1894. 



THE . I Mr. HI' '. I .V BEE- KEEPER. 



78 



We are not in the leasl troubled 

 with over swarming, and last season 

 out of forty-five wintered stocks only 

 seven cast a swarm, and we took off 

 fifteen hundred lbs. of comb and five 

 hundred pf extracted clover honey. 



If excessive heat comes on raise 

 front of hive half an inch or so Cor 

 ventilation. Our location is not one 

 of the best as we have but very little 

 bass-wood or buck-wheat,and not much 

 of a fall run of flowers that yield hon- 

 ey. Yours, etc., 



Chester Belding. 



Middktovm, N. >'., May 23, 1894 



The W. T. Falconer Man'fg Co., 

 Dear Sirs : — The goods were received 

 in the finest condition. They are the 

 best I have ever had. 



Yours respectfully , 



C. R. Williams. 

 Wilmington, Dei, May 24, 1894. 



Editor American Bee-Keeper, 

 Dear Sir : — I notice in March number 

 an article on foul brood. Here, I 

 have never been troubled with it, ex- 

 cept a few cases one year when I neg- 

 lected to confine my bees during the 

 winter to the lower story, leaving the 

 openings in honey-board open. And 

 these two or three cases in 22 years, 

 were confined to weak colonies. It is 

 not contagious except from the frost 

 line. According to my limited experi- 

 ence and observation of it and same is 

 true of diarrhea as to cause and con- 

 tagion. But we have so little of either 

 here we give it no special notice. The 

 so called bee paralysis we know noth- 

 ing of here. Our bee- have come 

 through the winter with no loss ex- 

 cept from dead or played out queens. 

 They commenced getting pollen Feb- 



ruary 16th and have gathered more 

 honey than they have consumed from 

 the pines during March. The , 

 pects now are that we will have a good 

 flow tin.- season of pine honey. It i.-, 

 the pine sacharine matter extracted or 

 seperated from the turpentine, and 

 often candies in the hive in July be- 

 fore the bees get it capped over. If 

 allowed to evaporate before the bees 

 gather it, it will make sugar about as 

 white as the "A" brand, and with no 

 flavor or taste except the sugar taste. 

 But when it goes through the bees or- 

 ganism it takes on a little color and 

 honey flavor. We usually have it in 

 July or August, though one year my 

 bees gathered 2,000 lbs., of surplus of 

 it between September 1st and October 

 5th, and in the winter of 1889-90, they 

 gathered more or less of it for 42 clays, 

 between December 20th and March 

 26th. The manner of its production 

 is one of the most wonderful things in 

 nature's laboratory. 



Your correspondent, Jno. F. Gates' 

 idea, about using old "gums" for 

 breeders is not bad. I have often 

 thought of it, and if 1 had a lot of old 

 box hives, I would practice it instead 

 of transferring them to frame hives. 

 The breeders would always have a 

 young fertile queen to go out with the 

 first swarm, which is very necessary 

 for strong honey gathering colonies. 

 The only objection I see is, that you 

 cannot tell when they are queenless 

 'til very weak. But by the stacking 

 up process, this would be cured in a 

 measure. 



I like Mr. Doolittle's plan for the 

 management of bee- for comb honey, 

 in frame hives. For extracted honey, 

 I have found no trouble about keeping 



