THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



123 





Good Increase. 



My rciKul for 1883 is not as i;'ood as 

 it wiis the year before. I commenced 

 tlie spring "with 20 colonies ; increased 

 to oO, by natural swarminy: ; sold (!, 

 iind ;> took Greeley's advice and went 

 West. I now have 44 in the cellar, all 

 ri;jtht so far. I only obtained 1,4.')8 

 lbs. of comb tioney and 120 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted. Levi Fatzinrer. 



Janesville, Wis., Feb. 13, 1883. 



Bees Wintering Well- 



On Snnday the weather was warm 

 iiiid fine ; every colony of mine was up 

 and dressed. They cleaned out the 

 hives nicely, but respect for the day 

 prevented me from examining into 

 their condition. I think they have 

 eaten up but little honey, judging from 

 the small amount of bee bread, capp- 

 ings and other dfii-j's, owing, I suppose, 

 to continued cold weather. I found 

 but few dead bees — 11 colonies show- 

 ing about a pint only. Every colony 

 last fall covered 7 frames full, and I 

 packed them in various ways for ex- 

 periment, and shall give the result 

 thereof by-and-by, when I ascertain 

 the exact condition in JIarch. I hope 

 to prove something in wintering, as I 

 believe I have fully solved the prob- 

 lem, barring accident. 



J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Foxboro, Mass., Feb. 7, 1884. 



in justice to those, as well as all con- 

 cerned. I am anxious to hear all about 

 this through the 1 Ike JouitNAL, as I 

 think many will be anxious to liave a 

 full explanation. If that pamphlet is 

 not yet published. [ would recommend 

 tluit the names of the vice-presidents 

 bo inserted, so tliat we may know who 

 and where tliey are. IT. Besse, 

 Vice- President for Ohio. 



[Do not be too severe. Doctor ; we 

 were not there, as you know ; but it 

 has been said tliat " business " was 

 out of its element there, in such an 

 enthusiastic gathering, and, perhaps, 

 that explains it. Evidently there are 

 neither reports, names and addresses, 

 nor badges forthcoming.— Ed.] 



Moth or Miller. 



In reply to Mr. W. F. Clarke, let me 

 say that while miller is a proper term, 

 it is not so elegant as moth. The lat- 

 ter is sanctioned by the best usage. 

 Entomologists almost never use the 

 word miller. The term moth-miller 

 is a barbarism. As well say a female 

 woman. Let me add, that if -John 

 Phin shows the same wide culture 

 and wise discretion in all his book as 

 in a few pages sent to me, he will give 

 us a masterpiece. We may well re- 

 joice that a person of such wide in- 

 formation, and such admirable judg- 

 ment, has undertaken this important 

 work. A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., Feb. 8, 1884. 



Toronto Convention Report. 



Mk. Editor :— In regard to the 

 Toronto Convention report, in the 

 Bee Journal for Jan. 23, 1884, you 

 advise any one that has any thing to 

 say, to speak right out. I think this 

 is the proper thing to do, and I will, 

 therefore, ask Dr. Miller to " arise " 

 and explain as to the progress of pub- 

 lication of the pamphlet that was to 

 be sent to each member of the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association. 

 Dr. stiller was elected secretary, and 

 was acting as such vi'hen a motion 

 was offered by Dr. Biown, of Georgia, 

 I think, and supported by Judge An- 

 drews, of Texas, to have the minutes 

 published in pamphlet form and dis- 

 tributed to the members. At this 

 juncture I made a motion that each 

 member's name with his post-office 

 address be inserted in the same, and 

 also that a snitable badge, similar to 

 those worn by the members of the 

 Northeastern Society, be secured and 

 sent with said pamphlet. This mo- 

 tion was supported by some member, 

 and was unanimously carried, and 

 after this, there were three or four 

 gentlemen sitting near me who said 

 that they would now become members 

 as they wanted to secure one of those 

 beautiful badges ; they immediately 

 arose and subscribed tlieir names and 

 paid their fees, and the same took 

 place from all parts of the hall, as it 

 seemed to be a great inducement in 

 getting members. Now, Mr. Editor, 



Bees Prospering. 



I put 50 colonies of bees in the cel- 

 lar in December, in good condition, 

 and they all appear to be right yet ; 

 they are still, dry and clean. I see re- 

 ports in some papers that the ex- 

 treme weather is killing a great many 

 Ijees, but it is not so in Wisconsin ; 

 where they are properly housed they 

 are all right. L. M. Egberts. 



Ft. Atkinson, Wis., Feb. 9, 1884. 



[Some of the daily papers have pub- 

 lished such as " news," but they ob- 

 tained it, no doubt, of those who took 

 no care of bees. — Ed.] 



memory, but I fully enjoyed ray work, 

 and consider that I was fairly success- 

 ful, taking all things into considera- 

 tion. I have now 8 colonies besides 1 

 that sought the woods, from the origi- 

 nal three, and from 150 to 200 lbs. of 

 honey above the full winter's supply. 

 It was a poor season for surplus 

 honey, and considering all things, I 

 feel quite satislied with my first ex- 

 perience in bee-keeping. My bees are 

 wintering on summer stands, well 

 protectee! with chaff cushions, etc., 

 and seem to be all right. 



Mrs. R. K. Eastman. 

 Webster City, Iowa, Feb. 11, 1884. 



My Success as a Beginner. 



It is only one year ago that my at- 

 tention was first called to this indus- 

 try through an article entitled, 

 " Ilealthful and Profitable Employ- 

 ment for Women." At that time Iwas 

 slowly recovering from a protracted 

 season of prostration, and open air ex- 

 ercise had l)een recommended. I 

 caught at the word " healthful," while 

 " profitable " pleased the ear. I be- 

 gan to look into the subject, sub- 

 scribed for the ]5ee Journal, pro- 

 cured Prof. Cook's JIanual and A B C 

 of Bee- Culture. In April I called 

 upon the Piev. O. Clute, of Iowa City, 

 from whom I received valuable sug- 

 gestions, and invested in 3 colonies of 

 Italian bees. These were pronounced 

 " beauties," and the only pure Italians 

 I know of. iSly experience was simi- 

 lar to others I have read. Some last- 

 ing impressions were made upon my 



Making Comb Foundation. 



Would it be profitable to manufac- 

 ture your own foundation for an 

 apiary of 25 to 50 colonies '/ Does it 

 require much practice or mechanical 

 skill to manufacture a good article ? 

 It is very expensive to purchase from 

 a distance, as the freight or express 

 charges are quite an item. Please 

 answer through the Bee Journal 

 and oblige an interested beekeeper. 

 Mrs. J. W. Knadler. 



Valley Station, Ky., Feb. 11, 1884. 



[It requires considerable practice to 

 make a good article, and we fear it 

 would cost much more than the article 

 already made and the cost of trans- 

 portation for so few colonies, unless 

 you wanted to use it in wired frames ; 

 then the bulk would make it costly 

 for expressage.— Ed.] 



Bee Pasturage— A Correction. 



Mr. M. L. Trester, Secretary of the 

 Nebraska State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, made a slight mistake in his re- 

 port, where I asked the question : 

 " Will it pay to keep 80 acres of land, 

 on which there are 1,600 basswood 

 trees, 9 and 10 inches in diameter, ex- 

 clusively for a bee pasture 'r"' It 

 should have read 2,-500 trees, 1,000 of 

 them from 9 to 10 inches in diameter. 

 Taking the whole lot, they run from 

 3 inches to 24 inches in diameter, and 

 1,. 500 more average about the same 

 within a radius of \}4 miles. 



Watson, Mo. R. B. Mum. 



Packed in Chaff. 



In 1882-83, bees wintered nicely. I 

 had a few Cyprian swarms before the 

 snow storm of May 22. My bees did 

 well, considering the season. I had 

 28 colonies, spring count, and in- 

 creased to 89 ; sold 37 colonies for 

 $310.50, and got 1,500 lbs. of comb 

 honey, which I sold at an average of 

 15 cents per pound, makin^j |225. I 

 now have .52 colonies, packed in clover 

 chaff, all alive; a few are a little scant 

 of stores, but I intend to feed them as 

 soon as it gets warm enough. I feed 

 corn meal, rye and buckwheat flour in 

 the spring before they can get natural 

 pollen. I have Cyprians, Italians and 

 Albinos, and I think the Cyprians tar 

 ahead of the others, both for honey 

 and increase. They are a little nerv- 

 ous, but if well managed are as easy 

 to handle as any bees. H. IIance. 



Bryan, O., Feb. 6, 1884. 



