

 them out of their long-resting tempera- 

 ture of just 40 degrees, from which I 

 never found it to vary a single degree for 

 almost six months. They seem to sleep 

 all the time, and have been so quiet, that 

 when I had men of forty years' experience 

 look at them, some pronounced them all 

 dead. A month ago, and in February. I 

 thought so myself, as thumping on the 

 hive would not disturb them in the least, 

 but to our surprise, they just boiled over 

 with bees when I removed the blanket. 

 The queens are all laying and plenty of 

 brood. This is my experience on 40 de- 

 grees of temperature, and I hope others, 

 wlio can do as I have done, will try this. 

 Of course I admit I have an excellent 

 place for my dear pets. As I love them 

 so much, I would share my drawing 

 room with them, did I think it better than 

 where they spent the last six months." 



W. G. Walton. 



Marshall Co.,Tenn., March 20, 1876.— 

 "Dear Sir: We are delighted with the 

 Journal; indeed regard it as indispensi- 

 ble to the success of all apiarists. I and 

 my eldest daughter are partners in this 

 most delightful business. We had last 

 spring, forty-four colonies. We extracted 

 two thousand pounds, mostly linn honey 

 of a superior quality, which netted ten 

 cents per pound, and increased to sixty- 

 five colonies. The fruit and poplar 

 blooms were all destroyed last spring by 

 the late frosts, and our bees barely made a 

 support till the linden came in, which 

 was unusually rich and abundant. We 

 use the Langstroth hive. We are very 

 anxious to try comb-honey this year. 

 Our bees have wintered very well on 

 their summer stands; have lost but two. 

 The winter has, until the past few days, 

 been remarkably mild; have had some 

 flowers almost all winter and most of the 

 fruit is in bloom. Only a few days since, 

 it seemed as if spring had come in good 

 earnest, and farmers were preparing to 

 plant; but alas, how vain are the hopes 

 of man ! Yesterday all was cheering and 

 beautiful; flowers were blossoming, birds 

 were warbling, and bees were humming, 

 as if welcoming the lovely spring weather; 

 to-day how changed. Instead of the 

 cheering sunshine, flowers and bird-song, 

 we behold mother earth shrouded in her 

 winter robes, and we hear the howling of 

 a coW norih-west wind, speaking in lan- 

 guage too plain: ' No honey now for the 

 bees; winter has came at last.'" 



W. J. Hayes. 



