AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



665 



J^~ 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. 



Report for the Past Season. 



When I got home from Florida, in April, 

 I found my 5 colonies of bees in splendid 

 condition, having wintered in large chaff- 

 packed cases. I increased them to 10 colo- 

 nies, and secured over 100 pounds of honey 

 in one-pound sections, besides a full supply 

 for family use. The best colony of blacks 

 gave me 65 pounds, and so on down to 

 nothing. I have just sold out the whole at 

 auction, the best colonies bringing -fS.SO 

 each. I shall now go to Florida, where I 

 intend to put in my Avhole time with bees 

 for the next few years. The Bee Journal 

 comes as a welcome visitor, whether here 

 or there ; I should not want to keep bees 

 without it. Edgar B. Whipple. 



Hillsborro, N. H., Oct. 31, 1893. 



The Season in New Hampshire. 



Early spring was cool and backward, and 

 bees built up slowly, but during fruit-bloom 

 the weather was fine, and bees just boomed. 

 My bees commenced swarming on June 1st. 



We had a continuous honey-flow from 

 early fruit-bloom, until the fading of white 

 clover. My bees did well — considerably 

 better than the average in quantity, and 

 the honey was of superior quality. 



Fall flowers yielded but little, my bees 

 just about holding their own. I have again, 

 as I usually do in the fall, strengthened my 

 colonies by uniting, putting the bees of 43 

 colonies into 26. In order to bring them to 

 my standard for winter stores (30 pounds) , 

 I have had to feecf some. 



To-day finds my hives full of bees, with 

 30 pounds of nutritious food, and each hive 

 enclosed in an outer case, packed with dry 

 planer-shavings, with a porous cushion, 8 

 or 10 inches thick, over the frames. This 

 preparation, to my mind, solves the " win- 

 ter problem," as my experience for several 

 years proves. J. P. Smith. 



Sunapee, N. H., Nov. 1, 1893. 



Loss of Weight — Taylor Experiments. 



In reply to O. B. Barrows' question, on 

 page 569, I will say that as his bees were 

 wintered in a cool, dry cellar, those colonies 

 that were strong to commence with, and 



especially those occupying the upper tiers 

 and warmest part of the cellar would have 

 reared a large amount of brood by April 

 1st, which would require the consumption 

 of much honey, so that a loss of 20 pounds, 

 including dead bees, would not be at all 

 surprising; while those that went in weak 

 in numbers, occupying a cold part of the 

 cellar, and with other conditions unfavor- 

 able for breeding, necessarily consumed 

 but little honey. If next spring, he will 

 compare those colonies that shall have con- 

 sumed the most with those that consumed 

 the least, and notice how much brood each 

 is rearing, it will be easy for him to see 

 why one consumes five times as much as 

 the other. 



It seems to me that R. L. Taylor's report, 

 on page 563, to be of any practical value, 

 should state approximately the amount of 

 brood each of the different classes or colo- 

 nies reared during the different periods, 

 since a pound of brood represents more 

 than one pound of honey. I think it pos- 

 sible that those that, according to his re- 

 port, seem to have done the best, have 

 actually done the least. Several methods 

 present themselves to my mind for de- 

 termining the amount of brood reared, but 

 it is not necessary to give them here. The 

 question of comparative value of starters, 

 foundation and drawn comb, is an ex- 

 tremely important one, which I hope may 

 yet be solved. I. W. Beckwith. 



Lupton, Colo. 



Presidio County, Texas, Etc. 



Tell the Bee Journal readers not to go 

 to Presidio county, Tex. A glance at a 

 map of Texas will show them that it is at 

 the extreme southern end of the "Great 

 American Desert," and outside of civiliza- 

 tion. It rains there but little, sometimes 

 not enough to lay the dust in two or three 

 years at a time. There are but few inhabi- 

 tants—a few ranch-men, mostly sheep-men 

 — who employ Mexicans for herders and 

 helpers. Its southern boundary is the Rio 

 Grande river, the line between the United 

 States and Mexico. There is no society. It 

 is the home of the wolf, the wild-cat, and of 

 the desert sand-storms, and will be of the 

 first two, a hundred years, and of the sand- 

 storms forever. 



I do not think there is a Foley county. I 

 have been in all parts of Texas, but do not 

 remember Foley county; however, it is 

 several years since I have been in some 

 parts of the State, and it may have been 

 made from one or two other counties. 



C. Klock. 



Pearsall, Frio Co., Tex., Nov. 10, 1893. 



A Mammoth Colony of Bees. 



The largest colony of bees I ever heard of 

 is down here in this grand old State of 

 Virginia. It is located on the summit of 

 the Blue Ridge Mountains, near the line 

 between the counties of Page and Rappa- 

 hannock, but I cannot say to which county 

 they belong — this I know, however, they 



