1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



117 



tr/n - 



Sim'iE' 



Italian Bees Superior.— Bees arc do- 

 ing well here this season. Swarming 

 commenced March SO ; they are storing 



honey in boxes, which are half full now. 

 [ had 40 colonies last fall ami lost none 

 in the winter; and none were even 

 qneenless. They are all Italian bees. 

 Native bees are a failure as compared 

 with the Italians, as I have demonstra- 

 ted during the past 4 years. 



B. C. Yates. 

 Weatherford, Tex., April 3, 1881. 



Box Hives no better than Others.— My 



bees are all dead ; they died of chol- 

 era. They have died at a very fair rate 

 in the old reliable box hive, so the " I 

 told you so's " have to take a back seat, 

 as the scientific apiarist has not killed 

 his bees this time. \V. I'. Evritt. 

 Davis, Mich., April 5, 1881. 



A Little Discouraged.— Nine-tenths 

 of all the bees in this part of Ohio are 

 dead ; in fact there are hardly any left. 

 Of those remaining, the greater portion 

 are in box hives, unprotected, what is 

 the cause of that singularity V I had 

 mine packed according to Prof. Cook's 

 theory, and all but a few perished, and 

 they are very weak. All left plenty of 

 honey in the hive, and all had the dys- 

 entery. I have about 400 frames of 

 comb, the greater part of which have 

 some honey nicely capped, and I want 

 to save them for future use. 1. How 

 can I protect them from the moth ? 2. 

 Should I extract the honey from them ? 

 3. Is there any advantage in feeding 

 weak colonies when there is plenty of 

 honey in the hive? 4. Why donotsome 

 of the more successful bee-keepers give 

 to the public, through the Bee Jour- 

 nal, their mode of wintering? I have 

 reason tp feel a little discouraged. The 

 Journal is a welcome visitor. 



L. Z. Lantz. 



West Liberty, O., April 4, 1881. 



[We presume, when a final balance- 

 sheet is struck, you will find the box- 

 hive bees have fared no better, if as well 

 as those in approved hives. • 



1. By placing them in tight hives, clo- 

 sing the entrances tightly, spreading 

 papers on the top projecting beyond the 

 hives, fitting the covers on nicely, then 

 putting them in a cool room. 



2. Yes ; we prefer giving them empty, 

 one or two at a time. 



3. No ; it is injurious. If you wish to 

 stimulate breeding, give each day a lit- 

 tle honey and water, in equal parts, at 

 the entrance. A Shuck feeder is very 

 good for this purpose. 



4. Nearly every number of the Jour- 

 nal contains letters from successful 

 bee-keepers, giving their methods of 

 wintering.— Ed.] 



A Confinement of 148 Days. — This 

 has been a most disastrous winter for 

 bees, so far, and the end is not yet. 

 The weather to-day is more like De- 

 cember than spring. Nine-tenths of 

 the bees that were not well protected 

 have died, and the other tenth will 

 probably die if they are not fed. Bees 

 that are well cared for have fared bet- 

 ter. I have 3 colonies in the cellar and 

 one on their summer stand, packed in 

 ehaff. They had a flight on March 20, 

 after a confinement of 148 days. We 

 had no surplus honey nor increase last 

 year but I look for an abundant yield 

 this season. I am located l}4 miles 

 south of a grove of linden of from 1,500 

 to 2,000 trees, from 6 inches to 3 feet in 

 diameter, will my bees go there for 

 honey ? They are blacks and hybrids. 

 I want to Italianize in the spring. I 

 find that nearly all of my neighbor bee- 

 keepers that do not take a bee paper are 

 the heaviest losers in bees. Success to 

 the Weekly Bee Journal. 



1* W Wren 



West Branch, Iowa, April 4, 1881. 



Spring Prospects.— We are having a 

 late and backward spring, liees are 

 housed up nearly all the time, and arc 

 making slow progress. Plums and 

 peaches are nearly a mouth later in 

 Blooming than usual, and so far have 

 been but little benefit to the bees. Cool 

 weather still refuses to let loose, de- 

 spite the prophets, but hope points just 

 ahead to genial springtime. The Weekly 

 is a success. " Onward " be its motto. 

 S. D. McLean. 



Culleoka, Tenn., April 1, 1881. 



Cold in Kentucky.— This is a very cold 

 day for April 1st. Snow has been fall- 

 ing for 48 hours, but melting as it fell. 

 The ground is now frozen and the wind 

 is blowing strong from the north. Bees 

 are in bad condition except where well 

 protected. Mine are all right yet with 

 their chaff cushions, and have plenty of 

 stores. I lost but 1 colony out of 40, and 

 that was a late artificial swarm. I hope 

 for a good honey yield and a prosperous 

 season. Fruit blossoms are ready to 

 open the first warm days, and the white 

 clover is very promising. 



N. P. Allen. 



Smith's Grove, Ky., April 1, 1881. 



Loss of Bees. — This has been a very 

 hard winter on bees in this locality. 

 Mine were confined to their hives from 

 October 16 till March 13. The weather 

 is still cold and winter holds on. I 

 thfnk about % will be lost by April 15. 

 Geo. Garlick. 



Warsaw, Out., April 1, 1881. 



Bees in Fair Condition.— Bees in this 

 vicinity that were wintered out-of-doors 

 are under snow banks some 8 feet deep, 

 and still the snow is coming. The 

 banks cover the tops of the fences in 

 many places and we can drive over a 4- 

 board fence without taking down the 

 fence. My bees have the dysentery, 

 but I gave them a flight on March 18. I 

 left 50 colonies out all night as it was a 

 fair day, but the morning of the 19th 

 soon turned out to be one of the worst 

 blizzards we have had this winter. I 

 succeeded in putting my bees all back 

 in the cellar by calling up the neigh- 

 bors to help ; it became a perfect gale 

 before we got them all in. They now 

 seem to be ready for another nap. In 

 my bee yard the snow is from 3 to 8 ft. 

 deep, a splendid time to trim fruit trees 

 as we need no ladder. 



D. G. Webster. 



Parks Corners, 111., April 4. 1881. 



Safely Wintered. — My bees are in ex- 

 cellent" condition this spring, consider- 

 ing the severe winter they have passed 

 through. Last fall I had 8 colonies, all 

 hybrids. I prepared 5 for winter by re- 

 ducing to 3 and 4 frames each, with di- 

 vision boards placed on each side of the 

 brood nest; each hive having about 10 

 or 12 lbs. of honey ; size of frame 11 ^x 

 1 1 J£,they are now in good condition with 

 brood in all stages. The 3 colonies I 

 had in 2 story hives I prepared for win- 

 ter by taking off the top sections and 

 leaving the bottom section with the 8 

 frames, full of honey (about 35 lbs.) in 

 each hive. One warm day about the 

 middle of January, when other colo- 

 nies were lively and flying, they did not 

 make any show. Upon examination I 

 found every bee dead and not a drop of 

 honey in either of the 3 hives. I was 

 rather surprised at this loss, and exam- 

 ined one of them and found that they 

 had plenty of stores and very few dead 

 bees ; all wintered on their summer 

 stands. I do not use chaff-packing or 

 lime (the lime is new to me) as I can 

 have good results without them, and it 

 is a big job to prepare a number of col- 

 onies for winter. With the hive properly 

 adjusted with division boards inside, 

 a space of 6 or 8 inches from the divi- 

 sion board to end of hive, a thick cot- 

 ton quilt on top of frames to absorb 

 moisture and a few thicknesses of pa- 

 per on the quilt to prevent the escape 

 of heat, they are in an excellent condi- 

 tion to stand a zero freeze, as my 5 col- 

 onies have proven to be at this time. 

 The 3 that starved had more space and 

 honey than they required, and con- 

 sumed honey to keep warm on the same 

 principle that a small stove requires a 

 great amount of wood to keep a large 

 room warm. The great loss of bees 



this winter seems to be a, puzzle to- 

 many, but when properly examined is 

 very simple and natural ; the bees have 

 died from old age more than anything 

 else, as verv few bees were reared last 

 fall. During the months of August. 

 September and October we had very 

 warm, dry weather and no honey in the 

 few (lowers that did bloom, and when 

 honey ceases coming into the hive the 

 queen almost stops depositing eggs, 

 even when they have plenty of stores 

 for winter, and the majority of the bees 

 being old, they were in poor condition to 

 pull through a long, cold winter such as 

 we have had. As all old animals re- 

 quire more nourishment to keep up a 

 given temperature than young animals 

 under the same circumstances, and very 

 few young bees being reared during se- 

 vere cold weather to keep up the colony 

 the natural consequence is death, with 

 plenty of stores around them. These 

 are my ideas on the great loss of bees 

 this winter. Shall be very glad to hear 

 from others on the same subject, as a 

 change of ideas brings out the truth. 

 J. S. Duncan. 

 Browning, Mo., April 4, 1881. 



mer stands without protection during 

 the winter. The surplus boxes had 

 been emptied last fall and returned to 

 the hives, where they were left on all 

 winter, and although they did not tit. 

 very closely and the bees had plenty of 

 upward ventilation, the bees were in 

 good condition. It occurred to my mind 

 that there must be more in upward ven- 

 tilation than many supposed, for some 

 have died around here that were all 

 packed in chaff, and appeared to be in 

 good condition last fall. I am a strong 

 advocate for chaff-packing, but what is 

 the use of chaff-packing if we can get 

 as good results by having plenty of up- 

 ward ventilation and a vacant chamber 

 above the bees ? J. A. Osborne. 



Rantoul, 111., April 6, 1881. 



The Dying and the Dead.— About K 

 of all the bees in this county last fall 

 have now gone " where the woodbine 

 twineth," and this month with next will 

 certainly bring this up to }■{. I have 

 lost but' one in 137 as yet, but am fear- 

 ful that by the first of June I shall tell 

 a different story as to losses for the 

 whole season. N. F. Case. 



Glensdale, N. Y., April 4, 1881. 



Loss of Bees in Northern Michigan.— 



I have made some inquiries and have 

 so far to report the loss of 604 out of 

 933 colonies in this section of the coun- 

 try. This will not fully cover the loss ; 

 the present cold weather will reduce 

 the 600 about as much as the "Noble 

 Six Hundred " we read of. 



L. C. Whiting. 

 East Saginaw, Mich., April 5, 1881. 



Bees In Middle Tennessee.— I like the 

 Weekly Bee Journal. It has been 

 raining and snowing all day here, in 

 middle Tennessee. Yesterday was a 

 beautiful, pleasant, spring-like day. 

 Peaches and plums are in bloom. Bees 

 were working like beavers ; to-day all 

 are frozen up. If we could have 10 

 warm days our bees would be safe. I 

 have rye-meal, honey and sugar. I put 

 into winter quarters 8 colonies in Lang- 

 stroth hives ; lost only one, which was 

 short of stores and came out in Febru- 

 ary and ran off. I wintered on the sum- 

 mer stands, sheltered and packed down 

 with cotton seeds and mats ; I packed 

 underneath the hives with sawdust. 

 There is only one requisite here in win- 

 tering bees and that is to have plenty of 

 stores and to keep them dry. This has 

 been a remarkably hard winter ; many 

 of the late swarms in box and gum 

 hives have starved. This is a very try- 

 ing snap on bees. I saw some apiarist 

 from Indiana here trying to buy up 

 native bees. I. A. Burrow, M. D. 



Santa Fe, Tenn., March 29, 1881. 



Italians ts. Black Bees.— My bees are 

 mostly blacks and hybrids, and I have 

 lost heavily. I have one colony of Ital- 

 ians which endured the severity of the 

 winter much better than the blacks. I 

 think the Weekly Bee Journal splen- 

 did, and am glad that it is a success. 

 J. A. McKee. 



Sparta, 111., March 15, 1881. 



Bees in Caiifornia.— Honey is coming 

 in fast ; the bees are working in sec- 

 tions and capping ; drones are hatching 

 and flying out. I have kept back 

 swarming by great exertions. I have 

 20 frames and sections on some, and 2 

 tiers of sections on others. The bees 

 are building out foundation, and the 

 weather is fine and dry, but the nights 

 are cool. One colony with a hybrid 

 queen had the boxes all capped on the 

 4th, and has built out several combs of 

 foundation of last year's make. I find 

 that my bees will bite off the bottom 

 and corners to build out drone comb. 

 My colonies are strong in bees and 

 working nicely. A queen 3 years old is 

 the only one I have had superceded. I 

 have grapes and fruit with 60 colonies 

 of bees within a stone's throw ; I have 

 observed closely but never found a bee 

 biting the fruit. I had 2 frames of 

 foundation worked out and filled with 

 eggs, pollen and honey in 20 hones. 

 J. D. Enas. 



Napa, Cal., March 30, 1881. 



Losses.— I congratulate the editor on 

 the success of the Weekly. If I get it 

 in the morning I cannot stop till I scan 

 it all over. My pets, I fear, will all die. 

 Out of 33 only 11 survive ; one is queen- 

 less but strong in bees and honey. My. 

 beautiful Italian which I found nearly 

 dead and put in a queenless colony is 

 gone with all in the colony. One I cov- 

 ered with 2 thicknesses of wool carpet 

 did well till March, and died with 

 plenty of honey. We have snow with 

 north winds now. I fear more will be 

 dead when this breaks up. Those I 

 wintered in the shed fared better than 

 those out. Some lose % ; some all. 

 G. W. Ashby. 



Valley Station, Ky., April 2, 1881. 



Upward Ventilation.— As there have 

 been so many conflicting reports in re- 

 gard to bees wintering the past winter, 

 I thought I would mention a circum- 

 stance that came under my observation 

 while at a sale a few days ago. There 

 were 6 colonies of bees in box hives and 

 one in an old Langstroth hive. The 

 colonies had all stood out on the sum- 



My Plan of Wintering. — My bees are 

 in 'fine condition on their summer 

 stands, notwithstanding the very cold 

 winter. I use the Quinby hive. The 

 plan that I have adopted for wintering 

 for the last 3 years is to take off the 

 cap and honey board, put 3 sticks across 

 the frames, then a quilt over the frames, 

 then old carpeting (or some other por- 

 ous article) and keep warm and dry ; 

 after which I place a rough box with 

 from 2 to 4 inches of air-space all around 

 the hive, with an entrance the same as 

 in the hive. In this way I have suc- 

 ceeded for 3 winters with the loss of 

 but one colony. They had a good flight 

 in February and also in Marcii. I shall 

 have to feed some now. Last season 

 was a poor one for honey. There are 

 comparatively hut few bees in this vi- 

 cinity : they have wintered fairly well. 

 I very highly prize the Weekly Bee 

 Journal. Eden Davis. 



Thompson, Conn., April 5, 1881. 



Bees in Vermont.— We have had about 

 90 days of uninterrupted sleighing. 

 Bees here that were properly cared for 

 and put into cellars are, as far as I can 

 learn, in good condition. I had 3 colo- 

 nies that exhibited signs of dysentery, 

 but had the good fortune to be abie to 

 give them a flight early in February, 

 and they are all right now. I hope to 

 come out without loss. During the past 

 two years my average has been about 25 

 lbs. of extracted honey per colony ; this 

 sells readily for 1 shilling per lb., put up 

 in quart fruit jars. Are tin pails a good 

 receptacle for honey ? Is not the cheap 

 tinware adulterated with lead ? and 

 would not honey put up in such packa- 

 ges be injurious to the health of the 

 consumer? W. S. Clark. 



Bellows Falls, Vt. 



[Tin pails, which can be utilized in 

 the house after the honey is used, make 

 good receptacles. Only soured honey, 

 we think, would be liable to absorb lead 

 poison from adulterated tin.— Ed.] 



