THE AMERICAlvf BEE JOURNAL. 



695 



and pleasure in the industry ; and you 

 have one less difficulty (which is the 

 greatest one) to overcome ; that is, 

 the idea that you have some patent 

 right to sell. Furnish the idea and 

 evidence generally, and that there is 

 pleasure and protit in the investment, 

 and the producer will, in a short time, 

 buy the improved bees, hives, and api- 

 arian implements, and will be com- 

 pelled to organize local bee conven- 

 tions. 



If this plan, or some one similar, 

 <;ould be adopted, in five years the 

 honey crop of the United States would 

 be enormous. 



In behalf of the friends of '• Im- 

 proved Bee Culture " in Missouri, I 

 must extend thanks to the Hon. 

 Thomas Gr. Newman, of Chicago, 111., 

 for the good send-off he gave the 

 honey and bee interest in Missouri, in 

 September, 1881. By his coming here 

 and delivering liis lecture on " Bees 

 and Honey,'' he gave character to the 

 enterprise and stability to the indus- 

 try. 



Those who profited by his lecture 

 and bought a tew colonies of bees, 

 ■were again lienefited by a distin- 

 guished bee-master from Illinois, Mr 

 Elvin Armstrong, of Jerseyville. He 

 made one of the neatest displays of 

 comb and extracted honey ever seen 

 in the W^est. He showed producers 

 how' to prepare comb honey for mar- 

 ket, and how to put extracted honey 

 in good marketable shape, in glass 

 jars and bottles neatly laljeled. niese 

 ideas were practical, and are invalu- 

 able to our people. He was awarded 

 the $25.00 sweepstake premium for the 

 best display of lioney ; also $15.00 for 

 the best display of extracted honey. 

 He had his '• Crown bee-hive " on ex- 

 hibition. It was the first time many 

 of our farmers had seen a frame hive 

 "witli surplus honey. Mr. Armstrong 

 took great pains in explaining to visi- 

 tors the advantages of frame hives 

 over the old-style •' gum."' He was 

 awarded the special premium, $10.00, 

 for the best bee-hive. 



Missourians engaged in bee culture 

 invite every person engaged in the 

 same industry to come and contest for 

 our liberal premiums offered by fair 

 associations. Bring in ideas, and take 

 the money premiums. Therefore, Mr. 

 President, you see we Missourians are 

 not only just, but we are generous. 



St. Joseph, Mo. R. S. Mussek. 



DAKOTA. 



Number of colonies in the fall, 267 ; 

 in spring, 260 ; lost in spring, 5 ; colo- 

 nies sold, 40; number of colonies now, 

 420; comb honey, 9,381 lbs.; extracted 

 honey, 1,001 lbs.; total honey crop, 

 10,982 lbs. Eighty per cent, were in 

 movable-frame hives, and twenty per 

 cent, in box hives and log gums. Ten 



§er cent, of increase was obtained by 

 ivision, and 90 per cent, by natural 

 swarming. The crop, as compared 

 with last year, is one-lialf . 



The above report is compiled from 

 tabulated reports received by me from 

 22 bee-keepers— about one-half the 

 number that are in the Territory. 



The fore part of the season up to 

 July 10, was very wet and cool; so 

 much so that bees had to be fed, being 



unable to obtain enough to sul)sist on ; 

 from July 10 to Aug. 15, the honey- 

 flow was good ; after the 15th of Aug. 

 the weather was so dry the bees did 

 but little ; so on the whole there will 

 be only one-half the honey here this 

 year tliat we ouglit to have had. 



\V. M. Vinson. 

 Elk Point, Dakota. 



MAINE. 



Nine of the best counties give over 

 10,000 colonies at the beginning of 

 winter, 1881, of which more than 30 

 per cent, died during the winter from 

 starving, freezing, smothering and 

 various other causes too numerous to 

 mention. Nine-tenths were in box 

 hives, and about the same proportion 

 were black bees ; the rest were in im- 

 proved hives of various designs, 

 mostly with movable-frames, of all 

 sizes, from 7x9 to 9x18. 



Nearly all the box hives are ar- 

 ranged to receive sections for surplus 

 over the brood-nest. This is especially 

 the case in Aroostook county, where 

 tlie colonies number nearly 3,000, and 

 produce 20,000 lbs. of box honey at 

 20 cents per pound. These are all 

 black bees in box hives, and nearly 

 every one wintered in cellars or special 

 receptacles. 



In Penobscot and other eastern 

 counties, there are a few Italians ; also 

 in Kennebec, which is a good county 

 for bees. Many of the bee-keepers 

 bought quite freely out of the State, 

 thus increasing their stock, and these 

 were nearly all Italians in movable- 

 frame hives. 



About one-half of the bees in the 

 State are wintered on tlieir summer 

 stands, with slight protection. There 

 are, so far as I could ascertain, but 

 few chaff hives. Most of those dying 

 which were wintered in cellars or 

 warm rooms, die from spring dwind- 

 ling, caused, as many think, by the 

 sudden and severe changes of tem- 

 perature to which they are subjected. 

 The winter of 1881 was a hard one ; 

 the spring of 1882 was late, cold, and 

 changeable. Bees came tlirough very 

 weak ; many had to be fed, or died be- 

 fore they could gather any honey. 

 Along the nortliern and northeastern 

 counties, the midsummer harvest was 

 quite good; but along the sea shore and 

 southwest portion of the State the 

 drouth was too severe for any honey. 

 The fall harvest from goldeiirod and 

 o'ther fall flowers was excellent, and 

 I think nearly all will have suflicieut 

 winter stores. But the rate of in- 



crease, which is almost entirely by 

 natural swarming, is low, many bee- 

 keepers not having a single swarm 

 come off ; and the amount of surplus 

 honey is ridiculously small— far below 

 our usual average. Maine is not a bad 

 State for bees ; what we want is more 

 improved methods in handling them 

 and their products. I think almost 

 the whole country, or the northern 

 part of it at least, needs a universal 

 frame, so that it may be changed 

 easily from hive to hive and man 

 to man the country over ; then we 

 must solve the winter problem, so 

 that our bees will all live tlirough and 

 come out in the spring strong and 

 healthy, and then we shall be able to 

 gather up some of the best of all 

 sweet things, which are now wasted 

 on the desert air. J. A. Morton. 

 Bethel, Maine. 



WISCONSIN. 



According to a request of the Presi- 

 dent. I respectfully submit my meager 

 report from this State. To a notice 

 published in the Bee Journal to the 

 bee-keepers in this State, only a small 

 percentage responded, and sent me an 

 abbreviated report of the result of the 

 season's operations. The reports I re- 

 ceived are from 25 bee-keepers living 

 in different parts of the State, with a 

 return of 3,025 colonies they com- 

 menced with May 1, 1882. According 

 to said reports, the average yield per 

 colony I flnd to be 60 lbs. of surplus, 

 or 181,500 lbs. from all. The honey is 

 of most excellent quality. 



The increase reported amounts to 

 over 80 per cent, (two-thirds by natu- 

 ral swarming). The weather of the 

 whole season was exceptionally cold, 

 wet, and windy. The fall is favor- 

 able, although cold. 



We had a profusion of white clover 

 bloom, but only a moderate yield of 

 lioney, owing to the unfavorable 

 weather. A great part of the bass- 

 wood yield was lost by rain on 6 suc- 

 cessive days. The fall yield did not 

 amount to any thing ; they hardly got 

 enough to keep up brood-rearing. 



According to my own, and from the 

 reports I have received, I estimate the 

 crop of this season to be about two- 

 thirds in Wisconsin. There are in 

 this State about 50,000 colonies of bees; 

 but my report is from only 3,02.5— a 

 little over one-sixteenth of the whole. 

 If the 3,02-5 colonies that are reported 

 are a fair average of the whole, then 

 the crop of Wisconsin honey for 1882 

 amounts to 3,000,000 lbs.; it will bring 

 the net sum of $450,000. 



The above figures will show that the 

 industry of bee-keeping is of sufticient 

 magnitude to be supported by the 

 government. C. Grimm. 



Jefferson, Wis, 



Emerson Binders — made especially 

 for the Bee Journal, are lettered in 

 gold on the back, and make a very 

 convenient way of preserving the Bee 

 Journal as fast as received. They 

 will be sent, post-paid, for 75 cents, for 

 the Weekly ; or for the Monthly, 50 

 cents. They cannot be sent by mail 

 to Canada. 



