88 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



warm sugar syrup at night, in the liive, 

 whenever the weather is so bad that I 

 think they need it. 



One day a visitor, who had been walk- 

 ing through the yard, said, '-You have 

 ohe very strong swarm out there." I 

 thought I knew which one he meant, but 

 to make sure asked him '"which one?" 

 He replied, "The one in the north end 

 of the shed ; they will come out and bid 

 you good bye some fine morning, if you 

 don't look out." "Oh, yes ; that is my 

 Alley queen (the one that paid for her- 

 self and hive last fall), but I don't think 

 I will lose them if they should swarm," 

 and I showed him the trap and explained 

 how it worked. 



This queen had sealed .drone brood 

 April 9th, and if you would like to know 

 what I think she is worth just come 

 around and try to buy her. 



I was asked to look at the bees of a 

 neighbor a few days ago, about April 

 25th. The first hive we examined we 

 needed no smoker, as the poor little 

 .remnant of what was last year a fine col- 

 ony were too weak and spiritless to fly, 

 having evidently been queenless all win- 

 ter. The next hive had a little brood in 

 the centre frame and lots of dead bees 

 • on the outside frames. We could not 

 make a very thorough examination, as 

 the smoker was broken and would not 

 work, so " we took it for granted that 

 there was honey in the other side of the 

 hive," and went on. 



Other hives with hpney boards next 

 the frames could not be examined, for 

 getting them loose "made the bees so 

 mad we could not handle them without 

 a smoker,' so "we took it for granted 

 that they must be all right, too." 



These bees are fine Italians, in good 

 hives, and their owner "hopes for a big 

 crop of honey this year." 



He does not feed them or read any 

 beepaper ; "hasn't time." 



Perhaps he will get the crop ; I hope 

 he will, and while he is "hoping" I shall 

 try and get my bees ready to gather the 

 crop, even if I do have to spend a little 

 time and sugar syrup to do it. 

 Millard, Neb. Mrs. A. L. Hallenbeck. 



HOW A VERMONT BEEKEEPER WIN- 

 TERED HIS BEES. 



On receiving the December number 

 of the Api I felt as if I was invited to an 

 office I was very poorly qualified to fill, 

 and have not changed my mind any 

 since. When I consider the writings of 

 scientific men, men who have had long 

 experience in beekeeping, how can one 

 only two years old expect to be able to 

 compete. I shall not attempt, but the 

 country is full of beginners who, like 

 myself, might be able to tell something. 

 However, I shall not try to do much 

 more than to make a little report and 

 ask a few questions. 



Of course I am older in years than 

 I am in beekeeping, so the years that 

 have passed in reading bee books and 

 papers and in irregular work among the 

 bees, are not counted. 



In the fall of 1890 I bought, or rather 

 owned, twelve swarms of bees, in desti- 

 tute condition for winter, which came 

 through in the spring of 1891, ten dead 

 and two barely alive. 'I'hose two built 

 up rapidly and nearly filled three tiers of 

 one pound sections last summer (one 

 tier is thirty-two sections ; three tiers are 

 ninety-six). I don't claim much credit 

 for my part of the work, for it was a good 

 honey season and the bees would do 

 well in spite of me. 



However, as soon as the weather was 

 warm I spread the brood enough to in- 

 sert two empty combs in the middle of 

 the brood nest at two different times, 

 and then, at the first appearance of white 

 clover, put on one tier (thirty-two one- 

 pound boxes). When those showed 

 capped honey pretty freely I put another 

 tier under the first, and so on till the 

 third was on. I apprehend the added 

 room was given them at about the right 

 time to give the bees and queen plenty 

 of space to fill, and cooled off the de- 

 sire to swarm. "Ain't dot so?" Mr. Edi- 

 tor. 



Then again, in the spring of 1891, I 

 bought three swarms of bees, which in- 

 creased by natural swarming to ten col- 

 onies, but one small swarm, not having 

 enough honey to last until they could 



