THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



247 



close with the suggestion that in look- 

 ing for the coming bee, breeders 

 shiuild direct attention to this isolated 

 region where mating in the open air 

 can be controHed as tliorongtily as on 

 I). A. Jones' isolated island, and with 

 less risk of drowning. 

 Beloit, Iowa. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Improvement in Bees, Etc. 



WM. H. BALCH. 



Twenty years ago, after I had kept 

 bees foro years, I thouglit I was the 

 smartest bee-keeper in all this region. 

 I had readQuinby and some other bee 

 literature, visited all the apiaries for 

 miles around, asked all the questions 

 and got all the knowledge 1 could, and 

 I have been doing the same ever since. 

 But about that time I began to lind 

 that there was more to learn, and. as 

 I learned and experimented, the more 

 ignorant I saw I was, and I have come 

 to tlie conclusion that I do not know 

 but little in comparison to what there 

 is to be learned in the great held of 

 bee-culture. 



I am glad the Bke JouRNAiy has 

 taken so decided a stand on the grape 

 sugar and adulteration question. Let 

 us one and all take an active part and 

 urge all to take hold with an earnest 

 zeal to put down this adulteration 

 business. 



My bees last spring were, with a 

 few exceptions, weak. I sold quite a 

 nuaiber, some weak and some strong, 

 just as customers wanted. I put 70 

 colonies into winter quarters, and 

 right here ('is 1 have been breeding 

 for certain points), I want to speak 

 about one colony in particular, as it 

 contained one of the queens I had 

 placed at the head. After the long 

 winter there came a thaw, bees com- 

 menced to fly. and 1 began to shovel 

 away snow and examine ; now and 

 then I came to one dead, and when I 

 came to this one there was no stir. I 

 gave it a bump with the sliovel, but 

 no response. Supposing the bees dead, 

 I passed on. Not very long after it- 

 thawed again. As I had to go avs'ay, 

 I gave particular orders to my boy to 

 mark all hives where bees didnotstir, 

 so that we could take care of the 

 combs and not disturb hives with bees 

 in. In a few days after we com- 

 menced to pull out the hives of dead 

 bees, when we came to this we pulled 

 it out, took off the cover, and, to our 

 surprise, there were .5 spaces filled 

 with live bees, plenty of honey, and 

 not one gill of dead bees. The next 

 thaw was warmer th;tn the previous 

 spells, and these bees had a line fly. 

 They had as much pollen as any in the 

 fall, and plentv then. This colony 

 kept quiet all through bad weather, 

 and did not dwindle nor increase very 

 fast, but when it became warm 

 enough for liees to get out and back 

 alive, they made it count. I used it 

 extensively for queen-raising, and in- 

 creased it to 7 colonies, which hlled 

 their hives with honey. 



Do not think I am e'nthusiasticover 

 tins colony. I merely speak of this 

 colony to illustrate that bees are ca- 



pable of being improved in the riglit 

 direction, by close application and 

 judgment. The best that I ever real- 

 ized was 4 years ago. I liad 4.5 colo. 

 nies in my "home apiary from which I 

 sold §900 worth of comb honey and 

 $600 worth of bees and had (il) good 

 colonies to go into winter quarters 

 with. They were not fed anything 

 but about 100 lbs. buckwheat ineal in 

 the spring. Fifteen of the above did 

 not swarm ; these gave me alittle over 

 300 lbs. of comb honey each. 



In vol. 18, page 52, Bek .Iouiinal. I 

 cannot agree with Dr. Brown in re- 

 gard to feeding all at once ; they are 

 more apt to crowd the brood nest, and 

 when the feed slops are prowling 

 about to rob ; but the rest the Doctor 

 says I can most heartily agree with. 



1 have often said that nearly all the 

 honey gathered in the United States 

 miglit be consumed at home in the 

 country and small cities at a good 

 price, without sending it to com- 

 mission houses. I have experimented 

 on this point for more than 20 years, 

 and home trade will net on an average 

 over 10 per cent, more than to sell it 

 on commission. My trade far exceeds 

 my production, and I cannot fill orders 

 for w.ant of honey. Some of the very 

 men that 20 years ago I had to urge to 

 buy one box, have within the last few 

 years bought from 8, 10 and one as 

 high as S13 worth each year. 



Oran, N. Y. 



For the American B^e JournaL 



Notes from Washington Territory. 



C. THEILMANN. 



There are no bees in this part of the 

 country, but I have seen some at 

 Walla \Valla, on Puget Sound, and at 

 Portland. They were all neglected, 

 however, and those who have bees 

 know but little about them, not even 

 about using smoke. One man was 

 very much astonished when I puffed 

 a little smoke on the bees that were 

 clustered outside a gum, to see them 

 all quietly moving into the hive. 



After leaving Puget Sound and 

 Portland, I have seen but two little 

 patches of white clover, near a house- 

 yard, at Walla Walla. Bees would 

 probably do well in that vicinity, on 

 account of the abundance of all kinds 

 of fruits, flowers, berries, and shrub- 

 bery. There are also many kinds of 

 wild flowers, willows and honey pro- 

 ducing trees, and one kind of sage 

 brush. All the bees that I have ex- 

 amined were strong, with plenty of 

 honey. The winters in this locality 

 are generally very mild, and bees 

 would usually have an opportunity to 

 fly every three to five weeks. 



The climate here (Medical Lake, 

 Spokan County) is somewhat like 

 nortliern Illinois and Iowa. Eighteen 

 degrees below zero was the lowest 

 here this last winter, with about 2 feet 

 of snow on the level, which is now 

 rapidly disappearing, and some spots 

 of ground are visible. 



The country on this coast, so far as 

 I have traveled, is not so compactly 

 good as Iowa, Minnesota, or Dakota. 

 There are many rocky i)Iaces between 



the good lands, and only here and 

 there have I found valleys and 

 prairies, of from 15 to.50 miles long by 

 10 to ;-;0 miles wide, all good land, 

 where they raise from 30 to 60 bushels 

 of wheat per acre ; most of the wheat 

 is soft, but plump. Boots and veget- 

 ables grow to enormous size. The 

 climate east of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains seems to be very healthy. 

 Spokan County, Wash. Ter. 



[Mr. Theilmann, formerly of Theil- 

 manton, Minn., has .sent us a box of 

 the Medical Lake powders, which he 

 writes us are prepared by boiling the 

 water from the lake till it resolve.s 

 itself into a wliitish or cream-colored 

 powder, and has something of an alka- 

 line taste. Mr. Theilmann speaks 

 very highly of the curative powers of 

 the water in the lake. This lake he 

 describes as being formed in the 

 shape of a kidney, IM miles long by 

 100 rods wide, with a belt of pine tim- 

 ber surrounding it, and is about 50 

 feet below the surface of the land 

 arouud it, with sloping banks to the 

 water. It has some insects in the 

 water, but no fish. There is no inlet 

 nor outlet to the lake. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Anomalous Cases of Success. 



G. W. ASHBT. 



I see and read so much about up- 

 ward ventilation, and again about 

 putting cushions on top of the hives, 

 etc., I do not know which to follow. 

 I put woolen carpets over mine — 

 some I put close on top, and others I 

 left one corner open. I could see no 

 difference in condition. 



I went to see one of my neighbors ; 

 I did not know he had a bee on his 

 farm till I walked around in the yard 

 behind his house and saw two old box 

 hives in a low damp corner of the 

 yard, surrounded by plum trees, so 

 thick when in leaf no ray of sunlight 

 could ever penetrate them. I said to 

 the gentleman : Are there bees in 

 those old hives ? He answered, I be- 

 lieve so. I went to them, turned one 

 up, and out hopped two mice. It had 

 stood there till the top had rotted off, 

 with a crack in the side from Ijottom 

 to top. I could put my finger in one 

 corner, and it had sagged so it would 

 hardly stand up. The man was go- 

 ing to move away, and wished to sell 

 his bees. I told him they were worth 

 nothing in that shape. He said the 

 old box stood thei"e in the winter of 

 18S0-81, and cast off a swarm in 1881. 

 Finally be said I might take them 

 home and nurse them up, and if I 

 could save them I might pay him 

 what I thought thev were worth. 

 This was about March 14. 1882. I 

 tied a rope around it to hold it to- 

 gether, put tlie two in my spring 

 wagon, took them home, fed tiiem 

 till the 4th of April, then transferred 

 them into Langstroth hives. The 

 rotten one was the strongest, had 



