THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



667 



Lady Bee-Keepers.— A few weeks 

 ago 1 gave a brief accomil of Mrs. 

 Ellen Gray's success as a bee-keeper. 

 Her report for the season is 40 good 

 colonies in Langstroth hives, from 20 

 colonies spring count, and 1,4.'J0 lbs. of 

 nice comb lioney. I think this pretty 

 good for the lirst effort. Mrs. Esther 

 Wirt, whose subscription I send to 

 the Wkkkly Bee Jouunal lo-day, 

 and whose bees I have kept for two 

 seasons past, is going to lit herself to 

 care for her own apiary in the future, 

 and makes the very sensible move of 

 ordering the Bee Journal as the 

 first step essential to success. All 

 bee-keepers can extend to Mrs. Wirt 

 a cordial welcome, for she is one of 

 those women who possess clear heads, 

 kind hearts and willing liands. 



J. R. BaivER. 



Keithsburg, 111., Oct. 19, 1882. 



An Extraordinary Season. — The past 

 season has been an extraordinary one 

 in more respects than one. The spring 

 was so cold and wet that I had to feed 

 my bees to keep them trora starving, 

 until white ck)ver bloom. Since that, 

 there has been one continous flow or 

 honey, not a large heavy flow, as is 

 sometimes the case, but a steady 

 moderate flow, without a gap, ever 

 since wliite clover bloomed. My bees 

 are, to day, working on white clover 

 whicli sprang up in the pasture fields. 

 Throughout the season there was no 

 tr-.)iible from robber bees; this is the 

 first time I ever saw it so since I have 

 been keeping bees. Buckwheat and 

 goldenrod yielded well in their season. 

 and now wild aster and other fall 

 flowers are keeping the bees busy. I 

 send two sprigs of flowers for a name. 

 Tlie bees cover them all day. No. 1 

 seems to be Ijetter liked by the bees 

 than Xo. 2. What are they V 1 have 

 not done so well thisseasonas I might 

 as I farm 100 acres all alone, and, as a 

 matter of course, bees must take the 

 back seat. 1 commenced the season 

 with lU colonies, 2 Italians the rest 

 blacks ; lost 2 in May and June by ab- 

 normal swarming, increased by arti- 

 ficial swarming to 18, all in good con- 

 dition for winter, all having young 

 Italian queens, except 3. I have but 

 one black queen and I will get rid of 

 her another season. I ran three colo- 

 nies for honey ; obtained 100 lbs. of 

 comb honey and about .50 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted. 1 can sell more than I can 

 raise at 20c. for comb and IGc. for ex- 

 tracted, and cannot begin to supply 

 the demand. This is the first time 

 that honey lias ever been produced in 

 one pound sections in tliis vicinity. 1 

 have done some introducing this sea- 

 son, using tlie cage described on page 

 390 of Bee Journal, 1879, and I have 

 not had a failure with it. My method 

 is to remove the queen to be super- 

 seded, and immediately cage the new 

 queen on a comb ; close the hive 

 and not disturb it for at least three 

 days, at which time I have always 

 found the queen liberated and laying. 

 But it would not do to leave the old 

 queen in the hive, for the liees have, 

 every time tliat I have tried it. lib- 

 erated the new queen within three 

 days and sometimes at the end of 24 

 Lours. My experience will not agree 



with your remarks about the cage on 

 page .S90 of A jieuican Bee Journal 

 for 1879, I will say that I have just in- 

 troduced 14 queens in all with the 

 above described method and cage. 

 Tliere are a good many bees kept here 

 in the old style, and there has been 

 but few swarms. I did not have one 

 natural swarm, and tried no preven- 

 tion. J. II. Eby. 

 Nortli Robinson, O., Oct. 2, 1882. 



[Both specimens belong to the aster 

 family, which is a very numerous one. 

 All yield honey of a good quality.— 

 Ed.] 



Heavy Day's Work.— Reports of big 

 days' work seem to be in order. On 

 Aug. 22d, my wife and I took 1,648 lbs. 

 of honey in one-pound sections. We 

 took it troin the heaviest colonies in 

 order to make a brag day's work. 

 One-third the amount did well enough 

 for an ordinary day's work. As I liad 

 174 colonies on May Ist, and now have 

 202, I sign myself 



C. C. Miller, 174-202. 

 . Marengo, 111., Oct. 11, 1882. 



Doolittle's Opinion of the Monthly 

 Bee Journal.— I have received a sam- 

 ple copy of the Monthly Bee Jour- 

 nal, as it will be published in 1883, 

 and I must say lliat it will fill a place 

 in bee literature much needed by many 

 who do not feel able to pay for or pe- 

 ruse the Weekly. Of course, there is 

 notliing like the Weekly for me, but 

 all do not feel as I do about it, and this 

 Monthly "just fills the bill" for all 

 who do not desire a Weekly Bee 

 Journal. G. M. Doolittlb. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Well Pleased.— In the early part of 

 the season, bees were doing well. 

 The willow and maple trees bloomed 

 early, and tlie weather was fine for a 

 few days ; but in the latter part of 

 April and May it became very cool, 

 and caused some delay in honey gath- 

 ering. Although I failed to get any 

 surplus honey this season, I am well 

 pleased with my increase. I began 

 with 6 colonies, spring count, and 

 iiow have 14 colonies good and strong. 

 Ernst Zabel. 



Maxon, Kan., Oct. 9, 1882. 



Honey Season in the Southern States. 



— As soon as the swarming season is 

 over, is the projier time for going 

 around the apiary to requeen, super- 

 sede old queens, and unite any weak 

 colonies. If the bees are populous 

 tliey will gather their winter stores 

 from fall flowers, and a surplus in 

 Novemljer. If the bees are strong 

 and liave honey, they winter first rate 

 on the summer stands. In an early 

 spring, breeding begins in January 

 and February. Sometimes they gather 

 honey enougti in February and March 

 for brood rearing, but our general 

 honey crop begins in April, and our 

 bees must be strong for the harvest 

 when it comes. Bees have swarmed 

 extraordinarily this season. The par- 

 ent colonies are depopulated ; late 

 swarms have not honey enough and 

 will starve unless fed. Then the moth 



will come, and have all the blame. 

 Bees are g.ithering honey from gold- 

 enrod and other flowers. Tlie honey 

 crop this year is large, but there is no 

 sale, except in nice box and sections. 

 The rules given by Northern bee men 

 for having our bees strong for the 

 honey crop, will not apply for this 

 latitude. Frank Thiaville. 



Forest City, Ark., Oct. 20, 1882. 



No Fall Honey Yet.— I have no fall 

 honey yet. "My bees have been idle 

 since August "1st. I began with 24 

 colonies, spring count, and now have 

 53. I have taken from my bees this 

 season, 1,000 lbs. of honey, of which 

 82.5 lbs. is extracted, and 175 lbs. comb. 

 My bees are Cyprians and Italians ; I 

 shall winter them on the summer 

 stands, protected from North and 

 Northwest winds, and with plenty of 

 lower ventilation. John Ferstel. 



Inglefield, Ind., Oct. 2, 1882. 



Sweet Clover, etc.— Dear Editor : 

 I have read your instructive article 

 on " sweet clover " in the Bee Jour- 

 nal of the 6th inst., and as it is un- 

 known here and not mentioned in any 

 of our seedsmen's catalogues, I will 

 take it as a great favor if you will send 

 me a small packet of seed to experi- 

 ment with in our climate. I am 

 charmed with your Journal, but 

 rather at sea witli some of your systems . 

 to which allusion only is made. For 

 instance, what is the plan followed to 

 make frames " reversible " so that they 

 can be used upside down 'i Any im- 

 provements interest us most, and a 

 particular description is what we want. 

 ]3ee-keeping is becoming the "craze" 

 in England, every other kind of hus- 

 bandry being jjlayed out, thanks to our 

 enterprising, and more fortunately 

 situated "cousins over the water. " 

 E. II. Bellairs. 



Christchurch, England, Sept.24, 1882 



[ We have sent a package of sweet 

 clover seed to our correspondent, as 

 requested. Reversible frames have 

 no projections to hang them in the 

 hive, and the side bars are % of an 

 inch longer than the frame is deep, 

 projeecting % at top and bottom, serv- 

 ing as legs andean easily be reversed. 

 These have been described many times 

 in the Bee Journal, as have all the 

 supposed or real improvements, as 

 fast as they are invented. Our corre- 

 spondent has been a reader of the 

 Journal only for this year, and is 

 therefore not posted in American in- 

 ventions. Some of the American bee 

 books would be interesting and 

 instructive to him.— Ed.] 



4,680 lbs. of Surplus from 23 Colo- 

 nies. — I commenced the season with 

 23 colonies ; have increase to 48 ; I 

 have taken 1,340 lbs. of comb and 3,- 

 340 lbs. extracted honey. I fed my 

 bees as late as June 5th ; they are in 

 good condition now for wintering. 



G. W. Keelkr. • 



Marshalltown, Iowa, Oct. 2, 1882. 



