THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



315 



on my elbow-shaped thermometer on 

 the inside of the same bee-hive, and I 

 shall do the same the year around ; 

 and if we know the exact temperature 

 and the behavior of the bees in win- 

 ter, we may solve the "wintering 

 question." 



Bees in Good Condition.— W. A. 

 Shafnit, Brighton,©, Iowa, on May 10, 

 1886, says : 



My first swarm issued on May 6. I 

 had only 3 colonies to winter, and 

 they came through in good condition, 

 with the aid of the Bee Journal. 

 Bees in this part of the county do not 

 produce much honey, as they all are 

 in box-hives. I use the new Heddon 

 or Lahgstroth improved. I would 

 like to know which queen comes out 

 with the first swarm, the old or the 

 young one. 



[The old one,of course.— Ed.] 



The Season in Cuba. — A. W. 

 Osburn, Cuba, VV. I., on April 30, 

 1886, writes : 



The winter just passed was a very 

 poor one for honey — too much cold 

 weather ; and the spring, so far, has 

 been the poorest of the three since I 

 came here. All new colonies made 

 by division have to be fed, as it is 

 very rare that sufficient honey can be 

 found in the parent hive, that they 

 can spare. 



Bee-Keeping in Mississippi, etc.— 

 Lorenzo J. de Sobotker, of Riverton, 

 9 Miss., on May 3, 1886, writes : 



I 'came here on Feb. 23 to take 

 charge of an apiary of 132 colonies of 

 brown bees ; of these 83 were in one- 

 story 1.5-frame hives, 10 of wliich were 

 in very good condition, but 73 were 

 very poor, and 8 of them queenless; 

 in fact many of them went into win- 

 ter quarters last year upon 5 and 6 

 frames, and no division-boards. From 

 what I found, there were 100 colonies 

 prepared for winter on the summer 

 stands, but, according to my idea, in 

 very poor condition ; and as the win- 

 ter has been very severe, and tlie 

 spring very late in coming, I reached 

 here just in time to save a good many 

 bees, which I did by feeding with the 

 surplus combs of honey from the 10 

 good colonies. The weather has been 

 so changeable from frost to sunshine, 

 and showery weather, since my arrival 

 here, that I could not venture to do 

 anything with the bees until the mid- 

 dle of March, when the red maple and 

 dandelions began to bloom ; followed 

 at the end of March \>y an abundance 

 of willows, and which lasted from 4 

 to 5 weeks ; this has assisted Isrood- 

 rearing very much— so much that I 

 was obliged to extract on April 22, 23 

 and 26, from the brood-nests of tlie 

 strongest colonies, from 84 combs, 

 yielding 15 gallons of splendid willow 

 honey, weighing about {\% pounds to 

 the gallon. I have been using the 

 combs taken from the hives of the 

 colonies that died last winter, putting 

 them between the brood-frames ; in 

 this I have had to be very cautious. 



as the weather and season has been 

 very backward for honey-production ; 

 however we now have the honey- 

 locust, hawthorne, white clover, 

 asters, and the dandelions yet in 

 bloom. The willows are about out; 

 but the bees are increasing spendidly 

 in brood, and I am in hopes of get- 

 ting them all right for the crop, 

 which I think will be a poor one this 

 year. I am told that this apiary be- 

 gan the winter with 100 colonies in 

 movable frame hives, and 40 in box- 

 hives. I have been transferring 17 

 colonies in box-hives to movable- 

 frame hives, and have still 32 box- 

 hives with strong colonies in them, 

 which I intend to allow to swarm 

 naturally. So I now have 100 colo- 

 nies, all with queens, and 32 colonies 

 in box-hives, on some of which I have 

 put one-pound sections. I would call 

 it spring count 100 colonies in mov- 

 able-frame hives, and 32 box-hives. 

 This apiary was started only last 

 season from 40 colonies in box-hives, 

 and they produced 7 barrels of honey 

 of 45 gallons each, weighing about 12 

 pounds to the gallon; and these 40 

 colonies in box-hives were originally 

 gotten from one swarm of bees that 

 came to this place from the woods in 

 the season of 1882. 



Early Swarms and Drones.— Dr. 



II. R. Dorr, Worden, P Ills., on May 

 11, 1886, writes: 



I had a fine swarm of Italian bees 

 yesterday, the first tliis season. Bees 

 in this neighborhood have come 

 through the winter in finer condition 

 than ever before. I began the winter 

 with 14 colonies on the summer 

 stands, with a new kind of packing, 

 and to my astonishment (but great 

 pleasure) I saw them all safely 

 througl), and almost as strong as in 

 the autumn. I had drones flying from 

 several colonies on Sunday, April 18. 

 Who can do better for this latitude V 



Promising Season, Small Drones, 

 etc. — W. C. R. Kemp, Orleans,? Ind.. 

 on May 13, 1886, writes thus : 



The honey season is now upon us 

 in Soutliern Indiana, and promises to 

 be one of the best we have had for 

 several years. Bees came out of win- 

 ter quarters in splendid condition— no 

 losses of any consequence. The ab- 

 sence of the product of plant-lice, 

 sometiuies called " bug-juice," con- 

 tributed lai'gely to this condition, but 

 bees gathered considerable honey-dew, 

 and with other kinds of wholesome 

 honey, came through all right ; not- 

 withstanding the usual quantity of 

 pollen held its place in the hive. I 

 have a colony now that is a problem 

 that I cannot solve. The queen is an 

 ordinary-looking Italian, apparently 

 young ; fully one-half of the brood is 

 drone, and the other half worker. 

 The drone brood are all in worker- 

 cells, and indiscriminately mixed 

 with the worker brood. The hatched 

 drones are but little, if any, larger 

 than the worker bees. Tliere are but 

 few drone-cells in the hive, and, of 

 course,these produced fully-developed 



drones. I should say one-half of the 

 entire colony are of these diminutive 

 drones. I opened the hive to-day and 

 found two queen-cells sealed up. I 

 began capturing and pinching the 

 heads of drones, and served her 

 majesty's head the same way. I then 

 proceeded to decapitate all the un- 

 hatched drones, and the Plymouth 

 Rocks had a square meal for once. I 

 would be pleased if some of the 

 savants would give a satisfactory ex- 

 planation of this condition of the col- 

 ony described above. The prospect 

 for a boimtiful honey crop all over 

 the country I think is better than the 

 average season. 



Honey and Beeswax Market. 



Office of the American Bee JonRNAi., 

 Monday, 10 a. m.. May 17, 1886. 



The following are the latest quota- 

 tions for honey and beeswax received 

 up to this hoirr : 



CHICAGO. 

 ■^HONE Y. —Comb ia coming forward more freely 

 and prices now are 15ialBc. for 1-Ih. sections. Ex- 

 tracted is in light demand at .'t@7c. California 

 comb honey, in i2m. sections, 9@12c. 

 BKKSWAX,— 23(a24c. per ib. Not much offered. 

 R. A. B0RNKTT. 161 South Water St. 



NEW YORK. 



HONEY. -We now quote : Fancy white comb 

 in 1-lb. sections, llii^KJc; in 2-Ib. sections, 9@l0c. 

 Fancy bucliwlieat honev in l-lb. sections, 9c.; in 

 2-lb. sections, IttuHc. tiff grades W-'Zc. per lb. ieos. 

 Extracted, white,(i(ni7c: bucltwhcat, 5@54c. Cali- 

 fornia, .'>(ii6c. : Southern, as to color and flavor, 

 per gallon, Stt^Goc. 



BEBSWAX.-27@28c. 



MCCAUL k HlLDRETH BROS.. 34 HudBOn St. 



BOSTON. 

 HONEY.— One-lb. sections, white clover, 13@15c; 

 2-pound sections, ll(£vi3c. Extracted, 6@8c. 

 BEESWAX.-->r) cts. per ib. 



Blake & uiplet. 57 Chatham Street. 



9AN FKANCI8CO. 

 HONE v.— White and ex. white comb, 1 lli®13o.i 

 darit comb, 6^6(jHc. White extracted, r>^@5^c. ; 

 amber, 4(q,4)^c. ; darli and candied, 3?i{«;4c. 

 BEESWAX.— Quotable at 20(ai23c., wholesale. 

 O. B. Smith & Co., 423 Front Street 



DETROIT. 

 HONEY.-Tbe marliet is almost bare of comb 

 honey, and very little is wanted. Best white in 1- 

 Ib. sections 14 cts. 

 BEESWAX.— Scarce at 25c. 



M. H. HUNT., Bell Branch, Mich. 



ST. LOUIS. 

 HONEY.— Choice comb, 10®12c. Strained. In 

 barrels, 4@5c. Extra fancy of bright color and in 

 No, 1 puckages, M advance on above prices. Ex- 

 tracted in barrets. 5«t5}'6. 

 BEESWAX.-Flrm at 22c for prime. 



D. G. THTT & CO.. Commercial St. 



CINCINNATI. 



HONEY.— Trade is perhaps duller than usual. 

 We quote : Extracted honey brings 4ca8c.. and 

 choice comb honey brings I2(t*l.^c. in a jobbing way. 



BEESWAX.— In demand at 20(ai2f,c.for yellow. 

 C. P. MUTH & SON. Freeman i Central Ave. 



CLEVELAND. 

 HONEY.— One pound sections, I4015C,; 2-Ib, 130 

 Extrac'ed.7(*8c. 

 BBESWAX.-Scarce at 25e. 



A. c. Kendel. 115 Ontario Street. 



KANSAS CITY. 

 HONE Y.— Sales of comb are good, while extrac- 

 ted is very dull and low. One-pound sections are 

 scarce: stoclisof all other grades are well supplied. 

 Ciilif. 2-lbB. bring ll®12c. ; Eastern 2-lbs.. 12(8.130.; 

 1-Ibs., white, l4@13c. ; dark, 12@13c. Extracted 

 5^fic. : Southern, 3ii>@4c. 

 BBB8WAX.-23C. 



ri.EMONS.CLOoN & CO.. cor. 4th & Walnut. 



MILWAUKEE. 

 HONEY.— The receipts of honey have been 

 more liberal of late, and the supply is now very 

 fair. We quote : Choice comb, in 1-lb. sections, 

 17c§llHc.; in 2-lbs., u:®l7c. Extracted, white, in 

 keas or tin, 7^®hc. ; dark. In the same, 6@ti>6c. 

 IJEESWAX.— Demand moderate at 25c. 



A. V. BISHOP, 142 W. Water St. 



