26 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 





Cold in New York. 



Yesterday morning at 7 o'clock the 

 mercury stood at 2(P below zero. 

 This morning at 30° above at 7 

 o'clock, making a change of 50° in 

 24 hours. We had the most severe 

 gale from the south from 9 to 12 last 

 night that we ever experienced. Hay- 

 stacks were untopped, windows blown 

 in, etc. Tlie snow was driven into 

 every crevice possible. Some of the 

 covers to my bee hives were blown 

 off and the hives filled with snow and 

 hail which accompanied the wind. 

 Upon getting out the snow the bees 

 Were found lively and in good condi- 

 tion. G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N. T., Dec. 24, 1883. 



My Season's Work. 



I started the last spring with 4 colo- 

 nies (1 very weak) ; increased to 7 by 

 natural swarming ; and 3 went to the 

 woods. Tliey gave 2-50 tbs. of honey, 

 mostly in 1-pound sections. I bought 

 6 colonies, making 13 in all now, in 

 good condition. E. C. Tarquhar. 



Carlos City, Ind., Dec. 2-5, 18,s3. 



Wintering on the Summer Stands. 



The spring of 1883 found me with 

 13 colonies of bees ; some of them 

 Were very weak. They increased to 

 85 this season. I obtained 1,400 lbs. 

 of honey, mostly extracted. I sold 

 all my honey at home, at 15 cents per 

 pound for extracted, and 20c for comb. 

 My best colony gave 250 tbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey and increased to 5 ; it 

 had a queen that I received from 3\Ir. 

 Alley, the season before. Mv bees 

 are mostly Italians. I always winter 

 my bees on tlie summer stands, with 

 plenty of good sealed honey. I have 

 always been more successful that way, 

 than in the cellar. John Baxter. 



Pickermg, Ont. 



Clipping ftueen's Wings, etc. 



My bees went into quarters for win- 

 ter in good condition, to all appear- 

 ance ; 287 in all ; 20 in 5 frame hives ; 

 the balance in 9 and 10 frame liives. 

 They are packed in 4 cellars, made for 

 their use, and, up to date, are winter- 

 ing finely. I see some object to the 

 Eractice of clipping queen's wings. I 

 ave practiced the above-named plan 

 for the last 3 years ; the result is that 

 I have not lost one swarm during that 

 time, by their flying away to '• parts 

 Unknown,"' and only lost two queens 

 by clipping their wings. Last spring, 

 having a very choice queen and wish- 

 ing to encourage her, that I might get 

 early drones, 1 placed a card ot nice 

 new drone comb in the center of tlie 

 brood nest, and fed often ; iiirfact did 

 everything I could to stimulate them. 

 About the 15th or 20th of June, out 

 came the old lady with a large swarui 

 but no drones. On examining the 

 combs I could not find anv drone 



larva, or eggs either, in the drone 

 comb, but there was plenty of worker 

 brood. She was three years old ; and 

 was good the balance of the season, 

 when I killed her, as I do all old 

 queens at the close of their third sea- 

 son's work. I think it would be still 

 better to kill all queens after tlieir 

 second year's laying, as it is very easy 

 to get plenty of fine, well-developed 

 young queens in swarming time, 

 which are worth more than old queens. 

 Wm. Lossing. 

 Hokah, Minn., Dec. 29, 1883. 



Bees Quiet and in Good Condition. 



My bees are all quiet along the line, 

 with the thermometer down to 22-" 

 below zero this morning. They are 

 packed in hay and chaff in Langstroth 

 hives on the summer stands. They 

 came out nicely last winter in that 

 way, and if they could stand that, I 

 think they will stand any otlier winter 

 that will be likely to occur. 



D. K. BOUTELLE. 



Lake City, Minn.,tDec. 19, 1S83. 



The 01d:and New Way. 



I am now in my 74th year, but I like 

 to work among the bees. I started in 

 the spring with 9 colonies and have 

 now 30 in good condition. I took 280 

 pounds of comb honey in sections, 

 and 700 pounds of extracted. My 

 neighbors work principally on the old 

 plan, but one of them had, this fall, 

 09 colonies ; another 32, and another 

 34 colonies; 135 colonies in all. I have 

 taken more honey than all three of 

 them. Wm. C. Wolcott. 



Eldorado iMills, Wis., Dec. 26, 1883. 



Bee-Keepiug in Wyoming Territory. 



I am the first and only man who 

 ever tried the honey bee iii Wyoming. 

 I have had them two seasons on my 

 ranche, and had surplus honey each 

 year. I have demonstrated the fact 

 that they can be wintered here as 

 easily as in any of the northern states, 

 and that they can store up beautiful 

 white honey from nothing but the 

 wild flowers" of these mountains and 

 prairies. G. G. Mead. 



Kawlings, Wyo., Dec. 25, 1883. 



Rigging up Saws for Making Hives. 



I wish to rig a saw or saws to rim 

 by horse power, to cut my hive lum- 

 ber, and also to cut section boxes and 

 frames. I have a threshing machine 

 horse power and I want to use it to 

 run my saws, and would like to have 

 some information in regard to at- 

 tacliing them to it. The necessary 

 speed of saws and how to arrange 

 wheels and pulleys and size of same 

 to secure the necessary speed. 



As I have never seen anything in 

 the Bee Journal in regard to set- 

 ting up and running circular saws for 

 hive making, I thouglit, inasmuch as 

 the time was close at hand when 

 many would want to be doing such 

 work, it would not be amiss to have 

 some general information on the Sub- 

 ject. Who now will make the contri- 

 bution y 



How about that egg worker of Prof. 

 Phin's ? It expresses to my mind an 

 idea that to me seems incredible, to 

 wit : The egg does not produce the 

 worker but that the worker is actual- 

 ly, and the drone also, made of the 

 egg or out of the material which com- 

 poses the egg, upon the same princi- 

 ple that we would make an ax handle 

 of oak or hickory ! He also says : "By 

 the way, who ever heard ot' roQster 

 eggs ':"' I wonder if the Prof, ever 

 saw an egg rooster 'f I have seen tin 

 roosters, and they were tin them- 

 selves, not produced by tin. Just so 

 would it be with the egg drone and 

 egg bee. P.M. Reeds. 



Hindsboro, 111., Dec. 19, 1883. 



Lost None in Winter. 



I commenced the last season with 24 

 colonies of bees; increased to 91, and 

 took 1 ,400 pounds of comb honey. I 

 winter them in the cellar, where I 

 have always wintered my bees hereto- 

 fore, and never lost a colony. My 

 bees are a very satisfactory invest- 

 ment. Peter P. Hartl. 



Beaver Dam, Wis., Dec. 22, 1883. 



Bees Moved in Winter. 



In December 1SS2 I bought 2 colo- 

 nies of Italian bees, at a public sale, 

 for §2 each, and moved them about 16 

 miles; with one colony I had before, 

 thesemade three to winter. I wintered 

 them out doors with chaff cushions in 

 the upper story, and corn fodder 

 around the outside. One that I bought 

 at the sale starved ; the others came 

 tlirough alive but I had to feed them. 

 The spring was cold, and I was com- 

 pelled to keep on feeding until about 

 the middle of May. They increased 

 by natural swarming to 8 colonies, 

 having plenty of stores for the winter. 

 Of honey I only got about 15 lbs., in 

 one-pound sections. Basswood was 

 our best honey source, and at that 

 time my bees liad the swarming fever, 

 so for that reason I did not get much 

 honey, but I am well satisfied with 

 the increase. This winter I have my 

 bees in a shed packed in straw. 



J. J. Thieroff. 



Defiance, O.. Dec. 26, 1883. 



Bees Packed on the Summer Stands. 



I had in the fall of 1882, 17 colonies : 

 I lost 4 in winter. In the spring of 

 1883 I bought 2 colonies, making 15 to 

 start with". They increased by natu- 

 ral swarming to 50 colonies, and I 

 took about 900 ftis. of comb honey in 

 one-pound sections, all white. I had 

 no fall honey. I doubled up a few 

 and have now packed on the summer 

 stands 47 colonies in fair condition. 

 W. H. Miller. 



Berrien Springs, Mich., Dec. 31, 1883. 



Two per cent- of Loss in Winter. 



In tlie fall of 1882, I had 47 colonies; 

 46 survived the winter, but one was 

 queenless ; increased to 96, and gave 

 1,900 lbs. of comb honey, or about 41 

 lbs. to the colony, spring count. We 

 bad no fall honey. Bees are wintering 

 finely now. I). R.xwhouser. 



Columbus City. Iowa, Jan. 4, 1884. 



