824 



THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 14. VVliicli gave me No. 74. I 

 took up 1, doubled 2, and have 71 left, 

 all in good condition, and will average 

 25 lbs. of honey more than they need 

 to winter on. I took ofE over 1,500 lbs. 

 of honey, nearly all in li lb. sections, 

 and sold it for 15c. per pound. The 

 swarms were all natural except one. 

 M. H. Lewis. 

 Greentop, Mo. 



Bees Ha?e Dysentery. — The bees in 

 this locality are badly affected with 

 dysentery, having had no flight siuce 

 winter began. J. A. Bucklew. 



Clarks,0., Dec. 16,1882. 



2,000 Pounds of Honey from 9 Col- 

 onies. — I started witli 10 colonies last 

 spring, sold one, leaving 9 ; increased 

 to 31 ; took from them 2,000 lbs. of 

 honey. The last swarm was hived 

 Aug.' 28, which tilled its hive, besides 

 giving some surplus. 



Geo. Bischoff. 



Burlington, Iowa, Dec. 15, 1882. 



Breeding in tlie Fall.— Upon exam- 

 ining ray bees, on the first of Nov., I 

 found no brood of any kind. What 

 does that indicate ? 1 have kept bees 

 for five years, and it is the tirst 1 re- 

 member of linding them without brood 

 that time of the year. I extracted on 

 Sept. 15. I wiziter on their summer 

 stands and have never lost a colony. 

 I pack them all round with hay, ex- 

 cept the front ; that is exposed to the 

 weather. H. A. Pierce. 



Fremont, Neb. 



[All well-behaved bees cease to breed 

 in the fall, and by " the first of Novem- 

 ber," there ought to be no brood in 

 the hive.— Ed. 1 



Moving Bees.— I moved my bees last 

 spring, from Nebraska to Kansas, 

 about 200 miles, but farther tlian that 

 by rail. I had 11 colonies, spring 

 count; they have increased to 40 by 

 natural swarming, and are all in good 

 condition, strong, with a good supply 

 of honey. I took off nearly 1000 lbs. 

 of surplus honey. From my experi- 

 ence during the past summer, I think 

 bees will do well in this part of Kansas. 

 G. VV. GouuM. 



Meredith, Cloud Co., Kansas. 



Bees in California.— So far, this fall, 

 we have had three rains. At the pres- 

 ent time, vegetation is nicely started, 

 the valleys and hills look nice and 

 green. VVe had, the past season, J^ of a 

 crop ; for the past three year we liave 

 averaged % of a crop. The year 1879 

 being the only total failure in this 

 vicinity for the past fifteen years. 

 From the above, we think our location 

 will compare favorably with any por- 

 tion of the country. Experience has 

 taught us that in a liot, dry climate, 

 like California, bees must be shaded 

 to keep the hive cool, so that the bees 

 will keep to work all day. The hives 

 having no shade, the bees are cluster- 

 ed on the outside, remaining idle on all 

 hot days, between tlie hours of 9 a. m. 

 and 4 p. m., California is like all other 

 places ; tb insure success, you have to 



introduce new tested queens every 

 few years,f rom some different locality, 

 into your apiary. VVe find it pays. 

 We have disposed of all our crop, and 

 have all supplies in for another year; all 

 bees are in good condition for winter, 

 every liive having a laying queen and 

 an ample supply of honey. We have 

 some hives on hand, Hnd intend to 

 make 300 new ones. We do not wish 

 much of an increase, and intend to use 

 the extractor freely. 



Brat & Seacord. 

 Wartham, Cal., Dec. 5, 1882. 



My first Report. — I am well satisfied 

 with my summer's work. I com- 

 menced the spring of 1882 with 2 colon- 

 ies in tolerable condition. I received 

 5 natural swarms, and one by divid- 

 ing, making 8 in good condition, and 

 received 200 lbs. of comb honey, or 100 

 lbs. per colony, spring count. Is that 

 not tolerably good V The honey was in 

 2i lb. sections. I have nearly one- 

 half of it sold at 15 cts. per lb. Old 

 fogy bee-keepers are injuring the 

 market. I can sympathize with Mrs. 

 Harrison, for I have had the same ex- 

 perience. I will give my method for 

 wintering bees on the summer stands 

 in the future. Success to the Bee 

 Journal and its Editor. 



S. C. Frederick. 



Coal Vale, Kansas, Dec. 14, 1882. 



A Poor Season.— I cannot get along 

 without the Bee Journal, so long as 

 I keep bees. It has paid for itself 

 many times over, by the instruction 

 it has given me in the care and hand- 

 ling of bees during the past season. I 

 commenced the season of 1882 with 3 

 colonies; increased to 7, and as this 

 has been a very poor season in this 

 part of the country, I obtained only 

 50 lbs. of surplus, per colony, spring 

 count. All 7 colonies went into win- 

 ter quarters in splendid condition, in 

 " Cotton " hives, packed with hay, 

 cut fine with a hay cutter, and on 

 their summer stands. Seeing so much 

 published about Mrs. Lizzie E. Cot- 

 ton, I decided last fall to visit the lady, 

 and consequently took a journey of 

 600 miles, and am now able to judge 

 of her, and her method of doing busi- 

 ness, based on personal observation. 

 It is enough for the present to say 

 that I returned home with a less favor- 

 able impression of her than when I 

 left. A description of what I saw I 

 may give you this winter, if desired. 

 S. H. Wood. 



St. Albans, Vt., Dec. 18, 1882. 



Good.— I take this opportunity to 

 extend thanks to you, Mr. Editor, for 

 the many able articles which have ap- 

 peared, from time to time, in your 

 paper, on all subjects of interests to 

 bee-keepers. I i»ul into winter quar- 

 ters, in 1881, 4 colonies, and wintered 

 them all successfidly. I used cut 

 chaff to pack them with. The size of 

 frames I use is the Cary, 10JI|xl4 in. 

 My yield for 18.S2 was 370 lbs. of comb 

 honey, and I increased from 4 colonies 

 to 9, by natural swarming. I obtain- 

 ed that amount of honey under some 

 disadvantages. I was compelled to 

 remove 3 of my colonies to another 



locality, about 1% miles, during the 

 best honey flow of the season, but I 

 feel like congratulating myself,taking 

 everything into consideration. 



Henry Haktman. 

 Hokendauqua, Pa., Dec, 14, 1882. 



Not Encouraging. — My report for 

 this year is, I think, so very poor that 

 I did not deem it worth sending 

 in, but I could not help ^hat, for the 

 season would not permit me to do any 

 better. Some of my colonies have not 

 gathered a single pound of honey, and 

 hardly enough to winter on ; others 

 have gathered a little. The best that 

 any colony did was one of black bees. 

 This colony obtained 54 lbs. in one- 

 pound sections, and it was a swarm 

 on June 15. AH the honey that I 

 have obtained from 10 colonies, spring 

 count, was a little over 400 lbs. The 

 clover honey I sold for 20 cts. per lb., 

 and buckwheat honey I sold for 16 cts. 

 I liope for a better crop in Western 

 Pennsylvania next season. 



C. M. Clark. 



Lincolnville, Pa., Nov. 27, 1882. 



Water in the Bee Cellar— The Bee 



Journal makes its regular weekly 

 visits, and has become a necessity. I 

 could not well do without it. My 

 bees are enjoying tlieir winter rest 

 in the cellar, with plenty to eat and 

 nothing to disturb them. I can en- 

 dorse the methods described by Mr. 

 Ira Barber, of DeKalb, N. Y., for 

 wintering laees, having perused the 

 same course for a number of years 

 without loss, often with 6 inches of 

 water in the cellar. I believe water 

 is a benefit to them, although writers 

 generally advocate a dry atmosphere. 

 There are but few bees in this township 

 besides my 45 colonies. There are 2 

 or three box-hive men ; quite enough 

 to keep up the supply of moth. They 

 will not learn anything better. 



L. Eastwood. 

 Waterville, O., Dec. 19, 1882. 



Snow three feet Deep.— I have kept 

 bees for 50 years, but do not see how 

 I can get along witliout the Bek 

 Journal. The experience of the 

 many is what we want to know la 

 any business. The past year was the 

 poorest, but one, for honey during the 

 past 50 years, but I look "for a good 

 honey season next year. The bees are 

 now snowed under, 3 feet deep. I 

 have always noticed that agood honey 

 season follows a "snug" winter, and 

 a poor one after a mild and open win- 

 ter. I wish the Bee Journal came 

 twice a week instead of weekly. 



T. A. C. Everett.. 



Randolph, N. Y., Dee. 18, 1882. 



Good Increase.— My brother and 

 myself commenced the last spring 

 with 19 colonies ; two swarms escape! 

 to the woods ; we have now 45, packed 

 in chaff and saw-dust. All are Italians 

 but 8 colonies. We use the Langs- 

 troth hive, but had no extractor, so 

 that our hives are now full of honey. 

 We had some honey in sections, be- 

 sides the increase. 



Wm. Whipps. 



Carlisle, Ind., Dec. 19, 1882. 



