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THE AMERICAJSI BEE JOURNAL. 



Explanatory. — The llgrures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near tne center of the Stat^ named; 

 5 north of the center; 9 south; O* east; 

 ♦O west; and thisd northeast; V3 northwest: 

 o-southeast; and 9 southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



B'or the American Bee JoumaL 



A Call on Mr. J. B, Hall. 



WM. F. CLAKKE. 



Mr. J. B. Hall does not like noto- 

 riety. He prefers to keep sbady, and 

 to be let alone. How far a man is to 

 be indulged in this love of privacy 

 and concealment, is a somewhat per- 

 plexing question to one who is always 

 " takin notes " with an ultimate de- 

 sign to "print 'em." I got rather a 

 brusque reception the other day 

 when, being in Woodstock, 1 took the 

 opportunity of dropping in on Mr. 

 Hall. " Are you going to drag me 

 before the public again ? I suppose 

 we shall soon have another 250 pounds 

 of honey story going the rounds." I 

 felt chagrined and annoyed at myself 

 for not having contradicted that 2.50 

 pound mistake. How it got into 

 print, whether by a slip of the tongue, 

 a slip of the pen, or a mistake of the 

 printer, I do not know, but I quite 

 intended to correct it, and ought to 

 have done so long ago. 



I am inclined to think I got Messrs. 

 Jones and Hall " mixed up" in my 

 mind. Mr. Jones made an average 

 one year of 250 pounds of honey, 

 spring count. But it was extracted. 

 Mr. Hall's was comb honey, and 

 should have been reported as 150 

 pounds average, spring count. I hope 

 this explanation will be satisfactory 

 to all concerned, including Mr. C. W. 

 Dayton. See his article on " Troubled 

 Bee-Lore," on page 441 of the Ameki- 

 CAN Bee Jouknal for this year. 



Mr. Hall objected at the Detroit 

 convention that the bee-periodicals 

 report successes but not reverses in 

 bee-keeping. Having given publicity 

 to success in his case, it is only right 

 for me to balance up matters by 

 chronicling the opposite condition of 

 things. A sad reverse has befallen 

 our friend, the present season. To 

 quote his words : " Total failure is 

 my record for ]88()." There are sev- 

 eral explanations of this. Mr. Hall 

 was absent from home last fr.ll at- 

 tending Fairs, and his bees did not 

 get the usual thorough preparation 

 for winter. A number of colonies 

 was too light. He was building a 

 new house and, as usual, the contrac- 

 tors were behind time in fulfilling 

 their contract. Hence it was late. 



too late when the bees were put into 

 winter quarters. 



Again, a defect in the drain caused 

 the presence of water in the bee- 

 cellar to a depth of about six inches. 

 Finally, the furnace fire was let out 

 too soon, with the idea that it would 

 not affect the bees, there being a 12- 

 inch brick wall between the furnace 

 and the cellars. But it did affect 

 them enough to check brood-rearing, 

 so that the multiplication of workers 

 was not accomplished in time for the 

 first run of honey. That first run was 

 all there was around Woodstock. 

 After a brief harvest from the earliest 

 white clover blooms, there was abso- 

 lutely no honey yield. Alsike clover 

 has been a most important source of 

 honey-gathering heretofore. This year 

 there was none from that source, and 

 none from the linden. 



Our friend was not despondent or 

 in tribulation over this state of 

 affairs. He says he makes it a prin- 

 ciple not to cry over what be can't 

 help. Well, I "suppose we all do that, 

 but some of us are not entirely suc- 

 cessful in carrying out the principle. 

 Mr. Hall is. Perhaps he has a more 

 comfortable bank account than some 

 of us. That has a great deal to do 

 with the ease or difficulty of being 

 consoled under unfortunate circum- 

 stances. This is the second time in 

 fifteen years of bee-keeping that Mr. 

 Hall has had an experience of "blasted 

 hopes." 



On the former occasion the year of 

 failure was followed by one of double 

 success, and taking the average of 

 the fifteen years, the showing is not 

 discouraging. All the readers of the 

 Amekican Bee Journal will join 

 with the writer in the hope that this 

 year of dearth, like the former one, 

 may be succeeded by a year of plenty 

 that will make up for losses, and keep 

 up the average to the point of en- 

 courageipent. 



Mr. Hall has hadhardly any swarms 

 the present season, and though he 

 obtained fifty of the new Heddon 

 hives, is unaljle to report any practi- 

 cal experience with them. lie has 

 the finest specimens of the Carniolan 

 bees I have yet seen, and is favorably 

 impressed with them. I am sorry 

 that we shall not see his genial face 

 at the Indianapolis convention. He 

 is getting very skeptical about con- 

 ventions. Perhaps we pumped him 

 too much at Detroit. Never mind, 

 friend Hall. It is " give and take " 

 at these meetings. Last time it was 

 " give " in your case. Come again 

 and " take " (til you can get I 

 Guelph, Ont. 



the greatest amount of honey and 

 increase combined. 



The first year I kept bees I allowed 

 natural swarming ; and although I 

 had but 7 colonies, they were the 

 source of a great deal of trouble and 

 annoyance, causing me to climb trees, 

 saw off limbs, and perform other 

 dangerous and disagreeable feats, far 

 better suited to the gymnasium than 

 to the apiary. No wonder I became 

 disgusted with this old, fossilized, 

 moss-grown method of " handling 

 bees." 



So this year I took a step forward 

 and began practicing the new method 

 of dividing and artificial swarming, 

 by which method I not only saved my 

 trees from disfiguration, and my 

 limbs from a possible worse fate, but 

 secured a more than two-fold yield in 

 proportion to the number of colonies 

 kept, and doubling the number as I 

 had done the previous years by the 

 swarming method. 



Judging from an experiment made 

 the past season, I believe I can take 

 10 good strong colonies of bees in this 

 locality, where the average is from 

 nothing up to 50 or 60 pounds per 

 colony, of a good season, treble the 

 number and procure 200 pounds of 

 comb honey per colony, spring count. 

 An instance to illustrate : From a 

 three-frame nucleus made on the 17th 

 of last May, and furnished with a 

 ripe queen-cell from an Italian colony, 

 the young queen of which afterwards 

 mated with a black drone, I obtained 

 48 pounds of comb honey in one- 

 pound sections, and 27 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey, making 75 pounds in 

 all, and a full colony of bees at the 

 wind-up. And this amount of sur- 

 plus might easily have been aug- 

 mented by judicious management. 



This humble article is offered for 

 the benefit of those who wish to turn 

 from the " smooth-worn ruts " of our 

 fathers, and enter upon the higher 

 and better plane where brains will in 

 the future be appreciated, and labor 

 better compensated. 

 Mt. Sterling,*o Ills. 



For tbe Amertcan Bee JoomaL 



Plain Sheets of Wax. 



J. E. POND, JR. 



Tor the American Bee JoumaL 



Increase of Bees liy Diyision, 



W. J. CULLINAN. 



After an experience of three years 

 in the (to me) ever inviting" and 

 wonder-revealing field of apiculture, 

 I have arrived at the conclusion that 

 " increase by division " is the more 

 feasible, as well as most lucrative 

 plan for those who are working for 



On page 536 Mr. J. F. Hays accuses 

 me of " contunieliously " answering 

 the question of L. J. S. in regard to 

 plain seets of wax. I desire to say, 

 that in answering the various ques- 

 tions sent me for the Query Depart- 

 ment, I have endeavored to give noth- 

 ing but my own opinions, based on 

 my own experience, and so far as I am 

 aware, I have never indulged in con- 

 temptuous or sarcastic remarks. It 

 would seem that seven of us viewed 

 the matter in the same light, and I 

 am not at all sorry that we differ 

 from Mr. II., whose experiments that 

 cause him "squarely to take issue 

 with the seven," have been made 

 with sheets of comb, only 4 inches 

 wide ; nothing in fact but " starters." 

 In regard to the slightly sarcastic 

 remark of Mr. H., in which he inti- 



