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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 1, 



Moldv Combs. Etc.— Having lost a few- 

 colonies of bees the past winter, I wish 

 to make the best use of the combs left, 

 as they are mostly new. Some are mol- 

 dv, what shall I do with them ? Some 

 of the cells are full of dead bees, how 

 shall I get them out 1 Bow can I keep 

 the moths out of the combs until lean 

 use them ? An answer to these ques- 

 tions through the Weekly, at an early 

 day, will no doubt benefit many mw be- 

 ginners. O. Phillips. 



Emporia, Kans., March 2, 1881. 



[When your colonies are strong in the 

 spring, give the moldy combs ; they will 

 soon utilize them, if not given too East. 

 The combs with dead bees should be 

 kept in a dry place, and after the bees 

 have become dried and shrunken, you 

 can easily shake them out of the cells. 

 If moths get in the combs, treat them 

 in the manner suggested by Mr. Doolit- 

 tle, page 74, Bee Journal of March 

 9th. One pound of sulphur, however, 

 to each 100 cubic feet, seems a large 

 amount ; this would require 10 lbs. for 

 a room 10 feet square. We have had no 

 experience in sulphuring combs, but 

 think 1 lb. would be sufficient for 1,000 

 cubic feet, in a close room.— Ed.] 



Palestine Bees.— We are having a 

 hard winter on bees; they have not had 

 a fly since last Oct. 28. Bees that were 

 here kept in old-style boxes are nearly 

 all dead, many that were packed in 

 chaff are dead or have the dysentery, 

 and are flying out on our coldest days, 

 and of course never return. My bees 

 that are in chaff tenement hives are in 

 the best condition of any I have seen. 

 My Palestine bees are standing the 

 lonely confinement in the hives better 

 than the Italians; they are quieter, and 

 do not fly out so much and get lost on 

 the snow. I much like the Weekly Bee 

 Journal, and when I got the Journal 

 of Eeb. 2d out of the office I felt like 

 grasping the hand of the Editor, and 

 having a shake, but alas it was not 

 flesh and blood, but a very good like- 

 ness. Many thanks for giving us a 

 chance to view it. I. R. Good. 



Napanee, Ind., Feb. 2, 1881. 



Honey as Medicine.— I wish to compile 

 for publication an exhibit of the medi- 

 cinal qualities of the various kinds of 

 honey, and I shall be obliged for any 

 facts sent me on the subject. Chaff- 

 packing seems to be ahead here this 

 winter, but I notice a great difference 

 in the wintering capacity of several col- 

 onies. All Of mine which were devoted 

 to the production of honey are doing 

 well, but I have lost by excessive early 

 breeding, and some that were used to 

 rear queens. They had no flight fori 

 months. T. L. Von Dorn. 



S Ave., Omaha, Neb., March 9, 1881. 



about 40 colonies in the fall ; all are now 

 dead but <i. They were left on their 

 summer stands. Mr. B. is lonesome 

 and wants my bees put in his apiary 

 next summer to keep him company, but 

 it remains yet to be seen if 1 will have 

 any left to keep up a humming in my 

 own apiary. I met Mr. Gardener, of 

 this citv. the Other day, and he reports 

 all of his 16 colonies dead. Several 

 other bee-men have told me that but 

 few, if any. Of their bees are alive. 

 Winter still holds on with an iron 

 grasp. Our bees so much need a cleans- 

 ing flight. I am anxiously waiting for 

 Some warm days. I. P. WILSON. 



Burlington, Iowa. March 4, 1881. 



Died of Disease.— I have lost about 

 all the bees I had. vet I love to hear of 

 other's success in the bee business, and 

 read of others'way of management ; but 

 I am convinced that my bees died of 

 some disease, the same as Mr. Carver 

 reported from Greencastle, Indiana, al- 

 though bees have not died so univer- 

 sally throughout this country as mine 

 have. I have the hives and combs left, 

 with lots of honey in them; these I can 

 sell for something, perhaps, or melt 

 them into wax, or get a few colonies of 

 bees to begin anew, but it is very poor 

 encouragement to put much stock in 

 bees, the way it looks now. 



D. W. Fletcher. 



Lansingville, N. Y., Mar. 4, 1881. 



Cyprians Ahead.— Bees doing well; 

 they are commencing to work on plum- 

 bloom; they have brood in all stages. 

 In an average of over 30 colonies of Cy- 

 prians, they are farther ahead in brood- 

 rearing than the Italians. The latter 

 have had the same chance as the for- 

 mer. Am very busy now, preparing 

 for queen-rearing. 



J. H. P. Brown 



Augusta, Ga., March 2, 1881. 



Gathering Pollen. -Last season proved 

 a splendid one for bees. Each colony 

 averaged 72 lbs. of surplus sweet honey, 

 and from 20 to 40 lbs. of bitter. My bees 

 are blacks, and to-day are out gathering 

 pollen and some honey. 



E. P. MA88EY. 



Waco, Texas. March 1, 1881. 



Anxious for Spring.— The Monthly 

 was good, but a more frequent visitor. 

 in the shape of the Weekly, is better. 

 It brings fresh news, ready for use. I 

 spent an hour in my cellar, last evening, 

 examining myhees. I was heart-sick at 

 the condition in which I found them. 

 I had about 40 colonies in the fall; at 

 least one-half of them are dead. I have 

 an excellent cellar, especially for my 

 bees, and have not lost a colony before 

 for 5 or years. 1 began to think that 

 losing bees in winter was an unneces- 

 sary thing, but 1 see that I was mis- 

 taken, for my bees iliil not lack (or care 

 in any particular. The death Of mine 

 is from dysentery. The small amount 

 of honey Collected in this vicinity last 

 year was a very poor quality, as is seen 

 from the fact that it has not candied 

 during the winter. I extracted about 

 300 lbs, and put it away in glass jars, 

 and it looks like so much New Orleans 

 molasses. My friend, Mr. Bischoff, had 



An Early Season.— I see from reports 

 in our new Weekly Journal that bees 

 are dying throughout the north and 

 west more than usual, from short stores 

 and intense cold. I may say that 

 we have had an unprecedented cold 

 winter here, the thermometer at one 

 time ranged, for a few hours, as low as 

 18° above zero, but soon struggled back 

 to about 25- below. Last fall our bees 

 gathered a full supply of fall honey, 

 and none will die from cold or starve 

 out that are worth saving. The winter 

 being wet, white clover is coming out 

 very thick over the ground; maple, elm, 

 plum and wild cherry are now in bloom, 

 as well as heads of white clover are 

 pushing out their lovely forms to the 

 genial sun. Bees usually work on white 

 clover here by the 10th of this month; 

 but this year our honey season will be 

 much later. May the " new departure" 

 prosper and lead us forward to perfec- 

 tion. J. W. Winder. 



Thibodaux, La., Feb. 10, 1881. 



[Mr. Winder enclosed us some white 

 clover blossoms of this year's growth. 

 The sight of the modest flowers is re- 

 freshing, while from our office windows 

 the earth looks bleak and gloomy with 

 its deep mantle of snow.— Ed.] 



Gone hack on him.— I had 30 colonies 

 of bees — most of them Italians— last 

 fall, in Langstroth hives. packed in this 

 way : The ends of my hives are double- 

 walled, and the sides are made double 

 in winter by the use of division boards, 

 in place of 2 frames, leaving but 8 

 frames. I then use a crate made of 

 laths, which sets down around the hive 

 so as to leave a space of about 8 inches 

 for packing between it and the hive on 

 the sides and back end. This space I 

 till with a packing of tine straw and 

 leaves mixed, and packed hard when 

 just a little damp. '1 hen strips of board 

 are titled so as to protect the top of the 

 straw from rain or snow; next a blanket 

 over the frames and 6 inches of chaff 



over that, protected by the cap. in 



Which are openings, so as to give tree 



circulation of air above the chaff. The 



entrance is kept open enough for a good 

 supply of air. In this way I have here- 

 tofore had good success in wintering on 

 summer stands; but this winter it has 

 gone back on me. Until last Saturday. 



the 6tfa inst., there has been no day 

 warm enough for bees to fly for some 

 niohths. Many did come out. even on 

 the coldest days, but of course could 

 live but a few moments out of the hive. 

 I let them entirely alone, except to see 

 that the entrances were free, until day 

 before yesterday, when it was warm 

 enough for bees to fly. I looked them 

 over and found only tweh e of them 

 alive; only 4 of these are in good con- 

 dition, the others are weak and the 

 hives a good deal soiled. Now, what 

 puzzles me is this. They were all. ap- 

 parently, very nearly alike last ( October, 

 and now I of them are in perfect condi- 

 tion while all the others were bad. Now. 

 while the four exceptions out of 30 V I 

 am glad for them, but would like to un- 

 derstand the reason. Can you tell us. 

 Mr. Editor? They have evidently not 

 been cold, and have had plenty of hi me v. 

 In the dead ones I have examined I Snd 

 brood in a hatching state, with half or 

 more of the cells empty, indicating 

 that young bees had hatched. I attri- 

 bute the disaster to long confinement, 

 but why the 4 exceptions ? I say amen 

 to all the compliments you publish 

 from your subscribers for the Bee 

 Journal. D. K. Boutelle. 



Lake City, Minn.. March 7, 1881. 



[Probably during some of the milder 

 days of winter the bees became scat- 

 tered in their hives, the weather sud- 

 denly changed, and they perished be- 

 fore they could form their cluster on 

 honey, and thus starved.— Ed.] 



From Florida.— The Bee Journal 



is at hand; we do not know how we 

 could do without it. The past has been 

 a very good honey season here. We 

 have 25-5 colonies of bees in Langstroth 

 hives. Some are Italians— we like them 

 as honey-gatherers, but they are crosser 

 than our natives. We obtained 850 

 galls, honey, and 500 lbs. wax. The lat- 

 ter we obtained from about 00 hives 

 which we transferred. We think api- 

 culture will pay here with good man- 

 agement. We extracted from one col- 

 ony 32 Langstroth frames well tilled 

 with honey. Our apiary is located on a 

 " gum " swamp, 5 or 6 miles wide and 

 15 or 20 miles long, which is our main 

 honey source, and blooms from April 

 15 til) May 15; we also have many other 

 honey producing flowers. We have a 

 vine which grows in the swamps and 

 yields a great deal of amber-colored 

 honey. We inclose a sprig— please give 

 the name. Alderman £ ROBERTS. 

 Wewahitchka, Fla. 



[The vine you send is commonly 

 known as snow vine, and is quite 

 abundant in several of the Southern 



States.— Ed.] 



Bee Feeding.— I have thus far used 

 the " bag feeder," of our friend Prof. 

 Cook, with this addition: I have a long 

 tin tube, shaped like the handle to a 

 water-dipper, long enough to reach 

 through the bag of chaff and empty 

 into the bag; then, with the aid OI a 

 funnel, 1 can daily place the warm food 

 within read i of tin- bees without disturb- 

 ing them or letting out the heat— so 

 precious in early spring to a depleted 

 colony. Have never tried the Profes- 

 sor's " Perfection"— thought 1 saw 

 objections to it. If any of our more 

 experienced bee-keepers have devised 

 a '* better way," please tell me through 

 " our" Journal. E. M. R. 



Flint, Mich., March 4, 1881. 



Loss 88 per cent. — The loss of bees 

 in Wayne and Randolph counties is 

 heavy— about 88 per cent. Our bees 

 had a fly Feb. 26th, the first for ill days. 

 We have reports from 1400 colonies 

 November count] and March 1st finds 

 them all dead but 171. The Italians 

 have come through better than the 

 blacks. Those packed in chaff on sum- 

 mer stands have wintered better than 

 any other mode in this locality. There 

 is a great call for bees here by parties 

 that are wanting to start again. Our 

 loss is 4 out of 15 colonies, all in chaff 

 hives. M. G. Reynolds. 



Williamsburg, Ind., March 7. 1881. 



First Year's Experience.— Bees done 

 poorly here last season. There was an 

 abundance of bloom, but too much 

 rain. I sowed 1 acre of buckwheat; 

 while this lasted my bees stored more 

 honey than at any other time in the 

 season; I think it an excellent honey 

 plant. Pumpkin blossoms yield consicl- 

 erable honey; would it pay to plant 

 them all over a lield of corn V My bees 

 are packed in chaff, and they are all in 

 good condition at present. They have 

 not had a flight since the 1st of Nov. 

 Success to the Weekly Bee Journal; 

 I like it better than the Monthly. 



WM. IlAliAN. 



Holly, Mich., Jan. 18, 1881. 



[Pumpkin blossoms yield a rich, but 

 strongly flavored honey: we think the 

 pumpkins would be remunerative for 

 their cultivation to feed to stock, and 

 that the honey obtained from the blos- 

 soms would be a net profit. — Ed.] 



Slimmer a long way off. — This winter 

 has been, so far. the most severe known 

 for many years in this part of the 

 State. Snow-storm has followed snow- 

 storm, and cold spell has followed cold 

 spell, until now there is more snow on 

 the ground than we have had altogether 

 for 6 or 7 years. And the poor bees! 

 how have "they fared through all the 

 snow and cold '? Badly, I fear from the 

 reports I hear every few days; but so 

 far as heard from, where they were 

 properly cared for, either in cellar or on 

 summer stands, they are doing quite 

 well ; but summer is a long way off. 

 Harry G. Burnet. 



Blairstown, Iowa. March 5, 1881. 



A Little Discouraged.— I am a little 

 discouraged this spring. I put 54 colo- 

 nies into winter quarters last fall and 

 now have but 23. and some of them are 

 weak. Those in my bee-house suffered 

 the worst. I had 20 colonies on the 

 summer stands, packed with cut straw, 

 and lost of them by dysentery and 

 starvation. If bees are strong in num- 

 bers and have plenty of honey, 1 can 

 see that there is no danger of loss. Last 

 season it was so dry here that the white 

 clover dried up. anil the bees could get 

 but little honey, and what they did 

 gather was very dark. I am glad to re- 

 ceive the Bee Journal weekly now: 

 the news conies and seems so fresh. I 

 hope it will he well supported. 



J. W. HlKIE. 



Mont Clair. N. J., March o, l.ssi. 



Introduced aOtieeu.— Bad luck to bees 

 in this \ alley of the Ohio. Of 32 colo- 

 nies in Langstroth hives, is now re- 

 main, and the 4th day of March a per- 

 fect " blizzard " all day. so i fear i will 



lose more from spring dwindling. 1 

 found, one day in February, all the bees 

 dead bill two. and the queen nearly 



gone, in one hive, but plenty of honey. 



1 had a ipicenless colony, and laid these 

 :: bees On the frames to see if the] would 



come to life; they became warm and 



crept down among the bees. The next 

 warm spell I looked, and the yellow 

 queen was sale among the black bees. 

 A novel way to introduce a queen in 

 February. G. W. Asur.Y. 



Valley Station, By., March 5. 1881. 



Why Did They Die «— Last fall I put 

 mv bees into a dry cellar; some of them 

 had 75 lbs. of honey, and in 4 or 5 weeks 

 there were many dead bees. I cleaned 

 them up but in a few weeks more they 

 all died; what was the cause of this? 

 Over SO per cent, of all the bees in this 



vicinity are dead. R. L. Holman. 

 Springfield, Ohio, Feb. 19, 1881. 



[Your colonies were strong, had a 

 large quantity of honey, and the cellar 

 was too warm ; they commenced breed- 

 in .■ became uneasy, and left their hives 

 from disquietude.— Ed.] 



Wintered Without Less.— I packed 41 



colonies and they are now all living, 

 and nearly all appear to be in good con- 

 dition. My bees are Hying to-day. 

 Many bee-keepers in this country have 

 lost heavily, and are much disheartened. 

 1 hope to he able to make a good show- 

 ing when I report again, say about 

 May 1. J.J. Roe. 



Buchanan, Mich., March 9, 1881. 



