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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 11, 





Taking Off Top Cushions.— When is 

 the time to take off top cushions? I 

 liave not seen anything about taking off, 

 but enough about putting them on. Mine 

 are on yet. I lost 4 colonies in winter- 

 ing — 2 in frame and 2 in box hives. I 

 believe in top ventilation ; without it, 

 1 believe I should have lost all my bees. 

 I will give an old Virginian's method of 

 trapping moths : Put an iron kettle in 

 your bee-yard, in the midst of the bees, 

 rill half full with soapsuds, drive a stake 

 solid in the ground near the kettle, nail 

 an arm to it so as to extend over the 

 kettle, then hang a glass lantern in the 

 kettle so it will reach within 2 inches of 

 the water. Light the lantern at dusk ; 

 the light attracts them, and they soon 

 worry and fall in the suds. Throw a 

 rug over it in the day time. J. N. B. 



Linn Grove, Ind., April 22, 1881. 



[ Leave top cushions on till the nights 

 become so warm as not to chill the brood, 

 then replace with a blanket or honey- 

 board till time to let the bees up in the 

 second story.— Ed.] 



Loss 90 Per Cent.— In this region we 

 have suffered the loss of nearly all our 

 bees during the past winter. I think 

 that 90 per cent, of the whole quantity 

 is dead. I know of none who had bet- 

 ter success than I, and my loss was 5-12. 

 Well, we are not discouraged ; our sur- 

 vivers are working finely, and in every 

 "way are making a good start. I con- 

 gratulate you on the success of the 

 Weekly Journal. W. B. Spence. 



Sidney, O., April 30, 1881. 



Wintered Without Loss.— I put 30 

 colonies of bees in the cellar Nov. 10, 

 and took them out April 23; they all 

 came out alike strong with bees and 

 had plenty of honey. They are at work 

 now on the willow and popple. The 

 loss in wintering has been very heavy 

 in this vicinity. It was a poor honey 

 season last year in general. From 25 

 colonies I took 1,000 lbs of comb honey 

 and had 5 swarms. The Bee Journal 

 comes every Friday ; that is not too of- 

 ten. Mr. G. M. Doolittle's articles in 

 the Journal were worth more than 

 $50 to me last season. As long as I 

 keep bees I shall take the Bee Jour- 

 nal. Clarence Marsh. 



Sharon, Vt., April 2-5, 1881. 



The Italian Bee not a Pure Species. 

 — Mr. Deniaree, upon this question, 

 furnishes the readers with some very 

 important considerations regarding the 

 purity of the Italian bee, which he pro- 

 nounces a hybrid, or a cross between a 

 pure " yellow, quiet race, and a fierce, 

 black, irritable race of bees," and he 

 thinks it impossible that the race is 

 pure. He is tempted to ask what is 

 meant by the dark and light strains of 

 Italians, and what point is the dividing 

 line to be fixed. The dividing line, I 

 supposed, had already been fixed, or so 

 near that it was very satisfactory to all. 

 or nearly so. As to color — i.e., light and 

 dark— it is of but little consequence, if 

 the markings be true and uniform , which 

 cannot be found in a hybrid of any kind. 

 When the Italian bee is crossed with the 

 black in this country, there is no uni- 

 formity of color about tbem. Does the 

 same rule work in Italy as here ? Cer- 

 tainly it does. It must be a settled fact, 

 if they are a cross between the pure 

 yellow andthepure black that Mr. Dem- 

 aree speaks of, have they not been bred 

 long enough to become a fixed type V 

 Most assuredly they have. At least this 

 is my experience with them 18 years. 

 From the first I claimed they varied in 

 shades of color as much as does the 

 Anglo-Saxon race, but with uniform 

 markings of the three golden bands ; 

 that is, the entire colony. 



It seems that the writer had a starting 

 point, as he speaks of a "pure yellow 

 race" and a " pure black race." If there 

 did exist a pure yellow race as he speaks 

 of, is it possible that race is entirely ex- 

 tinct. As to the color of the beautiful 

 Italian bee being altogether produced 



by a careful selection of our own, is a 

 gross mistake. There may be cases 

 where this to a certain extent is true. 

 I have seen the brightest and most beau- 

 tifully colored bees bred from one of the 

 darkest queens I ever saw. This is q uite 

 common with many of the dark imported 

 and home-bred queens, but the progeny 

 of those queens did not show any signs 

 of the black bee, even if they were sev- 

 eral years old. As regards the different 

 shades of color being evidence of their 

 impurity, where they breed uniform, it 

 is all bosh. 



The month of March afforded but 1 ittle 

 food for the bees. In the peach, plum 

 and many other flowers, the honey and 

 pollen were mostly destroyed. Strong 

 colonies bred heavily through March ; 

 some with little honey had much brood ; 

 the 25th of March we had a cold freeze 

 which destroyed nearly all the peaches 

 and killed large quantities of brood ; 

 the cold caused the bees to recede to the 

 center of the hive to keep warm, leav- 

 ing the young larva? to freeze. This 

 happened only in weak colonies, as the 

 strong ones had plenty of bees to keep 

 warm. On the 5th of April they com- 

 menced to swarm, which they have kept 

 up quite busily. They are gathering 

 honey rapidly at the present time, and 

 the prospect is rather encouraging. 

 The past season was one of the poorest 

 known for many years, and caused some 

 to retire from the field in disgust. 



The past winter was a severe one on 

 all colonies with but little honey. Strong 

 colonies came through splendidly, and 

 up to the present time some have gath- 

 ered perhaps 20 lbs. or more. All the 

 bees that have died are such as were 

 destitute. White clover is now bloom- 

 ing, and many other flowers, giving the 

 bees plenty to do. A. F. Moon. 



Rome, Ga., April 23, 1881. 



Prevention of Swarming. — I was de- 

 lighted to see the change from Monthly 

 to Weekly, and wish it every success. 

 I have increased by natural swarms, 

 since March 31st, from 13 to 35 colonies, 

 and they were all very large ones at that. 

 The bees are now in a feast of white 

 clover bloom, and storing honey rapidly. 

 I am now cutting out all drone comb 

 and destroying queen cells, to try and 

 prevent them from swarming. Am I 

 pursuing the right course ? If there is 

 any better plan, please report it in your 

 valuable Journal. 



W. R. Thomson. 



New Iberia, La., April 29, 1881. 



[ If you have the time to spare to go 

 through your hives once a week and de- 

 stroy queen-cells and drone comb it may 

 do ; but we would advise that you clip 

 one wing of each queen. With a small 

 pair of scissors or a sharp knife, cut off 

 about % or % of the wing. The opera- 

 tion is quickly performed.— Ed.] 



More Homer.— 



The Weekly Bee Journal, 



Long may It wave. 

 O'er Hi" borne of the bee 



And the land of no slave ; 

 Good-bye fogy notions, 



Humbugs and queer ways. 

 Such as " kind bees." " gums." 



And brimstone's blue rays (blaze9). 

 Jacksonville, III., April 21, 1881. H. T. C. 



Very Refreshing.— I commenced this 

 spring with 132 colonies, have increased 

 to 146, and have already extracted 626 

 gallons of honey. Counting the origi- 

 nal number, it makes an average of 56.8 

 lbs. per colony. The white clover sea- 

 son closed on April 29. The next 

 (which is the same as your basswood 

 liarvest), commences the first week in 

 June and continues until the last of 

 July. If the season is as good as it 

 was in 1879 I shall get about 700 gallons 

 more. My average that year was 9 

 gallons per colony, counting the num- 

 ber commenced with in the spring. I 

 have never used an ounce of glucose 

 nnd would quit the business if I had to 

 use it. 1 have instructed my mer- 

 chants to give away my honey if any 

 trace of glucose can be found in it. 



J. I). Bedell. 



Franklin, La., May 1, 1881. 



Heavy Loss. — I have lost 28 out of 31 

 colonies of bees during the past winter. 

 W.m. A. Brundage. 

 Lodi, N. Y.,May2, 1881. 



Loss 50 Per Cent. — I had 14 colonies 

 of bees packed in chaff on the summer 

 stands. I have lost 7 ; the other 7 are 

 strong. Nearly all the bees in this vi- 

 cinity are dead. Success to the Jour- 

 nal. V. Fisher. 



Ironton, Wis., April 30, 1881. 



Spring Dwindling.— I must sorrow- 

 fully disclaim, as undeserved, the credit 

 given my sister and myself for compar- 

 ative success in wintering, in the Bee 

 Journal for April 27. On March 9, 

 after a 3 days' flight.' our bees received 

 a thorough examination. Bottom 

 boards were cleaned and honey given 

 where needed. Those which had suf- 

 fered more or less from dysentery — 

 some 25 colonies — were found in much 

 better condition than had been antici- 



Eated. They had considerable capped 

 rood and no lack of bees to care for it. 

 Brood enough had been reared to in 

 part supply the place of bees which had 

 died. But little honey was left in many 

 cases, but this we could remedy. We 

 found but 2 dead colonies— one from 

 starvation. At that time we expected 

 to lose no more. In answer to inqui- 

 ries, about 10 days later, we reported 

 as above, hence the statement in the 

 Saginaw Herald. Some of our friends 

 will not be greatly surprised to learn 

 that our amended report is a loss of 15 

 out of 52. We close our 9th year as bee- 

 keepers with our 1st experience in 

 spring dwindling ; we have never be- 

 fore lost a colony in wintering. We at- 

 tribute a large part of our loss to the 

 fact that we were unable to prepare our 

 bees in good season last fall. We win- 

 ter in chaff on the summer stands, and 

 our theory is that the best results may 

 be looked for only when the bees are 

 packed early enough to insure their 

 flying out after the packing. 



Lucy a. Wilkins. 

 Farwell, Mich., May 3, 1881. 



Bees Doing Well Now.— My bees are 

 doing well now ; some colonies are so 

 strong that they hang out even during 

 some cold nights. I have bought some 

 and commence with 120 colonies, after 

 a loss of 50 per cent. 



H. D. Burrell. 



Bangor, Mich., May 6, 1881. 



Building Up.— My bees are doing 

 splendidly. My Italians are rearing 

 drones already. I have only 8 colonies 

 and I want to turn them all to increase, 

 and shall raise no surplus until I get as 

 many colonies as I think I can manage. 

 I do not know exactly what plan to 

 adopt. I have plenty of foundation ; 

 bought a lot of comb built out, from 

 parties that lost their bees last winter. 

 I look over my colonies every day and 

 give my queens empty frames as fast as 

 they need them. I shall first build 

 each colony up strong, before attempt- 

 ing any increase, then insert a division 

 board in my best colony, separate the 

 queen and part of the bees from one 

 side of the hive, and then raise a lot of 

 queen cells (or remove the queen en- 

 tirely and introduce her into a nucleus), 

 then form as many nuclei as I have 

 queen cells. This is the best plan that 

 I know of. , W. T. Clary. 



Claryville, Ky., April 18, 1881. 



Packed in Chaff, Without Loss.— I put 

 in winter quarters 33 colonies (27 in the 

 Doolittle hive, the rest my own make). 

 I put cotton cloth over at each side ; 

 packed the super and ends of hive with 

 straw and chaff ; put them in a row ; 

 drove stakes about 6 inches in front and 

 6 inches fjack of the hives ; placed 

 boards inside the stakes and filled in 

 with buckwheat chaff, and from 6 to 10 

 inches of wheat chaff above, covered 

 with boards to keep dry ; laid a board 

 in front, supported by if inch blocks 

 laid on the alighting-board, to keep the 

 chaff from the entrance and give a 

 chance for flight, which they did not get 

 from about the middle of November, 

 when I packed them, until in March. I 

 fed them coffee A and granulated sugar 

 in the fall, to last until March, and the 

 winter held on so long that I did not 

 open them until about the middle of 

 April, when I found two starved, (my 

 only loss) ; these two were dry and in 

 splendid condition. My bees have been 

 bringing in pollen for the last 3 days. 



By the bee papers I learn of heavy losses 

 among the unfortunates being G. M. 

 Doolittle (my guide). I sold 24 colonies, 

 23 of which are now silent : the one liv- 

 ing was left with me, and I packed the 

 super with chaff and left it out. They 

 are carrying in pollen to-day. Mr. Doo- 

 little says in forming nuclei he would 

 wait 24 hours before introducing the 

 cell, anil would keep them shut up until 

 towards night of the second day, to keep 

 them from going back home. Now, how 

 would he introduce the cell without the 

 bees getting out ? or would he smoke 

 them down from the top, and put the 

 cell on the frames instead of grafting it 

 in ? I learn of several having from 8 

 to 20 colonies in box hives, allof them 

 dead ; one apiary, 9 miles from me, of 

 160 colonies in the fall, in Langstroth 

 frames. 100 dead ; anotherof 30 colonies, 

 in Langstroth frames, 18 dead 1 month 

 ago, and expected to lose more. I am 

 well pleased with the Weekly Bee 

 Journal ; success to it. 



A. P. Cowan. 

 Grattan, Mich., April 24, 1881. 



[Desiring Mr. Doolittle to answer the 

 above query, we have obtained the fol- 

 lowing reply from him.— Ed. 



" I said 24 hours' waiting, in opposi- 

 tion to A. I. Root's theory, to introduce 

 queen-cell on taking queen out, which 

 has failed 19 times in 20 with me. In 

 this case the nucleus already had a lay- 

 ing queen to be replaced with a cell. 

 When we make nuclei by the plan Mr. 

 Cowan speaks of, we do not introduce 

 queen-cell till after they have flown, 

 unless the nucleus is made from queen- 

 less colony, as I prefer ; in that case 

 they are made 48 hours before the cell 

 is ready to hatch." — G. M. D.] 



Encouraged. — I fed some in the fall, 

 but the cold weather set in so early that 

 it proved a failure. All colonies that 

 had stores enough are now in good con- 

 dition and full of bees. 



Robert Corbett. 



Manhattan, Kan., May 3, 1881. 



Bee-Keeping in Dakota.— Now that 

 winter has passed and the floods have 

 subsided, I will venture to give an ac- 

 count of bees and bee-keepers in Da- 

 kota. Twenty bee-keepers within my 

 knowledge, who, last fall, owned over 

 800 colonies of bees, do not now own 

 over 180 colonies. Seven of them lost 

 all they had ; and of these 7 the most of 

 them were the largest bee-keepers here, 

 3 of whom live in Vermillion, Dakota. 

 The loss from wintering I think will 

 not exceed 20 per cent., the great loss 

 was from the floods that have not only 

 swept away bee hives, but in many 



E laces on the Missouri River bottom it 

 as swept away houses, barns, etc., and 

 also several towns and villages were al- 

 most entirely swept away, causing pri- 

 vation and suffering to a considerable 

 extent. My bees went through the 

 winter first-rate ; I only lost 2 colonies; 

 they are doing well now, and have 

 their hives well filled with brood, and 

 if the present good weather continues 

 they will swarm as early as usual, not- 

 withstanding the late spring. 



W. M. VrNsoN. 

 Elk Point, Dakota, May 2, 1881. 



Loss 80 Per Cent, in Cellar.— I put 



109 colonies of bees in the cellar last 

 fall, and have but 28 healthy ones now. 

 They did not have honey enough for 

 such a long winter. R. S. Johnson. 

 Lockport, 111., May 3, 1881. 



Loss One-Third.— The past few days 

 have been fine for bees, and they have 

 improved the time gathering pollen 

 from the willows and soft maples. We 

 had snow 4 inches deep on the 13th inst. 

 The loss in wintering in general is very 

 heavy in this locality, especially where 

 they were left ou the summer stands. 

 My loss is about 33 per cent.; all win- 

 tered in house and cellar. The loss is 

 mainly of those wintered in cellar, 

 which was damp, and too cold. 



W. D. Wright. 



Knowersville, N. V., April 28, 1881. 



(ST Our Letter Drawer is yet very 

 full, and many will be disappointed in 

 not seeing their letters in this Journal. 



