i8 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



January 



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nearly all white clover. I will mak< 

 about $90 out of that, besides wha 

 we use ourselves. My best colom 

 made 120 pounds of fine honey 

 Please extend my subscription fo 

 1905 to The American Bee-Keeper 

 A merry Christmas to you all. 



D. H. Zencker. 



AN OLD STRAW SKEP. 



Atlantic, Iowa, Dec. 6, 1904. 

 Friend H. E. Hill: 



You ask in the December number 

 of The Bee-Keeper, "Where are the 

 straw skeps?" ' I have one whick I 

 had my broher hunt up for me in New 

 Jersey (my old home). It was a long 

 hunt and no skep, and he gave it up. 

 I wrote him where I had seen some 

 forty-five years ago. He went to that 

 place and one was found in one of 

 those large old stone houses that are 

 so common in that part of New Jer- 

 sey. The lady presented it to him 

 to send to me, remembering me 

 when a small boy. She is now about 

 ninety years of age, her father dying 

 thirty or thirty-five years ago, at 

 about her age at the present time. 

 She says it was in use when she was 

 a small girl. So you can figure its age 

 as well as I can. I have had it in use 

 for the last six years, it sends out 

 strong swarms every year and there 

 seems to be no spring dwindling in it. 

 I keep it in my yard in town, and it is 

 a great curiosity to the people that 

 pass by. I don't know of any skeps 

 in Iowa, except this one. 



John Duflford. 



THE SEASON lis MISSOURI. 

 Cecil, Mo., Dec. 8, 1904, 

 Editor Bee-Keeper: 



The past season has been favorabl 

 for the production of fall honej 

 though too wet for a full crop fror 

 white clover. The sale of honey ha 

 been somewhat slow, at 10 to 12J 

 cents per pound for nice sectiom 

 Broken comb and extracted brin 

 eight to ten cents. Dull markets ai 

 our greatest drawback, as this se( 

 tion of the state is well adapted to tl 

 successful production of hone; 

 White clover, smartweed and Spanis 

 needle are the most ordinary of tt 

 sources which contribute to the suj 

 ply. It is but a few years since tl 

 abolition of the box hive with us, an 

 now nearly everyone has installed tl 

 movable-frame style and adopted tl 

 square section. I now have fifty co 

 onies in good condition. 



John Ware. 



CAN HARDLY WAIT. 



Upperco, Md., Dec. 9, 1904. 

 Editor Bee-Keeper: 



I am very much interested in The 

 Bee-Keeper. I can hardly wait till 

 the time comes for it. I cared for ten 

 colonies through the winter of 1903- 

 4, and about half came out last spring 

 very weak; in fact, they went into the 

 winter rather weak. One hive espe- 

 cially did not have over a quart of 

 bees. In January the queen died. I 

 nursed them along as best I could 

 till spring. April ist I sent to J. B. 

 Case, one of your advertisers, and 

 got a five-banded Italian queen, and 

 introduced her, and they did very 

 well. 



From my ten colonies last summer 

 I received 700 pounds of fine honey. 



DOWN WITH SUGAR FEEDIN(' 

 Buflfalo, N. Y., Dec. 6, 1904. 



Friend Hill: I have just finish* 

 reading A. C. Miller's article in tl 

 December American Bee-Keeper. 



Truly he has hit the keynote ar 

 I hope it will have influence to stc 

 the practice of feeding sugar syrt 

 to our bees. Every bee-keeper shoa 

 read it several times. I wish I 

 would do so some more. 



Another baneful practice is that < 

 extracting nectar before it is ripei 

 ed by the bees. I find it hurts ot 

 business more than I can tell. Tl 

 Buflfalo grocery and commissic 

 houses are full of this stuff calle; 

 honey. An honest bee-keeper cann<i 

 compete with these brazen, audaciot 

 frauds. No language is too stror 

 to condemn the practice of feedin 

 sugar syrup and extracting before tl 

 bees seal their honey. It is the ruii 

 ation of our trade. I have no syn 

 pathy for these fellows. 



J. W. Teflft, 



