THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



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White Clover Looks Promising. 



^ly bees are all in fine condition ; 

 no loss in wintering. This is the 

 fourth winter I have packed my bees 

 in ohalT out-of-doors without loss, and 

 I am still satisfied with chalT packing. 

 Bees are now gathering lioney rap- 

 idly, and building comb. Everything 

 bids fair for a good honey crop. 

 AVhite clover never looked better at 

 this time of the year, and this is from 

 which we get our honey, if we get 

 any surplus at all. The Langstrotli 

 hive is taking the lead in this locality, 

 and the deep frame is becoming a 

 thing of the past. Bees suffered ter- 

 ribly during March and April, where 

 they were not protected ; many have 

 lost all either by spring dwindling or 

 robbing. J. G. Nouton. 



Macomb, 111., May 1, 1884. 



Bees Starving in June. 



I think tliere is no foul brood in 

 this section of the State. There are 

 many who keep a few colonies, and 

 some lose all by starvation in .June. I 

 live in the Blue river valley, and in 

 the spring the bees work on maple, 

 willow, gooseberry and raspberry 

 blossoms ; but in .June, for about three 

 weeks, nothing blooms, and the bees 

 have to be fed. After .July 1, comes 

 sumac, heart's-ease, snowdrop, catnip, 

 etc., until frost, and bees do well 

 during this time. I have 1.5 colonies 

 of hybrid bees, which I expected to 

 increase to 50, but the weather has 

 been very cold and wet. 



David M. Imlay. 



Seward, Neb., April 28, 18sJ. 



All is Lovely with my Bees. 



My bees wintered well in the cellar. 

 In 30 colonies there is not one moldy 

 comb. The tops of the hives were 

 all removed, and the honey boads left 

 open. I am satisfied that more bees 

 die from lack of ventilation than 

 from any other cause. The first fruit 

 blossoms have just appeared, and to- 

 day the cherry-trees are iilive with 

 the busy workers. We are expecting 

 a good honey season. 



I. P. Wilson. 



Burlington, Iowa, May 2, 1884. 



Bees Swarming. 



Bees liave been doing nothing up 

 to the 2.5th, but stock up in brood. 

 For the last few days they have been 

 doing finely ; accomplishing more in 

 the last four days than in all the rest 

 of the spring put together. It has 

 been cold and wet all through April. 

 Not many colonies have swarmed, 

 and those which did do so, took to the 

 woods. The first swarm from a col- 

 ony would stay and do finely, then 

 the weather turned cold, the" young 

 queens all hatched out, and when 

 they would come out, the bees would 

 follow them and all make for the 

 woods. I suppose it was owing to 



their coming out to be mated, and 

 the bees would follow them. If I am 

 not correct In this, will somc^ one give 

 me the reason V I had as many as .". 

 swarms from one colony in the same 

 day, I examined and cut out all the 

 cells except one, and stopped the 

 swarming. Hope 1 will not have 

 many swarms this season. 



Dr. II. M. Williams. 

 Bowden, Ga., April 30, 1884. 



Wintered Well. 



Bees in Central Ohio wintered well. 

 The colonies are now strong in num- 

 bers. White clover is promising. I 

 think we shall have an abundant 

 honey crop. Aakon Benedict. 



Bennington, O., May 0, 1884. 



Moving Bees 200 Miles, 



For 4 years I have been engaged in 

 bee-culture ; but I have been residing 

 in a rather unfavorable location 

 (Bates Co., Mo.) for the business, un- 

 til April 3, 1884, when I shipped my 

 .50 colonies to CarroUton, Mo. They 

 were in the car about 30 hours, and 

 were moved a distance of over 2U0 

 miles. In these colonies are 600 nice, 

 straight combs in movable frames, 

 and all came through with the loss of 

 only 3 combs broken ; but the bees 

 were in fine condition after their trip. 

 My bees are nearly all Italians. I am 

 very much interested in bee-culture, 

 and shall continue making it a study. 

 Eli E. Starkey. 



CarroUton, Mo., May 5, 1884. 



Heavy Losses of Bees. 



Our bees at the College are doing 

 well. I am sorry to learn that the 

 losses liave lieen heavy in many parts 

 of the country. The time when 

 ignorant bee-keeping would succeed, 

 is gone by. A.J.Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., May 7, 18S4. 



Fruit in Bloom, but no Nectar. 



Ninety out of 96 colonies came 

 through the winter. Sixty, which 

 were covered with fodder, did not 

 winter as well as the 36 in double- 

 walled liives on the summer stands. 

 The 6 lost were among those covered, 

 and 2 of them were unusually strong 

 when covered last fall. Some drone 

 brood is now sealed with a few drones 

 out of the cells. Some drones were 

 kept through the winter. Wet, cool 

 weather has delayed breeding, and 

 bees are still inclined to rob, witli a 

 profusion of fruit-bloom open ; but 

 the cool nights prevent a secretion of 

 nectar. Some colonies have too much 

 lioney left. Figwort has come up 

 very thickly where the plants were 

 cultivated among the corn last year. 

 The prospect is good for a fine honey- 

 flow. William Camm. 



Murrayville, 111., May 4, 1884. 



Smart- Weed Honey. 



On page 267, 1). U. Hosebrough com- 

 plains that his bees did not winter 

 well on late honey. I want to ask 

 him if there was any smart-weed 

 bloom in his locality. A few years 

 ago, in this hirality, we had no honey 

 crop until smart-weed bloom ; it was 

 thick all over the country ; and bees 

 were in need, and worked it very 

 greedily ; and the result of this honey 

 (or something else it may be), was 

 that nearly all the bees died during 

 the winter, or left the hive the first 

 warm days of spring. I think I am 

 safe in saying that not one colony in 

 10 survived to May]. They left the 

 hives full of honey, but filthy. I re- 

 hived one dissatisfied colony three 

 times, but coidd not make it stay. I 

 am satisfied that the trouble was in 

 the honey, and liave about condemned 

 smart- weed as unfit for winter stores. 

 If I am wrong, I would like to be con- 

 vinced, for we can nearly always de- 

 pend on a crop of smart- weed here. 

 J. B. Miller. 



Montezuma, Iowa, May 1, 1884. 



Bees Confined 161 Days. 



My bees wintered nicely ; part of 

 them being in the cellar and the rest 

 on the summer stands. One colony 

 did not have a flight for 161 days, and 

 it came through in good condition. 

 G. W. Dunbar. 



Embden Centre, Me., May 5, 1884. 



Small Loss in Wintering. 



]5ees in this section are in for a big 

 boom this season. I never saw them 

 in as fine condition at this time of the 

 year, and the loss of the past winter 

 will not average 1 per cent. The 

 greatest loss was with myself. I have 

 only a very small portion of my apiary 

 left, tut hope for the best. 



J. II. Robertson. 



Pewamo, Mich., May 6, 1884. 



Good Increase. 



I started one year ago with 3 colo- 

 nies, and now I have 10 strong ones. 

 I lost one colony by not giving it 

 enough bees last fall. There was not 

 more tlian 1 pint of bees in the hive, 

 and they froze to death. I use the 

 Armstrong hive. I wintered my bees 

 out- doors on a north slope of ground, 

 fully exposed. The trees are just 

 commencing to bloom, and the bees 

 are beginning to work, but I have not 

 the time to manage them as they 



should be. P. E. VANDENliURG. 



Jersey ville. 111., May 3, 1884. 



Bees Gathering Honey. 



Bees are gathering honey rapidly 

 from the early yellow flowers, 

 not know their name., 



WiCKLiFF Fisher. 



Hamler, O.. May 5, 1884. 



I do 



Juneberry. 



For more than 10 days past the bees 

 have been diligently at work among 

 the J uuebvrryiAmeUmchier canadensis) 

 blossoms. In this vicinity these little 

 trees are very abundant along the 

 creeks and rivers, and are always 

 white with blossoms long before the 

 apple and plum trees bloom. In favor- 

 able weather it yields honey pro- 

 fusely ; and up to date the bees here 

 have stored trom 3 to 8 pounds per 

 colony, and are still at work. The 



