246 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 3, 



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Well Pleased with the Honey Crop.— 



Bees are doing tineiy, getting a good 

 crop of pure white honey. I have had 

 from 3 to 4 swarms from each colony. 

 Those that have swarmed 4 times 

 have recruited up, and are at work in 

 the boxes. Bees are now at work on 

 buckwheat in the early part of the 

 day, and later they get to work on 

 white clover, which is plenty yet. I 

 am the only one in this part that has 

 any honey to sell. I sell all my honey 

 at home at a good price, and cannot 

 half supply the demand. My bees 

 have wintered without loss, but I 

 lost a few colonies early in May by 

 dwindling and robbers. With every- 

 one else, I say, success to the Bee 

 Journal. Ebeb Lucas. 



Kirkland, 111., July 26, 1881. 



To Queen Breeders.— I wish some of 

 our extensive queen breeders would 

 give through the Bee Journal, a de- 

 scription of the most suitable size for 

 making nuclei. I have the Langs- 

 troth hive, and wisli to make some 

 boxes for nuclei, but do not know the 

 best size. Samuel Coulthakd. 



Preston, O., July 21,1881. 



Large Honey Crop of Best Quality.— 



Basswood has not given us a pound of 

 honey this year, yet the season has 

 been very favorable until a week or 

 two ago. My 108 colonies have given 

 me an average, so far, of 70 pounds 

 each, nearly all white clover, ex- 

 tracted, and the best quality I have 

 ever obtained. O. O. Poppleton. 

 Williamstown, Iowa, July 21, 1881. 



Light Crop. — The honey season 

 closed about July 10. The crop has 

 been light, owing to unfavorable 

 weather during nearly all of the 

 white clover harvest. The basswood 

 season was extremely " short and 

 sweet." II. R. Boardman. 



East Townsend, O., July 25, 1881. 



Much Pleased.— I am much pleased 

 with the Weekly Bee Journal. Its 

 value has greatly increased, and it is 

 now indispensable. To go back to a 

 monthly now would be almost like 

 throwing away the Langstroth hives 

 and going back to the old "bee gums." 



Spring Hill, Tenn. J. M. Davis. 



except what little can be retailed. 

 Dealers want to pay 12^ cents, and 

 sell for 20. There are, or have been 

 (they may be out of business now), a 

 few that bring in honey, and, by sell- 

 ing it low, spoil the market. I have 

 seen nice white honey sold at 7 cents, 

 and one man told me that he sold here 

 at 16, but I have never been able to do 

 so, and my honey has been the best 

 and in the best shape. Before I sell 

 more honey I must solve the oft-pro- 

 pounded problem— how to market the 

 crop? I should have had no trouble if 

 a prominent supply dealer had filled 

 my order on time and correctly, for 

 crates, as I should have sent it to your 

 city, but the crates I ordered did not 

 come as soon as I wanted them, and 

 according to his promise, and when I 

 got them they were too small and had 

 to be enlarged, so, as the winter was 

 rushing on so rapidly, I shipped to 

 New York, just getting it through by 

 Nov. ]., when winter began. I re- 

 ceived returns on Yz of it about May 

 6, and the rest is on hand yet. 



S. E. Tubbs. 

 Auburn, N. Y., July 18, 1881. 



Locality for Honey, Crop, e'c— The 

 Weekly Bee Journal is the "right 

 thing at the right time." I have fre- 

 quently, this summer, had my ques- 

 tions answered, when in doubt, by 

 the timely arrival of the Bee Jour- 

 nal. The monthlies are all right (I 

 wisli I could take and read them all, 

 but that is impossible with me), but 

 the Weekly just " fills the bill," for 

 me, especially. When the Monthly 

 Bee Journal formerly came to hand 

 I could hardly spare time to read all 

 of it, and it would lie around some- 

 times until another came, before I 

 could more than glance through it ; 

 but I read the Weekly. I am increas- 

 ing slowly , trying only to fill my combs, 

 and am only working 2 colonies for sur- 

 plus, and must say I think it a very 

 poor year for bees. We have had no 

 clover honey, to speak of, and now 

 basswood is half gone, with a poor 

 prospect for the rest. We have had a 

 very few warm days and plenty of 

 warm nights, and rain most of the 

 time. The farmers ought to be happy, 

 but bee-keepers will fall short of their 

 bright anticipations for the summer's 

 work, except in a few localities. Mr. 

 Doolittle " hits the nail on the head" 

 as to the season and queen-rearing. 

 I never had such hard work to rear 

 the few queens I want. So far as a 

 locality for honey is concerned, this is 

 as good as any in the State ; from re- 

 ports, I notice that when there is 

 honey to be had, I get my share. It 

 is pretty well stocked, however, and I 

 can get no price in the home market, 



Poor Season for Honey.— This is 



decidedly the poorest season for honey 

 yet, with me. Too cold and wet for 

 white clover to secrete, and basswood 

 yielded,only a part of one day. I have 

 135 colonies, and the most of them ex- 

 tra strong in numbers. I think the 

 weather too cold for the basswood. 

 Unless the yield is better other places, 

 honey will be worth 30 cents. 



A. A. Harrison. 

 McLane, Pa., July 23, 1881. 



Poor Honey Yield.— The first har- 

 vest is now over and it has not been 

 very favorable. We had an abundant 

 yield of locust, but it was cut shortby 

 unfavorable weather. June was cold 

 and wet, and the abundant yield of 

 white clover contained but a small 

 amount of honey. Basswood has 

 come and gone, but did not amount to 

 anything. May swarms were all 

 hived on empty combs and comb 

 foundation, and yet I have not re- 

 ceived a pound of surplus from the 

 whole. I commenced the spring cam- 

 paign with 41 colonies, and have ob- 

 tained only 440 one-pound sections, 

 consisting largely of locust honey. 

 C. II. Fronce. 



Erie, Pa., July 25, 1881. 



Late Fall Breeding, etc.— I put 35 



colonies in winter quarters Nov. 15th, 

 1880, packed in straw, which remained 

 until March 7, 1881, when they had 

 their first flight. At that time all an- 

 swered to roll-call but 5, which died of 

 dysentery. Most of them were in fail- 

 condition. Again they had flights on 

 the 9th, 10th, 15th and 16th, but during 

 that time the bees died very fast, the 

 bottom-boards being covered every 

 few days. For about a month the 

 weather remained cold, so the bees had 

 no chance, to lly, and on examining 

 them again I found all dead but 15. 

 Some of these were too weak to sur- 

 vive, and I united 4 of them with 

 others, and 3 swarmed out and united 

 with some of their neighbors. When 

 they began to carry pollen, on April 

 23d, I had 8, and all were weak but 3. 

 Some of them could only cover a patch 

 of brood the size of my hand, on one 

 comb. I have now 19 in good condi- 

 tion, and have two that will cast their 

 first swarms in a few days, and 1 to 

 cast its after swarms. In the October 

 number of the Bee Journal, 1880, 

 page 475, 1 gave a description of my 

 bees, asking you if it was a case of 

 foul brood. They were then hatching 

 their last brood for the season, and I 

 found little patches of dead sealed 

 brood in several of the hives after the 

 rest had all hatched. This spring, 

 when the brood began to hatch, I still 

 found a little dead sealed brood, but 

 none dead unsealed. As soon as they 

 began to carry in fresh honey and pol- 

 len, their dead brood disappeared. I 

 think my loss was from the bees not 

 breeding late enough in the fall. I 

 would like to ask : 



1. Is this a case of foul brood, and 

 if so, will it break out again ? 



2. How late should the last brood 

 hatch in the fall V 



3. Give the best way to feed, with- 

 out feeders, to promote late breeding, 

 and how late should honey be fed in 

 the fall. 



4. What quantity will 20 colonies re- 

 quire daily to promote breeding. 



5. With hives in boxes well packed 

 in straw or chaff, will it do to leave 

 the caps off during the winter if chaff 

 cushions are placed on top of the 

 frames and straw above the cushions ? 



L. A. BURKnOLDER. 



Hamilton, Out., July 16, 1881. 



[1. Had it been a case of foul brood, 

 there would probably have been a re- 

 currence of it this season ; again, with 

 the contagion usually known as foul 

 brood, there is always an accompany- 

 ing foetid or putrid stench, which is 

 said to be unmistakable. The larvae 

 becomes stuck or glued to the bottom 

 of the cell, and is rotten and ropy, so 

 the bees cannot remove it. Yours was 

 undoubtedly a case of brood killed by 

 chilling. What it might lead to, in 

 case there was much of it in the hive 

 and the colony quite weak, or the 

 weather cool and " muggy," we are 

 unable to say. It has been a subject 

 of much interesting discussion in the 

 pages of the Bee Journal. 



2. The last brood should hatch in 

 season to give the young bees at least 

 one good flight before being shut in 

 for winter. 



3. For late breeding, outside feeding 

 is undoubtedly best. Mix your honey 

 with hot water to thoroughly liquify 

 it, in the proportion of two parts of 

 honey to one of water, or even a little 

 more of water. Put this in broad, 

 shallow vessels, and place in an open 

 shed, where the bees will be obliged 

 to lose sight of the hives in order to 

 reach it. Never place the honey in the 

 apiary, in sight of the hives, as it will 

 invariably incite the bees to robbing. 

 A few shavings or a little hay put in 

 the vessels, will prevent drowning or 

 daubing. Feed until you have the de- 

 sired number of young bees in the 

 larval state. 



4. Five to ten pounds per day. Feed, 

 after the fourth day, only as much as 

 the young bees will consume. 



5. Yes ; provided there is no outside 

 escape for the heat.— Ed.] 



The Wintering Problem not Solved. 



—Time, with his sickle, is mowing the 

 days and hours. Seasons come and 

 go ; days and months, like the seasons, 

 succeed each other. Summer, with 

 all the joyous anticipations that could 

 be produced by the warm' and genial 

 rays of the sun and change of the sea- 

 son, will soon give nlace to autumn, 

 and this to cold, bleak winter. Thus, 

 time is fast moving us on, and soon 

 the little busy bees will be quieted in 

 their domicils to feast upon their hard- 

 earned provisions, anxiously awaiting 

 the coming of spring. The practical 

 apiarist will watch their needs and ad- 

 minister to their wants. If stores are 

 wanting, provide them ; should the 

 queen show signs of unfruitfulness, 

 give them another. They should have 

 plenty of good honey, and a sufficient 

 quantity of bees to generate heat nec- 

 essary for the welfare of the colony. 

 I am not so positive as some of our 

 wise apiarists, that it is necessary to 

 have all young bees for successful 

 wintering. Forty years ago such a 

 thing was not talked of, and then bees 

 wintered well without much loss. The 

 great anxiety now is about the bees 

 dying in winter. Almost every rem- 

 edy that can possibly be thought of 

 has been prescribed through the bee 

 periodicals; these prescriptions are 

 not few in number, and many of them 

 are worthless. Some bee-keepers have 



resorted to carpets, cushions, chaff 

 hives, sawdust, and other materials, 

 and still they die. For thousands of 

 years, these poor little creatures in- 

 habited the hollow trees and the crev- 

 ices in the rocks, and down to a more 

 modern period, salt barrels, nail kegs 

 and box hives, and many of them very 

 poor and open at that, yet bees win- 

 tered well. 



We must do something in experi- 

 menting, to see if the cause exists in 

 the food, or cold and confinement. I 

 will send to each of the editors of the 

 several bee papers a colony in an old 

 box hive, you can put it out of doors, 

 elevated on J^-inch blocks, and let it 

 flicker. A. F. Moon. 



Rome, Ga., July 20, 1881. 



Fertilization.— The failure of so 

 many experiments in the fertilization 

 of queens in confinement is, I think, 

 on account of a misunderstanding of 

 the modus operandi. The queen is not 

 fertilized on the wing, as so many as- 

 sert, but after being pursued by the 

 drone, and overtaken, they settle on 

 the nearest object. Then, while the 

 queen suspends herself by one leg, she 

 is fertilized. Had Mr. Demaree known 

 this, he might have succeeded in his 

 experiments, as reported in the Bee 

 Journal for Jan. 5, 1881. 



E. I. Bussey. 



Shellrock, Iowa, July 23, 1881. 



The Rev. L. L. Langstroth's Letter. 



—How quick the Bee Journal comes 

 to hand this week — on Wednesday af- 

 ternoon — two or three hundred miles 

 away ! I read with interest the Rev. 

 L- L. Langstroth's letter to A. I. Root, 

 and two things are new to me : The 

 wide space between the combs, and 

 the space above the frames. I hope 

 lie will be able before long to give us 

 his best thoughts on preparing for 

 winter, for there are many readers of 

 the Bee Journal who are, like my- 

 self, novices in bee literature as well 

 as in bee-keeping. I left my bees last 

 winter in charge of an old bee-keeper, 

 who very often was at work on them 

 digging away the ice that formed at 

 the entrance. This disturbance, of 

 course, was very bad for them last 

 winter. How to avoid this ice forma- 

 tion, or to have it not interfere with 

 the entrance, is the question. My bees 

 had quilts filled with wool above and 

 on the frames, and bags of chaff above 

 those, with the summerentranceopen. 

 Nearly all died in April— a few sick 

 ones left. I have thought of cutting 

 out the bottom 4 inches (or length of 

 entrance) by 2 inches inside the hive, 

 and fitting on below the board a strip 

 to cover this hole, and so give a place 

 for drainage. Should I save the ice 

 from the entrance r Do you think 

 without a honey-board, only quilts or 

 chaff, bees would smother if the en- 

 trance was filled up V If not asking 

 too much, sometime when there is 

 room, please give us some thoughts on 

 this. Mary E. Rogers. 



Flint, Mich. 



[I r our scheme for diverting the wa- 

 ter from the entrance, and thus pre- 

 venting its obstruction with ice, we 

 think is feasible. Or grooves might be 

 cut along the bottom-board, and out- 

 lets prepared for the water indepen- 

 dent of the entrance. Unless the 

 vapor should permeate and solidly 

 congeal in the cushion above the bees, 

 so as to make the brood-chamber air- 

 tight, we do not imagine it would be 

 possible for the bees to smother. With 

 an upper ventilation, but little lower 

 ventilation is necessary. Last winter, 

 the hive of one colony in the Bee 

 Journal apiary not only had the en- 

 trance entirely closed with ice, but the 

 ice was more than an inch deep in the 

 bottom, completely imbedding the 

 lower portion of the combs. The up- 

 per story of the hive was half-filled 

 with chopped straw. This colony was 

 among the best in the spring.— Ed.] 



