THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



295 



© ur l^etter ^o^* 



Wayne Co., N. Y., Sept. 28, 187(5.— "I liave 

 60 stocks, and liave this year taken 000 ttjs. 

 of lioney from theui. and doubled the num- 

 ber I h'ad in the sprint;;. Tiiey are all in 

 fine order for winter. Tliis lias been a poor 

 honey season." D. M. Ketciiam. 



Breakabean, N. Y., Sept. 30, 1876.—" Last 

 fall I had 39 stocks and 700 lbs. of honey, 

 but this fall I have GO good stocks and 1,.500 

 lbs. of surplus. My l)ees are all in good 

 condition for winteiinj?." W. B. Burget. 



Dakota Co., Minn., Oct. 3, 1876.— "The 

 first part of the season was poor for bees, 

 while the latter part has been the best I 

 ever saw. I have over two tons of honey, 

 for which there is not as ready sale as last 

 year. I am selling extracted at 15c. ; comb, 

 20c. I can give vou my experience for the 

 last two years, dnring which time I have 

 lost but one swarm each year. I had 48 

 swarms last year and 76 now." W. Dyee. 



[Shall be glad to have you describe your 

 plan of wintering for The American Bee 

 Journal.— Ed.] 



Owensboro, Ky., Sept. 24, 1876.— "My bees 

 have done well this season. I have increas- 

 ed from 9 to 23 colonies; have them all in 

 two-story Langstroth hives. I use an ex- 

 tractor and hardly think 1 would keep bees 

 without one. Honey sells well here ; could 

 sell several hundred pounds at 123^ cts. in 

 large lots and 16^8 cts. in small lots; pur- 

 chaser furnishing packages. Comb honey 

 is worth 2.)c. at retail and 20c. in large lots." 

 G. M. Woodward. 



Louisa Co., Iowa, Oct. .5, 1876.— "Our bees 

 have done well; had 4 stands in the spring, 

 increased to 7; extracted 180 lbs. of honey, 

 besides some in boxes, and the hives are 

 full yet. Our bees are much stronger than 

 ever before." Mrs. A. B. Winder. 



Warren Co., 111., Oct. 6, 1876.— "Bees have 

 done splendidly here this year; giving us a 

 magnificent yield of white clover. 1 tried 

 to keep them from swarming but could not 

 wholly prevent it. I find no trouble now in 



?;etting comb honey. The secret is to get 

 he hive full of bees then make their brood 

 chamber smaller, and thus crowd them up 

 to the boxes. I found no need of extracting 

 brood combs, as they kept them nearly full 

 of brood. I have had no success with the 

 Rocky Mountain bee plant, silver hulled 

 buckwheat, lophanthus, or alsike clover. I 

 have tried them all. except the silver hulled 

 buckwheat, several times, and failed. The 

 buckwheat I sowed on a low ground, beside 

 the black, which also failed, this year." 



L. C. AXTELI.. 



Clinton Co., III., Oct. 11, 1876.— "My bees 

 have done nothing but swarm this season. 

 I shall have to double more than half of my 

 young swarms, and a good many of my old 

 swarms have not enough to carry them 

 through the winter. 1 did think they would 

 get some honey in September, but it was so 

 wet and cold, that they could fly but little." 

 C. T. Smith. 



Chautauoua Co., N. Y„ Oct. 10, 1876.—" I 

 commenced with 9 swarms; have realized 

 U2t> tt)s. surplus and 21 new swarms. They 

 have gathered ample stores for winter from 

 buckwheat and smartweed. Have wintered 

 bees successfully 4 years in chaff hives out- 

 doors." W. 11. S. Grout. 



Tompkins Co., N. Y., Oct. 12, 1876.— "It 

 has been a very poor honey season here, and 

 bees have worked very little in boxes. I 

 wintered 1.5 swarms, increased to 2.5, and 

 took 410 lbs extracted and 74 of box honey. 

 I use the Langstroth hive and have black 

 bees. We have but little good honey in this 

 vicinity. What we have is gathered mostly 

 in the fall from bone-set and buckwheat." 

 Joseph Sinton. 



Jefferson, Wis., Oct. 1.5, 1876. — "My 

 method of wintering is the same as that 

 pursued by the late Adain Grimm, of this 

 place. Where I use my straw cover, I give 

 only a little ventilation on strong stocks and 

 none for weak ones. I use strips between 

 hives. My colonies are in a poor condition 

 to winter; several are queenless, and quite 

 a number have not enough stores to winter 

 on — none have any to spare. I found one 

 hive starving to-day. It was a swarm 

 that I put in a hive full of comb, in bass- 

 wood time. Even hives not disturbed since 

 spring have not honey enough to winter on. 

 I never had as poor a season as the past has 

 been, and I shall be obliged to let my bees 

 out next season where there are not as many 

 bees kept as there are near here. All field 

 crops here have failed, more or less. I hope 

 for a better season next year." 



Wm. Wolff. 



Lima, O., Oct. 17, 1876.— "I keep bees for 

 pleasure, not tor profit, but from 24 colonies 

 I have this season taken 400 lbs. of box 

 honey besides 75 gallons of extracted." 



J. E. Richie. 



Butler Co., Pa., Oct. 6, 1876.— "As the late 

 Adam Grimm was one of the most success- 

 ful bee-keepers in wintering, can you give 

 us a description of his manner of packing 

 and ventilating for wintering in bee-house 

 or cellar? I believe much depends on the 

 manner of preparing colonies for wintering. 

 I have put mine in the cellar and bee-house 

 for the past five seasons, and have lost not 

 over two per cent. I have packed the cap 

 full of hay and ventilate in the cap." 



Jacob Patterson. 



[It was Mr. Grimm's custom to remove 

 the cover from the hives, slide the honey- 

 board % of an inch forward, or put % of an 

 inch splits on the rear end, under it, and 

 then pile the hives 4 to 6 high in rows, leav- 

 ing space to pass between them. His cellar 

 was ventilated by two pipes 4 to 6 inciies in 

 diameter— one near the bottom and the 

 other near the top of the cellar.— Ed.] 



([t^~The Rev. W. F. Clarke expects to be 

 at the Centennial Meeting. 



Jt^f" The North Missouri B. K. Associa- 

 tion will meet in MexicOj Mo., Nov. 9, 1876. 

 Communications and apiarian supplies as 

 samples will be thankfully received. 



P. P. Collier. 



