810 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



From Oeneva, N. T.— I commenced 

 the season with 25 colonies of Italian 

 bees ; took 800 lbs. of comb honey in 

 2 pound sections and increased to t5 

 by natural swarming. I will send you 

 statistics from Ontario Co., N. Y., as 

 near as I can get at them, if desired. 

 Wm. Beriiyman. 



Geneva, N. Y., Dec. 12, 1882. 



[Certainly ; we shall be pleased to 

 have the statistics you so kindly offer 

 to give. State the number of colonies 

 last fall, in spring, and now, as well. 

 as the honey crop. — Ed.] 



Experience of a Besrinner.— In De- 

 cember, 1878,1 bought 18 colonies of 

 black bees, 13 of them in Lang.stroth 

 and .5 of them in box hives, for which 

 I paid $.54. They were in bad condi- 

 tion. 1 wintered them in a bee house 

 and lost all but 7 colonies. During the 

 summer of 1879, the 7 colonies in- 

 creased to 16, but produced no surplus 

 honey. I wintered them again in a 

 bee house and lost all but 4 colonies. 

 During the summer of 1880 I had no 

 increase, and no surplus honey. I 

 packed them in chaff for winter and 

 lost all but 2 colonies. During tliat 

 ■winter I read Cook's Manual and the 

 American Beb Journal. The suc- 

 cess of otliers prompted me to perse- 

 vere and make use of the knowledge I 

 had gained. On tlie lltli of May. 1881, 

 I transferred my 2 colonies to Langs- 

 troth hives, in the latter part of 

 June I divided and increased them to 

 6 colonies ; during the summer I ob- 

 tained 60 lbs. of surplus honey. On 

 October 15 I packed tliem in chaff on 

 their summer stands, each colony 

 having from 40 to 60 lbs. of honey. 

 April 6, 1882, I found tliem all in good 

 condition, with a shrinkage of lOJ^ to 

 16 pounds of honey, per colony. About 

 April 15 I took 2 fvamesof lioney from 

 €ach hive and replaced them with 

 foundation, which, in 8 days, was 

 drawn out and tilled with brood. Each 

 ■week [spread the brood, as directed by 

 Mr. Doolittle in the Bee Journal, 

 and when the white clover blossomed, 

 the hives were f"ll of bees and the 

 combs full of brood. I then put on 

 the boxes. The result of this year's 

 work is as follows : 



No. of Colony. Sirarms. Comb Honey, lbs. 



1 3 132^ 



2 Ill 



3 84 



4 1 116 



5 2 1291^ 



6 3 189 



Total 9 762 



During July and August I Italian- 

 ized my 15 colonies with dollar queens, 

 which have proved to be all pure Ital- 

 ians. October 20th I packed them in 

 chaff for winter, each colony having 

 36 to 50 lbs. of honey. I think the 

 successful bee-keeper needs a good 

 knowledge of the principles of his 

 business to start with. He will then 

 get much help and encouragement 

 from the continual teachings of a good 



Periodical like the American Bee 

 ouRNAL. Wm. Mouse. 



Rockford, 111. 



Troubled with Moth Worms.— My 



experience in bee-culture is limited, 

 and, so far, not encouraging. The 

 greatest trouble with which I have to 

 contend is the moth; even some of 

 my strong colonies have been seriously 

 annoyed by worms. I give them close 

 attention, at least, weekly, and every 

 time I examine I find my bottom 

 boards with numerous bee-moths on 

 them. I look in vain in your journal 

 for some remedy or preventive. I 

 hope you or some of your subscribers 

 will come to my relief. I use the 

 frame hives and have the Italian bees. 

 Jno. H. Bass. 

 Glennville, Ala., Dec. 8, 1882. 



[Italian bees, unless the colonies are 

 weak, will usually soon expel the bee- 

 moth. As soon as the weather is 

 warm enough, take out the combs, and 

 with the point of a knife remove the 

 worms and webs, being careful to kill 

 the worms in the debris, or they will 

 crawl back again. To hang the frames 

 infested with moth in the middle of a 

 strong colony of Italian bees, one at a 

 time, is the best way we know of to 

 get them thoroughly expelled. If your 

 colonies had been really strong in 

 ntimbers the invaders could not have 

 gained control.— Ed. 1 



Hard on the Bees.— Yesterday morn- 

 ing a blizzard struck us which caused 

 the mercury to sink to 2^ above zero 

 this morning, while the day before yes- 

 terday the bees had a llight. So severe 

 a change would certainly make havoc 

 among my bees were they not all 

 snugly packed in chaff. Chaff packing 

 is a necessity here; without it, win- 

 tering would be risky ; with it, a sin- 

 gle colony need not be lost. 



J. W. Carter. 



Pleasant Dale. W. Va., Dec. 8, 1882. 



Prolific, but Dark and Cross.— I 



commenced this season with 2 colonies 

 and one queen (a 3 frame nuclei) from 

 W. P. Henderson. I have increased 

 them to 15, a few of them being weak 

 in numbers. I obtained about 50 lbs. 

 of honey. Tlie Henderson queen was 

 as prolific as any two I had ; her bees 

 are very good workers ; they are dark 

 in color and as cross as any hybrid I 

 have. Hugh Williams. 



Racine, Wis., Dec. 11, 1882. 



The Coldest Day of the Year.— The 

 warmest day during the year was Sep- 

 tember 18, when it was 96 degrees in 

 the shade. Our bees had frequent 

 flights upto December 6, when we had 

 3 inches of snow ; on December 7 the 

 thermometer stood at 22 degrees be- 

 low zero, 14 degrees colder than at any 

 time during the past winter. I have 

 read Mr. L. G. Purvis' letter, on page 

 778, with great interest ; his former 

 apiary in Warren Co., Iowa, was two 

 miles from mine. Mr. Purvis is a pro- 

 gressive apiarist and has done much 

 to develop tlie science of bee-keeping 

 in this neighborhood. 



IIiBERT Clark. 



Palmyra, Iowa, Dec. 11, 1882. 



My Report for 1882.— I commenced 

 the spring with 18 colonies, increased 

 to 25 by natural swarming. I have 

 taken 1,800 lbs. of coAb honey in 2-lb. 

 sections, used in hanging frames. My 

 best colony gave 210 lbs. Bees in this 

 locality are in good condition for win- 

 ter ; strong in numbers and have 

 plenty of stores. E. Doty. 



Macksburg, Iowa, Dec. 10, 18S2. 



More Apiaries Than One. — I would 

 be glad to learn of some one, through 

 the Bee Journal, who has had ex- 

 perience with two or three apiaries 

 away from home, if it would be better 

 to place them in the hands of some 

 family and go to them often, or to 

 hire some experienced hand. Any in- 

 formation in regard to this subject 

 will be thankfully received. 



G. W. Church. 



Benton Harbor, Mich., Dec. 11, '82. 



[Mr. James Heddon has had such 

 experience and we presume will say 

 what has been his custom and state 

 his experience. The late Mr. Adam 

 Grimm, we believe, put out quite a 

 number of colonies each .^season, on 

 the farms of neighbors, giving them a 

 small sum, per colony, for allowing 

 them to remain on their farms. The 

 stipulated amount, as well as the 

 quantity of care they were to receive, 

 we do not now remember. Perhaps 

 Mr. George Grimm will kindly give jj 

 us the information. — Ed.] ' 



Wax from Cappiugs. — The report of 

 what I said at the Michigan State Con- 

 vention, concerning the amount of 

 wax obtained from cappings, is not 

 quite correctly stated on page 793 of 

 the Bee Journal for Dec. 13. It 

 should be as follows : " When melted, 

 I only obtained .30 lbs. of wax from 60 

 lbs. of caps ; 30 lbs. from 3,000 lbs. of 

 sealed honey; and 10 lbs. from 1,000 

 lbs. of sealed honey. Cappings are 

 only one-half net wax." A line was 

 evidently omitted by the printer. 



Abronia, Mich. T. F. Bingham. 



tiuccess to the Bees. — I had, last 

 spring, 12 colonies ; wintered on the 

 summer stands; came through all in 

 good condition ; swarmed naturally 

 May 1, and the last swarm came off on 

 September 2 ; I now have, in all, 65 

 colonies in good condition for winter. 

 They gathered 2,000 lbs. of comb 

 honey. E. C. Crane. 



Burlington, Iowa, Dec. 6, 1882. 



My Bee House for Winter. — Last 

 winter I had 75 colonies in a double- 

 walled bee house, made on purpose for 

 wintering bees. I left 25 on their 

 summer stands without protection, 

 the latter came through in excellent 

 condition ; of the former, 1 starved 

 before spring, and 4 dwindled away in 

 spring, which left me 95 colonies. The 

 early part of the season was very cold 

 and wet, but my bees gathered enough 

 to keep up breeding. Basswood buds 

 were killed on May 23 by frost, but 

 from Aug. 15 to Sept. 23 my bees were 



