THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



271 



Ingham Co., Mich., Sept. 21, 1876.— "I 

 have a queen that insists upon laying 

 several eggs in each cell, even when there 

 is plenty of room. I have counted as many 

 as nine, and in some cells I have found 

 more than one larvae. She is very prolific 

 and her stock is a Iffrge one, having at pres- 

 ent 6 frames filled with brood." 



Gilbert Thrashkk. 



[She evidently needs more room still.— 



Ed.] 



Henderson Co., N. C, August 21, 1876.— 

 "Bees have done but little good this sum- 

 mer, either in increase or honey. Sour- 

 wood was a complete failure this year; the 

 first time I ever knew it to fail. This has 

 been a bad year for Italianizing, owing I 

 suppose to the scarcity of honey and nollen. 

 The bees gathered poison honey in May, I 

 think, from the hemlock; called by some 

 "dog nobble." The swamps in this neigh- 

 borhood are full of it." K. T. Jones. 



Sangamon Co., 111., Sept. 15, 1876.— "We 

 have an excellent fall bloom, but much of 

 the time it is too cool to gather rapidly. 

 Spanish needle is in great abundance in all 

 available localities. Smart weed very fine. 

 Just as my bees were commencing to 

 gather, a cider mill, 40 rods distant, was put 

 into operation, and I am "out" on my fall 

 expectations; for it was warm when the 

 cider mill commenced operations. I be- 

 lieve my strong stocks will now winter 

 ^OOT-ly for loss of bees— but "sich is life." 

 'his year has been very favorable for 

 stores and increase, so far as my observa- 

 tion has reached." W. W. Curnutt. 



Stanslaus Co., Cal., Sept. 14, 1876.— "Bees 

 are doing splendidly now, making honey. 

 From 28 stocks (with an increase of 30, 

 making 58) have now taken about 3,000 lbs. 

 of comb honey; if they continue as late as 

 they did two years ago, I expect a ton more. 

 I use the New Idea hive with a cap. I use 

 two sizes of frames, 10x12 and 6x12. I like 

 the low hive the best, so far; have but a 

 few of them yet. I have tried plain wax 

 sheets of various sizes and thicknesses, but 

 with no success. If any of your readers 

 wish to try them, tell them instead of glass 

 or soaped cloth as some recommend, to take 

 a thin, soft board or shingle; dress it down 

 smooth; soak in water; then dip in the 

 melted wax, then in water (cool but not too 

 cold, else it may crack), and they can get 

 nice sheets of wax." J. F. Fi.ory. 



Dubuque, Iowa, Sept. 18, 1876.— "I have 2 

 acres of a hill which is too steep to mow. I 

 want to seed it to some kind of a grass for a 

 cow and bees. What grass will be best for 

 that purpose?" E. Chambeiilix. 



[Perhaps you can hear from some one in 

 your neighborhood whether alsike would do 

 well; if so, nothing would be better. White 

 clover would be excellent and would almost 

 certainly do well. — Ed.] 



Caldwell Co., Ky., Sept. 18, 1876.—" Bees 

 are gathering honey rapidly now, but are 

 storing very slowly in boxes. They have 

 filled the lower part of the hive so full that 

 the queen has no room left to lay in." 



Mrs. V. M. Larkins. 



Plainfield, Out., Sept. 18, 1876.— "I am a 

 beginner in the bee business, having ha<l 

 only 3 years' practice. I use the Thomas 

 hive. Two years ago I put in the cellar 28 

 stocks, but only 11 survived the next sum- 

 mer. I got but one box of honey, but in- 

 creased to 19, all artificial swarms; 5 of these 

 belonged to others, leaving me but 14. Last 

 spring I had 13, one died and one was 

 queenless. I did not double them with 

 other colonies but gave them some brood 

 comb and bees as soon as the weather 

 would admit, and they raised a queen for 

 themselves. We have had just two months 

 since May for bees— June and July. July 

 was very favorable for bees; they multipli- 

 ed by the thousand. I have taken between 

 800 and 900 lbs. of extracted honey, and in- 

 creased them to 30— all in good condition for 

 winter— and one went to parts unknown. 

 My bees are all Italians ancf hybrids. I like 

 the Italians best, if for nothing less than 

 handling. The hybrids are cross and hard 

 to handle, but the blacks are. worse; for 

 when you raise a card of them, they are not 

 satisfied merely to run but they take the 

 keen jump and form themselves in a 

 string on the lower end of the card. I am 

 in favor of the Italians, both for beauty and 

 because they are so quiet. August has 

 been veiy dry, with no flowers, and our 

 bees are faring poorly now." A. Parks. 



Wenham, Mass., Sept. 16, 1876.—" The 

 season here has been rather poor for sur- 

 plus honey. The severe diougnt commenc- 

 ing in May and continuing nearly all sum- 

 mer dried up the white clover, and very 

 little honey was stored during the month of 

 June. About the 1st of August we had the 

 heaviest rains during the summer, in fact it 

 was about all we have had since the middle 

 of May. After that our bees commenced to 

 work in boxes a little. The honey was 

 gathered from a flower found in the swamps 

 called pepperwood. They worked freely 

 on this for two weeks, and the honey was 

 very nice. For the last 3 or 4 weeks the 

 bees have worked on golden-rod and a 

 flower we call the fall or wild dandelion. 

 The honey gathered from such flowers is of 

 a very poor quality and hardly fit for the 

 bees to eat. Our hives are very heavy in 

 stores and well stocked with bees. The 

 weather has been favorable for honey dews 

 —this was gathered from the elm, oak, and 

 some few other trees. The bees worked on 

 them only an hour or so in the morning, be- 

 fore the sun dried the dew from the trees. 

 Honey dealers in Boston are very cautious 

 about purchasing this season. They are ex- 

 pecting honey by the car-load from Califor- 

 nia, and intend to pay not over 20 cents per 

 lb., and won't pay over 15 cents if it can be 

 avoided. There are some honest men in 

 Boston but the most of them will compel 

 the producers to give away their products if 

 they can. If they get a man "cornered" he 

 has got to sell low. We used to get .3.5c. and 

 40c. per lb. for our honey; now the best of- 

 fer is 20c. Those fellows in Calfornia have 

 raised the deuce with us." H. Alley. 



Franklin Co., Kansas, Sept. 25, 1876.— 

 "Bees in the open prairie have not more 

 than doubled this year. Since 1st of July 

 strong colonies have stored considerable 

 honey. Still have plenty of forage and will 

 have till frost, whenever that may come." 

 Smith Talbot. 



