64 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



my fellow bee-keepers the benefit of its 

 use, without having any royalty attached 

 thereto. I hope this will meet the eye 

 of some one who is prepared to answer 

 whether any one can slip into the Patent 

 Office and put a clincher on an article 

 that his neighbors have had in use for 

 two years or more ; then turn around 

 and charge three or four prices for it. 



The swarming season is just at hand, 

 and the bees are generally in fine condi- 

 tion. The fruit-bloom is now past, and 

 the white clover never showed up any 

 better than it does now, for this time of 

 the season. Everything now points to a 

 prosperous season for the- Minnesota 

 apiarist. C. H. Pond. 



Kasson, Minn., June 20, 1892. 



An Experience in Shipping Bees. 



In May I sent to New York State for 

 a nucleus colony and queen ; they came 

 all right, until they got to this end of 

 the route, and some one cut a hole in the 

 screen, and let most of the bees out. I 

 was at the express office when they 

 came, and one of the train men said 

 there was a few bees in the car. I set 

 out not to take them, and make the 

 express company pay for them. It was 

 very hot, the depot master was away, 

 and bis son was left to see to things. If 

 I left the bees they would have to be 

 shut up in a small room all night, and I 

 pitied them, so I paid the express 

 charges on them, and took them home. 

 By taking extra care of them, I shall 

 have a fair coloDy by fall. The wire 

 was cut with a knife about three inches 

 long, and a piece of paper stuck on with 

 wax to keep the bees in that had not 

 not escaped. Charles E. Holley. 



WestFarmington.Me., June 25,1892. 



Italian Bees in Combs of the Blacks. 



On page 638, of the Bee Journal for 

 May 12, Mr. J. M. Pratt says : " I be- 

 lieve the cause of much dissatisfaction 

 with the Italian bees is, that bee-keep- 

 ers buy queens of some good breeder, 

 and introduce them to colonies of black 

 bees, and the queens are forced to lay in 

 cells built by the black bees, which are 

 too small for pure Italians. Of course, 

 the bees will then be no larger or better 

 than the common blacks." 



Mr. Pratt seems to think that the 

 black bees are the smallest, but I think 

 that he is wrong. If he will examine 

 both the Italians and blacks, when they 

 are not loaded with honey, he will find 



that the blacks are slightly larger than 

 the Italians. The Italian bees have 

 larger honey-sacs than the blacks, and 

 of course they will seem larger when 

 loaded, than the blacks, when, in 

 reality, they are smaller. I do not think 

 that breeding Italians in comb built by 

 the blacks can make them any smaller, 

 or, in other words, prevent them from 

 getting their full growth, unless the 

 comb is too old. Ed. Clark. 



Nat, Ala. 



Winter Losses and Honey-Dew. 



Bees nearly all died in this section 

 last winter One man near Burlington 

 had about 50 colonies last fall, but has 

 only two left this spring. Out of 30 

 colonies, I have only 7 left. Nothing 

 but "honey^dew," and that as black as 

 tar, to live on last winter. I think that 

 was the cause of the great fatality. 



I. P. Wilson, M. D. 



Burlington, Iowa, June 27, 1892. 



A Girl's Experience with Bees. 



Bees wintered well in this part of the 

 country, and did well until the middle 

 of May, then starvation stopped brood- 

 rearing, so the honey harvest will find 

 many colonies short in bees. My father 

 tried to keep the bees from swarming 

 this spring, and has been successful so 

 far ; we have had only one swarm out of 

 160 colonies. We have about 30 or 40 

 colonies each with 32 one-pound sec- 

 tions in a super filled with white clover. 

 To-morrow linden begins to bloom, so 

 the bees may get part of a honey crop 

 yet; however, we do not expect as much 

 as in some other years. My father is 

 very busy this spring, and I have to do 

 the largest part of the work with the 

 bees. He gives me orders in the morn- 

 iug about what has to be done, and 

 looks over the work in the evening to 

 see if the work is done right. We fill 

 the supers, and prepare everything for 

 the bees in the winter months, but still 

 it keeps a little girl busy to attend to 

 160 colonies. Last year we had 240 

 colonies, and I had to do about all the 

 work alone. Louise Schumacher. 



Weston, Mo., June 27, 1892. 



When You Have any honey to sell, 

 get some Honey Almanacs and scatter 

 in your locality. They will sell it all in 

 a very short time. 



