THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



59 



few thicknesses over a li^ht woolen 

 blanket ou£rht to confine nmch of tlie 

 heat. Newspaper, for instance, is an 

 excellent non-conductor, as any one 

 can easily demonstrate by placing 

 some between blankets of the bed 

 during a cold night, or using as an 

 extra wi-ap under the overcoat in very 

 cold weather, it would not surprise me, 

 if weight for weight, newspapers are 

 amongst the best non-conductors. 

 Now.the ipiestion is, will they absorb 

 moisture well enough to use as a 

 covering. W- J- Rasin. 



Jenkintown, Pa., Jan. 7, 1884. 



Poor Season. 



Las spring I had 3 colonies of bees. 

 Thev swarmed ten times, of which I 

 saved nine; one flew away, I being 

 away from home. In June, they were 

 gatliering honey rapidly, and there 

 seemed to be a large supply. I antici- 

 pated a large amount of surplus honey 

 in the fall, but tlie season changed (in 

 Julv, I think), and became unfavor- 

 able, and but little honey was gath- 

 ered afterwards. From my best col- 

 ony (the first or second swarm) I took 

 28 two-pound boxes. This was nearly 

 one-half of the whole amount taken 

 off. Wm. Brundage. 



Lodi, X. Y., Jan. 7. 18s4. 



Our Nebraska State Convention. 



We certainly had an excellent meet- 

 ing. I have attended one Xortli Amer- 

 ican and two Northwestern meetings, 

 and am pleased to say tliere was more 

 ladies present at our late meeting 

 than I ever saw present at a bee meet- 

 ing before. Having been present at 

 meetings East, I think I am qualified 

 to say that, although Nebraska is one 

 among the baby states, she is taking 

 long strides close behind, if not "neck 

 and neck" with her old sisters, in the 

 apicuitural pursuit. We enrolled 51 

 members, Ijut could not find time to 

 take a statistical report. You will also 

 see that foul brood, that terrible de- 

 stroyer, has encroached upon our ter- 

 ritory, and that we are making an at- 

 tempt to stamp it out with the power 

 of a united effort. 



M. L. Trester. 



Lincoln, Neb., Jan. 14, 1884. 



Home Market for Honey. 



I have 184 colonies in the cellar, all 

 in fine conditiun at the present. Have 

 ■wintered the bees in the cellar for 

 several years, and have never lost a 

 colony that had stores enough to last 

 the winter through. My cellar is quite 

 dry ; keep the temperature as near 40^^ 

 as possible. I can thus winter on 

 about 10 lbs. of honey per colony from 

 Nov. 1, to May 1, after which date 

 stores are consumed quite rapidly, 

 thus requiring not less than 30 lbs. of 

 honey to carry a colony from autumn 

 frost to clover bloom. I use the long 

 shallow frame and work for comb 

 honey, which sells readily at 18 cts. 

 per lb. I can now sell 100 lbs. as 

 readily as I could 10 lbs. 5 years ago, 

 when I first offered honey for sale 

 about here ; and this is the result of 

 working up a home market with a 

 good article. I find the 1 lb. sections 



sell the best, also small cans of ex- 

 tracted honey. My advice to all is, 

 attend to the borne market first, if you 

 have one ; if not, make one. Alihough 

 I have over 100 acres of good land, I 

 can make the bees pay a much larger 

 per cent, than land or domestic ani- 

 mals. The ye r 1SS3 was the poorest 

 season for bees and honey I ever saw. 

 Mv cure for dyspepsia is simply this : 

 as'vou finish each meal take a tea- 

 spoonful of extracted honey, as you 

 leave the table. Try it ; 1 know it is 

 a cure. For years I could not eat 

 warm biscuit, 'fat meat, nor vegeta- 

 bles, pastries, cooked fruit, nor any 

 thing good or rich, but now this mis- 

 ery has given place to a good digestion 

 by the use of honey as above slated. 

 C. H. Chapman. 

 Cohoctah, Mich., Jan. 15, 1884. 



Extremely Cold. 



AVe have had unprecedented weather 

 for several days. Saturday, Jan. 5, 

 was the coldest day we have had for 

 several years ; it moderated some on 

 the 10th, but turned cold on the 11th, 

 and it still liolds. I fear our pets will 

 suffer. On the 10th some flew out, 

 but soon dropped on the snow to rise 

 no more. G. W. Ashby. 



Valley Station, Ky., Jan. 12, 1884. 



The " Cold Snap " in Kentucky. 



The morning of Jan. 4 was the cold- 

 est weather we have had for 20 years. 

 The thermometer was 20^ below zero 

 at 8 a. m. : and V2P below at 8 a. m. on 

 Jan. 5. The weather has moderated, 

 and a big snow of 8 to 12 inches fell 

 yesterday ; then a heavy wind from 

 the south, and the snow melted rap- 

 idly. Some few bees were out ; all my 

 bees answered to roll call ; they are on 

 the summer stands snug and dry, with 

 quilt and leaves in the upper storj?, 

 and each hive has a sheet of tin on 

 the corner, painted, and they are 

 water proof. Peaches are all killed in 

 the bud ; and I fear much danger is 

 done by the low temperature to small 

 fruits. Prospects for clover are very 

 fine, and that is our main crop for 

 honey. N. P. Allen. 



Smith's Grove, Ky., Jan. 11, 1884. 



My Report for 1883. 



Commencing with 12 colonies in the 

 spring, I increased to 21, and 2 went 

 away ; I received 20 queens and had 

 750 pounds of honey (500 lbs. in comb, 

 and 250 lbs. of extracted). I winter on 

 the summer stands, mostly in cliaff 

 hives, with brood chamber full of 

 honey. I sell my honey at home for 

 20 cts. per lb. John Witschy. 



Morrill, Kans., Jan. 14, 1884. 



Splendid Winter for Bees. 



I took my (iO colonies of bees out of 

 the cellar about April 15. I have 

 called the roll, and they all answered 

 but 4 colonies ; they had gone to their 

 happy hunting ground. Forty of the 

 rest were strong, and 16 weak. I sold 

 the 40 strong ones for SIO each ; kept 

 the 16 weak ones to commence the 

 season's work. They built up nicely. 

 I had the first natural swarm on May 



20 ; they increased by natural swarm- 

 ing to 37, and I got 1,000 pounds of 

 comb and extracted honey. We have 

 had a splendid fall and wmter, so far. 

 It has been very cold for a few days, 

 and a little snow on the ground. My 

 bees are all in the cellar, dreaming of 

 what a happy time they are going to 

 have in " the sweet by-and-by." 



G. W. Stark. 

 Holmesville, Neb., Jan. 9, 1884. 



From the Buckhorn Apiary. 



My bees are doing well— all are 

 quiet. Thermometer stands at 83°. 

 From my own experience 1 feel satis- 

 fled that I have discovered the cause 

 and a cure for dysentery. I send you 

 a New Year's present of a pail honey, 

 gathered by what some call " the little 

 black imps." What was this honey 

 gathered from V I have had 4,000 lbs. 

 of the same during the past season. 

 I put my bees in the cellar at differ- 

 ent times. F. A. Gibson. 



Racine, Wis., Jan. 12, 1884. 



[Thanks for the honey ; it has some 

 basswood in it, but it is mixed with 

 other bloom; it is very nice and palata- 

 ble.— Ed.] 



Bees Buried in a Clamp. 



On April 19, 1883, I moved from 

 Arcadia to Columbus, Wis., 85 colo- 

 nies of bees ; a distance of 200 miles ; 

 sold 11, and started with 74 ; increased 

 to 99 ; took off 5,500 lbs. of comb honey 

 finished, all white clover; 450 lbs. half 

 finished ; 150 lbs. of open combs, and 

 500 lbs. of extracted, making a total 

 of 6,600 lbs. Thirteen colonies weigh- 

 ing less than required on Nov. 1 were 

 killed and their combs stored away. 

 I sold 2; put 84 into a clamp and 

 buried them. They are wintering 

 finely. I have sold one- half of my 

 honey at an average price of 18 cents. 

 1 have the balance on hand. I use 

 the Muth sections, 514x51^ square, 1)4 

 inches thick, weight \}i lbs., which 

 gives larger surface face than ordinary 

 sections, and are more enticing to 

 customers. E. A. Morgan. 



Arcadia, Wis., Jan. 14, 1884. 



Report of a Beginner. 



Last April I bought one colony of 

 bees for Italians, but I soon found 

 them to be hybrids. My brother gave 

 me two colonies of brown bees ; we 

 transferred them to frames in May. In 

 June I sent to two different places for 

 Italian queens ; I got half a pound of 

 bees with the one from Kansas City, 

 and let her build up, which she did in 

 the best of order. I did what I could 

 for them, wlien cold or rainy, by feed- 

 ing them good sugar syrup. Early in 

 August we moved them from tlie 5 

 frame hive to 9 frames. As a piece of 

 comb was built to theside of the hive, 

 in which was eggs and small larva, 

 and so many bees wanted to stay, we 

 left them ; they built 8 queen cells 

 from which we saved3queens, divided 

 the bees with them and let them do 

 the best they could, after giving them 

 some frames of sealed honey. I did 

 not get the queen from Georgia until 



