138 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of foundation for both the brood-nest 

 and sections of each hive. If we false 

 the whole 89 colonies and suppose 

 them to equal the 50 (and Mr. D. said 

 that his last swarm gathered 35 pounds, 

 which was the lightest of any after 

 allowing 6 pounds for the bees), we 

 have 344?^ pounds of comb honey for 

 each colony, spring count, and 3 9-20 

 swarms. What I would like to know 

 is this : Have we the " boss " bee- 

 pasturage in the world, or the " boss " 

 bee-keeper V or what ? If the above 

 is true, it must have been all gath- 

 ered in 1885, for his bees were starv- 

 ing in the spring, and he had to feed 

 them. I should like to know the 

 nearest to this that has ever been re- 

 ported and well authenticated. After 

 the honey harvest his hives contained 

 from 35 to 104 pounds each. My own 

 report is this : Eleven colonies in the 

 spring of 1885, 23 in the fall, and 1,500 

 pounds of extracted honey, with a 

 fair supply left for the bees to winter 

 on ; also 4 swarms that absconded. I 

 wish that some of the prominent cor- 

 respondents of the Bee Journal 

 would tell me the best way to fasten 

 the wire into foundation without a 

 press. I wire my frames and then 

 press the wire into the foundation by 

 running a small wooden wheel over 

 it, but last tall I had considerable to 

 fall down when the honey was coming 

 in fast. 



Bees and Fixtures Burned.— James 

 Nipe, Spring Prairie, o^ Wis., on Feb. 

 20, 1886, writes : 



My house took fire on the afternoon 

 of Feb. lii, and was burned with a 

 large portion of its contents, includ- 

 ing 163 colonies of bees that were in 

 the cellar with about $100 worth of 

 bee-lixtures. 



keepers tell me if anything can be 

 done for this colony ; for without help 

 they will surely perish before there is 

 any chance of their having a cleans- 

 ing flight. They could be fed any 

 kind of medicated syrup without any 

 trouble. The bees that get out of the 

 hives fall into the water with which 

 the cellar bottom is covered, and that 

 causes a mildew or mold to form on 

 the bottom, which results in an un- 

 pleasant odor. Should this mold and 

 dead bees be removed V It will dis- 

 turb the bees to some extent. 



A Diseased Colony.— S. J. Toung- 

 man, Cato,0 Mich., writes : 



Having examined my bees to-day. 

 I find them very quiet, only one col- 

 ony showing any signs of diarrhea. 

 They have been confined 55 days. The 

 cellar is dug in heavy clay ground. I 

 was obliged to drain it about 200 feet, 

 and about 4 feet in depth ; the water 

 has been constantly flowing in the 

 drain. The walls of the cellar are 18 

 inches thick, built of stone ; then one 

 corner of the cellar was partitioned 

 off, filling in all around with G inches 

 of dry planer shavings, except over- 

 head whicli is ceiled with 1-incli 

 boards. When there is a fire above, 

 the temperature is 50° above zero ; 

 without tlie fire, 48^ above. There is 

 no upward ventilation in it. Some of 

 the hives have nothing whatever over 

 the frames ; on those tliat have cush- 

 ions the bees cluster on the outside 

 to some extent, which seems quite 

 refreshing when the temperature is 

 18'J below zero, outside of tlie cellar. 

 The colony that shows signs of dis- 

 ease occupies a two-story hive, which 

 rests nearer to the ground than any 

 of the others. It has no cover over 

 the frames : the bees can be seen 

 crawling over the frames, and can be 

 reached handily. I would like to 

 have some of the experienced bee- 



Feeding Bees Rye Meal.— W. R. 

 F. asks the following questions : 



I desire some information on feed- 

 ing rye meal to bees in the spring, for 

 pollen. Should it be fed dry or mixed 

 with honey V How will the bees find 

 it? 



[It should be put on a dish or board 

 in the sun a few rods from the hives 

 where the bees will generally find it ; 

 if they do not, a small piece of honey 

 placed were the bees will find it, and 

 then taken to the meal and placed on 

 it, will soon cause large numbers of 

 bees to work on it aud the meal 

 too.— Ed.] 



Bee-Keeping in Utah.— John Dunn, 

 Toole,K3 Utah, on Feb. 16, 1886, says: 



This has been an open winter here ; 

 bees have been out a great deal, and 

 if the weather continues long as it 

 has been since Jan. 1, there will be 

 some brood in the hives, and perhaps 

 some of the colonies are breeding 

 now. Last year we had a good flow 

 of honey, although I had not the time 

 to take it all out last fall ; but I find 

 that there will not be any lost, as the 

 present winter has been such that the 

 bees required more honey. I have 

 just left my bees on the summer 

 stands, and have not put any extra 

 covering over them, and I think they 

 will come out just as well as those 

 that have housed them. We some- 

 times have a fine winter until March, 

 and then sometimes we have bad 

 weather until to May, and it is then 

 that our loss is great ; for the bees are 

 nearly all breeding before that time, 

 and I have seen the brood frozen in 

 the combs ; but it is to be hoped that 

 it will not be so this year. 



this year. If you wish to make any 

 suggestions as to a new classificatiou 

 in this Department another year, the 

 Board will be pleased to receive them, 

 and aid the bee-keepers of the State 

 in any way in their power. So little 

 interest has been manifested at the 

 Fairs, that the Board has had no en- 

 couragement to offer more than they 

 do. It is very desirable that an 

 Illinois Bee-Keepers' Association 

 should be organized, and if you will 

 call a meeting of those engaged in 

 that industry, the meeting to take 

 place in Springfield, the writer will 

 do all in his power to assist you in its 

 organization." 



Sharp Hits and Truth.— Franklin 



P. Stiles, Haverhill, (5 Mass., on Feb. 

 22, 1886, says : 



Sharp hits and naked truths are 

 enjoyed by all, and the " chips " from 

 such " hewing " should have unob- 

 structed right of way; but doe» 

 " history making " require that chip 

 dirt shall be thrown in the face of the 

 entire fraternity V What think you ? 



[Cheerfully we reply that " dirt- 

 throwing" in controversies always in- 

 dicates a lack of argument, but we 

 discover no "dirt" in the article 

 evidently referred to. Our corres- 

 pondents must take due notice that 

 whenever we discover any but Hnd 

 criticisms (which are always valuable) 

 we shall let the subject rest until all 

 are content to be good-natured in the 

 controversy. — Ed.] 



Illinois State Convention.— Mrs. L. 

 Harrison, Peoria,© Ills., on Feb. 15, 

 1886, writes thus : 



In compliance with the suggestion 

 of Mr. Cutting, President of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' So- 

 ciety, and acting in the capacity of 

 Vice-President for Illinois, I wrote to 

 Charles F. Mills, Secretary of the 

 State Board of Agriculture. I would 

 like to have the opinion of bee-keep- 

 ers of this State, as to the propriety 

 of calling a convention at Springfield 

 next winter, as suggested by Mr. 

 Mills. Here is his letter : 



" There will be little, if any change 

 in the premiums for bees, honey, etc.. 



Bees Wintering Finely.— Wm. H. 



Miller, Berrien Springs, p Mich., on 

 Feb. 20, 18^6, writes : 



I lost 67 colonies last winter, being 

 all but one that I had the fall pre- 

 vious, and the one left was very weak. 

 In the spring I bought 2 colonies and 

 worked them for increase, but only 

 by natural swarming. 1 lost one good 

 colony, and I now have 16, which I 

 think are wintering finely, as they 

 were all right last week. I hope that 

 the coming season will be as good as 

 the last. 



Report for 1885, etc.— F. A. Gib- 

 son, Racine.o. Wis., on Feb. 23, 1886, 

 writes : 



My bees did very well the past sea- 

 son. I obtained 2^000 pounds of comb 

 honey, and 2,000 pounds of extracted 

 honey, and have sold all of it in the 

 home market, the comb honey from 

 10 to 20 cents, and the extracted from 

 12 to 15 cents per pound ; and the bees 

 have had plenty to winter on. I have 

 89 colonies packed in my bee-cellar, 

 that I put in on Nov. 20, 1885. They 

 have been very quiet all winter. The 

 temperature has been 40°. My hives 

 are reversible. I keep no bottom- 

 boards on them through the winter, 

 but put them on the top— the only 

 true way to winter bees safely, I 

 think. I have had bees for 25 or 30 

 years, and one of my chief hobbies 



