THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



221 



OJd Fort, N. C, July 21, 1876.— "Bees are 

 doing well here." IluFUS Morgan. 



Allen, Mich., July '2(), 1876.— "My bees 

 have done splendidly this season, had 4 

 swarms in the spring and have 19 now, all 

 Italians; no other on my place." 



K. SOUTH^VORTH. 



Schoharie Co., N. Y., July 12, 1876.—" My 

 bees are doing well, but I liear complaints 

 from other bee-keepers that their bees are 

 not doing what they ought to, in box honey 

 or in swarms; and tliat they are weak. 

 One man told me that he had a'capital hive 

 last season; it sent out three swarms, ajid 

 that he would not take $10 for it. I remark- 

 ed to him that if he and the old hive lived 

 until the next spring, that he would be glad 

 to accept a less otfer for it. He was posi- 

 tive that it would live over, and wouldn't 

 thank any man to offer him less than §10 

 for it. Bid alas, it went under last winter. 

 I could not prevail on him to return all 

 swarms after the first. The weather here 

 for a few days has been quite warm. 



Abm. L. Stanton. 



Carroll Co., Iowa, July 13, 1876.— "My 

 bees are doing well. I have 25 stands, some 

 Italians and some blacks. I like the Ital- 

 ians best. As to their crossness I don't see 

 much difference. I have kept bees three 

 years, and have been taking the American 

 JBee Journal during all the time; I like it 

 well, and wish it success." R. Dickson. 



Dodge Co., Wis., July 18, 1876.— "It is 

 quite a while since I last wrote. I had 

 quite a rough time this spring. I had too 

 much to take care of, as much as 20 differ- 

 ent apiaries, and 24 miles between the 

 farthest; besides I have to furnish all the 

 materials for them, so I was not out of em- 

 ployment. We don't believe in box honey 

 here. We get at the rate of I'i lbs. per day 

 now by using little frames on top, 6x17 in., 

 9 to the hive. We can't use comb honey; 

 for honey is so abundant now that we must 

 empty every 3 days. I have opened several 

 to-day and found the entii'e centre as well 

 as the side crowded with honey; now, what 

 will become of such a hive, with all boxes 

 on top ? Get the swarming fever and 

 swarm until no brood, no bees, or queen is 

 left. I also made more discoveries worth 

 telling, but I will only mention one. I am 

 particular to get nothing but pure stock, 

 and keep only pure drones. I had a queen 

 to-day that was getting ready to fly. I went 

 to the best stock, got 2.5 or more drones, put 

 them in the nucleus and watched for an 

 hour. I then opened, and to my surprise, 

 the queen was fertile. I am sure of two, 

 with both good wings. You can't dispute 

 this with me, for I watched in front. 



John H. Guentiier. 



[This rather sounds as if fertilization had 

 taken place within the hive. The ability to 

 control fertilization is very desirable, but 

 most bee-keepers have given it up as unat- 

 tainable. There have been a good many 

 reports of success but somehow it always 

 turned out that there had been some mis- 

 take in observation. We hope, however, 

 friend G. will continue his experiments.— 

 Ed.1 



Madison Co., 111.. Jul,y 21, 1876.— "In mid- 

 dle and .southern Illinois, the spring season 

 was late, but the summer came in well, and 

 has given strong increase of swarm.«!." 



Henry Bosshard. 



Hamilton, Ont., July 11, 1876.— "The Rub- 

 ber Gloves you sent me are received. I was 

 informed that bees would not sting through 

 them— but I don't want anyone to say that 

 again." J. A. Waterhouse. 



[We think it is something rare for bees to 

 sting through rubber gloves, but we think 

 most bee-keepers would consider any kind 

 of gloves a nuisance.— Ed.] 



Waterloo, Pa., July 19, 1876.— "Bees are 

 doing very well here thus far— not swarm- 

 ing much but laying by large stores of 

 honey. With Winder's Clioice Extractor in 

 use they can be made pay a large per cen- 

 tage this season. I am using the Farmer's 

 Hive, by Reynolds & Brooks, with my own 

 improvement for wintering. For extract- 

 ing and general convenience and ability, I 

 think it has no superior. I have an Italian 

 queen .5 years old, doing well. This season 

 sue has produced as many bees and as few 

 drones as any queen in my apiary of 38 

 colonies. She is unusually large and her 

 bees great workers. Can any one beat 

 that?" J. E. Kearns. 



Grand View, Ky., July 17, 1876.— I have 

 one stand that has swarmed three times. 

 While one of my young queens has plenty 

 of room, I freqiiently find two or three eggs 

 in one cell. Why is this? J. C. Stith. 



A young queen on first commencing to 

 lay sometimes works a little irregularly. 

 Whilst there may in some cases be plenty of 

 empty comb there may be only a small por- 

 tion properly taken care of by the bees, in 

 which case the queen may lay more than 

 one egg in a cell.— Ed.] 



I have 20 stands of bees, part black and 

 part Italian. I made an effort and have 

 partially succeeded in Italianizing my 

 blacks. Have met with singular experience 

 in so doing. I have not failed in one in- 

 stance to get my queens to come out of cells 

 all right, but 3 to 5 days after they hatched 

 out the queens would mysteriously disap- 

 pear. I am not mistaken in this, as the 

 colonies would again accept queen cells. I 

 have lost 20or25 queens in trying to Italian- 

 ize 15 stocks. Has any of your readers had 

 such trouble? I have triecf so far in vain to 

 learn the cause of the disappearance of my 

 fine queens." J. H. W. 



Your queens were probably lost on their 

 trip to meet the drones. A young queen on 

 her bridal trip may be caught by birds, or 

 she may enter the wrong hive on her return 

 and be killed by the bees. The latter is 

 more likely to occur if the hives are near 

 together and of the same color. Such a 

 large loss is unusual. 



Agents.— We want a good agent in every 

 section of the United States and Canada. 

 Such are invited to correspond with us. 



