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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



IIenky Co., Ind.— June 20, 1876.— 

 "Bees are doing well in this section. I 

 have 48 colonies of Italians, in good con- 

 dition." W. N. Nicholson. 



Clinton Co., Mich.— June 21, 1876.— 

 "I wintered 34 stocks of Italians in my 

 cellar They came out in good condition ; 

 have 47 now, doing well ; prospect is good 

 for a large yield of honey.'" 



Ira J. Andrews. 



Tioga Co., Pa,— June 14, 1876 —" I was 

 much pleased with R. M. Argo's article in 

 the June number, and shall adopt his rule 

 with my bees, viz. : " Paj' as you go," and 

 tliey shall pay for The Bee Journal 

 first, for I desire its monthly visits con- 

 tinued. I have been a subscriber ever 

 since Mr. Wagner first became its editor, 

 and without meaning any reflection on 

 past administrations, I must say that I 

 consider it in the best hands now. Accept 

 my best wishes for its success." 



John Atkinson. 



Albemarle Co., Va. — June 19, 1876. — 

 " I have fifty-five colonies — mostly good 

 ones — and am directing attention mainly 

 to box honey. I use simplicity Lang- 

 stroth hives." J. W. Porter. 



Malvern, Iowa.— June 12, 1676.- "In 

 Dec, 1874, I bought five colonies at $20 

 each; all but one died in wintering. In 

 the spring I got two more. I got four 

 natural and six artificial swarms. Last 

 fall I put 14 swarms into the cellar after 

 having taken 256 lbs of honey from them. 

 Ten came out in good condition this 

 spring. One I tliink was queenless and 

 three starved. Though March I fed them 

 all, and until about the middle of April. 

 On May 10 I had two natural swarms and 

 the best one left for parts unknown, the 

 next day. I have 14 now, and intend to 

 have 80 this fall. My pets are more 

 peaceable than when I first got them. 



W. K. Follett. 



[Isn't the difference in your handling 

 them, rather than in the disposition of 

 the bees?— Ed.] 



Atlanta, Ga., May 81, 1876, 

 Capt. J. A. Crawford was stung on the 

 finger some two years agf), and came near 

 dying from the etfects of it, medical aid 

 being called in to save his life. Tliis time 

 the doctor's skill was bafiled. He was 

 stung on the forehead May 24, 1876, and 

 died in two hours. P. Windsor Smith. 



[Wm. G. Walton, Hamilton, Ont., also 

 sends us a notice of the above case, and 

 asks if we hear of many such cases. We 

 think this is the first of the kind ever re- 

 ported to the A. B. J.— Ed.] 



Il0tjes Sc ^vtcrxjes. 



Sun bleached beeswax comb foun- 

 dation, is not fit to put into honey boxes, 

 especially not to fill them with it. The sun 

 gives the wax an undesirable flavor, which 

 is readily noticed after the cells are 

 lengthened and filled with honey. I send 

 you some comb that has been built from 

 Long's foundation. S. Ruggles. 



The samples received were handsome 

 and white, except the yellow color gotten 

 from the bees, particularly when the cells 

 were fully built out. The smell was all 

 right, and on testing a piece by chewing, 

 it acted like any other comb, only it had 

 somewhat of an oily taste, but not very 

 strong. On chewing a piece which had 

 been scarcely touched by the bees, a very 

 little chewing sufficed to separate it into 

 fine particles, very white, having none of 

 the adhesiveness of beeswax but looking 

 more like ice cream. The prolongation 

 of the cells was of course the same as the 

 bees always build, but what was the arti- 

 ficial part? Either it was not beeswax at 

 all, (and we are inclined to this opinion) 

 or it was utterly changed in texture. We 

 do not think bleaching wax in the sun 

 would so change it. 



We certainly should not want to use 

 such foundation in surplus boxes, even 

 small pieces as starters. If such founda- 

 tion as this is to be used, we certainly 

 agree with B. K. M., that it should be 

 used only in the brood chamber, and in- 

 deed we doubt if we want it there. 



How much should be cutoff in cutting 

 queens, wings? Have 47 swarms; lost 

 one in wintering by starving, and three 

 since. Some are weak still. Is melilot 

 and sweet clover the same ? 



Naperville, Ills. C. Kendig. 



A queen has, like other bees, two wings 

 on each side; clipping off one of the 

 four will answer all purposes, but it may 

 happen to be easier to clip off at one 

 stroke a jiart of the whole four wings, in 

 wliich case from one-fourth to nearly all 

 may be taken ott". Some adopt a system 

 of marking a queen's age by clipping oft' 

 one wing as soon as she begins to lay, and v 

 an additional wing for each year of her 

 age afterward. Melilot is commonly 

 called sweet-clover. 



