December, 1907. 



Fine Shape tor Winter. 

 The bees in this district have gone into 

 winter quarters in fine shape. 



John S. Semmens. 

 Konantz, Colo., Nov. 4. 



American Hee Journal 



Extra Year for Bees. 



This has been an e.xtra year for bees 

 and honey. Bees are going into winter 

 quarters in fine condition, with both 

 plenty of bees and plenty of honey. 

 The past season I secured something 

 like $50 worth of honey (1025 pounds) 

 and 2 swarms. Big yarn, but neverthe- 

 less it is true, and the honey is fine. 

 G. W. Vangundy. 



Jensen, Utah, Nov. 3. 



Outlook Good in Cuba. 



The outlook seems quite good for a 

 good honey-flow this fall unless the 

 rains stop suddenly. But the preced- 

 ing p-months' drouth and cyclone, with 

 the flood, have killed almost one-half 

 the bees on the island. 



M. E. Engle. 



Los Palacios, Cuba, Oct. 20. 



Fair Fall Crop of Honey. 



We have had a fair crop of fall hon- 

 ey, and all sold so far at 10 cents a 

 pound for extracted and 15 cents for 

 comb, . packages not included. Oceans 

 of white clover came up last spring 

 which is in fine shape now. 



S. F. Trego. 



Swedona, 111. Nov. 11. 



Honey and Prices Better. 



The weather is "fine as silk." Bees 

 are on the ' summer stands and having 

 frequent flights. The honey crop, while 

 not a bumper one in size, in quality was 

 the very best, and the prices much im- 

 proved over former years. Bees ap- 

 pear in general to have plenty of stores 

 to tide them over winter. 



F. W. HALr.. 



Hull, Iowa, Nov. 16. 



Rocky Mountain Honey — Wintering 

 on Summer Stands. 



1. I send you to-day a sample of my 

 honey, and would like to know what yoii 

 think of our Rocky Mountain product. 



2. -My hives are the Langstroth. The 

 bees are strong, and I have left them 

 on the summer stands. I put the bees 

 all in the lower hives and put 4 thick- 

 nesses of gunny-sack over the frames, 

 and left the top-boxes on full of honey 

 for a reserve, and the lower hives also- 

 have plenty of stores. What do you 

 think of that for winter? 



Utah. 



1. The honey is very good indeed. 

 It is so white, and the grain is so fine. 



2. The commendable part of your pack- 

 ing is the great amount of stores left 

 for the bees. A strong colony of bees 

 will stand almost anything else if only 

 they have abundance of stores, and are 

 allowed to arrange those stores to their 

 own notion. Too often the question 

 seems to be, "How small an amount of 

 stores can I leave the bees and risk 

 their getting through the winter?" while 

 you seem to ask, "How much can I 

 manage to leave with the bees for their 

 winter supply?" And in that you are 

 wise. — ^Editor.] 



Virginia Bee-Keeping. 



I have been down in Palmyra, Va., 

 visiting my brother. You should see 

 the Southern bee-hive, or "gum," as they 

 call it. It is about 10 inches square, 2 

 feet high, with a space of about 6 inches 

 of the top partitioned off for surplus 

 honey. It was suggested that as I was 

 a bee-keeper that I take away the sur- 

 plus honey that evening, as it was cold 

 enough to make the bees numb, and, 

 in their opinion, make them less apt 

 to sting me ! I told them that I pre- 

 ferred to take the chance in the middle 

 of the day. So the next day about 

 noon they reminded me that it was 

 warm enough for the bees to swarm, 

 and offered to hunt up some gloves and 

 old mosquito net if I wanted it. but I 

 thanked them and lighted a bit of 

 pitchy pine and blew a little smoke in 

 at the entrance, then a little more at 

 the top. Then I went to work and took 

 the surplus honey out, and "took up" 

 one late swarm without getting a sting, 

 which they thought remarkable, as one 

 bee chased 5 or 6 men away from me. 

 Now those bees were quite a small var- 

 iety of the black bee, so-called Italian 

 bees down there. 



I think that they have model places 

 for the bee-business. If they would 

 wake up and jump over about 50 years, 

 and get modern hives and transfer their 

 bees into them, they could make some- 

 thing out of their bees. I think that 

 their bees are inclined to be milder than 

 our black bees, and while their honey is 

 not so fine flavored as our white clover 

 and basswood, it is very rich. 



E. E. Kennicott. 



Glenview, 111. 



Keeping Bees for Pleasure. 



While the majority of writers tell us 

 about keeping bees for the dollars and 

 cents there is in it, I am going to tell 

 you about niy keeping bees for the 

 pleasure there is in it. 



My work is in a railroad office, and 

 is very tiresome and trying on the 

 nerves to one with poor health. My 

 health is broken down, and I have not 

 seen a well day for the past 10 years. 

 Yet I try to nerve myself up and push 

 forward, and not allow myself to stop 

 and think about how bad I do feel. 



To explain matters more fully, 25 

 years ago, while employed as a rail- 

 road brakeman, and in the act of 

 coupling cars, my foot slipped, and I 

 was caught between the bumpers of the 

 cars and had my entire lower jaw and 

 tongue crushed out. This left me in a 

 very trying position. At first I could 

 not eat any solid food and could not 

 talk, not even able to utter a sound of 



any description. All the surgeons and 

 doctors who had charge of me at the 

 hospital, as well as those that came to 

 the hospital to see me, told me that I 

 would never be able to speak again, as 

 the o'rgans of speech were all gone. 

 This was a hard blow and made me 

 feel very bad, as it was hard to think 

 of going through life and not being 

 able to speak. The old adage, "Where 

 there's a will there's a way" came to 

 me, and I thought, "I have the will; 

 will the way be provided?" The Lord 

 heard my faint call for help and came 

 to my aid, as He will to all those who 

 will only let Him. He gave me the gift 

 of speech, and although it was the hard- 

 est work I ever did, I finally learned 

 to form words so that I could talk. 

 This has been one of the greatest bless- 

 ings that I could have received. As to 

 my eating, I have to take my food 

 specially prepared so that I can eat it. 

 As I can not chew any of my food, 

 my stomach has double work to do all 

 the time — that of mastication and di- 

 gestion. Therefore I have suffered 

 greatly with my stomach, and have at 

 times such a distressed and nervous 

 feeling. 



I get 2. hours at noon. One I spend 

 eating my dinner, and the other I spend 

 working with my bees when the weath- 

 er is favorable. My bees have been a 

 great benefit to me in regard to my 

 health. When I come home from the 

 office weary and nervous, and on the 

 ragged edge of despair, instead of sit- 

 ting down and worrying about how bad 

 I feel, I will go out to my bees, open 

 up the hives and watch them working, 

 when the sight of the little fellows 

 hustling and tumhling over each other 

 in their hurry to get in and out of the 

 hive, seems to drive all the worry and 

 care away, and makes me feel like a 

 new man. Therefore I feel that my 

 bees have been both a great pleasure 

 and a benefit to me, as well as supply- 

 ing myself and family with good, de- 

 licious honey, of which we consume 

 from 350 to 400 pounds per year, using 

 extracted honey in place of fruit, but- 

 ters, jams, etc., as it is much more 

 healthful. I use bread made from the 

 whole-wheat flour, and spread each bite 

 on both sides with extracted honey in 

 order that I may be able to eat it. I 

 find that the honey is very healthful 

 and also very nourishing, and I feel 

 much better after eating it than if I 

 eat fruit butters, jams, etc. 



Now, while I got away from bee- 

 keeping to a certain extent, yet I feel 

 that there are hundreds of others who 

 have poor health that would be greatly 

 benefited if they would get a few colo- 

 nies of bees, a good bee-book, and one 

 or more good bee-papers, and spend 

 their leisure hours working with the 

 bees, reading the bee books and papers, 

 and try to get what pleasure they can 

 out of life instead of worrying and fret- 

 ting over what can not be cured. One 

 can keep bees almost anywhere. I have 

 my bees on the rear of a small village 

 lot, and they do not molest any one. 

 J. T. Eli-ioit. 



Colliers, W. Va., Nov. 26. 



