820 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Greenville, Texas. 



Big Yield from Horse-Mint Expected. 



We have had a rainy spell for a few 

 days, and lots of mud. Horse-mint, one 

 of our best honey-plants, is up nice, and 

 we anticipate a big yield from it next 

 spring, as it seldom fails when it gets an 

 early start. J. A. 



Greenville, Tex., Dec. 13, 1892. 



'Way Down in Tennessee. 



My spring crop of honey from about 

 60 colonies amounted to only 81% 

 pounds of comb honey in sections, and 

 the fall crop was only 9% pounds. 

 Several of my colonies had to be fed. 

 The swarming impulse was not hard to 

 control — only 6 swarms issued. My 

 location is in the mountains near the 

 Cumberland river, and some years — I 

 might say most years — the bee-pastur- 

 age is good. t The honey crop on the 

 higher land* 20 miles from here, was 

 excellent. 



Introducing Queen - Cells. — Some 

 writers advise against introducing queen- 

 cells immediately after removing the 

 old queen. For two years I have been 

 improving my stock, and have intro- 

 duced, I suppose, thirty or more cells 

 just after the removal of the old queen, 

 and I do not remember to have lost a 

 a single cell. Some were placed in 

 strong colonies, and some in nuclei. 



Queeb Conduct op a Swarm. — Here 

 is an entry on my record under date 

 of June 9, 1892 : " The swarm of 

 the 7th — the only one I have had — was 

 -laced on the old stand at night, the 

 swarm having come out about 3 p.m. 

 Next morning the bees of the swarm 

 were killing the bees that came back 

 from the parent colony, and continued 

 to do so notwithstanding I smoked 

 them, and they were getting plenty of 



honey." I am confident I was not mis- 

 taken in the hive they came from, and 

 that there was only one swarm. I am 

 unable to see why they should kill each 

 other after being separated only a few 

 hours. 



The Best Queens. — The colonies hav- 

 ing queens from my imported queens 

 have done decidedly the best, so far as 

 honey is concerned, this year, with pos- 

 sibly one exception, and I cannot say for 

 certain whether the queen of that colony 

 is from the imported stock, or not. 



L. K. Smith. 



Gainesboro, Tenn., Dec. 8, 1892. 



Feeding Bees in Winter. 



I cite the following from page 188 of 

 the December American Apiculturist : 

 " Don't undertake to feed bees in the 

 winter. It is sometimes done success- 

 fully, but it proves a failure in 90 per 

 cent, of all cases so treated. There is 

 no practical method, and no feeders by 

 which feeding can be made a success or 

 practical." 



Bro. Alley surely does not mean to let 

 the bees starve, just because it is win- 

 ter ! I hope he will excuse me when I 

 say, yes, feed your bees any day out of 

 the 365, if they need it, just the same 

 as you would feed your horse, and if you 

 are any bee-keeper at all, you will be 

 more successful every time, rather than 

 let them starve. 



It may be more difficult to feed bees 

 in the North during winter than it is 

 here, but I assure you that if I lived in 

 the North I would feed my bees if they 

 needed it. But it is best to leave the 

 bees alone in winter, unless it is actually 

 necessary to disturb them. 



I feed my bees (some of them) all win- 

 ter, and I do not lose any of them either, 

 and any one can do the same, for I use 

 no particular means, only sea that they 

 get the food. When the weather is 

 warm enough, I use a milk-pan feeder 

 on top ; if not, I fill a comb and hang it 

 right up to the cluster. J. A. 



Doolittle's Queen-Rearing: 



book should be in the library of every 

 bee-keeper ; and in tHe way we offer to 

 to give it, there is no reason now why 

 every one may not possess a copy of it. 

 Send us one new subscriber for a year, 

 and we will mail the book to you bound 

 in paper, as a present. 



