798 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



gums to the Langstroth hive. Of course, 

 as I had no veil nor experience with 

 bees, I got lots of stings. My health 

 began to improve. I had good luck in 

 my work with bees. My neighbors soon 

 employed me to help them, so I had lots 

 of work and lots of stings. My health 

 still improved. 



The first work I did with bees was 

 about May 15, 1887. That is over five 

 years ago, and I have felt but little 

 rheumatism for three years. I am able 

 to do a day's work now ; in fact, I feel 

 like a boy again. Whether the bee- 

 stings cured me or not, I don't know ; 

 but one thing I do know, I once was un- 

 able to work, and now I am well, and 

 have taken no other rheumatism medi- 

 cine. I would keep a few colonies of 

 bees, if there was no other pay than 

 their stings. 



(Rev.) Milleb Faibchild. 



Sip, Ky., Nov. 6, 1892. 



Are Eight-Frame Hives too Small P 



Mr. C. A. Bunch, on page 700, says 

 that "eight-frame hives are too small 

 to hold honey enough to last over until 

 white clover." 



I use the eight-frame hive, and I 

 secured 160 pounds of surplus honey in 

 one-pound sections, from 6 young colo- 

 nies, and when I put them into the cel- 

 lar, on Nov. 12, they weighed from 55 

 to 65 pounds each ; deducting 18 

 pounds, the average weight of a hive 

 without the roof, leaves nearly 40 

 pounds of honey, bees, etc. 



I have 11-frame hives, and 3 box- 

 hives in the cellar ; 2 of the colonies in 

 box-hives gave me 2 swarms apiece, and 

 now weigh 75 and 94 pounds, respec- 

 tively. That ought to carry them 

 through. 



From my first swarm I got 40 pounds 

 of surplus honey and a swarm ; and my 

 second prime swarm 48 pounds, and 

 have enough to winter on. This is 45° 

 north latitude ; but we had a very late 

 fall, so the bees kept breeding until 

 November. I hive the swarms on empty 

 frames. John M. Seileb. 



Chanhassen, Minn., Nov. 28, 1892. 



A Twice-Old Subscriber, Etc. 



I cannot well get along without the 

 " old reliable " Amebican Bee Joubnal. 

 I commenced taking it when published 

 in Washington, D. C, and have taken it 

 the most of the time since. I shall want 

 it as long as I keep bees, but I don't ex- 



pect to keep bees much longer on ac- 

 count of my age — I am now in my 83rd 

 year. 



The last summer was the poorest sea- 

 son tbat I remember of seeing. Bees 

 did very poorly in this section. Some 

 lost all of their bees. I got only 110 

 pounds of honey from 65 colonies. I 

 have now 60 colonies in the cellar, in 

 good condition. One of my neighbors 

 obtained only 70 pounds from 110 colo- 

 nies. Wm. C. Wolcott. 



Eldorado, Wis., Dec. 5, 1892. 



[With the above letter our dear old 

 friend renewed his subscription and sent 

 us five new subscribers, which he had 

 secured in one day. What a list we 

 would soon have, if every one of our 

 present subscribers would send in even 

 two or three new subscribers with their 

 own renewal this month ! And what 

 great improvements we could make in 

 the old Bee Joubnal, if we had double 

 or triple our present list of subscribers ! 

 Would you like to see them ? Well, just 

 try that offer of " Bees and Honey " on 

 page 781, and see what you can do 

 toward bringing about the fulfilment of 

 the foregoing suggestion. — Ed.] 



Bee-Keeping 1 in Maryland, Etc. 



The honey crop was short the past 

 season, as far as I know here in Mary- 

 land ; in fact, we seldom have a very 

 large flow of honey in this vicinity. I 

 began last spring with 26 colonies. I 

 killed one colony that had an unfertile 

 queen, that laid nothing but drone-eggs. 

 This left me 25 colonies. My bees came 

 through the winter in pretty good condi- 

 tion, I think, but most of them had not 

 much honey. I thought I would let 

 them go through without feeding them, 

 except enough to keep them from dying. 

 The spring was cool up to the latter part 

 of May, and when the honey-flow did 

 come, it came so quickly after cool 

 weather was over that it caught my bees 

 weak — but few in numbers — conse- 

 quently but little honey was gathered — 

 only about 6 pounds per colony, spring 

 count. I had only 4 swarms, all told. 



I struck this year for profit and not 

 much expense. I think I will try the 

 feeding plan another spring, to build 

 them up strong, ready for the harvest, 

 if I and the bees live. I use a hive 

 called the " Success bee-hive." I like 



