358 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nov. 9, 



styL^MMPM 



A Good Honey Crop.— This has been 

 a good season for honey. I com- 

 menced the season with 12 colonies, 

 and increased to 26, taking 2,400 lbs. 

 of extracted and 576 lbs. of box honey, 

 in all 2,976 lbs., being an average of 

 24S lbs., and they have plenty to win- 

 ter on. I wintered my bees in the cel- 

 lar last winter, and lost but 1 colony 

 out of 13 ; the others were strong. I 

 think the cellar is the best place to 

 winter bees. I have all hybrids now ; 

 I had two Italian queens last spring, 

 but thev were lost in swarming. I 

 like Italians best, and shall try them 

 again. H. J. Smith. 



Burlington, Wis., Oct. 27, 1881. 



My Method of Wintering. —I have 

 been requested to write my method of 

 wintering bees for the Bee Journal, 

 both bv letter and through the Jour- 

 nal. "I would gladly do it if I could ; 

 it is more work to do it on paper so it 

 could be understood than I can spare 

 at this time. I have, been sick for 

 some time, and could not go to the 

 National Convention on that account ; 

 I have not yet prepared our bees for 

 winter, and it is now 17 days past the 

 time we usually have it done. I al- 

 ways want it done by the 10th of this 

 month. I do not know when I will be 

 able to write it. J.S.Hill. 



Mt. Healthy, O., Oct. 27, 1881. 



Well Enough.— My bees did pretty 

 well this year. Out of 2 colonies left 

 in the spring, I now have 11 by divid- 

 ing but one, and all in excellent con- 

 dition. I attribute their good condi- 

 tion to the fact that I fed them all 

 summer with the honey left in the 

 hives by the bees that perished last 

 winter. They vielded about 450 lbs. 

 of comb and 50 lbs. of extracted honey. 

 I sincerely hope the next winter will 

 be more 'favorable for our pets than 

 the last. Geo. Bischoff. 



Burlington, Iowa, Nov. 1, 1881. 



Bees on Shares.— I intend to put my 

 bees in the cellar for wintering. The 

 cellar is a good one, but is under the 

 kitchen, consequently there will be 

 plenty of noise above them, but no 

 jarring. 1. Will the noise injure the 

 bees? 2. Suppose I sould purchase 10 

 or more good Italian colonies in the 

 spring, and give them out on shares, 

 what would be a fair divide in the fall 

 of honey and bees ? 3. In rearing 

 queens in nuclei, can more than one 

 at a time be reared ; if so, how are 

 they kept till sold or wanted for your 

 own use? Please answer in the Bee 

 Journal. John Yoder. 



Springfield, Out., Oct. 12, 1881. 



[1. The noise will not injure them if 

 there is no sudden jarring. 



2. It is the custom, we believe, in 

 running bees on shares, for A to fur- 

 nish the stock of bees, and stand one- 

 half the expense for additional hives, 

 sections, foundation, etc. B performs 

 all the labor, boards the help, buys 

 one-half the new hives, sections, etc., 

 and does all the nailing. When the 

 division takes place, A receives the 

 same number of colonies originally 

 furnished, with one-half the increase, 

 honey, and accumulated property for 

 which he has helped to pay. This an- 

 swer applies also to the queries of 

 Dickson Bros., Lancaster, Ont. 



3. You can only rear one queen at a 

 time in a nucleus, and she should be 

 kept in the nucleus until wanted. The 

 nucleus should be enlarged from time 

 to time as required.— Ed.] 



Poor Honey Crop.— I see by the re- 

 port of honey crop for 1881, that you 

 credit Massachusetts with 7S lbs. per 

 colonv. I think that you did not get 

 many" reports from the eastern part of 

 the State, as I know of several hun- 

 dred colonies that have not gathered 

 as much as has been necessary to feed 

 in order to get them in condition for 

 winter. I started with about 50 colo- 

 nies in good condition in June, and 

 would have obtained a good crop if 

 there had been any chance. White 

 clover yielded just enough to encour- 

 age breeding. I held them back until 

 after July 4, when my hives were so 

 full of bees that it was impossible to 

 keep them from swarming any longer 

 without considerable trouble, so I let 

 them come. On Aug. 5. 6, I looked 

 them all over and found them heavy 

 with brood and bees, but not much 

 honey, excepting in a few of my black 

 colonies that had been working in 

 surplus boxes. On Sept. l.many wen' 

 in a starving condition, and had to be 

 fed. They made a little gain on gol- 

 den rod, but not enough for winter, 

 and I have fed them about 700 lbs. of 

 honey and sugar, and doubled them 

 down to 80 colonies, which puts them 

 on winter footing. One man tells me 

 he has fed 713 lbs. sugar, and another 

 that he has fed several barrels. 



Wm. H. Gibbs. 

 Clinton, Mass., Oct. 29, 1881. 



Sawdust for Wintering Bees.— My 



plan will winter bees safely anywhere 

 without loss, and the bees will swarm 

 as early as April. The plan is to bury 

 them in sawdust ; set two rows of hives 

 backs to backs, and side by side close 

 as you can get them ; let them range 

 in a row from north-north-east to 

 south-south-west, so as to give both 

 sides an equal share of the sun. It is 

 9 o'clock before it gets warm enough 

 for bees to fly ; three hives can front 

 to the south, but none toward the 

 north ; then have a tight board wall 

 all around, and expose the entrance of 

 every hive below to give the bees a 

 chance to fly at will ; ttx them away 

 before they suffer with cold ; leaves 

 and earth will do where sawdust can- 

 not be had. The sawdust can be damp 

 but must not be wet. Cram the saw- 

 dust as tight as you can get it ; the 

 thickness of the wall should depend 

 upon the latitude you live in. The 

 sawdust is generally of such a warm 

 nature that it will heat toward spring, 

 and if not, take it all out in the spring 

 at the time you want them to com- 

 mence rearing brood, and put a case 

 around the sides of the hives, leaving 

 only one inch space between the case 

 and the hives, in this space put wheat 

 bran, and the sawdust in the large 

 space ; moisten all slightly, and cram 

 it as tight as you can get it, then draw 

 out the case so the sawdust and bran 

 will connect; then put bran on the top 

 of the hives one inch thick, and all 

 the sawdust over them again; tramp 

 it tight, and cover well to keep out the 

 rain. Spouts can be put through the 

 sawdust to connect with a feeder, to 

 feed early in spring. Leave them in 

 till frosts are past, so as not to chill 

 the brood, and I will insure your bees 

 will come out three times as strong, 

 and you will winter bees no other way 

 as long as you live. 



Charles J. Lohmann. 

 Cameron, Mo., Oct. 28, 1881. 



Good Honey Season.— The season, 

 just closed, has been a very good one 

 for bee-keepers in this section. The 

 spring opened late, but very tine. The 

 soft maple yielding better than usual, 

 and the weather was so fine that the 

 bees could work nearly every day it 

 was in bloom ; the wild willows also 

 yielded well, and were followed by the 

 white willow which yielded unusually 

 well, so much so, that my strongest 

 colonies filled and capped over combs 

 in the brood department with honey 

 from this alone. The queens, deter- 

 mined not. to be outdone, filled the 

 combs with eggs very fast, and our 

 colonies were soon very strong. 

 Gooseberries, currants, plums, cher- 

 ries and apples followed— raspberries 

 yielded well. These were next fol- 

 lowed bv white clover bloom which 

 lasted nearly 2 months, giving a mag- 

 niticient yield. Basswood yielded 

 honey for only about one week, falling 

 short of its usual yield by more than 

 50 per cent. The drouth commenced 

 early in July, yet buckwheat and wild 

 flowers yielded well, so that the bees 

 kept breeding and storing a surplus 

 up to the close of the drouth. Show- 

 ers early in September, brightened the 

 honey yielding flowers, so that the 

 bees stored more liberally until the 

 night of Oct. 18, at which time we had 

 our first frost. Our number of colo- 

 nies now stand 8 to 1 in the spring. 

 Our surplus is over 50 lbs. per colony 

 at the opening of the honey season. 

 Our bees close the season very strong 

 in numbers and with good supply of 

 well-ripened honey. I can see no 

 reason why they should not winter 

 well, if properly cared for, by being 

 protected from a cold winter, should 

 one follow. Brother bee-keepers ! Our 

 bees have done nobly for us this sea- 

 son. Let us do our best to make them 

 comfortable during winter. Success- 

 ful wintering means nothing less than 

 successful bee-keeping. It is so with 

 me at least. F. A. Snell. 



Milledgeville, 111., Oct. 31, 1881. 



Short Crop.— I am now taking off my 

 crop of honey, and find it quite short, 

 perhaps owing to drouth and unprece- 

 dented hot weather. I shall have 

 about 100 lbs. of comb and 200 lbs. of 

 extracted honey, and selling at 20c. per 

 lb. I am much pleased with the Bee 

 Journal as it is, and will perhaps be 

 more so with the improvements of 

 next year. Jacob Emmons. 



St. George, Kans., Oct. 19, 1881. 



What Killed Her !— Some six weeks 

 ago I received a two-frame nucleus, 

 with a three-dollar queen in it. I put 

 them In a hive ; all was lovely ; bees 

 worked, reared brood, carried honey, 

 etc. A few days ago, as I came to the 

 hive, my choice queen was lying about 

 two feet from it, in company with a 

 yellow-jacket. I drove away the yel- 

 low-jacket, but my queen was dead. 

 I was in the habit of feeding on top of 

 the frames ; is it possible that a yellow- 

 jacket got into the hive and killed the 

 queen, while the hive was open V The 

 queen had some milky liquid on her 

 head and body, and I think had lost 

 her sting. Answer through the Bee 

 Journal. J. H. Kooker. 



Winterburn, Pa. 



[We do not think the yellow-jacket 

 killed the queen ; and if it had, it did 

 not carry her out. The yellow-jacket 

 was probably attracted to the dead 

 queen outside by the sense of smell. 

 If you look through the bees carefully 

 you may find the mystery explained by 

 the presence of another queen, which 

 has killed your pet.— Ed. J 



A Light Yield."— I have now 40 colo- 

 nies all told; I had 30 in the spring; 

 have not taken any honey from the 

 new colonies, while the old ones will 

 average about 39 lbs. Honey is about 

 all sold in this county. I have an or- 

 der now for 500 lbs. from one hotel in 

 this town, and have all sold out. 



Geo. A. Russ, 



Queeche, Vt., Oct. J8, 1881. 



Honey from Golden Honey Plant.— In 



arranging my hives for winter, I found 

 two full boxes of honey on one that 

 was made from the golden honey plant, 

 the balance made from it by the other 

 colonies was sold some time since. 

 The boxes were put on about Aug. 10, 

 and the honey will be found nearly or 

 quite pure. It is so peculiar in its fla- 

 vor, and possesses other characteris- 

 tics so different from any other kind of 

 honey that I have tasted, that I have 

 concluded to express a box to you that 

 you may try it and give your opinion 

 of it to the readers of the Bee Jour- 

 nal. The box having been on the 

 hive some time is somewhat soiled, but 

 it will give you an idea of its taste. 

 Watts' Chemistry, vol. 3, page 165, 

 says: " The honey of the common bee 

 contains cane sugar, inverted sugar, 

 and an excess of dextro-glucose. The 

 proportion of cane sugar varies with 

 the age of the honey, as it is gradually 

 converted into inverted sugar by the 

 action of a ferment contained in the 

 honey." I do not know that there has 

 ever been a test of the different kinds 

 of honey, to determine the relative 

 quantity of cane sugar they may con- 

 tain, biit I should judge, from the 

 taste, that the honey gathered from 

 the golden honey plant contains a 

 larger percentage of cane sugar than 

 either white clover or basswood honey. 

 There is another point in this connec- 

 tion, and that is, that the kind of honey 

 containing the largest percentage of 

 cane sugar may prove the best to win- 

 ter bees upon. G. L. Tinker, M. D. 

 New Philadelphia, O., Oct. 2S, 1881. 



[The sample section mentioned ar- 

 rived in a dilapidated condition. The 

 honey is of an amber color, and pos- 

 sesses a peculiar, rich, aromatic fla- 

 vor.— Ed.] 



Just Splendid Report.— I had 5 colo- 

 nies in tne spring ; lost none last win- 

 ter ; have increased to 26 colonies and 

 obtained 1 ,100 lbs. of honey, 400 pounds 

 of it being comb in 1-lb. sections. 

 I. G. Taylor. 



Austin, Tex., Oct. 31, 1881. 



Prepared for Winter.— On the 10th 

 inst. I weighted my 21 hives; they 

 showed 11 to 18>| lbs. each of bees and 

 honey, and on the 24th I wrapped 

 rags on top and between the division 

 boards, and left them on the summer 

 stands to remain during the coming 

 winter. I have 5 colonies of Italians, 

 2 of Syrians and 14 of blacks; 5 of 

 their queens are old, but I hope they 

 will keep their families together till 

 spring, when I will supersede them. 

 The drouth was broken up here on the 

 30th Sept., by heavy rain, which has 

 continued at intervals ever since until 

 the last 3 days, making the creeks and 

 lowlands all overflow. The destruc- 

 tion to corn, hay and other property 

 will amount to many thousands of dol- 

 lars in this part of the country. We 

 have had no frost yet to hurt anything. 

 The heavy rains ruined the late bee 

 pasturage, although the buckwheat is 

 now blooming, and to-day is clear and 

 warm, at 82-. Bees are working on 

 the buckwheat, and the disgusted far- 

 mers are sowing and harrowing in the 

 winter wheat crop in a hurry, to beat 

 the next shower. The young white 

 clover is booming for next year's crop 

 here. I have sown two acres of meli- 

 lot clover, and half an acre of golden 

 honey plant. R. M. Osborn. 



Kane, 111., Oct. 26, 1881. 



Bees Starved.— I have 10 colonies of 

 bees ; they were very weak in the 

 spring, and have not gathered enough 

 to keep them. I fed them in July and 

 August, and Sept. 20th three colonies 

 left their hives and went away. I 

 then examined the hives; they were 

 full of combs, but no honey. The bees 

 were starved out. I then commenced 

 feeding what were left. They are do- 

 ing well now, and if the weather keeps 

 fine for a few days longer, they will 

 probably have a winter's supply. The 

 weather was very dry here, we being 

 44 davs without rain. This is my first 

 year at bee-keeping, audi have learned 

 several lessons so far— some that I will 

 not forget. I find that I have many 

 more to learn. I wish the American 

 Bee Journal much success. 



John C. Burns. 



Terre Haute, Ind., Oct. 25, 1881. 



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