28 



(iLEANlKGS lis BEE CULTUllE. 



Jan. 



ship Vera Cruz and several other vessels within a 

 few miles ol mc, destroyed 14 swarm? lor me. The 

 rest are doing well, and are in good shape for win- 

 ter. The way the gale destroyed the bees was by 

 blowing down two large pine-trees upon the hives, 

 and crushing several of them. Then the rain 

 drowned the bees, and, as 1 was away from home, 

 the exposed honey set the rest to robbing, and I 

 foinid a fine "kettle of tish" (no bees) when I got 

 home. W. s. Hart. 



Smyrna, Florida. 



Pretty well done, friend II. Over loo lbs. 

 to the liive, and the original number almost 

 trebled. Perhaps we had better <yo to Flori- 

 da, after all, and raise oranges and keep bees. 



BLACKS AND ITALIANS. 



I commenced the season with 4 colonies— 3 blacks 

 and one Italian. The Italians swarmed May (ith, and 

 as they seemed very strong, I opened the hive and 

 took two frames that had queen-cells on them, and. 

 with the adhering bees, made a nucleus. This, I 

 thought, would put an end to any after-swarming; 

 but they swarmed again on the 10th, and filled the 

 brood-nest full of honey, but refused to work in the 

 boxes. The whole ten frames wore solid sheets of 

 honey, and they looked nice, for they were all full 

 sheets of fdn., built out smooth and straight. I had 

 no extractor, and so I took half of them away and 

 gave them to the other swarms, and replaced them 

 with frames tilled with fdn. My black bees gave me 

 40 lbs. of surplus to each colony, and did not swarm. 

 If this is the usual way of the Italians, I prefer the 

 blacks. W. E. Floweu. 



Shoemakerstown, Pa., Dec. li, ISSO. 



yUEENS BEING THIiOWN OUT OF THE IIIVE IN COLD 

 WEATHER. 



Immediately after the recent cold snap, two of 

 my strongest colonies of bees, in box hives, threw 

 out their queen. This is unaccountable to me. 

 What is your theory? and what would you advise 

 me to do in the case? They were very strong colo- 

 nies, and had not been disturbed. A. M. Dunn. 



Kutland, Meigs Co., Ohio, Dec. 4, 18S0. 



I would not do any thing at all, friend D. 

 If I am not mistakeii, it is only the old queen 

 that is dead, and the young one remains in 

 the hive. At any rate, you can do nothing 

 now, except to mark the hives and wait un- 

 til spring. When the weather is warm 

 enough for them to tly, give them some 

 brood and let them raise a queen, providing 

 they have not one already. 



SHIPPING BEES FROM THE SOUTH, INSTEAD OF FEED- 

 ING THEM THROUGH THE WINTER. 



I apprehend there will be a good demand for bees 

 next season if the wint(?r holds out as it has begun. 

 Many colonies will die from starvation— more than 

 usual. There was no surplus honey in this (Kane) 

 county this year, and many colonies have already 

 starvcil. I brought I'.HI stnmg hive« to this county 

 last May from New Orleans for Perrine. When we 

 got here, many of them were strong enough to 

 swarm. We have received no surplus, and no 

 swarms ; in fact, they would not average 5 lbs. of 

 honey in brood-chamber in October. Many have 

 since starved, as Perrine would not feed them up 

 for winter. We do not now expect to winter through 

 a single colony. We do not care if they all die, as 



we can restock the combs next May with strong 

 nuclei from the South at less expense than it would 

 have cost to winter thein in safety. I wanted to kill 

 them all in October, and save the honey for spring: 

 bvit Perrine did not instruct me to do so, for which 

 he is now sorry. These bees are on a par with most 

 of the bees in this coujity. Marvii:, Oatman, Thomp- 

 son, Way, etc., have fed largely, to keep their apia- 

 ries alive; but I doubt their being in good condition 

 next year in time for the honey harvest. Marvin 

 has fed 2500 lbs. of old extracted honey to one of his 

 apiaries of 100 colonies; but it won't pay, as the 

 honey is worth about as much as the hives, bees, 

 combs, honey, and all. It would have paid him bet- 

 ter had he killed the bees in October, and restocked 

 next Maj% befoi-e fruit blossoms. 



M. M. Baldridge. 

 St. Charles, Illinois, Dec. 0, 1880. 



T prestime our readers are well aware that 

 friend Baldridge has had much experience 

 in keeping bees, both in the North and 

 South ; and, although he makes some very 

 good points, I do not believe we shall ever 

 prosper by killing our bees after the honey 

 season is over, with a view of buying more 

 in the spring, shipped from the Soiith. It is 

 expensive and troublesome to feed back the 

 honey, or even a substitute, I know ; but I 

 should not extract, and thus l)e obliged to 

 feed back; that is, I should not unless it 

 shall so happen that bees will die on natural 

 stores so much faster than they do on stores 

 of pure sugar. Friend Jones, as I have be- 

 fore mentioned, is very positive that it will 

 ])ay to replace the lioney with stores made 

 I'rora granulated sugar ; and as reports are 

 alreatiy coming in of bad losses from dysen- 

 tery on natural stores this winter, it may be 

 well to consider this matter. 



WILLOW AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



The best variety for bees is what is called " Pussy 

 Willow." It is a shrub or bush, that grows about 8 

 or 10 feet high, and is covered with blossoms and 

 bees early in spring. In fact, it is the very earliest 

 thing that blooms. I have one near my bees, and it 

 is interesting to see them at work on it. It natural- 

 ly grows in wet ground, but will grow in dry ground. 

 My neighbor has one on very dry ground, as an or- 

 namental bush. They can be propagated, simpl/ by 

 sticking cuttings in the ground. They can be fur- 

 nished one year old for 10c apiece. I shall start a lot 

 in spring. They can be sent by mail, including 

 packing, 3 for 25c., and atiy oae who has only one, 

 can, after that, grow his own by the 100 or 1000. My 

 bees gathered pollen this year, Feb. 2(ith. This is the 

 earliest year yet. M. D. Du Bois. 



Newburgh, Orange Co., N. T., Dec. T, 1880. 



QUEEN-CAGES FOR ANOTHER SEASON, ETC. 



We started in the spring of 1880 with 15 stocks of 

 bees, and took 302 lbs. of comb honey, and 017 lbs. of 

 •xtracted, makinjr a total of 1110 lbs., and increased 

 to 23 stocks, and all are in good order to go through 

 the winter. We also raised 27 Italian (lueens. Our 

 main source for honey is from the poplar-tree and 

 white clover. The drought cut our clover crop short. 



Now, allow us to ask a few questions. Which is 

 the best mailing queen-cage? Do you send bees by 

 the pound by mail, or by express? When you ship a 

 queen, io you leave the bees with just the wire cloth 



