172 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Old Fogy Bee-Keepers. — I am some- 

 what botliered with fogy bee-keepers 

 in our neighborhood, who keep black 

 bees whicii mate with our Italian 

 queens, and we cannot prevent it. 

 They are also in our way in the 

 honey market. We go to a good deal 

 of expense and trouble to get our 

 honey in nice shape for market, and 

 ask a reasonable price for it, and along 

 comes one of the fogies with a colfee 

 box or a cigar box may-be half full, 

 and offers itfor lOor ]2centsapound, 

 thus putting our price down, or tries 

 to, at least. One neighbor wliom I 

 call fogy (I do not know what others 

 may call liim), has liis bees all in 

 box hives, sitting on crooked, warped 

 boards. The ants, roaches, cold, rain 

 and snow, can get in and through 

 the hives, and yet he has earlier 

 swarms tlian I liave ; his bees always 

 come out pretty well in the spring, 

 and he always sells so much honey. 

 Last season he sold two cigar boxes 

 full of honey. Another, who has all 

 black' bees in box hives, when a 

 swarm issues, runs and gets an old 

 board and saws it up, and nails it to- 

 gether for his bees, if he has no empty 

 nail-keg handy. An enterprising bee- 

 keeper, a friend of mine, asked him 

 if he would sell some of his bees. In 

 reply he said he did not know how 

 many he had— his old woman did not 

 like to sell any, as she would sell lier 

 luck. So it is with them ; they know 

 more than anybody else, and they 

 have and will learn no way but their 

 own. One neighbor has one colony, 

 and the hens have taken it for a roost- 

 ing-place; it will come out all riglit 

 next spring. My bees are doing well 

 on tliesummerstands. 1. What must 

 I do to prevent robbing y I lost 6 

 colonies one season by robbers. 2. 

 Are hybrid bees as good honey-gath- 

 erers as pure Italians. 3. I am feed- 

 ing some weak colonies— can I feed 

 too much V 4. What is the best feed 

 for bees ? S. J. Smith. 



Myersville, Md. 



(1. Close the entrances to the colo- 

 nies being robbed so as to let in but 

 one bee at a time ; if this does not 

 stop it, exchange places with the 

 hives. 



2. Yes ; if the honey-field be near at 

 hand. 



3. No ; but more than is necessary 

 is a waste of feed. However, do not 

 feed to the extent of embarrassing 

 the queen. 



4. Good honey in spring, with a 

 little warm water to thin it, is the 

 best you can use.— Ed.] 



Prospeot Cheerful. — Bees are in good 

 condition tiere. I had 4 colonies last 

 fall ; 1 become queenless and died ; 

 the rest are strong in numbers. Thev 

 are bringing in pollen to-day. I lost 

 9 last winter— all I had. I obtained 

 1 in the spring, and they gave me 3 

 increase. I think this will be a good 

 honey season. I am. always glad to 

 get the Bee Journal. 



E. P. Hadley. 



Sheridan, Ind., March 1, 1S82. 



Location Selected. — I have heard old 

 bee-hunters — not bee-keepers — say 

 that when a swarm left the hive and 

 flew away, that they always liad their 

 tree selected and cleaned "out. I did 

 not dispute them, but had my own 

 opinion about it. Is it so V 



II. L. Eastman. 



Findley's Lake, N. Y. 



• [No, it is not always the case, but 

 we think it may be true sometimes. 

 It is true, however, that scouts gen- 

 erally move in advance of the swarm. 

 —Ed.] 



Bees and Bloom.— I think, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, you are mistaken in your infer- 

 ence drawn from Mr. Melian's state- 

 ment (see page 130). As I understand 

 it, his idea wasthatwhen grapes were 

 ripe and ready to pick, if tljere were 

 no flowers to draw the attention of 

 the bees, tliey were very destructive 

 to the grape crop, but not to blos- 

 soms. The bloom spoken of in the 

 latter part of the quotation has refei-- 

 ence to bloom on the ripe grape, and 

 not floweis E. B. Southwick. 



Mendon, Mich. 



[Perhai>s so, yet the general argu- 

 ment is unchanged.— Ed.] 



Delirious With Joy.— I am in a de- 

 lerium ov joy, and mi ski iz a meller 

 golden sunsett. Mi beas hev kom- 

 mensed 2 swarm nearly 3 munths 

 earlier than iz kustomary for the 

 latitoode ov Detroit, i haint took 

 enny sirpluss yit, butt am preiiarin 

 fur the " sweet" okasion with vigger. 

 Thee fremonter ov mi entlioosyasm 

 iz bilen at 65 F. in the sun. 3 swarms 

 kum owt 2-da, and awl went intwo 

 won hive. This iz a bigg thing, & 

 speeks volumes for mi nianagemunt, 

 & strain or prolilick queens. I am 

 goin 2 drive under thee wire next fall, 

 with the biggest huiiney report on 

 reckerd. Yon may kommense sellin 

 pools now. Mi feelings indikate a 

 pressure ov 200 lbs. 2 the squar inch 

 ■ov surfase. B. IIix. 



Not One Queenless.- About Feb. 20, 

 I took a part of my bees out of the 

 cellar, and found them in fine condi- 

 tion. I opened 2 hives and found 

 brood in 2 combs ; it came on cold 

 and I put them back. March 2, I 

 carried them all out, opened them, and 

 every one had a queen and brood 

 in 2 and some 3 combs. I had 2 

 Cyprians and 3 blacks that I bought 

 tills winter, and I could not see that 

 any Cyprians or blacks had any more 

 brood or were in any better shape. I 

 have21 colonies and 3 nuclei. I would 

 mark 16 out of the 17 I put in last fall 

 " extra," and 1 small ; it was made up 

 from a nucleus late in the fall, queen 

 had just begun to lay. This reminds 

 me of the condition of my bees last 

 spring when I took them out, tliis 

 was on April 9. The most of them 

 had brood in two combs. One I 

 noticed had not began to lay ; I 

 thought it very strange ; it was a "very 

 fine, large colony of Italians, but soon 

 she began, and I watched it with no 

 little interest. When honey time 



came the hive was full of bees, and I 

 sold it for $12.00. It gathered about 

 300 lbs. of honey. One other had just 

 laid eggs, and another did not lay for 

 a few days, and from these facts I 

 think early breeding to much extent 

 of no use ; still, wlien we open our 

 hives and find about the expected 

 amount of brood, we say they are 

 doing well. I will sometime give my 

 little experience with 3 banded bees. " 

 Rockton, 111. R. Gammon. 



Drone Excluders. — Did you not 

 make a mistake in the size of holes 

 for drone excluders in last week's. 

 Bee Journal. L. Densmoke, 



Livonia, N. Y., Feb. 27, 1882. 



[It is possible ; we have never used 

 them, but took the dimensions from 3 

 samples in the Bee Journal museum 

 — two were of English and the other 

 American manufacture. — Ed. 



Hive Improvement.— 1. Will you 

 give a description of " an improve- 

 ment on the Langstroth style of frame' 

 and a model for illustrating a new 

 style of hive for wintering out-of- 

 doors," referred to on page 411 of 

 the Journal, with size aiid opinion of 

 same. 2. Would it be any disadvant- 

 age to run the brood frames across 

 the Langstroth hiveV The frames 

 would then be 13}^ long, and nice to 

 operate. It would also be a conveni- 

 ent length for nucleus hives, and con- 

 sequently interchangeable. We have 

 a cold snap just now. Weather so far 

 has been very fine, and bees are look- 

 ing just splendid. N. Emmerson. 



Exeter, Ivans. 



[1. If you will address D. A. Jones, 

 Beeton, Ont., he will probably give 

 you the desired information ; we can- 

 not. 



2. You would then have to put the 

 entrance in the side ; whicli would 

 make practically a " long-idea " hive. 

 There are several in use approximat- 

 ing nearly the same thing. — Ed.] 



fciood Instruction.— The article by 

 Mr. G. M. Doolittle in the Bee Jour- 

 nal for Feb. 8, is worth to me more 

 than a year's subscription. My bees 

 are in the best condition, at this sea- 

 son of the year, that I have ever 

 known them to be. We usually have 

 an abundant poplar bloom about the 

 middle of May, but heretofore the 

 bees would notbe strong enough to 

 gather it; but Mr. Doolittle has told 

 us how to secure it. 



W. C. R. Kemp. 



Orleans, Ind., March 3, 1882. 



Binders for 1882.- We have had a 

 lot of Emerson binders made espe- 

 cially for the Bee Journal for 1882. 

 They are lettered in gold on the back, 

 and make a nice and convenient way 

 to preserve the Journal as fast as 

 received. They will be sent postpaid 

 by mail for 75 cents. 



