12 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



do not agree with Mr. Heddon in re- 

 gard to pollen and dysentery. Keep 

 the bees warm, and they can eat all 

 the pollen they care to, and unless 

 some of them get to breeding, you will 

 see no signs of dysentery, and then it 

 will be on tlie outside of the hive, and 

 does no harm. It appears strange to 

 me that a man like Mr. Ileddon will 

 still persist in wintering bees in a cool 

 atmosphere. When I was wintering 

 in a cool room, I was having the same 

 trouble that so many are having now, 

 and that was before Mi. Ileddon and 

 scores of writers ever owned a bee. 

 Bees will winter on syrup made of 

 coffee A sugar, in a very cool room, 

 with no signs of dysentery, if kept in 

 for 6 months ; but I was never able to 

 find any brood in a colony that liad 

 nothing but coffee A sugar syrup to 

 live on ; and, as there were no young 

 bees to stir up the cluster, all were 

 quiet. If any one has failed to have 

 tneir bees winter well in a warm cel- 

 lar, I have yet to hear from him. I 

 find that bees will stand a high tem- 

 perature in winter quarters and not 

 scatter and run, providing they do not 

 get a sniff of fresh air from the out- 

 side, either hot or cold. I have sold 

 all my bees but the apiary that I work, 

 225 colonies, and they are in a cellar 

 17x19 feet. I expect some failures, as 

 aU were carried in that contained 

 bees, and some of them were queen- 

 less, on the last of September, when 

 cells were given them, and no further 

 notice taken of them, 



Ira Bakbee. 

 DeKalb June, X. Y., Dec. 21, 1SS3. 



My Season's Work With Bees- 

 After losing some and selling more 

 than I really wanted to, I cominenced 

 with 6 strong and 10 very weak colo- 

 nies, making 16, such as they were; 

 they increased to .51, which went into 

 winter quarters, strong in bees and 

 the most of them with a surplus of 

 honey ; .5 or 6 will have to be fed; this 

 I shall do in .January. I took l,2(X)ttis. 

 of comb honey in 2 lb. sections and 

 2,400 lbs. of extracted ; no fall honey. 

 W. H. Balch. 

 Oran, N. Y., Dec. 20, 1883. 



Eeport of a Beginner. 



I send you my tirst report as a bee- 

 keeper. I commenced the spring of 

 1883 with lo colonies of black bees, in 

 fair condition. I sold 3 black colo- 

 nies and bought 3 of Italians. By the 

 process of grafting the queen-cells, I 

 now have Ki Italian and 1-1 black colo- 

 nies. I had about two weeks' good 

 flow of honey from white clover, and 

 very little from buckwheat or tall 

 flowers. I have taken 1,000 lbs. of 

 white clover honey, almost all in 

 boxes, and sold it all at 1-5 cents per 

 pound, and could not nearly supply 

 the demand. S. H. Wagoonek. 



Godfrey, 111., Dec. 18, 18as. 



My Report for 1883. 



From the 43 colonies put up the 

 previous fall,. 37 survived. The weather 

 was wet and cold during the entire 

 season ; even in July, when bees were 

 working on basswood, they would fall 

 by the thousands within a few rods of 

 their hives, until the trees and fences 

 were covered with bees, still they 

 worked through the rain, for it rained 

 incessantly every day but two, during 

 the 16 days that basswood was in 

 bloom. After basswood ceased, there 

 was no more honey gathered. The 37 

 colonies increased to 60, and I took 

 700 lbs. of comb honey and 600 lbs. of 

 extracted honey. I sold 3 colonies and 

 •5 queens. This is the poorest honey 

 season I have witnessed since I have 

 kept Ijees, which is for 4 years. 



C. E. MiLLEK. 



Justus, Pa., Dec. 17, 1883. 



Button-Bnsh Honey. 



I have had a little experience during 

 the past season with button-bush 

 honey, and I do not want it repeated 

 next August. Why did not some of 

 our knowing ones tell us that the but- 

 ton-bush honey was far inferior to 

 buckwheat honey V It is very thick, 

 black, and stringy, and has a very 

 sickening taste. It began to bloom 

 immediately after basswood. I got 

 from 10 to 30 pounds per colony from 

 it. Two swarms that issued on July 

 25, nearly filled their hives from it in 

 2 weeks. As we cannot sell this dark 

 comb honey, those of ns who have 

 more dark honey than we need for 

 wintering, will have to extract the 

 dark and sell it at 6 or 7 cents per lb., 

 or put it away in combs for feeding in 

 spring. As the season was so very 

 cold, we did not get over 10 lbs. of 

 golden-rod honey. I got from .50 to 75 

 pounds per colony of early honey, in 

 combs. R. S. Bec'Ktell. 



Three Oaks, Mich., Dec. 19, 1883. 



The Cold Wet Season. 



I commenced the season with 36 

 colonies, increased to 75 ; and ob- 

 tained of comb honey 500 lbs. ; ex- 

 tracted 600 tt>s. .John Herbst. 



Reese, Mich., Dec. 19, 1883. 



Honey Crop and Fertile Workers. 



I commenced the season with 39 col- 

 onies ; increased 15 by dividing ; 33 

 colonies swarmed 114 times, but as I 

 had all my qneen's wings clipped, 

 every swarm was returned. I realized 

 from 40 colonies 1,131 lbs. of extracted 

 honey, and 2,171 lbs. of comb honey, 

 in 2 lb. sections. I have 25 lbs. of 

 wax. I have sold 2,400 lbs. of honey at 

 15 cts. per lb., and have 902 lbs. on 

 hand. My honey is all lirst-class. 

 The past season was a strange one ; 

 there was bloom plenty, but not rich 

 with nectar. On Xov. 7, I weighed 

 my bees and prepared tliem for the 

 coming winter on their summer 

 stands. Each hive contains 20 to 42 

 lbs. net, of ripe capped honey ; the .54 

 colonies has 1,796 lbs.; 40 colonies 

 averaged 82^^ lbs. each. Hive Xo. 22 

 has a black queen, 3 years old ; I kept 

 her drone brood out last year, iind, 

 strange to say, she had no drones this 

 year. I took 117 lbs. of honey from 

 her this year. No. 23 is a pure Ital- 

 ian ; I divided her brood 3 times this 

 year, and she gave 116 lbs. of honey, 

 and No. 37 is a pure Syrian ; I divided 

 her brood 3 times, and she gave 108 

 lbs. of honey. No. 13 is a pure Syrian- 



Italian ; I divided her brood 4 times, 

 and she gave 104 lbs. of honey. We 

 have had but very little cold weather 

 here yet; on Nov. 4 it was 6° above 

 zero, the coldest day yet. Last night 

 it was freezing — to-day, clear and 

 beautiful. Much has been said about 

 fertile workers, and I find by experi- 

 ence, that the so called fertile is not 

 only a pest in queenless hives, but are 

 just as apt to be in a hive wliere there 

 is a splendid queen, as in one that is 

 queenless, and I believe that many 

 choice strains of bees are run down to 

 worthless trash, by allowingthe work- 

 ing bees to rear drones of their own 

 weak and unnatural method. I have 

 experimented in regard to these pests, 

 the so-called fertile workers. I will 

 give my experience with them soon. 

 I have moved into the city of Kane, 

 5 miles southwest of my apiary. I 

 have my apiary in the care of S. P. 

 Ranney, the tenant on the farm. I 

 go and visit my apiary every 3 weeks, 

 and I believe that all my bees know 

 me. I find a home market for all my 

 honey ; just this moment had an order 

 for 210 lbs. I will not have honey 

 enough to run till May ; I asked my- 

 self in September, what I would do 

 with all my honey, for some was re- 

 porting such large crops. I wish an 

 endless life to the Bee Journal, and 

 may the time come when bee men will 

 all be blessed with a land " flowing 

 with milk and honey,"' and hot biscuit 

 and butter. R. M. Osborn. 



Kane, 111., Dec. 15, 18a3. 



Prophesying About the Weather- 



I take great pleasure in reading 

 about the new things relating to bee- 

 keeping, in the Bee Journal ; we 

 find many through the course of a 

 year. It takes too long to learn the 

 many things pertaining to bee-culture 

 with one's self, hence we must read. 

 There is a gleam of satisfaction in all 

 our hearts up in this country, about 

 the past honey season. We all have 

 some honey — it might have been 

 worse. The summer of 1883, here, 

 will not be remembered as a great 

 honey season, but almost the reverse. 

 Early frost discontinued the gathering 

 of honey till Iss4, and I am afraid a 

 great many colonies will su.spend, ere 

 the beautiful flowers, easting their 

 fragrance around, can invite the 

 honey bees to come and si]) the nectar 

 sweet, from early morn till the close 

 of day. Early in November we no- 

 ticed that the thermometer indicated 

 zero, or thereabouts, for a whole week 

 through, and that the wind was up in 

 proportion. Since that time we have 

 had, generally, very line weather, with 

 remarkably red mornings and rosy 

 evenings. To-day, the isth of De- 

 cember, is very clear without any wind 

 to speak of, yet the thermometer reg- 

 isters zero at noon. Most every one 

 predicts that it will be a very mild 

 winter; just what they base their no- 

 tions upon, I am unable to tell. Some 

 of these prophets also claim that we 

 are to have an early spring. Others 

 say "no snow this winter," yet snow 

 fell to the depth of 3 inches last night; 

 it may be they meant that it would not 

 be 16 feet deep. JonN Morris. 



Mauston. Wis., Dec. 18, 1883. 



