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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



neighbors have not fared so well, the loss 

 being from % to %, and two or three slip- 

 shod ones lost all. 



A friend of mine has done even better 

 than myself. He packed 8 colonies, and 

 lost none. My loss was 4 per cent. 



I think the Tennessee honey-prophet will 

 hit the mark this year. He says New York 

 State bee-keepers will not have large crops 

 of honey to keep secret, and I am inclined 

 to agree with him. Not on account of at- 

 mospheric conditions, but because the lin- 

 den will fail to bloom. I have examined it 

 very closely in my immediate vicinity, and 

 it shows but very few buds. 



My first swarm came out on June Sth. I 

 have extracted about 50 pounds from my 

 best colonies, of fruit-blossom honey — the 

 first surplus I ever took from fruit-bloom. 

 Irvin Groveb. 



Cooperstown, N. Y., June 26, 1893. 



Virgin dueens and. Queen-Excluders. 



I am young in the bee-business, but 

 would like to put in a word about virgin 

 queens creeping through queen-excluders. 

 With Alley's queen-trap I have never failed 

 to catch the first swarm, but this summer 

 an after-swarm came out through the trap, 

 clustered, and in an hour left for parts un- 

 known. I suppose, in this case, all bee- 

 keepers will agree in believing that the 

 young queen made her way through the 

 trap; although another experience may 

 throw a doubt on the above. Two days 

 after this swarm's departure another col- 

 ony cast an after-swarm, which clustered 

 near by. After letting it hang a short 

 time, I concluded to run no risks, but to re- 

 turn it to the hive, but at the first shake of 

 the limb, it took wing and left, going 

 toward a body of timber a mile off. Two 

 hours after, while showing a friend my 

 bees, I saw that swarm return and enter 

 the hive it had come out of. I had Alley 

 traps on both hives. F. T. Brooke. 



Brookewood, Va., July 24, 1893. 



Queens Laying in Q,ueen-Cells. 



On page 788, Mr. Thos. Johnson, in his 

 article on bee-keeping matters, refers to 

 Mr. D. L. Nelson speaking about the queen 

 laying in queen-cells, and wants some proof 

 for the same. Now here is something that 

 proves it: 



On June 19th and 20th two colonies of 

 bees swarmed — I think the cause was the 

 extremely hot weather, for these colonies 

 were preparing for swarming, but not yet 

 ready, as shown by their queen-cells. They 

 had from six to eight queen-cells under 

 way,. but only one in each hive had an egg 

 in it when they swarmed. 



The swarms were hived by themselves, 

 and to-day an examination showed that 

 from five to eight queen-cells were built 

 over larvae the same as would be the case 

 in enforced queeulessness. Now if bees 

 could deposit the egg, as Mr. Johnson says, 

 why did they not do so instead of building 

 all new cells over the larvae I I believe the 



queen lays the egg in the queen-cell, for if 

 these queens that swarmed out of the hive 

 had staid a few days longer, there would 

 have been eggs in more, or all, of the 

 queen-cells ; and, furthermore, if a queen 

 was as jealous as Mr. Johnson thinks she is, 

 she would not lay in drone-comb, either. 

 If the bees did rear a queen themselves they 

 would not get her mated. 



August Bartz. 

 Chippewa Falls, Wis., June 26, 1893. 



Confined, Too Long by Winter. 



Bees in this vicinity, as far as I can find 

 out, did very poorly on account of too long 

 a confinement. The most of them have 

 died. There are a good many bee-keepers 

 here, but some of them have lost all the 

 bees they had. I had 9 colonies left last 

 spring from 40 last fall. Those that lived 

 through were weak. 



The middle of May my bees had their 

 first flight, and soon after carried in the 

 first pollen since last fall, which was too 

 long a time for them to stand it in-doors. 

 Some of my colonies have dwindled down 

 to a mere handful, but have done well all 

 summer, and are doing well now in increase 

 and storing honey. I winter my bees on 

 the summer stands, and have now in all 16 

 colonies. Frank Hentrich. 



Wall Lake, Iowa, July 22, 1893. 



Linden and White Clover Honey. 



.The linderi flow is at an end ; it lasted 

 about four days ; but it was immense. I 

 have colonies with eight frames of extract- 

 ing combs, and two supers full of linden 

 honey. They are evaporating it arid finish- 

 ing from the brood-chamber. If the hot, 

 dry winds had not come for five or six days 

 longer, what would it have been ! Bees 

 are capping it as white as snow. 



Talk about your non-swarming ! Out of 

 40 colonies run for honey, 4 of them con- 

 cluded to separate, and swarmed. 



Now, Mr. Wilson, are the white clover 

 and linden a failure in western Iowa ? 

 What caused such a crop of linden bloom ? 

 Tell us all about it now, Sam. 



Thos. Johnson. 



Coon Rapids, Iowa, July 17, 1893. 



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