AMERICAN BKii JOURNAL. 



409 



^i'" Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper with business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Best Crop in Four Years. 



We have had the best honey-fiow here 

 since I have kept bees, and that is four 

 years. My average is 55 pounds per colony. 

 I put into winter quarters, last fall, 12 col- 

 onies, and had 12 last spring. I increased 

 to 24 colonies, and got ti60 pounds of honey. 

 My best was 114 pounds, and the least was 

 27 pounds. I winter the bees on the sum- 

 mer stands, some in chaff hives, and some 

 in single-walled hives. I have chaff on top 

 of all. The honey is all first-class this year 

 — clover and linden or basswood honey. 

 There were lots of bees that died last win- 

 ter and spring ; some lost /s. and some }.,. 

 They mostly died with the diarrhea, with 

 lots of honey in the hives. None of the 

 losers had chaff on top, or take a bee-paper. 

 Milton Limes. 



Ridgeway, Ohio, Sept. 18, 1893. 



Honey Crop a Complete Failure. 



The honey ci'op is a complete failure in 

 this locality. 1 haven't taken one pound 

 from over 100 colonies this year. Other 

 bee-men are in the same fix, and most of 

 the bees will require feeding to get them 

 through the winter. But let the good work 

 go on. Where there is a will, there is a 

 way. J. R. EsKEW. 



Shenandoah, Iowa, Sept. 18, 1893. 



A Beginner's Experience with Bees. 



Two years ago my brother was in posses- 

 sion of 34 colonies of bees in chaff hives. 

 As he could not keep them any longer, I 

 bought the outfit of him for .$175. In the 

 succeeding year (1892) I had very few 

 leisure hours, and I had to feed my bees all 

 summer, for there was not one pound of 

 honey produced to winter on. I was some- 

 what disappointed iu the first year's work, 

 and did not give them proper attention nor 

 food until late in October. Of course, all 

 could have told me that I would not save 

 one colony for 1893, but as I was inexperi- 

 enced, this was not the worst I treated 

 them. 



Late in November I moved them into an 

 old, overground building on my father's 



farm. In such position they were left un- 

 disturbed until January. By this time Mr. 

 Joseph Guenther, a prominent bee-keeper, 

 visited me, and told me that I would not 

 save one of my bees; but I thought he 

 would be disappointed by May 1st, when I 

 should take out my bees in good condition. 



To my surprise I found my bees had died 

 down to colonies, and when removed to 

 the summer stands they dwindled down to 

 nothing. 



Of course, wanting to be a bee-keeper, I 

 picked up again after the loss, and bought 

 13 colonies, for which I paid from .$4.00 to 

 $7.50 each. Some of them had quite a long 

 distance to go on the cars. But now you 

 should see how well I feel, as I produced 

 2,600 pounds of extracted honey, besides an 

 increase of 7 colonies. 



As all of my honey was produced from 

 white clover and basswood, I think there 

 are no better honey-plants than these. 

 Therefore, I am proud to say that Wiscon- 

 sin is not one of the poorest States for bee- 

 keeping. If it had not been for the long 

 and hard winter, I would call Wisconsin 

 next to the Sunny Southland, that Mrs. 

 Jennie Atchley praises so much. 



Nick N. Geehl. 



St. Lawrence, Wis., Aug. 30, 1893. 



Opening and then Sealing Cappings. 



As Mr. H. C. Finney, on page 300, asks 

 the question about the uncapped brood, I 

 wish to say a few words about it. I don't 

 expect to answer the question, but some 

 one may reply to it. I have seen colonies 

 several times with brood uncapped, at or 

 near the age he says. The brood is un- 

 capped and capped again, the last cappings 

 of the cells are generally drawn out nearly 

 1-16 of an inch longer. I think it is prob- 

 ably imbecility of the queen that causes 

 the uncapping of the brood, as it is gen- 

 erally an old queen that has such work. To 

 give a young ([ueen stops it for me. I think 

 the queen is old, and becoming impotent, or 

 about to fail. Now I would like to see 

 what others have to say about this ques- 

 tion. R. A. Shultz. 



Cosby, Tenn. 



Glueen and Worker in the Same Cell. 



On page 140 is a question that I sent you, 

 the answer to which is only a guess, and 

 not satisfactory, for the following reasons: 



1st. When the parties who saw the cell 

 opened, learned I was going to send it to 

 you for an explanation, they remarked that 

 you would simply say you did not believe 

 they were so hatched. 



2nd. The cell had been cut out after being 

 sealed up, and was being hatched In the 

 house under a wire-screen. 



3rd. The cell was built with an enlarge- 

 ment on one side, the same extending about 

 % the way down towards the base of the 

 cell. The bees both rested on the base of 

 the cell, the head of the worker nestling in 

 the legs of the queen, and the head of the 



