1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



93 



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But Few Bees Lost— We have hud a 



pretty hard winter for bees, although I 

 have heard of but few losses in this sec- 

 tion. My bees are packed in chart', and 

 arc all alive but 2 colonies, which were 

 very weak when packed. Success to 

 the Bee Jouhnal. 



F. W. BURTNETTE. 



Morrice, Mich., March 12, 1881. 



Closed out by Fire.— 1 had the misfor- 

 tune to he "closed out " of the bee- 

 business by tire, on the night of March 

 4, losing all of my 86 colonies of Italians, 

 one of which contained an imported 

 queen. They were all in the cellar ; 1 

 also lost all the implements necessary 

 to carry on the business, my house and 

 contents. This was "closing out" 

 rather unexpectedly, but I hope not to 

 remain out very long. 



Wji. II. Til AVIS. 



Brandon, Mich., March 10, 1881. 



An Old (Jueen.— We have had a couple 

 of warm, bright days at last, and my 

 bees are flying, what of them are alive. 

 Out of 33 colonies, I think I have 10 or 

 12 alive, some of them pretty strong, 

 others weak, I have 3 Italian colonies 

 — they seem strongest. What hives I 

 have looked into, where the bees are 

 dead, appear to have plenty of honey, 

 and the other bees appear to be taking 

 the honey out, and I fear are taking 

 from the "weak colonies also. Should I 

 prevent them from appropriating it ? I 

 noticed some drones with one of my 

 Italian colonies; what does that mean 

 at this time .of year? I have been a 

 short distance south, returning home 3 

 weeks ago. There has been great loss 

 of bees in Fayette and Wayne counties, 

 as well as in Wabash. Please answer 

 above questions in the Bee Journal. 

 Joel Brewer. 



Lincolnville, Ind., March 10, 1881. 



[It is not advisable to let bees have 

 access to combs in other hives ; if they 

 need honey, put the combs in the hives 

 where wanted, and not too many. If 

 the strong are robbing the weaker colo- 

 nies, exchange stands with them. The 

 presence of drones thus early indicates 

 an old or defective queen. Unless there 

 is a large quantity of sealed worker 

 brood (indicating the queen is perfect), 

 we would supersede her as soon as pos- 

 sible, unless the bees save the trouble. 

 —Ed.] 



Gathering Pollen.— My bees gathered 

 pollen lively to-day, and are strong for 

 this time of year. My loss in wintering 

 is 4 colonies, leaving 8 to commence 

 the season with. Nearly all the bees 

 in this county are dead. 



John C. Gilliland. 



Bloomfield, Ind., March 15, 1881. 



Bees in (Jood Condition.— -Though there 

 is a great loss of bees hereabouts, mine 

 are yet in good condition, and I hope 

 they will come out right in the spring. 

 The Weekly Bee Journal I value more 

 and more all the time. 



Thomas Lashbrook. 



Waverly, Iowa, March 11, 1881. 



Lost 8 out of 37 in Wintering.— I put 



37 colonies into winter quarters, all in 

 good condition except 4 or 5 small late 

 swarms, and as it was a poor season 

 for honey, they did not till up ; 29 were 

 packed under a shed, open to the south 

 and east. Before packing I removed 

 the outside frames and put in cushions 

 made by covering empty frames with 

 sacking and filling with chaff ; also 2 

 inches of the same on the top of the 

 racks. My loss to date is 3. I prepared 

 5 in the same manner, but left them on 

 the summer stands; lost 4. Two that 

 I was sure would starve if not fed, I re- 

 moved to a room over another where a 

 fire is kept, placed them at a window 

 and arranged a passage leading outside ; 

 then, with wire-cloth over the frames, I 

 can feed and examine without their dy- 

 ing out. They are all right. One I left 

 on the summer stand with a set of sec- 

 tion boxes, unprotected, and it is very 

 strong. On March 9th my bees had 

 their first good flight since Oct. 25. I 

 had one colony in a box hive ; of course 

 they are dead. Total loss to date, 8 out 

 of 37. Nearly all are strong now. lam 

 with the majority when I say that the 

 Weekly Bee Journal is a decided im- 

 provement. Success to it. 



Wji. Morhous. 

 Dearborn, Mich., March 14, 1881. 



Bokhara Clover.— Please answer the 

 following questions in the Journal : 



1. Whin is the best time to sow Bok- 

 hara clover ? 



2. Should it lie sown alone or with a 

 grain crop, or with other kinds of clover? 



3. Should it be cut for bay, pastured, 

 or kept for bees only ? 



4. Which is the best kind of hive for 

 comb honey — a one-story with racks to 

 hold sections, or a two-story, with sec- 

 tion boxes put in cases in the upper 

 story? John II. Heard. 



Fleshertoii, Ont. 



[1 . Early in spring is as good a time as 

 any for planting Bokhara, melilot or 

 sweet clover — we fail to discover any 

 difference in them. 



2. For bees alone, sow it alone. 



3. If desired for cattle or sheep, sow 

 it with timothy, letting them graze it, 

 as it blooms but little the first season ; 

 afterward keep them off. 



4. One-story with rack is mere easily 

 manipulated. — Ed.] 



lengthwise in the middle, tacked on 

 2 sides of each block, leaving wire about 

 5 inches to give them air; I drove a nail 

 through each end and nailed it in front 

 of each hive. Every 10 or 16 days when 

 the weather was line, an hour before 

 night, I let them out to have a lly. We 

 have had line weather for the last 2 

 weeks. I let the bees out on Jan 30; 

 they have been busy carrying in pollen 

 from elm since Jan. 31, and have for- 

 gotten their stealing propensities. I 

 opened some hives this evening and 

 found plenty of sealed brood, and will 

 have drones flying by Feb. 24. 



J. W. Eckman. 

 Richmond, Texas, Feb. 10, 1881. 



Xo Winter Flight Yet.— I am trying to 

 winter 163 colonies in Mitchell hives. 

 All are boxed and packed in chaff with 

 2 thicknesses of burlaps over the bees; 

 the ends of the hives to the division 

 boards are tilled with chaff; combs con- 

 tracted to such numbers as bees would 

 cover. They were put into winter 

 quarters Nov. 13, and have had no 

 flight yet. I find many colonies affected 

 with dysentery, and 12 are dead. It is 

 snowing to-day with prospects of 

 another blizzard. I cannot estimate 

 the loss at present; will report at a fu- 

 ture time. With many others, I am 

 free to throw in my mite of joy for 

 the weekly visitations of the Journal. 

 D. Videto. 



North East, Pa., March 15, 1881. 



Bees Confined \% Months.— This has 

 been the severest winter that I can re- 

 member. My 27 colonies of bees 

 have not had a flight since Nov. 1. They 

 are in a cellar; one of my ueighbors 

 had over 50 colonies, but there are only 

 5 left. He tried to winter out of doors, 

 but has put what he had left in a cider 

 mill. Another had over 20 colonies, 

 wintered out of doors and lost all. I 

 have but little hopes of having over 6 

 or 8 colonies; there is but little hopes 

 of having weather that bees can have a 

 flight for 2 weeks yet. We are in a snow 

 blockade yet. We have had but one 

 mail in over 2 weeks. I like the Week- 

 ly better each number; it brings us 

 nearer together and we can sympathize 

 with our bee-keeping friends. Let us 

 hope for the best; there are better 

 times coming. Success to the Weekly. 

 E. Bump. 

 Waterloo, Wis., March 14, 1881. 



An Enthusiast.— My apiary is located 

 on a hill-side sloping to the west, and 

 hives fronting south. The Macoupin 

 creek is \i mile south of it, and several 

 sloughs within a mile, with plenty of 

 soft and hard maple, willows and cotton- 

 wood. I packed rags around and on top 

 of my 13 hives, on their summer stands, 

 on the 25th of October. The bees were 

 in good condition. Only one colony 

 gave any surplus ; from that I took 40 

 lbs., and left them 35. I examine my 

 bees every week and clean out the dead 

 ones. They had a good flight on the 13th 

 of December, and again on Feb. 22d, 

 when every colony had brood in all 

 stages, and No. 2 was crowded full of 



Sweet Clover.— Must the sweet clover 

 be sowed over again, or does it sow it- 

 self ? Please answer in the Weekly 

 Bee Journal, which I could not do 

 without. It is the best bee paper that 

 is published. Lewis SrEGMAN. 



Newstadt, Ont., March 11, 1881. 



[A good "stand '* of sweet clover will 

 sow itself, as there are generally some 

 seeds that do not catch the soil the first 

 season, but germinate the second. It 

 is more satisfactory, however, to plant 

 the second season about half the com- 

 plement put in the first, after which it 

 will bloom annually, and sow itself. 

 —Ed.] 



Had a Flight in January.— In the 



winter of 1879 I put 30 colonies into my 

 cellar; but it was so warm that they 

 were uneasy and I put them back on 

 the summer stands. I lost 10 colonies; 

 I now have 20 colonies, facing the south, 

 sheltered by a board fence on the north 

 and covered with about 18 inches of 

 straw. About 10 days ago they had a 

 nice flight, and I covered them up 

 again. I think of building a house for 

 them facing the south, and boarding up 

 the other 3 sides; I will then cover the 

 hives with about 2 feet of straw, which 

 I can remove on a bright day and give 

 them a flight. I intend to leave the 

 straw on them until warm weather, and 

 thus aid them to keep warm for brood 

 rearing, &c. I wish the Bee Journal 

 success. T. Rice. 



Lenox, 111., Feb. 4, 1881. 



Chloroform. — About 10 years ago I 

 used chloroform in handling bees, after 

 the following plan: I provided myself 

 with a tin slide about 5 inches long and 

 2 wide; punched a few holes in it, and 

 stitched on one side of it a pad of 3 or 4 

 thicknesses of cotton cloth. Then af- 

 ter closing all ventilators and entrances 

 except the lower one, I turned about 

 one teaspoonful of chloroform on the 

 pad and slipped it through the en- 

 trance, and immediately closed the hive 

 with a wad of cloth, I then listened 

 carefully until the bees had nearly 

 ceased humming (or about 1 or 2 min- 

 utes) and then opened the hive and 

 withdrew the slide. They were cross 

 hybrid Italians. P. F. Whitcomb. 



Lancaster. Wis., March 5, 1881. 



Test for Honey. — Bee-keepers need a 

 good honey test, to expose the " rag 

 syrup," an admixtureof honey and glu- 

 cose, with which the New York market 

 is flooded. In every grocery, meat mar- 

 ket and drug store there, can be found 

 cans of "Walker's best honey," labeled 



" Greenpoint, N. Y.," but there is not 

 young bees, and had a queen cell just much honey in it. Last fall I went into 

 ready to put the egg in, which I took a drug store there with 4 samples of my 



off. "Feb. 20th was a warm day, and No. 

 2 sent out a swarm ; it was queenless, 

 however, so I sprinkled them with pep- 

 permint water and united them with 

 No. 12, which was weak. I do not keep 

 bees for profit in dollars and cents, but 

 for pleasure, as I do love them. I am a 

 merchant, and own 275 acres of land, 

 but being an invalid, look to my bees 

 for recreation. In a radius of 4 miles 

 from my apiary, on Nov. 1st, there were 

 13 bee-owners,with a total of 73 colonies. 

 On the 1st inst. there were 19 colonies 

 left, and they were in bad condition. I 

 am the only one taking the Bee Jour- 

 nal here — success to it. 



R. M. Osborn. 

 Kane, 111., March 4, 1881. 



Nearly All Dead.— Bees are nearly all 

 dead in this region. I had 33 colonies 

 last fall and now have but 10; a neigh- 

 bor had 40 and now has none; another 

 had 44 and now has 2; another had 75, 

 and 3 weeks ago they were reduced to 

 20. Several have lost all but 1 or 2, and 

 some have lost all. 



Wji. S. Buchanan. 



Hartford, Ind., March 14, 1881. 



Bees All Dead.— I now send you mv 

 report for the winter of 1880-81, which 

 will long be remembered by the bee- 

 keepers in this locality. I commenced 

 the winter with 9 colonies of bees, all 

 carefully packed in chaff on the sum- 

 mer stands with plenty of nice sealed 

 honey. They were packed on the 13th 

 day of last Nov., and from that until 

 the present time (121 days) there has 

 not teen a single day that the bees 

 could safely fly, and the consequence is 

 my bees are all dead, from the effects 

 of their long confinement. They left 

 plenty of honey, but the combs are 

 badly soiled. I am not discouraged, 

 however, and shall try again. A gen- 

 tleman living not far from here nad 

 only 8 colonies left out of 39, 2 weeks 

 ago. and when spring condescends to 

 smile on us again we think it will not 

 need a returning board to count the 

 bees in this county. I am well pleased 

 with the new Weekly; it is always a 

 welcome visitor. J. R. Kilburn. 



Fisher Station, Mich., March 14, 1881. 



Bees Robbing.— Here in Texas we 

 have had a severe winter, but not much 

 snow. The thermometer went down to 

 20° above zero. Last season was a poor 

 one for honey; we had a cold spell in 

 Nov.; then had warm weather for 2 

 weeks, and my hybrid bees began to 

 rob. The pure Italians behaved well, 

 neither robbed nor let the others rob 

 them. I used water and kerosene oil, 

 but it was of no use; at last I hit upon 

 a remedy. My hives have the bottom 

 boards projecting in front. I ripped 

 out one-inch square pieces 5 inches 

 long, cut coarse wire cloth 2x0, bent it 



best honey. They tested it, and what 

 they used turned it perfectly black. I 

 saw one of Walker's cans of honey 

 there, and asked them to test that ; they 

 did so, but the same drugs had no effect 

 whatever on that. They would not tell 

 me what they used to test it; but I 

 would like to have a good and simple 

 test given in the Bee Journal. 

 Sing Sing, N. Y. H. Richey. 



[Pure green tea, well steeped, is used 

 by many to detect the presence of glu- 

 cose in honey. If the honey dissolves 

 without changing the color of the tea, 

 it is supposed to be pure. But in these 

 days of " enterprise," it is frequently a 

 matter of doubt whether the tea is pure; 

 again, if, as is claimed, glucose is some- 

 times manufactured without leaving 

 sulphuric acid or other deleterious sub- 

 stances in it, then the tea would hardly 

 expose it when mixed with honey. Al- 

 cohol is also used to detect the presence 

 of glucose ; butbesides being frequently 

 inconvenient to obtain, it requires con- 

 siderable skill in its use. 



Thousands of bee-keepers will unite 

 with us in thanking Prof. Kedzie, of 

 the Michigan Agricultural College, for 

 a simple test to detect adulterations in 

 honey and syrups, and instructions for 

 its application.— Ed.] 



Three Fourths of the Bees Dead.— The 



present severe winter has killed % of 

 the bees in this section. Bees have not 

 had a thorough cleansing flight since 

 Nov. 8. One apiary of 61 colonies, well 

 packed in chaff and plenty of good 

 stores, will not go through with over 50 

 per cent. Mine have been confined in 

 the cellar for 118 days, have wintered 

 well so far, but are becoming uneasy. 

 M. A.Gill. 

 Viola, Wis., March 13, 1881. 



Mortality of Bees in House and Cellar. 



— I put 00 colonies of bees in a house 

 and cellar last Nov.; 12 of them are 

 dead and I have taken out one-and-a 

 half bushels of dead bees. Nearly all 

 have the dysentery. I cannot do with- 

 out the Weekly. I wish it much suc- 

 cess. Milo Munger. 

 Harvard, 111., Mar. 14, 1881. 



