250 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Wintered Well.— Last fall I put my 

 19 colonies of bees in my cellar, all in 

 good condition, thouRh one or two 

 colonies were rather light, but were 

 strong enough to winter. On taking 

 them out this spring they were all 

 alive, and in good condition. The 

 light colonies I had to feed, but they 

 are all doing well now. Tliey are 

 gathering pollen. I began keeping 

 bees 3 years ago, and have never lost 

 • but one colony in wintering. 



Stephen Walswx)rth. 



Onslow, Iowa. 



Several Points.— If ordinary honey 

 comb is 1 inch thick, cells ^i i"ct' 

 deep, and tlie bee's honey sac (ftiuies 

 full will nil each cell, and in time of 

 plenty of lioney within % mile of tlie 

 apiary, with pleasant days for bees to 

 gather said honey, liovv many trips 

 will an industrio\is bee make, say, in 

 10 hours, and how far will a bee travel 

 in 1 minute on a bee-line to the lioney 

 field ; and if it makes only Itl trips it 

 will (ill 2 cells; and if the hive fur- 

 nishes only 6,000 lioney-gatherers per 

 day, they may till 12,000cells, and each 

 frame contains 4,000 cells, the bees 

 then will (ill 3 frames per day, or 9 

 frames in 3 days ; the 4,ll00 cells wlien 

 full of honey and capjied weigh (i lbs., 

 and tlie 9 frames would weigli 54 lbs. 

 — why not tlis bees till tlie honey 

 boxes at the same rate, in time of good 

 harvest, provided the colony contains 

 6,000 comb-builders and cappers, and 

 6,000 to gather i^ollen and water, 

 and 6,000 to wax and clean and guard 

 the hive, and 6,0O0 to care for the 

 eggs, larvw and young bees, and 6,000 

 young bees not able to work, but are 

 on hand taking less'ons to fill the 

 places of those that iierish every day 

 by old age and labor y Thirty thous- 

 and is a \"fery good colony of honest 

 laborers. Tlie honey-sac, when well 

 filled, holds about the amount of one 

 drop of water as driiiped from the tip- 

 end of the tore finger. If I am not 

 correct, please give me the benefit of 

 a full correction. R. M. OsisoiiN. 



Kane, 111. 



[We cannot attempt to critically an- 

 swer your query; but there is evi- 

 dently something wrong in your fig- 

 ures. First, we might suggest your 

 relay of 6,000 young bees constantly 

 on hand is too large, as to keep it up 

 to that standard would require a queen 

 with a capacity to lay that nvmiber of 

 eggs daily ; second, no account is 

 taken of the honey to be consumed by 

 those comb-builders and cappers to 

 accomplish their work ; third, perhaps 

 you have estimated too largely for the 

 holding capacity of the lioney-sac ; 

 fourth, as much time is probably lost 

 in finding a suitable place to deposit 

 the load when the bee returns from 

 the field as it has taken to gather it ; 

 and fifth, we think you are a "little 

 off " when you average 3 frames filled 

 in one day, or 9 frames in three days, 

 giving a yield of 18 pounds during 

 each good working day. Let us con- 



tinue your figures a little further : 

 Suppose the white clover yield con- 

 tinues 21 days, and the 6,000 laborers 

 work 18 days ; then the basswood 

 yield continues 18 days, and the bees 

 work 15 on it, and after a while gol- 

 den rod, buckwlieat and asters fur- 

 nish 23 days' work (with willow, fruit, 

 box-elder and other bloom thrown in 

 to make liberal weight), it would 

 average T,00S lbs. per colony — where 

 in the wide world would we get spruce 

 kegs enough to hold the honey crop of 

 the United States 'i'— Ed.] 



Honey Kesonrces of Texas.— I arrived 



in this State in November last, and 

 have visited a small portion of the 

 country. lam muchpleased with the 

 climate and country for stock-raising, 

 and especially for honey-producing. 

 There are many who keep bees, but 

 only few who <are up with the im- 

 proved methods of the North. J. G. 

 Taylor, of Austin, says he took about 

 290 lbs. of honey from one colony. 

 Others here report about the same. 

 Mr. Fernoy, of San Antonio, has 

 about 50 colonies, and is quite an en- 

 thusiast on bee-keeping. These, with 

 one or two others, are all I have come 

 across who make any pretensions to 

 scientific bee-keeping. Texas is a 

 brushy, grazing country- ^"iJ nearly 

 all the shrubs are bloomers. The 

 whole face of the country is one vast 

 rtower-bed, so to speak, and I am told 

 the honey-dews are abundant, which 

 is a great assistance. Practical bee- 

 keepers command good wages here ; 

 I have been offered S2.50 per day. 

 There are many who keep bees in old 

 boxes and logs ; but few who keep 

 them in '• patent gums," as the Tex- 

 ans designate frame hives. When I 

 came here it was for my health, which 

 is much improved, and I think some 

 of remaining if it continues as the 

 season advances. Winter before last 

 closed out my bee-keeping in Michi- 

 gan. Out of 60 colonies 1 liad but 5 

 left, and was sorry they did not die. 

 Erastus Weeks. 

 Austin, Tex., April 9, 1882. 



"Out of the Woods."— I guess I can 

 say, " out of the woods." Weather is 

 mild as June since the first of the 

 month ; every colony (23) in fine con- 

 dition ; a perfect world of bloom ; ap- 

 ples not fairly open, and bees bring- 

 ing in honey at a tremendous rate. 

 Had to extract from one colony to- 

 day to give the queen, room ; honey 

 dark and very fragrant. Witli the 

 above conditions for 2 weeks, I ex- 

 pect to take hundreds of pounds of 

 honey from the apple bloom. White 

 clover prospects very flattering. 

 Three cheers and a tiger for the 

 Weekly Bee Journal. 



C. H. Deanb. 



Mortonsville, Ky., April 8, 1882. 



An Early Swarm.— April 8th I had 



a rousing swarm of Italians. Who 

 can beat it in the West, North, or 

 East? J. F. KiGHT. 



Poseyville, Ind. 



Bee Moths.— I inclose herewith, for 

 examination, something taken from a 

 hybrid colony of bees. The hive re- 

 ferred to is a Laugstroth frame, in my 

 own style of hive. I wintered in what 

 is called a " cold frame," formerly 

 used for flowers. My covering for the 

 brood chamber was of dried blue 

 grass, packed 5 or 6 inches deep 

 around the hive, the bottom board 

 elevated 4 or 5 incties from the ground. 



1 first noticed the space before the 

 hive covered with, as I at first sup- 

 posed, the refuse of old comb, but dis- 

 covered on examining it through a 

 microscope, to consist of wax and 

 pollen filled with minute insects. The 

 inside of the hive was dry ; the bees, 

 queen, and 8 frames of comb, in good 

 condition, well filled with brood, 

 honey and pollen, while two of the 

 outside frames were entirely deserted, 

 and all but a few cells destroyed. I 

 collected a pint of — what is it ? I 

 treated the hive to a bath of boiling 

 water, returned the eight frames, and 



2 of foundation, and now await de- 

 velopments. I have consulted several 

 of my amateur bee friends, and, as it 

 was something new, we liave con- 

 cluded to refer the subject to you, 

 and trust you will give us the benefit, 

 of y<uir knowledge. I am located 

 within one mile of the city limits, 

 have only 10 colonies of bees, and it is 

 with me a labor of love ratlier than of 

 profit. Jas. 15. Simmons. 



Louisville, Ky. 



[The sample sent is refuse or clean- 

 ings from the hive. It has the ap- 

 pearance of having been infested with 

 moths, and the bees allowed them 

 undisputed i>ossession of the combs 

 till such time as they wanted to pre- 

 pare them for use, when tliey have 

 cleared away damaged comb, moths, 

 and dirt. There were several well 

 developed moths in the rubbish when 

 it reached the 13ee Journal, and 

 several bits of moth-web. — Ed.] 



More About Albinos.— It was with 

 much pleasure thatil read the article 

 of Mr. Valentine, in the Bee Jour- 

 nal of March 29, 1882. I think the 

 gentleman has very plainly shown 

 the appropriateness of the name 

 "albino," and hereafter I mean to 

 call them as before, the " albino " bee. 

 I thank him for the courtesy he has 

 shown me in the article, and for the 

 explicit manner of saying that I was 

 not only the first to produce the bees, 

 but also the first to call public atten- 

 tion to them. But I must differ with 

 him wlien he says he was the first to. 

 give the albino bee to the public in 

 its purity. He says that in 1879 he 

 succeeded in breeding them "to a 

 high standard of purity.'' If the gen- 

 tleman will take the trouble to look 

 up his Bee Journals for 1876, he 

 will see that I had them advertised 

 " pnre albino queens." and this was 3 

 years before he professes to have had 

 them in their purity. He will also re- 

 member getting a queen from me 

 in 1877, from which, by crossing, he 

 procured his bees advertised in 1879. 



