THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



11 



dicated by the particles of comb 

 dropped on the bottom boards. I do 

 not know, of course, how much warm- 

 er the weather is in Kentucky than it 

 is here; but I do linow tliat in ttiis 

 part of tlie country tiie prospect for 

 safe and successful wintering could 

 not be better. 



I am very much pleased, so far, 

 with the Syrian bees. Mine are easily 

 handled, and they are much more 

 quiet in warm fall and winter weather 

 than either blacks or Italians. And 

 yet they will put dead bees outside of 

 the hive wiien the temperature is be- 

 low freezing. I will, if I live, give 

 them a more thorough trial next year. 

 I have but one purely mated queen, 

 and I procured her from D. A. Jones, 

 and of course she is pure and purely 

 mated. I have three queens raised 

 from her, but tliey were so late that I 

 have not seen very many of their 

 progeny. I think they mated with 

 black drones. I have never seen bees 

 fill themselves with honey, when the 

 hive is opened, more eagerly tlian do 

 the Syrians. They are somewhat ex- 

 citabie. and threaten to sting, but 

 they seldom do it. If they prove 

 equal to my expectations, I will Syr- 

 ianize a large part of my apiary. 



Of course, I want the Bee Jour- 

 nal for next year, and all the rest of 

 the years while I live and keep bees. 



Logansport, Ind. 



clamp as recomended by D. B. Boom- 

 hower of N.Y., who published his suc- 

 cess in wintering in the Journal. 

 Hanover, Kan. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeping in Kansas. 



E. M. LEWIS. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee and Honey Shows. 



A. C. INNIS. 



July 1, ISSO, I purchased 11 nuclei, 

 consisting of 1 queen and 1 lb. of bees 

 each— put them at work in movable 

 frames filled witli comb foundation, 

 but the season was so dry that even 

 bnckwlieat and the fall flowers secre- 

 ted but very little honey, consequently 

 my bees did not have sufficient honey 

 for such a winter as followed ; there- 

 tore, I, like many others, lost most of 

 my bees. But, having the combs and 

 hives, I thought I would try it again. 

 This time I sent for the same number 

 at S3 per nuclei, to be delivered the 1st 

 of March, 18S1, thinking this time I 

 should succeed. They worked well 

 up till June 9, then we got a great 

 storm of wind, rain and hail, which 

 destroyed and cut to the ground every- 

 thing but timber and fences. 



Now came the question what shall I 

 do with my bees. They must all be 

 fed for an indefinate time or die. I 

 procured syrup, and fed them regular- 

 ly every day for six weeks; then I 

 had the bees in good condition, if 

 there had been anything for tliem to 

 gather. But the droutli following the 

 wet spring continued, and I gave up 

 in disgust with Kansas as a bee state, 

 discontinued feeding, and said they 

 might go; I would spend no more 

 time or money on tliem. Tlie result 

 was some 3 or 1 colonies flew away, 

 and then came a nice rain, and then 

 another and so on. 



There being some buckwheat and 

 late flowers, they havelaid up enough, 

 I think, to go through until sjiring. 

 I packed 8 in straw and buried 9 in a 



In attending the State Fair, held 

 at Fond du Lac, I was very much 

 disappointed at Die limited show of 

 the products of the apiary as well as 

 bee-keepers" supplies. Being an ama- 

 teur, I went there with the inten- 

 tion of learning something of a prac- 

 tical nature, but I had the good for- 

 tune to make the acquaintance of Mr. 

 A. A. AVinslow, of New Holstein, a 

 thorough apiarist, and from him ob- 

 tained mucli information, and also a 

 good honey extractor. 



I began the season of 1880 with one 

 colony, increased to 3, and obtain- 

 ed 17 lbs. of honey, wintered with- 

 out loss, in the cellar, but owing 

 to ignorance, lost 1 by robbing. 

 Last spring I ijurchased 2 more 

 colonies increased to 8, which are in 

 tlie best possible condition, and ob- 

 tained 220 lbs. honey— 17 lbs. being 

 extracted. 



My expenditures amount to §38,70; 

 the honey obtained amounts to §42,75 

 and the 8 colonies, I value at S18. 



I am satisfled that it will pay to 

 keep bees if done intelligently. Count 

 me as a life subscriber to the Jour- 

 nal, for without it I should be like a 

 ship at sea without a rudder. I am 

 laughed at here as a fanatic, but so 

 long as I feel that I am on the right 

 track I can sit in my apiary and laugh 

 in return at those who are trying to 

 make bees pay in the old slip-shod 

 way. 



West Rosendale, Wis., Dec. 22, 1881. 



get all the good from the land unless 

 1 have tlie honev gathered. This year 

 from one pasture I had an income at 

 one time of milk, honey, butter, beef,, 

 pork and mutton, and I might add 

 liorseflesh. I am greatly interested 

 in planting for honey; buckwheat 

 does not seem to do much good here. 

 Turner rasberries and catnip are the 

 most eagerly sought after of any 

 plants that grow here. Sweet clover 

 grows in great profusion along many 

 of the lanes; the bees always work on 

 it, but I have never seen tliem go for 

 it verv lively; it is pretty sure to yield 

 some'honey, audi have noticed that 

 bees tliat had sweet clover to work on, 

 wintered better last winter than those 

 that had none. We often get a big 

 yield of heartsease honey. I consider 

 it about the worst for wintering pur- 

 poses, and yet it is fine honey to sell. 

 Manteno, 111., Dec. 28, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Good Pasturage for Bees. 



PHILIP P. NELSON. 



If I should compute, in dollars, the 

 benefit the Bee Journal has been to 

 me during the past two years, it 

 would cause the subscription price to 

 look exceedingly reasonable. 



The 10 colonies that I had left in 

 the spring increased to 27, which are 

 now in first class condition. I did not 

 keep account of the pounds but have 

 sold S12-5.00 worth of honey in one 

 and 2 lb. sections. The income from 

 my best colony, in honey and bees at 

 present prices, amounts to 856.00. 

 My bees are mostly hybrids. I have 

 had one Italian queen. Most of the 

 native bees here are a sort of a brown 

 German kind, but very good bees. 

 The Italian blood crosses on them 

 with excellent results; producing fine 

 workers, gentle to handle. 



I have no trouble to sell honey; the 

 great difficulty is to produce enough 

 to meet the demand. 



I am a farmer and stock raiser, and 

 cannot give my bees the attention 

 that I would like to, and yet I cannot 



Farmers' Home Journal. 



Purity of Honey Guaranteed. 



W. WILLIAMSON. 



At the last annual Convention of 

 the State Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 the question of adulteration of honey 

 was discussed with great earnestness, 

 and a unanimous resolution passed 

 and a committee appointed to prepare 

 a new act and endeavor to have it 

 passed at the present session of the 

 Legislature. The law at present reads 

 as follows: 



Sec. 1. Be itenacted by the General 

 Assembly of the Commonweath of 

 Kentucky, that any person or per- 

 sons who shall sell or cause to be sold 

 any manufactured honey, unless such 

 honey is so represented and designa- 

 ted as manufactured honey, shall for 

 the first offense, be fined in any sum 

 not less than ten nor more than one 

 hundred dollars; and for eacli repeated 

 offense shall be fined not less than 

 fifty dollars nor more than two hun- 

 dred and fifty dollars. 



Sec. 2. That any person or persons 

 who shall sell or cause to be sold any 

 such manufactured honey which con- 

 tains any substance injurious to 

 health, shall, for the first offense, be 

 fined in any sum not less than ten nor 

 more than one hundred dollars, and 

 for each repeated offense shall be fined 

 not less than fifty nor more than two 

 hundred and fifty dollars; and such 

 adulterated articles, by order of court, 

 shall be destroyed. 



Sec. 3. This act shall take effect 

 from its passage. 



The adulteration of honey is carried 

 on to such an extent that people in 

 large cities cannot tell where to pur- 

 chase pure honey. Hence the neces- 

 sity of a stringent law that cannot be 

 evaded (if it is pcssible to make such 

 a law). Such an act would not only 

 protect the bee-keepers, but protect 

 the public from fraud and deceiition, 

 such as the adulteration of food. It 

 is also detrimental to tlie public 

 health, and if a law can be made that 

 will guarantee the purity of the food 

 we eat, it ought to be made at once. 



Lexington, Ky. 



