1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



141 



Utilizing Old Combs.— I put into win- 

 ter quarters last fall 14 colonics of bees 

 in chaff hives; only 4 of them came 

 through alive, and they are not very 

 strong. I have 80 frames, containing 

 125 to 150 lbs. of honey, from the colo- 

 nies that died, anil am desirous of build- 

 ing up again — how can I best use these 

 frames of honey and comb ? Please in- 

 form me through the next Journal. 

 B. E. Miles. 



Glenwood, Pa., April 22, 1SS1. 



[You will find full instructions for 

 utilizing them to the best advantage on 

 pages 86 and 100 of the Weekly Bee 

 Journal.— Ed.] 



Nine-Tenths of the Bees Dead. —Nearly 

 9-10 of the bees in this section are dead': 

 a few will purchase sparingly ; others 

 will abandon the pursuit. Many feel 

 that a part of the family have died— 

 their pets are missed. All feel that it 

 is as necessary to care for our bees as 

 for chickens, pigs and calves. The 

 roads are impassable in some places, be- 

 ing blocked still with snow. The Rock 

 River is as high as it has been for 30 

 years. A. Rice. 



Byron, 111., April 21, 1881. 



Best Hive for Use in Germany.— In 



this part of Germany we have two prin- 

 cipal crops — first,the rape, which blooms 

 in April and May, and second, the lin- 

 den, which blooms in June and July. 

 The first is the most important. Now, 

 I would submit you these questions : 

 What is the best hive ? Is it better to 

 nave large populations in large hives, 

 or small ones in small hives? 



II. Butsch, Jr. 

 Alsace, Germany, March 26, 1881. 



[The standard Langstroth is the best 

 for your latitude. This holds 10 frames, 

 Yl% inches long by 9% deep. It is bet- 

 ter to have a large population in a me- 

 dium-sized hive— that is, a hive which 

 a good queen will always keep well filled 

 with brood. Many of our successful 

 honey producers remove two or three 

 frames from the brood chamber, substi- 

 tuting division boards in their place, at 

 the beginning of the honey flow, thus 

 leaving the lower story entirely to the 

 queen, and forcing the bees above with 

 their surplus. Bear in mind, you never 

 can make your hive too populous for the 

 best results in honey. — Ed.] 



Upward Ventilation.— I put 9 colonies 

 in the cellar early in the winter ; one of 

 them was very weak and of course it 

 died ; 2 had chaff boxes. I put on one 

 and when I tried to put on the other, 

 the bees were very cross ; I put down 

 the cover and thought I would leave 

 them a little while, but being very busy 

 at that time, I neglected to attend to it, 

 and the result was I lost the colony. I 

 have 7 colonies left in good condition. 

 I am convinced that the cellar is the 

 place to winter in and also that upward 

 ventilation is required ; mine were all 

 open at the top except the one that 

 died. Most of the bees in this vicinity 

 are dead except those in cellars. 



State Centre, Iowa. T. Parke. 



Bees Wintered Successfully.— I win- 

 tered my bees in the bee bouses, the 

 loss being so small that I do not miss 

 them in the yard. They are in unusu- 

 ally good condition for the season. I 

 have as yet handled but few and do not 

 care to disturb them until it becomes 

 necessary'. I will comply with request 

 of Mr. Reynolds in a short time— see 



fiage 118, No. 15. 1 know how it goes to 

 ose my bees in past years, before I had 

 so much experience. Now, when I can 

 look on, it is about as it used to be with 

 us, they died through the water. I am 

 more than pleased with the Weekly 

 Bke Journal ; could not keep house 

 without it. J. II. Robertson. 



Pewamo, Mich., April 27, 1881. 



Robber Dees.— I have learned a suc- 

 cessful remedy for robbing. I find out 

 the hives the robber bees conic from, 

 then feed them with syrup made of cof- 

 fee A sugar, placing it over the brood 

 and letting it run down over the COBB OS, 

 and if they do not stop robbing then, 1 

 pour it over the brood until it runs out 

 at the entrance, and that gives them 

 work to keep other bees out of the hive. 

 It matters not how rich a colony is. feed 

 it as I direct, and you will conquer the 

 robbers every time. I do this feeding 

 early in the morning, and my bees arc 

 all living and doing well. Within six 

 miles of my apiary I do not know of but 

 3 colonies living now. I live in hopes 

 of a good honey harvest. 



R. M. Osborn. 



Kane, 111., April 21, 1881. 



Wintered Well.— Spring has come at 

 last. Such a winter man has seldom 

 been called on to endure. My bees win- 

 tered well on the summer stands, with- 

 out any protection, and I lost but one. 

 They died in all parts of the hive— scat- 

 tered in the upper and lower stories — 

 but few together. They were strong, 

 with plenty of sealed honey. Why was 

 this V Neither combs nor hive "were 

 soiled. P. P. Collier. 



Mexico, Mo., April 17, 1881. 



[Probably during a milder spell the 

 cluster became divided, when a sudden 

 change occurring in the weather, the 

 bees became chilled, and thus perished 

 before they could again unite.— Ed.] 



Bees in Good Condition.— I keep only 

 20 colonies— have no time to attend to 

 more. I lost one during the past win- 

 ter; all the rest are in tine condition. 

 The one lost would have come through 

 all right had I not unintentionally neg- 

 lected to give it proper care last fall. 

 G. Tompkins. 



Cincinnati, O., April 27, 1881. 



The Loss in Michigan Two-Thirds.— 



As near as I can learn the loss of bees 

 in Michigan has been % up to this time. 

 The season has opened very fine now, 

 and bees are gathering a little honey 

 from soft maples, which seldom yield 

 honey in this latitude. Daffodils are 

 some of the earliest flowers that bees 

 work on here. J. O. Shearman. 



New Richmond, Mich., April 26, 1881. 



The Cause of Bee Mortality.— In this 

 vicinity last fall there were 462 colonies, 

 now there are only 100. The few in 

 chaff hives are doing well. The cause 

 of this mortality began a year ago. East 

 April was hard on the bees ; in June 

 they were starving. For about a week 

 in July bees did well ; then it came off 

 so hot that they did not make quite a 

 living from that time out. So they did 

 not have enough food to live on, and 

 some of us resorted to feeding sugar. I 

 tried grape sugar with coffee sugar, 

 equal parts. (No more grape sugar for 

 me to feed bees on in the winter.) Bees 

 in good chaff hives will winter well ; if 

 they need food give them candy made 

 of good sugar early in October, and 

 they will winter weil even though it be 

 as severe as the one just past. 



Hartford, Wis. I. S. Crowfoot. 



Amber Cane Syrup, etc.— I have built 

 a honey-house and intend ceiling it in- 

 side with matched pine lumber. Would 

 you till the space (4 inches) with saw- 

 dust ? Would you use green sawdust, 

 if you could not get it dry V Do you 

 think it would do bees any harm to feeil 

 them amber cane syrup mixed with an 

 equal amount Of honey, during the fore 

 part of May ? I packed 28 colonies of 

 bees in wheat chaff on their summer 

 stands last fall, of which I lost :(. A 

 good many bee-keepers about here have 

 lost all their bees. G. II. Denman. 



Pittsford, Mich., April 20, 1881. 



[Have the material dry with which you 

 pack the air-space, whether it be saw- 

 dust, chaff, tan-bark, etc., and have a 

 well-regulated ventilator. When bees 

 are flying freely, we think you can feed 

 amber cane syrup and honey with per- 

 fect safety.— Ed.] 



Losses in Central Wisconsin. — Bees 

 hereabouts are somewhat dead. D. H. 

 Wright went into winter quarters with 

 7 colonies, and came through with all 

 alive, but 1 was queenless. I had 14 in 

 the fall and lost 4 ; 2 of the 10 left are 

 weak. D. D. Daniher had the same 

 number as myself, and lost all but one. 

 All the above were wintered out-doors 

 in chaff and straw. Cellar-wintering, 

 from what I hear, has been no better. 

 A man by the name of Long lost all but 

 5 out of some 40 colonies put into the 

 cellar. John Corscot. 



Madison, Wis., April 21, 1881. 



Had So Winter Flight.— I placed 157 

 colonies in the cellar Nov. 22 ; removed 

 them to their summer stands April 21 ; 

 found 9 dead and most all of the re- 

 maining 148 in good condition. The 

 temperature in our cellar was 45° to 52°. 

 Mr. Geo. W. House, of Fayetteville, in 

 his essay read before the North Eastern 

 Bee-Keepers' of New York, says a win- 

 ter flight is necessary for successful 

 wintering. I do not agree with him. 

 Our bees have wintered well for the 

 past two seasons without a flight. 



C. M. WOOLVER. 



Hallsville, N. Y., April 26, 1881. 



Wintered in the Cellar Without Loss.— 



I put 39 colonies in the cellar Nov. 1, 

 and took them out April 20 ; all had liv- 

 ing bees in them, but 3 were queenless, 

 and these I united with 3 weak ones. I 

 now have 36 in fine condition. They 

 were confined 170 days. There is a re- 

 markable absence of brood, only 3 have 

 any sealed, but the queens have tilled 

 from 2 to 3 frames each with eggs dur- 

 ing the past 4 days. The bees are car- 

 rying pollen ; the weather is delightful 

 but the snow is a foot deep in the woods; 

 as my bees all have a good supply of 

 honey I do not anticipate any further 

 losses. My bees are pure blacks and 

 hybrids ; the blacks wintered the best. 

 I also put 15 colonies of Italians (a neigh- 

 bor's) in my cellar, only 8 of which came 

 out alive. Mrs. P., who had 26 colonies 

 on the summer stands, covered with 

 snow, lost all; others have lost heavily. 

 D. II. HorKiNS. 

 Bear Lake, Mich., April 24, 1881. 



Rather Discouraging. — My report is 

 rather discouraging ; I have but a mere 

 shadow to build upon. I have but 2 

 colonies left from 22 in the fall ; but I 

 expect to fill my yard and get some 

 honey. There has been reported to me 

 within a radius of 10 miles. 838 colonies 

 put into winter quarters, of which only 

 140 are alive now; I think not more 

 than 100 will live to see the clover 

 bloom. Bees were nearly all wintered 

 on their summer stands, but very few 

 being packed or given any special care. 

 Mr. G. P. Wilcox had 7 colonies packed 

 with chaff cushions on sides and top, all 

 came through strong, while his neigh- 

 bor lost over 40 out of 47 ; they were 

 black bees in log gums. My bees 

 brought in the first pollen on the 19th 

 inst. I like the Weekly Bee Journal 

 so well that I should take it if my 

 bees had all died. Accept our thanks 

 for your efforts in giving us such a pa- 

 per so well suited to our wants. 



P. A. RlEGLE. 



Arlington. O., April 28, 1881. 



Wintered in a Clamp Without Loss.— 



I commenced the season with 40 colo- 

 nies, increased to 70, obtained 1,650 lbs. 

 of comb honey. "Nearly all were in box 

 hives, but I put the swarms in frame 

 hives, one of which gave- me 130 lbs.. 

 and 2 others about 100 lbs. each. I 

 buried 66 colonies Nov. 13-15, and took 

 34 out of the first trench April 22, and 

 32 out of the other trench the 24th ; all 

 alive, but a few of them are weak in 

 bees but have plenty of honey and to 

 spare. Everybody who left their bees 

 out-of-doors through the winter, in this 

 locality, have lost nearly all, and some 

 have lost badly when wintering in cel- 

 lars, so I think I can cry "Eureka" 

 when I lose none out of 66. 



1). B. BOOMHOWER. 



Rensselaerville, N. Y., April 2-5, 1881. 



[Mr. B's report is refreshing in the 

 midst of disasters. We should like to 

 have him give his manner of preparing 

 the clamp, etc., for a future number of 

 the Bee Journal.— Ed.] 



Pollen From Sawdust.— In this cli- 

 mate. New York, at an altitude vary- 

 ing from 1,300 to 2,000 feet above tide 

 waters, no pollen is yet obtainable from 

 any source. Bees work lively to-day on 

 farina of grain. At least 35 per cent. 

 of the stock of bees in this region last 

 fall have gone " where the woodbine 

 twineth." Even in chaff hives bees do 

 not. survive long winters without a due 

 allowance of honey, and with both of 

 those conditions present we have the 

 phenomena of dead colonies in the win- 

 ter and spring, nor does chaff packing 

 triumph over other modes of salvation. 

 The first time that bees gathered any 

 thing to store in their hives, this sea- 

 son, was April 14th, and the first mate- 

 rial gathered was sawdust. Green or 

 newly cut white ash trees were sawed 

 into reaper teeth and the dust was 

 taken from under the rows and carried 

 upon land near by. Bees literally 

 swarmed over the heaps of sawdust. 

 The bees loaded their legs with a whit- 

 ish substance, somewhat glutinous and 

 sweetish. The dust is rich in the ma- 

 terial gathered by the bees. 



C. J. Robinson. 



Riehford, N. Y., April 23, 1881. 



The Result. — The long winter is over 

 and genial spring is here. What bees 

 I have are now bringing in pollen from 

 soft maples. I wintered 13 colonies on 

 the south side of a tight board fence 

 and lost 3; and I wintered 18 where the 

 wind blew on them and lost 15. I have 

 now 13 colonies ; all appear to be doing 

 well. Mrs. C. M. Kingsley. 



Elvaston, 111., April 28, 1881. 



Melilot Clover as a Fertilizer. — Is mel- 

 ilot clover of much value to plow under 

 to enrich poor or heavy clay soil ? If 

 it is a good fertilizer, it will do good to 

 have that fact known in connection with 

 its other qualities. The fertilizing value 

 of white clover, also, may not be fully 

 known. P. Moyer. 



Clark, Pa., April 25, 1881. 



[As we have heretofore stated, meli- 

 lot is an excellent fertilizer ; some claim 

 that it is superior to red clover. — Ed.] 



Lost (5 out of 22 Colonies?— I had 22 



colonies last fall — 11 in Langstroth hives 

 packed with chaff on the sides and top, 

 and 11 in Kidder hives. I lost 3 in each 

 kind of hives. Nine-tenths of the bees 

 in this section are dead. N. wintered 

 90 on the summer stands and lost 60 ; 

 W.. 24 in box hives and lost all ; O. had 

 40, and but 3 weak ones remain ; R. 17, 

 and 1 left ; A. wintered 22 in the cellar, 

 and has 3 now ; G. 14, none left ; 50 or 

 60 more have lost bees in about the same 

 ratio. During swarming time, will it 

 be safe to cut out the queen-cells and 

 turn the queen loose, without caging? 

 I consider the Bee JouitNALas a weekly 

 very valuable, and much more so than 

 a monthly. L. Densmore. 



Livonia Station, N. Y., April 27, 1881. 



[ It is not always safe to do so, but as 

 a general rule, during the commotion 

 and confusion incident to swarming, 

 the advent of a strange queen passes 

 without notice. — Ed.] 



Lost 13 out of 42 Colonies.— Bees are 



picking up nicely during the last week. 

 I lost 13 out of 42 colonies. The cold 

 spell in March was the worst on them. 

 Cause of loss : insufficient ventilation. 

 C. P. Muth. 

 Cincinnati, O., April 25, 1881. 



Once 14 ; Sow None.— There you have 

 it. Just as I began to flatter myself 

 that I knew something about bees, 

 along came blizzard after blizzard, and 

 snow after snow, till the poor bees had 

 to give up; and I — well, I— shall have 

 to get Cyprians, or something else, and 

 begin anew. In this locality all the 

 bees are dead— not one left. Some of 

 my bees were in single and some in 

 double-walled hives — some in old and 

 some in new hives— those that lived the 

 longest were in new double-walled hives. 

 May the frequent visits of the Weekly 

 Bee Journal continue to cheer its 

 readers for years to come. 



A. G. Benedict. 



Millard, Wis., April 11, 1881. 



