THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



71 



this remedy beiiiR used successfully 

 in neuralgia and other like diseases. 

 Three years aso, in working in my 

 wife's "apiary, we lirst lrie<l this 

 remedy, and" it was a success, al- 

 thougfi we seldom use anything un- 

 less stung in the face ; and such are 

 about all who wish a remedy for liee- 

 stings. Remember this and try the 

 recipe next season. 



M. F. Tatman.o* 

 Eossville, Kans., Oct. 23, 1884. 



My Report for 1884. 



The spring of 1884 was cold, windy 

 and rainy, and it remained so up to 

 July, being intermingled with only a 

 few warm days. Bees did not gather 

 much honey during fruit blossom, as 

 it was almost too cold and rainy. 

 White clover blossoms were plenty, 

 but they had a brownish appearance 

 and secreted very little honey. Bees 

 just got enougli honey to make them 

 crazy for swarming, which they com- 

 menced on June 1, and kept it up till 

 July 18, and at that time the flow of 

 honey ceased from all sources ; weak 

 colonies had to be fed up to Aug. 20, 

 when Spanish-needle made its appear- 

 ance ; and what a sight it was to see 

 the fields covered witu yellow flowers. 

 The colonies which were strong at 

 that time, stored considerable surplus 

 honey of a very good quality ; and 

 weak colonies gathered enough to 

 last them during winter. I com- 

 menced, last spring, with 63 colonies, 

 23 of them being very weak, and the 

 balance were in good condition. I 

 have increased them to 100 colonies, 

 mostly by natural swarming. I ob- 

 tained 200 pounds of comb honey 

 from wliite clover, and 250 pounds of 

 extracted, some of it being honey- 

 dew, which I fed l)ack to the weak 

 colonies during the honey-drouth. 

 My surplus fall honey amounts to 420 

 pounds of comb, and 1,400 pounds of 

 extracted, making in all, 2.270 pounds 

 for the season, being an average of 3G 

 pounds per colony, or one-third of an 

 average crop. I have made inquiries 

 of my neighbor bee-keepers, and And 

 that some have received no surplus 

 honey. Some of their colonies are 

 very weak in bees, and have but little 

 honey, and, I think, will hardly live 

 through the winter. Their bees are 

 all blacks; mine are Italians, Holy 

 Lands, Cyprians and hybrids. 



John Nebel.o+ 



High Hill, Mo., Oct. 27, 1884. 



Wintering Bees in " Clamps." 



In the fall of 1883, 1 buried 8 colo- 

 nies of bees just as we bury potatoes 

 in Iowa to keep them froni freezing. 

 Two of them were in IJ^-story Lang- 

 strotli hives, with the lioney-boards 

 on, and the holes in the honey-boards 

 open. The other 6 colonies were in 

 1-story hives with quilts and covers 

 on the tops of the frames. They were 

 put into the clamp on Nov. 28, and 

 taken out on March 2.5, 1884. Eighteen 

 inches of earth, and 3 feet of coarse 

 hay was on top of the hives, and no 

 ventilation was given to the colo- 

 nies. The 2 that had ventilation 

 through tlie honey-boards, wintered 



the best. I never saw bees in better 

 condition than they were in March. 

 The others which had no ventilation 

 at the top, did not winter as well, but 

 came out in better condition, on an 

 average, tluin those which were win- 

 tered on the suninier stand ; but those 

 taken out of the clamp dwindled so 

 that on May 1, they were the weakest 

 in the apiary. One of the 8 colonies 

 I got out of 'the woods during the last 

 of October, 1883. I hived them on 

 three frames about one-half full of 

 lioney, and they staid on the summer 

 stands for six weeks before I put 

 them into the clamp. I do not think 

 that they had over (i pounds of honey. 

 When I took them out in the spring, 

 they did not liave one drop of honey 

 in any shape, but liad brood in two 

 combs, and young bees hatched. Two 

 other colonies had no brood in any 

 stage, and I tliought that they liad no 

 queens, but on the next day I ex- 

 amined them and found that the 

 queens had just commenced laying, 

 and I watched them very closely to 

 see whether ^Ir. L. C. Johnson, of 

 Fountain City, Ind., was correct in 

 his article on page 592 of the Bee 

 Journal for 188.3. These bees were 

 Cyprians crossed with Italians, and 

 tlie bees were hatched in 17% days. I 

 made another test on a Cyprian queen 

 whose eggs hatched bees in the same 

 length of time, and queens in 12 days. 

 In the first test I did not try to rear 

 queens. On Oct. 15, 1884, 1 put 8 col- 

 onies of bees into "clamps." They 

 were late swarms ; some had not more 

 than 1 pound of honey, and the heav- 

 iest had not more than 3 pounds. I 

 knew that they would die if left on the 

 summer stands, but I thought that if 

 I could get them to hibernate, that 

 they might winter. Am I correct ? 

 Wm. Malone. 9 

 Oakley, Iowa, Oct. 24, 1884. 



Report for the Season. 



Last spring I commenced with 21 

 colonies of bees in box-hives, and lost 

 two by robbing. When the bees first 

 began to bring in pollen, I thought it 

 best to feed tliem a little ; so I made 

 some bee feeders, put a pound of 

 sugar syrup into each, and at sun- 

 down I put tliem on the hives. On 

 the next morning before sunrise, I 

 took them off, and the feed was all 

 gone. So far all was well ; but right 

 here I will saj'-that this was, I think, 

 the most important day of the season. 

 Box-hives with auger holes in their 

 tops are not very good things to feed 

 on ; and, although, I tried to be very 

 careful with both feed and bees, at -8 

 a. m. I had every colony in the yard 

 robbing and being robbed. You 'who 

 have had experience with bee-robbing 

 can have some idea of what I did and 

 what I did not do, as I had no veil, no 

 smoker — in fact I did not have any- 

 thing that I needed ; and to you who 

 know nothing about robbing bees, it 

 would be no use for me to tell what I 

 did, for you might have some doubts 

 about it. However, night found me 

 very tired, 2 colonies less, and a wiser 

 man. During the season I lost sev- 

 eral swarms by their going off. They 

 would swarm out, fly above the apple 



trees, circle a few times, and then 

 leave without settling. I adminis- 

 tered everything that [ h;ui read or 

 heard of, but it seemed only to drive 

 them away the quicker. I believe 

 that if a swarm intends to cluster, 

 they will do so without any help ; and 

 if they intend to leave, tliev will do 

 that also without help. I think that 

 I had my bees built up pretty strong 

 by the time white clover blossometf, 

 but they did not get into the sections 

 for two weeks, and then they were 

 rather slow about it. There was a 

 good bloom of basswood, but it only 

 lasted about six days, and four days 

 of that time were cold and rainy. 

 Between showeis, the bees would 

 come out as tliough they were swarm- 

 ing, but before they could load up and 

 get back, tliere would lie a shower; 

 and as the bees had to cross the river, 

 I think I lost lots of them after the 

 rain was over, for they would be float- 

 ing thickly on the water. I did not 

 get one-ti)'ird of a crop of honey. My 

 bees did better than the most of the 

 bees near me. I increased them to 32: 

 colonies, and would have secured 

 about 500 pounds of comb lioney had 

 it not been stolen. I took off about 

 160 pounds of honey, and left, as I 

 thought, 400 pounds on the hives. I 

 went away from home over night, 

 and when I returned there was not a 

 full section in the yard ; they had 

 stolen all of it, and h"ad done a clean 

 job, so much so that I have yet gotten 

 no track of the thieves. If "I did not 

 gain anything in dollars and cents, I 

 learned something. 



Dave H. Lisle. o+ 

 Chebanse, 111 , Oct. 25, 1884. 



CLDBBING LIST. 



We will supply the American Bee tVonrna) 

 one year, and any of the foUowins Books, at the 

 prices quoted in the lastcolnmn of flsnires. The 

 first column pivesthe regular price of both. All 

 poatane prepaid. 



Price of both. Club 



The Weekly Bee Journal, 12 00.. 



and Cook's Manual, latest edition .... 3 25.. 3 00 

 Bees and Honey (T.Q.Newman)cIoth 3 00. . 2 75 



Bees and Honey (paper covers) 2 75.. 2 50i 



Binder for Weekly Bee Journal 2 75.. 2 50 



Apiary Register for 2*^) colonies 3 50.. 3 25, 



Dzierzon's New Bee Book (cloth) 4 09.. 3 00' 



Dzierzon's New Book (paper covers) 3 50. . 2 75- 



Quinby's New Bee-Keeping 3 50.. 3 25 



Langstroth's Standard Work 4 00. . 3 75 



Root's A B C of Bee Culture (cloth) 3 25. . 3 10 



Alley's Queen Rearing 3 00. . 2 75 



Scribner's Lumber and Log Book 2 35. . 2 25 



Fisher's Grain Tables 2 40. . 2 25, 



Moore's Universal Assistant 4 50.. 4 25 



Honey as Food <!fc Medicine, 100 Copies 4 50.. 4 25. 



Blessed Bees » 2 75. . 2 50 



King's Bee-Keepers' Text Book 3 00.. 2 76 



The Weekly Bee Journal one year 



and Gleanings inBee-Culture(A.I.Hoot) 3 00.. 2 75 

 Bee-Keepers' Magazine (A.J.King). 3 00. . 2 75 



Bee-Keepers' Guide (A.G.HIH) 2 50.. 2 35 



Kansas Bee-Keeper 3 00.. 3 75 



The Apiculturist, (Silas M. Locke) . . 3, 00. . 2 75 



British Bee Journal 3 75.. 3 50 



The 7 above-named papers 8 25.. 7 00 



Preparation of Honey for the Mar- 

 ket, including the production and care 

 of both comb and extracted honey, 

 instructions on the exhibition of bees 

 and honey at Fairs, etc. This is a, 

 new 10 cent pamplilet, of 32 pages. 



