Jan 24, 1907 



American ^ee Journal 



ened vinegar put in the sweet imme- 

 diately before using. Strong acetic 

 acid is very repressive of the first fer- 

 mentation ; and if the acid is strong 

 enough, and the sweet pure enough, 

 fermentation may be totally sup- 

 pressed for an indefinite length of 

 time. I suppose the failure or delay 

 of the second fermentation to start is 

 much more common than in case of 

 the first — that is, alcohol and water is 

 a much more stable compound than 

 sugar and water — so most makers ex- 

 pect to put in something as a starter. 

 (I wonder if putting in the second 

 starter at the outset is not common, 

 and also bad.) And he's all right 

 when he kicks the musty barrel with 

 the charge of being a vinegar-spoiler. 

 Must is one of the most ineradicable 

 of bad things. Don't buy a musty 

 barrel; and don't let your empty bar- 

 rel get musty. But what can be done 

 if it does ? I wonder if taking one 

 head out and thoroughly burning the 

 inside would eradicate, or nearly eradi- 

 cate it. But then I fear, alas, that the 

 fresh carbon would pull back on the 

 fermentations. 



His device for cleaning a merely 

 dirty barrel is tiptop — a piece of chain 

 connected with the outside world by a 

 a long and strong string. Page 1047. 



€xparieiK!e$" 



More Than Abundant Rains 



We have had, so far, rather more than 

 abundant rains, but rather cool weather with 

 snow, hail, etc. The manzanita is blooming 

 gloriously, and the bees are working on it 

 very actively. Pbil Max Boklte, 



Moosa, Calif., Jan. 13. 



Good Prospects for 1907 



This locality did not produce a great 

 amount of honey this year, as a large percent 

 of bees died last winter from bad stores and 

 starvation. Most of those fortunate enough 

 to save their bees got a fair amount of sur- 

 plus. Most bees went into winter in from 

 good to fair condition. The winter has been 

 favorable so far, and the prospects are very 

 good for a prosperous season in 1907. 



H. H. BCCHNER. 



Maquoketa, Iowa, Dec. 24. 



Observing "How Doth the Bee" 



Is this a new race of bees? When coming 

 from the field they deliver their loads of nec- 

 tar to nurse-bees. What a lot of waste of 

 time to hunt for nurse-bees to deliver their 

 loads of nectar to! Doesn't it make a waste 

 of time? I have observed loaded bees enter- 

 ing the hive so fast that all the nurse-bees 

 would be crammed full in lb minutes. What, 

 then? All the field-bees would have to take 

 a day off; nothing to do. because all of the 

 nurse- bees were filled full. Shucks I Bees 

 enter their hives and deliver their loads with- 

 out any assistance from nurse-bees. I have 

 had observation hives, and this is what I saw : 

 A bee would enter the hive, creep up on the 

 comb until above the brood-line, then com- 

 mence to search for a cell. When found, she 

 would place her tongue at the upper side of 

 the cell with just the tip in honey. When 

 the load was disposed of, she would come out- 

 side by the glass and off for more. Now a 

 worker with pollen searches several cells be- 



fore she finds one to suit, then puts her legs 

 in the cell, rubs her legs together, and, when 

 freed, she leaves for the outside by the glass ; 

 and a young worker packs those pellets. But 

 the observer can not see how it's done. I 

 never saw a worker having a load of honey 

 and pollen to deliver at the same time. Nor 

 can I account why a loaded bee should ex- 

 amine different cells until she finds a cell to 

 suit her; but it is so. Get an observation 

 hive and see for yourself, and you will find 

 that I am correct. Nurse-bees are full of 

 honey at all times until they commence to 

 work in the field. E. Tucker. 



Bergen, N. Y., Dec. 17. 



Will Italianize Next Season 



I received the 3 queens by mail last season 

 in good order, and introduced them success- 

 fully. They were all purely mated, as there 

 is not a blaek bee among their oilspring. 

 Although received late in the season, they 

 have their brood-chambers well filled with 

 honey. I noticed when the young Italian 

 bees first take their flying spell, they are 

 much swifter than the blacks and hybrids. 

 December 16 they were carrying in pollen. I 

 have now 175 colonies, which I will requeen 

 from them nest spring. 



I bought my bees — 17 colonies and 36 new 

 hives — from the founder of Maywood Colony, 

 Foster & Woodson, they having put up the 

 money for the late Mr. Osburn, who came 

 from Cuba to start bee-keeping. But Mr. 

 Osburn died the first winter he was here. 



James Peterson. 



Corning, Calif., Dec. 19. 



Mild Winter and Clover 



We are having a very mild winter here so 

 far, as only twice has the temperature gone 

 below zero. Most of the time it has been 

 from 20 to 26 degrees above. There is one 

 inch of snow on the ground now, which 

 makes good wagon-roads. 



Isn't it a little dangerous for white clover 

 or will it stand, or hold its own, with the 

 temperature at or above zero and no snow on 

 the ground? L. G.Blair. 



Boscobel, Wis. 



[Yes, there is danger that the clover roots 

 may suffer from extreme cold when the 

 ground is not covered with snow. However, 

 we should think the weather has hardly been 

 cold enough yet in your locality so that it 

 would injure the clover. — Editor.] 



Bees Wintering All Right 



I have 14 colonies of bees wintering on the 

 summer stands, which were all right Deo. 31. 

 Bees did not do well here last season in filling 

 supers, because of severe drouth. 



Bay Shore, Mich., Jan. 11. A. M. Deitz. 



Last Winter Hard on Bees 



My bees did not do much last summer, and 

 last winter was hard on bees, when most of 

 them died. One man had 40 colonies and lost 

 all but 3; another had 17 and lost all but one; 

 and another had about the same and lost all. 



We have 20 colonies this winter, and they 

 seem to be wintering all right. R. Chinu. 



Concord, Nebr., Dec. 38, 1906. 



A Good Report from Vermont 



The past season was as good as I ever saw 

 in this section. I had only SO colonies; 25 of 

 them were nuclei that I wintered with 

 queens. I got 10,032 pounds of honey— 4200 

 pounds of comb, and the balance extracted. 

 I sold it for S1092. It was all sold, and I had 

 my cash, before Sept. 1. Those nuclei pro- 

 duced just about the same amount of comb 

 honey that the blacks did of extracted. I got 

 no honey after July 30. The Italian colonies 

 were heavy this fall, but I had to feed about 

 ¥100 worth of sugar to the blacks. I got an 



increase of 50 colonies, mostly by buying 

 queens. Five of the Italians swarmed that 1 

 ran for comb honej. I did not get a swarm 

 from the blacks that I ran for extracted honey. 



My bees went into winter quarters heavy; 

 that is, the party that put them in so told me. 

 I have been in the house with rheumatism 

 over two months. I never had it before. I 

 suppose it was because my bees were not 

 quite so rapid on the sting as usual! 



C. M. Lincoln. 



West Rupert, Vt., Dec. 31. 



Sweet Clover Bloomed Late 



I mail some sweet clover that was blossom- 

 ing around my front yard. We had a cold 

 snap last Wednesday night that froze it, but 

 there was lots of it before that. 



A. H. Chblset. 



Jackson, N. H., Dec. 31. 



Bees Moved Far By Rail 



In shipping my household goods and live 

 stock in a chartered box-car from Indian Ter- 

 ritory to this place, I also packed 10 hives of 

 bees in Langstroth frames. They were 

 clamped to the floor of the car, and consider- 

 ing the long and rough trip of 13 days, they 

 were in good condition when they arrived, 

 perhaps a pint or so of dead bees to the hive. 

 This was the more remarkable, I thought, as 

 the combs are in loose-hanging frames with- 

 out any side spacer; however, they were all 

 screened and otherwise protected. 



This is a fine country, and I am anxious to 

 see how the bees will work. 



Selma, Calif., Dec. 15. L. M. Lindlet. 



Honey Failure, But Still Determined 



If I had been reading all the bee-papers 

 and all the bee-books this year, and had had 

 my bees in rosewood and matiogany hives, 

 constructed after the highest type of the 

 mechanic's art, and my queens had all been 

 purely bred, golden, 5-banded, long-tongued 

 Italians in their maternal prime; my supers 

 provided with choice, polished No. 1 sections 

 filled with sheets of foundation, "bottom 

 starters," etc., and bait-sections, I would still 

 have been compelled to content myself with 

 "hope deferred," and beeswax, fun, and a 

 few stings. But I suppose it's owing to 

 " locality," and I'll just take my share of the 

 " local " applications and a few more copies 

 of the American Bee Journal. 



"Perse Verance." 



Harrison Co., Mo., Dec. 13. 



No Swarms and No Honey 



My bees, the past summer, were all non- 

 swarmers, as I did not get a single swarm 

 from 105 colonies; but the worst of all, I did 

 not get an ounce of honey, either. This is 

 the first failure I have ever had, and I have 

 kept bees since I was 10 years old, and I ex- 

 pect to keep bees as long as I live. It was en- 

 tirely too wet here for bees. I think all my 

 bees stored enough honey to winter on, but I 

 expect to feed them a lot of "trust" sugar 

 next spring for brood-rearing, as they can not 

 go through until poplar blooms. 



I want to tell you how the good old Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal made, or saved, me S20 last 

 spring. I noticed an advertisement in it, 

 where a certain company offered No. 1 sec- 

 tions at a reduced price; so I wrote for a- 

 price on 10,000, and to my surprise I was 

 offered 10,000 strictly No. 1 sections at the 

 very low price of $3 00 per thousand. I or- 

 dered the sections, and they were as fine as 

 any I ever bought at .*5.00 per thousand. So 

 you can see, at the present price of sections, 

 the American Bee Journal made, or saved, me 

 .?20. It pays to be a subscriber to the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. B. T. Stone. 



Fellowsville, W. Va., Dec. 17. 



Please Mention Bee Journal) 

 when writing advertisers. 



