THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and prepared by con finin Reach colony 

 on 6, 6 or 7 combs, with a division- 

 board on each side, and 3 or 4 J^- 

 incti sticlis crosswise of the frames on 

 top. witli old carpet for covers, and 

 tlie upper stories half full of leaves 

 or chaff, which completes the inside. 

 The outside packing consists of four 

 sticks 2 feet long, y^x'Z inches wide, 

 driven into the ground back of tlie 

 hive, and tilled with straw between 

 them and the hive, with a tight cord 

 around all. 

 Lima,K3 Ills. 



For tbe American Bee .ToumaL 



Bee-KeepiiiE in Central Illinois, 



WILLIAM CAJIM. 



The winter of 1S84-85 was a very 

 hard one on bees here. The severe 

 cold weather continued so long with- 

 out intermission, that bees could not 

 move from the cluster, and so they 

 starved to death after exhausting the 

 honey in the frames upon which they 

 were clustered. My own loss was over 

 Jialf, though I had 59 colonies left out 

 of 118; yet those that survived were 

 so weak that many of them were mere 

 nuclei when the honey season opened 

 in the spring. 



There was little honey until June ; 

 and by the time bees were strong 

 enough to swarm, the season closed. 

 AVe had only 3 weeks in which any 

 surplus was gathered, consequently 

 the crop was light. I increased my 

 apiary, by natural swarming, to 96 

 colonies, and took about 800 lbs. of 

 comb honey and 700 fts. of extracted 

 honey. 



Last winter my bees were well 

 quilted down, but extra frames were 

 not taken out, and many of my hives 

 have 13 or U frames. This winter I 

 reduced the larger hives to 8 or 9 

 frames and packed between the divi- 

 sion-boards and the sides of hives 

 with dry leaves. Yesterday, (Dec. 

 18), bees flew freely from hives faced 

 to the south and a large number of 

 dead ones were thrown out. 



Excepting melilot, my experience 

 with honey-plants was not satisfac- 

 tory this year. Catnip and flgwort 

 yielded honey as long as they bloomed, 

 but their season seemed shorter than 

 usual, and where I had taken so much 

 pains to get them set a few years ago, 

 they were scattering and made a poor, 

 stingy growth. Golden honey-plant 

 seemed to gain, but just before it 

 came into bloom the old-fashioned 

 black beetle with white stripes, that 

 destroyed our potatoes forty years ago, 

 came and left only bare stalks. This 

 will probably account for its not be- 

 ing found wild here, as we have a 

 plant on our hills that looks almost 

 exactly like it, and upon which bees 

 work some, although insects injure it ; 

 also, they do not kill it as the beetle 

 did Dr. Tinker's favorite. 



My honey was all sold upon my local 

 market at a fair price, but this was 

 owing largely to "the small quantity 

 produced. There is a demand for all 

 we can produce, but this demand is 

 not effective; that is to say, those 



who would be our best customers are 

 not able to buy because tlieir wages 

 are not in proportion to their needs. 



We could insure good seasons for 

 honey every year, if we could induce 

 the same improvement of the land 

 that has been made in machinery with 

 which to work the land. When we do 

 this we shall employ so much labor 

 upon the land that the demand for 

 honey will be far greater than it now 

 is, and the increased yield of the land 

 would insure the payment of such 

 wages that the demand would be 

 effective. With other industries bee- 

 keeping must share the vicissitudes of 

 climate and social conditions, and 

 with all other industries we are vitally 

 interested in knowing whether we 

 can improve our climate or better our 

 social conditions. 



I purchased, over a year ago, a foot- 

 power saw, and have found it a won- 

 derful help to me. I understand 

 filing and setting saws and the use of 

 tools for wood- working generally, so 

 that I may have succeeded better than 

 many others would. At first my saws 

 seemed to wabble slightly and cut 

 rough, but after setting, filing, and 

 hnishing with the hone myself, 1 

 turned off work that some carpenters 

 refused to believe had not been planed ; 

 and from no regular hive factory have 

 I ever received work so smooth, true 

 and exact, as I can get from this saw. 



Murrayville, +0III. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



The Honey Season of 1885, 



J. SI. HAMBAUGH. 



My loss of bees last winter was 

 about 30 per cent. I wintered 65 colo- 

 nies in a house, or enclosure, con- 

 structed of straw, slough grass, and 

 fodder. I gave them a flight on Jan. 

 1, and diarrhea was prevalent among 

 many. I placed them on the summer 

 stands on Feb. 27 ; there was then but 

 9 dead colonies, but diarrhea was very 

 prevalent throughout the entire yard, 

 and the snow was soon made as yel- 

 low as saffron for quite a distance, 

 from their feces, and a horrible stench 

 arose from the yard. Sealed brood 

 and larvai was found in many of the 

 hives ; and while some made headway 

 in building up, many dwindled away 

 and died, ere the weak could be re- 

 cruited from the strong colonies, and 

 I have found that it is poor economy 

 to tear down the strong to build up 

 the weak colonies, where the per 

 cent, of weak ones is equal to that of 

 the strong. It is better to double up 

 colonies, where the production of 

 honey is the object in view. Less 

 colonies and more bees is by far the 

 most logical conchision. 



It was about April 1 before the bees 

 gathered their first pollen, which was 

 from soft maple, and the bloom 

 throughout the entire season was 

 about one week later than the season 

 previous, in this locality. While the 

 early harvest was not as rich as last 

 year, the quality was much better, 

 and we were not treated to another 



scourge of lioney-dew, which then was 

 very abundant here. 



In order to retrieve my losses to 

 some extent, I bought about 35 colo- 

 nies of bees in box-hives, and trans- 

 ferred them. The complete upsetting 

 of their household affairs was so great 

 that they did not recover sufliciently 

 to make the season prolitable, but I 

 am looking for belter results another 

 year. 



I commenced the season with about 

 86 colonies, and with the exception of 

 about 20 colonies, they were in rather 

 poor condition. They increased to 

 103 colonies, by natural swarming, 

 and I obtained about 3,500 pounds of 

 extracted honey, and 1,000 pounds of 

 comb honey. The largest yield of any 

 one colony was 204 pounds. Italians 

 and hybrids were far in advance for 

 the production of extracted honey. In 

 every instance where the production 

 exceeded 25 pounds, they were pure 

 Italians or hybrids. Eighteen colo- 

 nies produced upwards of 75 pounds 

 each, and 6 produced over 100 pounds 

 apiece ; but to take the entire yard 

 throughout, there was about a "half 

 crop harvested. I have Italianized 

 and hybridized the greater portion of 

 my home apiary, and intend to get 

 rid of the blacks another year if 

 possible. 



There is a universal complaint of 

 " no honey " this season, here, and 

 because my success looks large in the 

 eyes of some, 'the cry of adulteration 

 still goes abroad. Will the people 

 never learn that the specialist bee- 

 keeper has great advantages over the 

 old-fogy class ? 



Spring,K3 Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Tlie AlWuo Strain of Bees. 



S. VALENTINE. 



I notice that in the answers to 

 Query, No. 171, Albino bees are dis- 

 cussed, and Mr. Pond says : " The 

 term 'Albino' is a misnomer, as ap- 

 plied to the bees so-called." I claim 

 that the term " Albino " is as applica- 

 ble to insects as to animals, and if so, 

 it is appropriate and properly applied 

 to bees. If Mr. Pond will refer to my 

 article on page 199 of the Bee Jour- 

 nal for 1882, on " Albino Bees— Why 

 so Called," he will see wh> they are 

 called Albinos. 



Mr. Harrison, editor of the Ameri- 

 can Bee-Keeper in 1881, asked why all 

 the white hairs turned buff or yellow, 

 when the Albino bees became a few 

 days old ; and said that if such was 

 the case, he thought it knocked all 

 the " Albino " out of them. I do not 

 think so, for I cannot see any Albino 

 in such bees to " knock out." I admit 

 that all who use the term "Albino" for 

 yellow, will have some "knocking 

 out " to do, for the term "Albino" 

 was never intended for light-colored 

 Italians. 



I keep bees for profit, and work my 

 apiaries for a livelihood. I am not 

 prejudiced against any variety of 

 bees, and whenever I thought there 

 was any advantage in aiiv varietv, I 



