244 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ill, but my bees will go to loss for the want 

 of care if I don't get some help, for I cannot 

 do it, and have not the money to hire it 

 done." D. H. Ogden. 



Dakota Co., Minn., July 17, 1876.— "Last 

 fall (I think about the middle of Nov.) 1 

 carried 30 swarms of bees into the cellar un- 

 der my house; or perhaps some would not 

 call it a cellar as it is only a place dug out, 

 with earth for walls. On a part of the hives 

 I had a quilt or a piece of carpet, without 

 cover, and a part with honey board, with 

 some of the holes open, always with bottom 

 holes open, and of course upward ventila- 

 tion through c^uilts or honey boards. The 

 cellar ranged ni temperature from .36 to .54 

 or 55 degrees all winter. All came out 

 strong. I let them out the 10th or 15th of 

 April, and found no mouldy combs. The 

 wniter before, I wintered 17 swarms the 

 same way and in the same place. All came 

 out strong. I have never yet been able to 

 winter bees in my cellar with the hive per- 

 fectly tight above, without mouldy combs 

 or loss ot bees. They did well here in the 

 spring. The first thing they work on is the 

 wild willow and then comes the white or 

 gray willow, which furnishes a large 

 amount of honey, but is of short duration — 

 only about one week. During white willow 

 I weighed three hives one day, the gain in 

 weight was IJ^, 2}4, and 4 lbs. Fruit blos- 

 soms closely follow the white willow. Bees 

 began to swarm the 1st of June, but it has 

 been so exceedingly dry that they have 

 gathered but little more honey from white 

 clover (our main supply here) than they 

 have used. They have gfiined some the 

 last week from sumac, and are now buey at 

 work on basswood. I sold one swarm of 

 bees in the spring, and have increased from 

 29 to 49, and lost two swarms." 



L. E. Day. 



Obin Co., Tenn., July 37, 1876.— "I send a 

 branch of a plant found in this county, that 

 the bees are very fond of. It grows to the 

 height of about 6 feet, and branches abun- 

 dantly; flowering for about six weeks. 1 

 suppose it to be valuable, but do not know a 

 name for it. I intend to save all the seed I 

 can." G. H. Bynum. 



This plant is the well known Melilot or 

 Sweet Clover {Melilotus Alba). It is con- 

 sidered by bee-keepers as one of the best 

 honey plants, yielding a very superior quali- 

 ty of honey. C. E. Bessey. 



Agr'l College, Ames, Iowa. 



Nashville, Tenn., July 22, 1876.— "I had a 

 colony of bees to swarm and when tiie time 

 came to examine for the young queen I 

 found only a few scattering eggs in the 

 combs, and a few sealed brood. Tliis brood 

 was the progeny of their young queen. I 

 also found a sealed queen cell. I then look- 

 ed for the queen but could not find her. 1 

 then closed the hive and waited until I 

 thought the queen cell was hatched. 1 then 

 examined and found the (lueen hatched and 

 the first hatched queen on the same comb, 

 and eggs and unsealed and sealed brood as 

 before. The first hatched (iiieen looked 

 sickly and moved slowly on the comb. I 

 removed her, taking her in my hand, about 

 40 yards from the hive when she got away 

 from me, flying up in the air. 1 did not 



think she would go back to the hive again 

 but would be lost. I waited 9 days before I 

 again examined, and found the same two 

 queens in the hive and brood in the same 

 stages as before. The last hatched queen 

 had not become fertile. I removed the 

 sickly queen— killed her. I then waited 10 

 days longer and examined and found plenty 

 of brood and eggs regularly placed in the 

 cells. It was not the old queen that was 

 left in the hive for I secured her with the 

 swarm. It was about 22 days after the 

 colony swarmed before I examined for the 

 young queen. I am sure that tlie second 

 young queen was the progeny of the first 

 hatched queen. Please give me your idea 

 about this colony of bees." H. W. Koop. 



[The queen was a poor one; the bees 

 knew it, and immediately set to work to 

 provide a successor. 



We had at one time a queen raised by a 

 very weak nucleus which was a long time 

 about commencing to lay. We watched 

 very closely and at last found tAvo or three 

 eggs, from one of which the bees started a 

 queen and superseded the old one. We 

 should prefer a queen. raised from a sound, 

 healthy mother.— Ed.J 



For Introducing Queens.— One drop 

 of sulphuric acid to a cubic inch of water. 

 Wet the queen with it, and then introduce. 

 I have tried it six or eight times with suc- 

 cess. T. W. Livingston. 



Ainsworth, Iowa. 



[We have introduced many queens witli 

 no precaution whatever when honey was 

 yielding plentifully, and at such times al- 

 most anything would seem to be successful. 

 Without further trial, we should hesitate to 

 trust the acid in introducing a valuable 

 queen to a colony just deprived of one at a 

 time when forage was scarce. We shall be 

 glad to hear of further trial at such a 

 season.— Ed.] 



Hamilton Co., Ind., Aug. 10, 1876.— " I 

 have been at Mr. Salisbury's on a visit. He 

 has 300 colonies of as fine Italian bees as I 

 ever saw. He demonstrates one thing 

 which my own experience corroberates— 

 that bees will pay. lie has 6,000 lbs. of 

 comb honey in a nice convenient shape for 

 market, besides having sold a large lot of 

 bees and queens. The proceeds of his 

 apiary this year will be nearly $1,500. I 

 commenced this spring with 27 colonies. 

 Have made $550. This includes the in- 

 crease, 17 colonies at $10 per colony. Have 

 cleared over $300. I commenced bee-keep- 

 ing in this country 15 years ago. I stuck 

 closely to it even when every one else had 

 quit and denounced it, and I made it a suc- 

 cess." John Rocker. 



Marshall Co., Kansas, Aug. 14, 1876.— "I 

 have received the queen you sent me and 

 am well i)leased with her. I had good suc- 

 cess in introducing. She is working finely. 

 Kansas is good for bees. My hives are 28 

 inches in length, by 12 inches wide, and 13 

 inches high. The bees have them all full." 

 E. De Lair. 



