126 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 20, 



Straw and Chaff for Wintering.— My 



brothers and I had 35 colonies last fall 

 ill the " Champion " hive ; wintered on 

 the summer stands packed in chaff and 

 straw, and lost 5. About % of the bees 

 here about are dead. Mr. J. W. Con- 

 nor who, like myself, reads the I5ke 

 Jouknal, lias lost but 2 colonies out of 

 li\ The spring is very backward ; 

 tiiere is an inch of ice on the trees and 

 on the earth hereto-day; still I think 

 the prospect good for honey in south- 

 west Iowa if there are bees enough left 

 to gather it. I like the Bee Jouknal 

 and Cook's " Manual of the Apiary." 

 S. C. Smith. 

 Wheeler's Grove, Iowa, April 8, 1881. 



Wintering in Kentucky.— Many bees 

 have perished in this locality. My loss 

 is 10 out of 85 ; 5 were starved, 3 uueen- 

 lrss, one partly frozen, and one baffles 

 di ignosis. Wm. C. Pelham. 



Maysville, Ky., March 31, 1881. 



Five Months' Confinement.— I have 25 

 colonies left out of 100 wintered on the 

 Bummer stands without protection. I 

 had no surplus during the past 2 years, 

 though the 2 years preceding I had 75 

 lbs. each season per colony. The in- 

 crease was moderate. All had the 

 dysentery last winter. More than % of 

 all the bees in this vicinity are dead. 

 My bees had no flight for about 5 

 months, and have been able to fly only 

 a few days this spring. 



R. C. Aikin. 



Shambaugh, Iowa, April 5, 1881. 



Weevils. — I send you several speci- 

 mens of a bug (2 females and 1 male). 

 I find them on my bee hives and also 

 have found one of them inside on the 

 frames. What are they ? Do they 

 harm anything V If they are an enemy 

 of the bee, I am inclined to the opinion 

 they are a formidable one on account of 

 their natural advantages. Shaped and 

 looking like an iron clad; their armor 

 being corrugated I think the missile of 

 the bee would be harmless, and their 

 shape would prevent the bees from car- 

 rying them out of the hive. 



A. B. McLavy. 



Bastrop, Tex., March 28, 1881. 



[The insects are snout-beetles or wee- 

 vils, and hence belong to the great fam- 

 ily Rhyncophoridai. These are very 

 beautiful, and as they are new to our 

 collections, I am very thankful for them. 

 Wrapped up in the cotton, theynotonly 

 came without injury, but were actually 

 alive upon arrival. All weevils, so far 

 as I know, are vegetable-eaters, not only 

 in the imago or mature state, but also 

 as grubs, in which condition they have 

 no legs, and so are often called maggots. 

 This latter name is only proper when 

 applied to the larva; of two-winged 

 flies. So the specimens sent are related 

 to the plum curculio, the pernicious 

 wheat weevil, and to several of our 

 worst borers. They like warmth, and 

 have probably learned that the bees fur- 

 nish this desired caloric, and so are 

 found about the hives.' 



I shall be very glad to receive such 

 specimens, especially from the South 

 and West, and will give information in 

 regard to them. If put in cotton they 

 come without injury. — A. J. Cook, Ag- 

 ricultural College, Lansing, Mich. J 



Hold Your Tongue.— Without inquiry 

 we learn but little. I have carefully 

 perused Prof. Cook's" Manual," a clear 



and concise treatise it is, and LaDg- 

 stroth's great work— while both recog- 

 nize the fact that the " business end " 

 of a bee is the great drawback to be- 

 ginners, and suggest a number of rem- 

 edies for the alleviation of the stings, 

 yet both equally ignore the fact that 

 man has within himself a sure, absolute 

 and never-failing prevention. Now 

 what is it? It is simply to take the 

 tongue between the front teeth and 

 hold it firmly there, while you dissect a 

 bee, wasp or hornet with perfect impu- 

 nity. Just how much pressure is re- 

 quired I cannot say ; being of a timid 



nature I generally screw 'em up rather 

 tightly. You say " fudge, that's an old 

 woman's story, I have heard that ever 

 since I was a boy." So have I, and 

 more, I believe it from actual experi- 

 ence to be true. As to the facts that 

 they exist as stated I have no doubt, 

 and entreat no one to believe or disbe- 

 lieve them; but my question is: what 

 is it a contraction of, the pores, will, 

 psychology, or, or, or something else V 

 If some kind reader of the Monthly 

 Journal will give the why and where- 

 fore to the above question he will 

 greatly oblige one, and I believe many, 

 of its readers. C. II. Cline. 



Weatherford, Tex. 



Losses. — I commenced last spring 

 with 2 colonies in box hives ; had them 

 transferred into chaff hives; obtained 

 no increase, and only about 30 lbs. of 

 surplus; they are in good order now. I 

 bought 9 colonies in box hives in De- 

 cember, 1880, and packed them in chaff, 

 of which I lostone. I bought 3 more in 

 March, which are all dead. 



L. R. Lamh. 



Penn, Mich., April 9, 1881. 



Bees and Grapes.— I have kept bees 

 52 years, and have tried all the differ- 

 ent theories of bee-keeping. I used 

 frames in the upper story before the 

 Langstroth frame was patented, only 

 mine were heavy and clumsy and rested 

 on what is called the honey board, and 

 there nailed fast. Except in 1 or 2 win- 

 ters I seldom lost more than 1 or 2 ; I 

 pack in dry soft-wood sawdust. I have 

 cultivated grapes just as long as I have 

 kept bees, but never perceived any in- 

 jury from the bees. A wasp, some like 

 a yellow jacket, some years bites them. 

 One year my neighbor having some 

 sweet grapes complained of my bees ; 

 I told him to pick a few bunches that 

 were not stung, put them near my 

 hives, and I would pay him 2s. for every 

 grape that the bees punctured. He did 

 so, examined them every day, but not 

 one was punctured and he gave it up. 

 C L. Young. 



Brecksville, C, April 11, 1881. 



Care for the Bees.— I kept bees in 

 box hives in Cortland Co., N. Y., for 

 years, and do not remember of losing \ 

 any in winter. Since I came to Michi- 

 gan I have kept bees and last winter 

 one was queenles and died with about 

 30 lbs. of honey in the hive. This win- 

 ter 1 have lost one colony. I use the 

 cottage hive, and left my bees on the 

 summer stands until Dec. 1. when I 

 put them into the cellar; I took them 

 out on March 1. One was weak ; I 

 took it into a warm room and gave 

 them a flight, and then placed them in 

 a sheltered place and they seemed 

 happy. I have but few colonies and 

 give them careful attention, such as I 

 do other stock. I feed them warm 

 syrup every day. Nearly % of the 

 bees in this locahtv are dead. 



Linus Reed. 



Howell, Mich., April 2, 1881. 



Lost All. — I put into winter quarters 

 43 strong colonies, having young bees 

 and plenty of honey ; all m a prosper- 

 ous condition. I was quite proud of 

 them, and expected by this time to 

 realize a fair income from them, but, 

 alas for " blasted hopes," they are all 

 dead but4, which are in poor condition. 

 They were packed in chaff on the sum- 

 mer stands, in the manner recom- 

 mended by Stout Hill, of Mount Heal- 

 thy. They died of dysentery, caused, I 

 think, from a poor crop of honey gath- 

 ered in the fall. The last honey season 

 was poor in this vicinity. My bees 

 worked on the yellow willow about 2?| 

 months in the fall; the willow was lit- 

 erally covered with Aphides, and this I 

 think the main cause of dysentery ; the 

 honey is very dark and of poor quality. 

 I think the Jouhnal is just splendid 

 since it became a Weekly. I prefer it 

 to all others and will do what 1 can to 

 increase its circulation. 



Samuel Coulthaiid. 



Preston, O., March 31, 1881. 



Chaff Hives.— Four out of 5 of those 



who had bees here last fall now have 

 only empty hives. Mr. Amos and my- 

 self are more fortunate, ours being in 

 chaff hives. I am trying to get the 

 others to replenish in the spring, and I 

 think they will. I hope we shall have a 

 plentiful season. The Bee Journal 

 is to me invaluable, and I thought last 

 year if it was only a Weekly it would be 

 complete, for a month is too long to 

 wait for the next number. With it and 

 Gleanings I think I shall be well posted 

 during the coming year. 



Geo. E. Hilton. 

 Fremont Centre, Mich., March 28. 



Figwort.— I read the Bee Journal, 

 and am pleased with it. I send you a 

 piece of the stalk, some of the seed bolls 

 and a green leaf of what I suppose is 

 figwort or Simpson honey plant (IScrofu- 

 laria nodosa. Am I right r I find it on 

 new upland, and it grows as tall as 10 or 

 12 feet. I would like very much for 

 you to name two or three of what you 

 consider the best plants to cultivate for 

 honey ; in other words, what is your 

 idea on this subject ? V. C. Stiers. 



Haydenville, O., April 5, 1881. 



[You are right ; it is figwort. We 

 think the time is rapidly approaching 

 when all thoughtful bee-keepers will 

 acknowledge the wisdom of planting 

 for bee-pasturage. Of course, opinion 

 will be divided as to the most desirable 

 kinds to plant, owing to adaptability to 

 climate. For spontaneous growth, we 

 prefer sweet clover, catnip, motherwort, 

 figwort and giant mignonette. For a 

 cultivated crop, buckwheat, alsike clo- 

 ver or mustard. Other plants will un- 

 doubtedly be found profitable and desi- 

 sirable for special localities, now that 

 public attention is being directed to the 

 importance of the subject.— Ed.] 



Bees Suffered Severely. — Bees in this 



I part have suffered severely during the 



i winter and a great many have died. 



] Mine came out as strong as when I put 



i them in, with brood in the hives. I 



winter my bees on D. A. Jones' system 



of wintering. Thomas Smith. 



Durham, Ontario, April 6, 1881. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1881. Time and Place of Meeting. 



May i— TuscarawaH Rnd Muskingum Valley, at Cam 

 bridge. Guernsey Co., o. 



.1. A. Bucklew. Sec., Clarka. O. 

 5— Central Michigan, at LansinK, Micb. 

 10 -Portland Union, at Cortland. N. Y. 



C. M. Bean. Sec, McOrawyllle. N. Y. 

 10— N. W. Wisconsin, at LaCrosse. Wis. 



L. H. Panimel. Seo. 

 11—8. W. Wisconsin, at Darlington. Wis. 



N. E. France, Sec. Piatte»llle. WU. 

 12. 13-Texas Bee-Keepers' Association, at Mc 

 Kinney, Collin Co.. Texas. 

 W. R Howard. Sec. Kingston, HuntCo.. Tex. 

 17-N. W. 111. and S. W. Wis., at H. W. Lee'a, 



Pecatonlca, 111. .1. Stewart, Sec 



1"-N. W. Union, at Hastings. Minn. 



K. B. Dorothy, Sec. 

 19— Champlaln Valley, at Bristol. Vt. 



T. Brooklns, 8oc. 



Sept. National, at I.exlnjrton. Ky. 



-Kentucky State, at Louisville. Ky. 

 Oct. 12 -Ky. State. In Kxpositlon B'd'g, Loulsville.Ky. 

 W. Williamson, Sec, Lexington. Ky. 



XW In order to have this Table complete. Secreta- 

 ries are requested to forward full particulars of tlm* 

 and place of future meetings.— ED. 



Winter Still Hangs On. —We have had 

 a week of very severe weather, and if it 

 does not warm up soon I shall lose 40 

 per cent, of my bees. This is the worst 

 month of any on bees, and I have won- 

 dered if those who reported " bees came 

 out good." the fore part of March, can 

 say so the 1st of May? We arc not 

 through the woods till May 15th in this 

 locality. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., April 7, 1881. 



Wintered Finely. — Our bees have win- 

 tered well. We have 150 colonies that 

 have been out of the cellara month, and 

 50 more that have not been out in live 

 months — all doing finely. 



T. S. "Bull & Son. 



Valparaiso, Ind., April 9, 1881. 



A Beeinner's Experience.— We have 

 had a very severe winter and to-day the 

 snow lies to the depth of inches on the 

 level. Bees in this section are nearly 

 all dead. I started last spring with 2 

 colonies, increased to 8 by natural 

 swarming, are all dead now but 3, and 

 I do not think there are as many bees 

 as in 2 colonies last spring. They left 

 plenty of stores ; some had several 

 frames that were hardly touched. I use 

 Langstroth 8 and 10 frame hives and 

 the bees filled the lower story and I left 

 it all in; some, say they would have 

 wintered better if 1 had taken out a 

 couple of frames of comb and replaced 

 them with empty frames, as they would 

 have had more room to cluster. My 

 bees were packed in straw, but they 

 never had a flight from November until 

 the last of March. There were a few 

 days that a few would come out but 

 only a few returned. I read all I can 

 find about bee-culture and have taken 

 the Journal since it became a Weekly 

 and like it very much. 



('. W. Fisher. 



Lewis, Iowa, April s, 1881. 



Chaff Triumphant.— Out of 109 colo- 

 nies of bees owned by 1 1 persons (mostly 

 farmers) hist fall, 42'are now dead. My 

 loss is 20 per cent.; occasioned by at- 

 tempting to save some queens through 

 the winter. Full colonies packed in 

 chaff according to the best approved 

 methods came through in perfect condi- 

 tion, without a purifying flight from 

 Nov. 20 until late in March. I am so 

 well pleased with the Weekly Bee 

 Journal that I think I cannot do with- 

 out it. S. A. Shuck. 



Bryant, 111., April 4,1881. 



CLUBBING LIST. 



We supply the Weekly American Bee Journal 



and any of the following periodicals, for 1881, at the 

 prices quoted in the last column of figures. The 

 first column Rives the regular price of both : 



Club. 

 .%l 00 

 . 2 75 

 2 t» 

 . % 50 

 . 3 75 



Publishers' Price. 



The Weekly Bee Journal (T. G. Newman) 



and Gleanings In Bee-Culture (A.I. Knot) 3 00. 



Bee-Keepers' Magazine (A.J.King)., i* 00 



Bee-Keepers' Exchange (J.H.NelHs). 2 75. 



The 4 above-named papers 4 75. 



Bee-Keepers' Instructor ( W. Thomas) 2 50, 



Bee-Keepers' Guide < A.G.Hillj 2 60 



The ti above-named papers 5 75. 



Prof. Cook's Manual (bound In cloth) 3 25 



Bee-Culture (T.G.Newman) 2 40 



For Semi-monthly Bee Journal. fl.OO less. 

 For Monthly Bee Journal. H-5U less. 



. 235 



. 6 00 



. 3 00 



. 2 25 



Honey and Beeswax Market. 



BUYERS' QUOTATIONS. 



CHICAGO. 



HONE7— The market Is plentifully supplied with 

 honey, and sales are slow at weak, easy prices. Quo- 

 table at lHtaivc. for strictly choice white comb In 1 

 and 2 lb. boxes ; at U(i$itic. for fair to good in large 

 packages, and at KKa 12c. for common dark-colored 

 and broken lots. Extracted, 8<&H>c. 



BEESWAX.— Choice yellow. 20tft23c; dark, 15@17. 



NEW YORK. 



HONEY.-Best white comb honey, smalt neat 

 packages. HCalHo. ; fair do., 14(^16c. ; dark do.. H«el2 ; 

 large boxes sell fur about 2c. under above. White 

 extracted, y<gil0c. ; dark, 7(g.8c.; southern strained, 

 B0@86c 



BEESWAX.-Prtme quality, 20@23c. 



CINCINNATI. 



HONEY.— The market for extracted clover honey 

 is good, at 8® 10c. Comb honey is of slow sale at 16c. 

 for the best. 



BKESWAX-18&22C C. F. MUTH. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



HONEY.— Since our last there have been some 

 !,'»■' cast's more ol extracted honey cleared fur Liv- 

 erpool, and at our last the outlook for the coming 

 crop was very poor. Since, there have been copious 

 showers, and reports are generally more favorable. 

 We quote white comb, 13913c.: dark to good, 9@ lie. 

 Extracted, choice to extra white, f>h><3' ,; *lic. ; dark and 

 candied, r>($. r >Hc. 



BEESWAX -22^2-J^C, as to color. 



Stkakns & smith. 423 Front Street. 



San Francisco. Cal., March 31, 1881. 



ig^r The Michigan Bee-Keepers 1 Asso- 

 ciation will convene in Pioneer Rooms 

 of the state Capitol at Lansing, May 5. 



The following is the programme: 



Regular order of business. 



Annual address by Pros. W. J. Ashworth. 



Address by T. G. Newman, editor of American Bee 

 Journal ; subject. Rise, Progress, Present Condition 

 and Future Prospects of American Apiculture. 



Essay— Profitable extent of bee-keeping, by Jamos 

 Heddon, Dowagiac. 



Essay— Requisites of an Apiary, by H. A. Burch, 

 South iluvon. 



Essay— Some Important facts In bee-keeping, by 

 Prof. A. J. Cook, Michigan Agricultural College. 



Dl8CU88loni Mid remarks. 



[Examination of exhibits. 



All exhibitors of supplies are requested to send 

 sum ph's i" tin- Secretary, with prices and descrip- 

 tions attached, and all transportation charges must 

 be prepaid by the exhibitors. Gko. L. Pkkhv. See. 



igg" The North Western Wisconsin 

 Bee-keepers Association will meet at 

 (iermania Hall, LaCrosse, Wis., on 

 Tuesday. May lu, at in a. m. All inter- 

 ested in bee-keeping are requested to be 

 present. L. II. Pammel, Jr., Sec. 



(gT The Northern Michigan Bee- 

 Keepers 1 Association will hold its fourth 

 Annual Convention at Maple Rapids, 

 Clinton Co., Mich.. October 11 and 12, 

 1881. David Kishelman. Pres. 



O. H. Goodno, Sec., Carson City, 

 Mich. 



