THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



507 



■seen in the air moving to new locations. 

 Bees winter well oiit-doois without 

 protection, and as the mountains are 

 covered witli (lowers from May 1st till 

 frost, there seems no lack of' honey. 

 Our most experienced bee-keeper. Dr. 

 W. D. King, of Boulder City, kept 

 bees in the mountains nearour present 

 location for a couple of years, and one 

 colony made for him 400 lbs. extracted 

 honey in one season, and 1 notice just 

 now that honey comes in so fast that 

 the queens are crowded for room to 

 deposit eggs. Does not this look like 

 Colorado is destined to be a great bee 

 country? Phil. Keakden. 



Jamestown, Col., July 2S, 1SS2. 



Beautiful Foundation.— liy this mail 

 I send sample of foundation that I, 

 and many others, are using with good 

 satisfaction. I will operate a mill at 

 the coming National Convention, if 

 Mr. Heddon will meet me there with 

 his press. J. Vandehvort. 



Laceyville, Pa. 



[The sample received is intended for 

 surplus boxes, measuring 41 inches 

 long by 4 wide, and weighs just l}4 

 ounces — or, nearly 1.5 square feet per 

 pound. It would be an interesting 

 feature in the National Convention, if 

 a competitive exhibition of the prac- 

 tical workings of several of the ap- 

 proved foundation machines could be 

 arranged.— Ed.] 



Journeyings in America.— After leav- 

 ing Chicago on my way from Scotland 

 to Texas, I visited Mr. Chas.Dadant's 

 apiary at Hamilton, 111. For every 

 lover of the industrious little insect, 

 such an apiary as Mr. Dadanfs holds 

 great attractions. I inspected the 

 various departments, saw them make 

 comb foundation, introduce queens, 

 and in fact the whole routine of pro- 



fressive American bee-keeping. I 

 ave met one bee-keeper in America 

 who has not impressed me favorably, 

 and he was, as we would say in Scot- 

 land, " warlocir' looking. But Mr. 

 Dadant was the soul of hospitality, 

 and my sojourn at his home will be 

 remembered as one of the bright spots 

 in my trip. I begin to realize more 

 fully that kee-keepiug is not mere 

 child's play, and that with many years 

 •of experience, there are avenues brim- 

 ming with knowledge yet unexplored. 

 Jas. Axderson. 

 Quincy, 111., JulySO, 18S2. 



Real Encouraging.— In my report of 

 a month ago, I gave you a very dis- 

 couraging account of our honey pros- 

 pects for this season, but you replied 

 ■with words of encouragnient that 

 seem now about to be realized. Our 

 skies brightened some two weeks ago, 

 and after a few days of dry weather 

 our bees commenced again to work on 

 both red and white clover, and to-day, 

 in comparison with the past, they are 

 a regular tornado. Sections that "have 

 been on the hives for six weeks in a 

 half completed condition are being 

 finished up and new ones started in a 

 way that is real encouraging I would 



be glad to have you see, smell and 

 taste some of the small amount of 

 honey that our bees have managed to 

 gather during our long, wet weather. 

 It would test tlie skill of an apothe- 

 cary to get up anything to beat it. 

 It seems to be a compound of every- 

 thing that is bad in the way of honey, 

 and to a taste that has been educated 

 by using our nice white clover honey, 

 it is simply disgusting. 



John C. Peden. 

 Lawrenceburg, Ky., July 26, 1882. 



Retiiriiiug Swarms.— Last year I 

 bought an Italian queen and intro- 

 duced her into a black colony. This 

 spring I took the colony about a mile 

 out into the country. I divided them 

 June lOtli. The old queen was great 

 on the increase, so I divided again 

 June 26th, to keep them from swarm- 

 ing. I paid but little attention to 

 them until word was sent me that my 

 nice Italian swarmed July 21st. I 

 went out the next day to examine the 

 hive, and found no queen, but the 

 hive had 20 queen cells in it, three of 

 them capped. I left them until the 

 next day and examined again, but 

 found no queen. I cut out all the 

 cells but one, and moved the hive so 

 that a hive with a queen cell stood 

 where the old queen had swarmed 

 from; just a week from the day that 

 my bees swarmed, the family heard a 

 great roaring among the bees ; they 

 said the yard was 'full of them, but 

 did not swarm as they supposed they 

 would. I examined the liive where 

 stood the old hive, and sure enough, 

 there was my old queen back again, 

 and settled down to business. She 

 had destroyed the queen cell, and had 

 part of a "comb filled with eggs. I 

 should like to know whether this is a 

 common occurrence or not V I sup- 

 posed that when bees swarmed, they 

 went to stay. I know but little about 

 handling bees. What I have learned 

 has been from " Bee Culture " and the 

 Bee Journal. This is my first year's 

 effort, and I have 20 col"onies doing 

 well. Nathan M. Woodman. 



Bushnell, 111. 



I We frequently hear of swarms be- 

 ing hived and deserting their new 

 quarters after two or three days, some- 

 times returning to the parent hive, 

 but oftener to parts unknown. We 

 do not know why they might not be- 

 come dissatisOed after the lapse of a 

 week and return, especially with a 

 dearth in honey flow, and a new hive 

 and population on the old stand. — Ed.] 



Making up for Lost Time.— We have 

 had the worst season for bees I ever 

 saw up to July 20th, when basswood 

 blossoms commenced to open, accom- 

 panied with honey weather, and the 

 bees work as though they meant to 

 make up for lost time. I expect to 

 hear that Mr. Doolittle's starving bees 

 have stored basswood honey by the 

 ton the past week. King-birds do 

 catch worker bees, and don't you for- 

 get it. I have seen them take the 

 bees right from the basswood blos- 



soms every day this week. Powder 

 and shot are the best remedy. I am 

 using Given and Vandervort founda- 

 tion in .5x6 sections. As an experi- 

 ment, I filled several cases with sec- 

 tions filled with each kind of founda- 

 tion, and in every case, the bees drew 

 out tlie Given and stored it with honey 

 before they commenced on the Van- 

 dervort. This was a surprise to me, 

 for the Vandervort was so handsome 

 to look at I thought the bees would 

 go for it as soon, if not before, the 

 Given. I find alsike clover and south- 

 ern thornless raspberry profitable to 

 raise for bees. (iEO. T. Wheeler. 

 Mexico, N. Y., July 29, 1882. 



The Honey Wave.— After waiting 

 and feeding so long, the honey wave 

 struck us July lOth, and I never saw 

 sucli a heavy yield as from that time 

 until the 27th." It is mostly from lin- 

 den, though some from red and white 

 clover. I hived a swarm of Cyprians 

 on the l.")th in a 2 story Langstroth 

 hive, with 20 frames of foundation. 

 In 8 days I took 40 lbs of honey from 

 the upper story, and the lower one 

 was full. It is said that second 

 swarms are led off by virgin queens. 

 Do they mate while swarming, or 

 after V Wji. Malone. 



Oakley, Iowa, July 27, 1882. 



[We have tested the matter to our 

 satisfaction that they mate afterward. 

 In cases of this kind we have found 

 that more or less of drones are har- 

 bored by the new swarm for four or 

 five days, after which they are given 

 the cold shoulder and unceremoni- 

 ously ejected. — Ed.] 



Progressive Transferring. — Please 

 let me say to Mr. Hutchinson that in 

 my method of transferring I keep the 

 old queen occupied, to a great deal 

 better extent, than he does in the 

 transferred combs. I lose the interest 

 on the use of the 8 sheets of founda- 

 tion 2-5 days, till I can make up the 

 old hive. I gain many times that 

 amount in the extra room I give my 

 queen. He has but one queen at 

 work by his methods, why should I be 

 required to have two? I never noticed 

 anv loss by any loafing, but if Mr. H. 

 does on testing this method, he can 

 easily drive them into the new hive 

 every 2 or 3 days, as fast as they hatch 

 out. "Try this method, Mr.Hutchinson, 

 and von will never go back to sticks, 

 wires or strings, and patched combs. 

 It is the neatest, safest, surest and 

 most profitable method I ever tried 

 out of very many. 



James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



Introdneing Queens. — The new use 

 of the smoker for introducing queens, 

 as suggested by Mr. Jones, on page 

 410 of the Bee Journal for 1881, has 

 been more valuable to me than the 

 subscription price of the Journal. 

 I have tried it, and can introduce 

 queens with perfect satisfaction. 



Wm. Roberts. 



Vaughaiisville, O., July 20, 1882. 



