418 



May 16, 1907 



lp|>orf5and 



Bees Doing Well 



I have 68 colonies of bees, spring count, 

 doing well. Our honey comes from alfalfa 

 and sweet clover. I run my apiary for ex- 

 tracted honey, which sells at 6 cents per 

 pound here. 



I could not get along without the American 

 Bee Journal. John Mills. 



Hagerman, Ida., April 25. 



American line Journal 



cluster of angry bees on the ground directly 

 under the clustered swarm. 



My present plan is to use not less than 8 of 

 my standard brood-combs (which have a 14- 

 inch top-bar) to each nucleus. My nucleus 

 hives hold from 4 to 6 such frames, and if at 

 any time orders for queens are slack, I remove 

 the division-board and add such comb or 

 combs as may be needed, and keep my queens 

 at work. W. J. Davis, 1st. 



Warren Co., Pa., April 23. 



Baby Nuclei for Queen Matin? 



On page 329, the subject of baby nuclei is 

 spoken of which prompts me to give my ex- 

 perience in trying to get young queens fertil- 

 ized in such quarters. 



In 1905 I made a number of baby nuclei, 

 each to hold 3 one-pound sections, making 

 them double, with entrance at opposite ends. 

 But one season's use satisfied me that they 

 were entirely useless for the purpose intended. 

 Even virgin queens seemed to realize that 

 such cramped quarters were no place to build 

 a strong colony, and the few that did- become 

 fertilized, unless removed at once, would till 

 the empty cells with eggs, and the little col- 

 ony would desert their contemptible quarters. 



One in particular gave me considerable 

 trouble. A large swarm issued that had a 

 clipped queen, and a fertilized queen from a 

 baby nucleus came out at the same time and 

 took the swarm to the top of a tall apple-tree. 

 It does not matter how high a swarm settles 

 if they have no queen, for like Crockett's 

 coon, they have to "come down." 



I am not afraid of virgin queens with a first 

 swarm, for the bees will ball them, and it is 

 an easy matter to find the young queen in a 



Not An Encouraging Prospect 



My bees have not wintered so well as usual. 

 1 lost one colony out of 27; two 1 found 

 queenless, and thieves entered my yard and 

 carried off one. The prospect for bees this 

 spring is very poor. Frost has killed nearly 

 all fruit-buds, and high winds and cold waves 

 are common this spring. Snow — yes, we are 

 getting some of that, too. April 13 we had 

 about 3 inches on the level, and this morning 

 about l^a inches, so you see the prospects are 

 not what they might be. Well, it's no use to 

 grumble over spilled milk. My bees are well 

 provided with honey yet, and I have about 200 

 pounds of sealed honey in brood-frames to 

 build them up for the honey-harvest, which, 

 as a general thing, starts the latter part of 

 June. Henkt Hansen. 



Ashton, Nebr., April 25. 



" The Judgment " as Seen in a Bee- 

 Keeper's Dream 



I had a strange dream last night. I thought 

 I stood by the gate which St. Peter is sup- 

 posed to guard, watching the throng passing 

 through. It seemed to be "Bee-keepers' 

 Day," for I recognized many of them by the 

 pictures that have become so familiar to read- 

 ers of the bee-papers. Occasionally one was 

 " turned down," but the most of them went 

 through without question. 



Soon my attention was attracted to a rather 

 important-looking shade who was pushing 

 and crowding his way rapidly along. He 



crowded in front of A. I. Root, who meekly- 

 stepped to one side, pushed in between Dr. 

 Miller and Doolittle, and was slipping through 

 in the wake of big, good-natured Scholl, when 

 St. Peter stopped him. He looked surprised, 

 and haughtily said, " I'm a bee-keeper!" 



" Yes, yes," said St. Peter, " that's all 

 right; but there is something more needed 

 here. What have you ever done to entitle 

 you to a seat inside'" 



"Why," replied the important one, "I 

 have been the means of saving tliousands of 

 bee-keepers from perdition." 



" So ! so ! In what way?" asked St. Peter. 



" Well, I discovered a secret that, if pub- 

 lished, would have made millionaires of all 

 the bee-keepers that knew of it; and you 

 know it is almost impossible for a rich man 

 to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." 



"Strange," said St. Peter." " I never heard 

 of this. What might be your name?" 



"My name is Davenport!" 



Just at this juncture I awoke, but not be- 

 fore I saw a frown gather on St. Peter's brow 

 that I imagined boded no good for our secre- 

 tive friend. E. J. Gillbtt. 



Mexico, N. Y. 



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Bee= Hives, Sections 



WHY BUY OF US? 



Remus, Mich., Feb. 25, 1907. 

 A. G. Woodman, Grand Rapids, Mich. 



bear Sir: — I use Lewis Sections exclusively; 

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Remus, Mich., Feb. 18, 190". 

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winter and Spring Hard on Bees 



A friend whose bees I had charge of last 

 spring would not put any expense on them, 

 so he did not feed them last fall. They were 

 very light in honey. The open winter we 

 have had in Iowa was hard on bees wintered 

 on the summer-stands. Out of 35 or 40 colo- 

 nies, fall count, only 10 were alive this spring. 

 The 3 colonies I had in the cellar were all 

 right in January, but my wife has been very 

 sick with typhoid fever, and I could not take 

 the bees out in March as I should have done, 

 so all 3 are dead, although they had plenty ot 

 stores. The cellar was quite damp and the 

 air foul, which I think was the principal 

 cause of their dying. 



I will not give up bee-keeping because I am 

 out of bees, for I now have 10 empty hives- 

 and enough supplies to last a year. I expect 

 to use them the coming season. I have taken 

 4 colonies on shares about 3 miles from where 

 I live, and have had 3 colonies given me that 

 I will keep here. 



This month has been a hard one on bees. 

 Last month was so warm that brood-rearing- 

 was pretty well started, and this month ha& 

 been so very cold, with extreme changes. 

 (Rev.) J. W. Stink. 



Durham, Iowa, April 15. 



Managing Weak Colonies— Last 

 Year's Crop 



Alexander's plan for weak colonies wasua 

 complete success with me in 3 cases last 

 spring. I think the best plan in dividing 

 them when they become strong is to move the 

 bottom hive just half its width to one side, 

 and set the top hive close up to the side. This 

 really makes one hive of them with a wide 

 entrance, and each one catches its share of 

 bees. After a day or two they can be moved 

 apart. 



I got about $40 worth of honey from 18 col- 

 onies, last season, and increased to 23 colo- 

 nies. F'. J- Gillbtt. 



Mexico, N. T. 



Lost 4 Out of 6 Colonies 



I put 6 colonies of bees into the cellar last 

 fall, and have had rather bad luck as I took 

 only 3 colonies out alive this spring. 



I must have the American Bee Journal as 

 long as I have a single colony. 



M. O. ROCKWOOD. 



Osage, Iowa, April 16. 



THE AMERICAN FOOD LABORATORY 



E. N. Eaton, M.So., Chemist. 



4 years State Chemist, Minnesota. 



6 years State Analyst, Illinois. 

 1235-1248 Caxton Building, 



334 Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111. 

 Samples of Honey analyzed. Correspon- 

 dence solicited. 



