1894. 



TIIH A MH 11 WAS DEE- KEEPER. 



165 



15 cts. per pound ; 190 lbs. was buck- 

 wheat which was sold for 13 cts. I 

 have often been asked the question, 

 " does bee-keeping pay ? Yes, if you 

 do well with the bees they will do well 

 by you. Do not think all you have 

 to do is to buy your bees, place them 

 in any part of your grounds most con- 

 venient for yourself , not thinking they 

 like the warm sunshine as well as you 

 do. Do not think ' it is all foolish- 

 ness to cut the grass away from the 

 front of the hives they will find their 

 way in some way." The first you 

 know your bees will " hie them away " 

 to find more pleasing quarters and 

 then you will surely think bee-keep- 

 ing does not pay. Do not be afraid to 

 buy implements necessary to make 

 bee-keeping easy and you will find it 

 a pleasure to handle bees and they 

 will give you of their sweet3 in return. 

 Anyone wishing to get supplies can- 

 not do better than to send to you. 

 They give entire satisfaction in every 

 respect. Yours, &c, 



C. A. Billings. 

 Clyde, N. Y. 



Editor American Bee-Keeper — 

 Dear Sir : — This year has been a very 

 poor one for all kinds of honey. 

 White clover honey was very nearly 

 a failure. I started out last spring 

 with 13 colonies and they increased 

 to 23. The first colony came out the 

 6th of June and the last July 4th. 

 Have taken off 712 pounds of section 

 honey. 346 pounds were clover and 

 basswood and 366 pounds was buck- 

 wheat. . 



I have not had any trouble in win- 

 tering my bees since I began bee-keep- 

 ing. I lay a rack on top of the brood 



frames and cover it with three thick- 

 nesses of burlap. Then I have a 

 chaff cushion the size of the super 

 that I lay on the burlap. Then I set 

 my hives in a shed facing the east 

 with a barn on the north and a shed 

 on the west. I set the hives under 

 this shed about 8 inches apart and 

 about 8 inches from the back of the 

 shed. Then I packed straw all around 

 them, except in front. During cold 

 and stormy days I close the front of 

 the shed up by means of large doors, 

 and when I wish the bees to take a 

 flight I lay the doors down flat and 

 the sun shines in on the front of the 

 hives, the doors making a sort of an 

 alighting board. 1 have not had a sin- 

 gle colony die yet and this is the 4th 

 year. I do not think there is any 

 use in allowing bees to die in the win- 

 ter if they are taken proper care of. 



I do not know very much about 

 bees, but I do know that I started off 

 well. Four year ago the coming 

 spring I bought one colony and the 

 first year it did not swarm. In the 

 fall of that year I bought 9 more col- 

 onies in box hives, sold one, and trans- 

 ferred and united some of them. The 

 second year they increased to nine 

 colonies and the third year to 13 col- 

 onies. The fourth year they increased 

 23 colonies, and each year they have 

 furnished more than enough honey to 

 pay for all the bees and supplies, and 

 if I should have a year or two of poor 

 luck I should not be discouraged but 

 would keep right on. 



I like very much to handle bees 

 and work with them. I have used 

 the Porter Bee Escapes this year and 

 they are very, satisfactory. 



I have almost all of my boxes and 



