242 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



like result. It was then determined by one 

 of the proprietors, who was present^ to at 

 once dispatch her. As she was a line look- 

 ing queen we interceded in her behalf, 

 when she was turned over to us. We at 

 once placed her in an ordinary sized queen 

 cage, with a single Italian drone, and placed 

 the cage on the top of the frames in a 

 queenless hive. Next morning, on examin- 

 ing the cage, we found the drone dead. 

 We then liberated the queen, and in about 

 four days she commenced laying, and is 

 now a prolific queen, raising brood abun- 

 dantly. Now, the query is, did she become 

 fertile in the cage or in the hive?— for she 

 cannot fly. The proof is clear to us that it 

 took place in the cage, or in the hive, and if 

 so there is no doubt in our mind but what 

 fertilization can be accomplished in con- 

 finement. N. Levering. 



®nv getter lo3f. 



La Salle Co., Ill,, Aug. 4, 1875.— "My bees 

 are now at work on catnip." 



H. L. Brush. 



Bonham. Texas, July 25, 1876.—" Bees in 

 Northern Texas have done very poorly this 

 season. Too much rain." 



L. M. LlNDLEY. 



Grant Co., Wis., Aug. 4, 187(3.— "The 

 honey crop has been very poor here for 

 white honey. There is a great amount of 

 white clover, but it seems to yield no honey, 

 and the basswood blossoms were an entire 

 failure. Fall flowers and buckwheat are in 

 full bloom here now, and promise a fair 

 crop of.honey." B. Kronshage. 



Henry Co., Iowa, July 24, 1876.— "Bees 

 are doing well. Some have made as much 

 as 100 lbs. of box and small frame honey to 

 the stand, but strange to say that nine- 

 tenths of them swarmed without starting 

 queen cells. I think we had the Centennial 

 swarm, as we had six of them come out at 

 one time and all go together, one of them 

 had an imported (jueen. We have had 42 

 natural swarms and saved all except one — 

 it took Horace Greely's advice and went 

 west." John A. Thomas. 



Lucas Co., Ohio.— "On the Bay, July 24, 

 1876, I saw a king bird catch several bees. 

 I shot him at 5 p. m., and send you with 

 this the contents of his craw. On the 26th 

 I shot another, send you also the contents 

 of his craw. If they come to you as 1 put 

 them in tliis letter, you will find two worker 

 bees and two drones. They ai)pear to have 

 been swollowed whole. The bird is very 

 destructive on bees. I have killed twelve 

 this season; two of them were catching 

 bees on the flowers at least 80 rods from any 

 hive, on what some call the tony burr— the 

 best honey plant from the last week of May 

 to the middle of June that grows about 

 here. Norton Case. 



[There might be some doubt about the 

 first named mass being the renuiins of bees, 

 but in the second case we think there can 

 be no question about there being four bees 

 among the mangled parts.— Ed.] 



Jefferson, Wis., July 31, 1876.— "Bees are 

 doing poorly here. They will scarcely 

 gather enough to winter on, if August does, 

 not make any better results. Buckwheat 

 may do something; though there is but lit- 

 tle raised here. I fear I shall not get an 

 ounce of surplus. I enclose a bee that the 

 bees have thrown out of the hive this even- 

 ing. Its feet are very peculiar. What is 

 the matter with it? Wm. Wolff. 



[The feet have attached to them little yel- 

 low particles that have sometimes been 

 mistaken for insects. These attachments 

 have been got from the milk weed on which 

 the bee has been working, and when its 

 feet are so clogged that it can no longer 

 climb in the hive, it is driven out. But few 

 bees are ever lost by it.— Ed.] 



Knox Co., 111., July 27, 1876,— "Bees have 

 done well here all summer until last week, 

 and even now the strong stocks are putting 

 in some surplus. I had 9 stocks in spring 

 and now have 2.3, besides selling two, and 

 have taken 300 lbs. of extracted honey. The 

 comb foundation warrants all you said in 

 regard to it. I have a lot of it now with 

 capped honey for about 3 inches at top and 

 thelbalance is capped brood, and straight as 

 a board, but you should give some direc- 

 tions far i)utting it in. A frame must not 

 be filled with it, out leave about one inch at 

 each side and use it only 6 or 8 inches deep, 

 as it seems to draw down by weight of bees 

 and also spreads laterally. We cannot say 

 too much in its praise and I think it worth 

 to bee-keepers $3 or ?4 per ft., rather than 

 let bees build all new. I had some of the 

 foundation with brood in (that is, eggs) 24 

 to 48 hours after inserting it. I shall have 

 to send you another order soon, as I shall 

 need some more yet." I. W. Cramer. 



Coshocton Co., Ohio., July 26, 1876.— I 

 owned bees ever since I was a little boy (I 

 am now 54), all I knew about them was to 

 brimstone them. I learned that from my 

 father. I have two stands yet, one pretty 

 good and one very weak. I was doing no- 

 thing for them and they were doing notliing 

 for me. They did not swarm this last two 

 years. Last fall an agent called with R. P. 

 Starbuck's Union Bee Hive. He wanted 

 me to buy one. I refused and told him it 

 was a humbug. He went away and finally 

 came around again and staid with me all 

 night. Persuaded me next morning to buy 

 one. That was Jan. 18, 1876. Transferred 

 the best of the two and told me a little how 

 to manage them. In two weeks the agent 

 came ai^ain with the palcntt'c. They trans- 

 ferred the other colony and told me" how to 

 feed and manage them. Mr. Starbuck ad- 

 vised me to send for The American -Bee 

 Journal. That was the first I ever heard 

 of it, so I got him to send for the Journal. 

 Mr. Starbuck told me how to make an arti- 

 ficial swarm. But I could not do it if it 

 were not for the Journal. But the JouR- 

 lielix^d me and I got it done first rate. On 

 the 8th of July I undertook to niaJve an arti- 

 fical swarm. I never saw one made, but I 

 liad a i)iei'e of the Journal in my head 

 and got it done right, so I tried the second 

 hive and lo my great surprise each one cast 

 a swarm— the first one in 12 days, the other 

 one in 13 days. Good swarms they are and 

 doing well. 1 am a tliousand times thank- 



