426 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the utmost, but iu eveiy case have 

 turned out second best to the colonies 

 of the new strain wliich weie fed less, 

 -and of which less was expected. 



"What caused me to supersede the 

 other daughters and grand-daughters 

 of the old Svrian queen that I have 

 reared at difterent times, was because 

 the workers capped their honey so 

 that it appeared water-soaked, and 

 also because some of them had mated 

 with black drones and were ugly. 

 How it comes that the bees of niy 

 favorite queen and her daughters 

 build such nice white combs while 

 the others have not, I will leave to 

 otliers to explain, but of one thing I 

 am assured, the " coming bee '" has no 

 German lilood in her veins. 



New Philadelphia. O., June 2-5, 1884. 



the gallon, would be 77 pounds. 

 Nearly all the honey we have ex- 

 tracted up to this date, this season, is 

 poplar, and so thick that it was diffi- 

 cult to extract. 1 think this the linest 

 honey produced. I like the flavor of 

 it better than white clover, although 

 it is not so light iu color. 



John Faris. 

 Town House. Ya,, June 2A, 1884. 





Excellent Honey Crop. 



The season was slow here, that is, 

 the early part of it, but is now most 

 excellent for clover surplus. Swarm- 

 ing commenced unusually late, but 

 once having commenced, it is exceed- 

 ingly rampant, though not equal to 

 last year. We are bound to get an 

 average crop of surplus from clover 

 this season, because we have got it 

 now, and still it comes. Our bees 

 shake their heads at " loose '" honey 

 " laying around." They prefer the 

 nectar in its virgin bloom. 



G. W. Deji.\eee. 



Christiansburg, Ky., June 23. ISS4. 



for do hours before they would all en- 

 ter at once. I shall never move bees 

 again in cold weather. To fasten 

 foundation iu the frames, I slit the 

 top bar in the centre to within one 

 inch of one end: that keeps them to- 

 gether till they are notched and ready 

 for the foundation ; then with a back- 

 saw separate the two halves, start a 

 nail in one-half of the frames 4 inches 

 from each end. and lay the founda- 

 tion on the other half ; smooth and 

 straighten it, bring the other half to 

 its place and drive the nails through, 

 then the top-bar is ready for the 

 frame. In tliis way I can put on ten 

 times as much foundation in the same 

 time, and in better shape than in any 

 other way. C. \\ . Stanley. 



Dunlap, Iowa, June IS, 1884. 



Foundation with Deep Cells. 



In the latter part of May I put sev- 

 eral samples of the deep-celled foun- 

 dation, mentioned on page 3->5, in the 

 second story of one of my hives, and 

 the bees built it up nicely. As far as 

 lean see now. they will make very 

 good combs with it^ 



Cincinnati, O. Wm. Stubbing. 



What Ails my Bees? 



My bees have swarmed hut once 

 this season. I luive 7 colonies in good 

 condition, in Langstroth hives ; at 

 least we call them that ; the brood- 

 chamber is 12x16, and 10 inches deep, 

 with 6 frames inside and Si^g inch 



houev-board ontop.aud 3 honey boxes ! from IS to 24 inches high. What is it ; 

 over that. G. W. Hesson. I If it is a honey plant I will let it go to 



Dulauey. Ky.. June 17, 1884. ] seed : if not. I want to destroy it be- 



I fore it seeds my lield. 



D. S. Kalley. 

 Femdale, Ind., June 19, 1884. 



Not a Honey Plant. 



My bees are working on white clo- 

 ver." Enclosed find leaves and bloom 

 of a plant, the seed of which was 

 among some sweet clover seed I sowed 

 a year ago. This plant looks like tansy 

 when first coming up; it has from 10 

 to 17 stalks from one root, and grows 



[One swarm from each colony should 

 satisfy you. unless you wish increase 

 instead of honey. The hive is an j 

 antiquated mongrel, but management | 

 is of more imijortance than the par- j 

 ticular kind of hive. Ton should use 



[The plant is Archangelica liirsuta, 

 entirely worthless for honey.— T. J. 



BURRELL.] 



one or two-pound sections instead of Bee-Keeping in Texas, 

 the 3 large boxes, however. They are 

 completely out of date now.— Ed.] 



Ho Swarms. 



I have before given my experience 

 in apiculture uii' to Feb. 1, 1S83. I 

 began with 31 colonies; increased to 

 •50. However, owing to inexperience 



Bees Working on Clover. 



I started this season with 120 colo- 

 nies, and they have the boxes mostly 

 tilled, but not capped sufficiently to 

 be removed. As the brood-chambers 

 are also full. I find it impossible, in 

 the absence of tiering up material, to 

 keep them from swarming. Ten 

 swarms yesterday, and more to-day, 

 makes a" tired "bee-keeper '-hump 

 himself." L. Hubbard. 



TV'aldron, Mich., June 2-5. 1844. 



Generally, the bees have wintered ; and a poor honey season. I had but 4-3 

 with only small losses, but they con- 1 to go into winter quarters (if I may 

 sumed a larger quantitv of honey than i "se such an expression m my extreme 

 is usual while iu confinement. The Southern home). For on the last day 

 spring has been so late, cold and of December my bees were at work 

 rainy that in most cases the bees have on a late crop of sorghum, and the 

 had to be fed until this week ; and. so "ild flowers of the country. 



It was 



Honey Report. 



My report for 1883 is as follows : I 

 ran 27 colonies for honey last season, 

 which gave me 2,2-jO pounds of honey, 

 mostly extracted, making an average 

 of S3" pounds and a fraction to the 

 colony. In 18s2 my report from 17 

 colonies was l,40u and some odd 

 pounds, making an average of 84 

 pounds and a fraction to the colony. 

 Up to this date, this season, I have 

 extracted about three barrels, and the 

 flow still continues. I have on hand 

 about -500 pounds of last year's crop 

 unsold, which is all granulated, and 

 almost as nice as granulated sugar : 

 the balance I sold at 12^2 cents per 

 pound. I have a Eoot chaff hive from 

 which I extracted 7 gallons of honey 

 at one time, this season, and it will 

 be ready to extract from again in 4 or 

 5 days. The 7 gallons at 11 pounds to 



far. there have been no swarms cast 

 that I have heard of yet. and in my 

 opinion, there will not be any for 10 

 days more. White and Alsike clover 

 commenced blooming one week ago, 

 but vielded no honey until yesterday, 

 and iiow the bees a"re working hard. 

 As this is the oft' year for basswood 

 bloom, there will not be more than a 

 half yield from that; and unless the 

 weather will be favorable for the 

 clover, the yield of honey from it will 

 not be more than half of a crop. 



E.J. Smith. 

 Addison. Yt., June 16, 1884. 



well for me (to use a familiar term) 

 that it was an '■ oft' year" in honey. 

 It gave me time to study, to read, and 

 to put in practice the working of the 

 apiary. I have studied all the works 

 I could procure, and the Bee Jour- 

 nal, which comes weekly freighted 

 with words of cheer and practical ad- 

 vice. At no time through the winter 

 was there more than 3 days at a time 

 that mv bees were not on the fly. On 

 Feb. 2 "my bees brought iu their first 

 fruits of "1884 ; they came loaded with 

 pollen. I then began the work of 

 1SS4 feeling verv much of an apiarist. 

 Out of the 45 I found one dead and 4 

 queenless, and the majority of the re- 

 maining 40 were weak. I fed none, 

 though I see now that it was false 

 economv. From Feb. 1 we had an 

 unusual cold spring. ^ly bees have 



Fastening Foundation in Frames. 



I I am a beginner in the bee-business. 

 and I am having some strange devel- 



i opments and experience. The first of : -- . ,, . 



last December I bought 9 colonies in ! been up on a ■■ continual boom ot 4 

 Langstroth hives, moved them 30 rods ' montlis. By following Doolittle s ad- 

 to my new bee-house all right, and i vice upon spring management, I got 

 packed them for winter. On March i my colonies as near the same strength 

 12, 4 colonies were dead, on .March 18 I as possible. On April 1, I had my first 

 another one died, and by May 1. 7 col- 1 swarm. I have increased them to '70. 

 onies had died. The 2 "saved are now - On Mav 1 the 70 colonies took to the 

 strousr and are doing well. My third horse-mint. I did my first extracting 

 swariii hung on the outside of the hive on May 26. then in 



every 8 davs each 



