THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



27 



200 Pounds from One Colony. 



I shall pay more attention to mar- 

 keting my honey hereafter, and want 

 to adopt the newest metho !s for doing 

 it. I could not get along at all with- 

 out tlie Bee Journal. Had it not 

 been for, it I should have made a poor 

 show at bee keeping, but, as it is, I have 

 taken 9,000 lbs. of extracted and 110 

 lbs. of comb honey, as well as 200 lbs. 

 of beeswax from 70 colonies in 

 the spring and increased them to 130, 

 iu good condition, by natural swarm- 

 ing. They could have been increased 

 to 200, had I tlie hives to put them iu. 

 The largest yield from one colony, was 

 220 lbs. of honey. 



W. H. McLendon. 



Lake Village, Ark., Dgc. 20, 1882. 



One Continued Flow of Honey. 



I commenced the season of 1882 with 

 20 colonies; 10 in Langstroth hives 

 and 10 in box hives ; transferred those 

 in box hives to Langstroth hives on 

 May 1. It being wet and cold, I had 

 to feed until June 3, when the white 

 clover blossoms began to " nod their 

 heads at the bees," which are the Ital- 

 ians, hybrids and blacks. They soon 

 took the hint, and we had one con- 

 tinued flow of honey from that time 

 on. I increased to 45 colonies, ob- 

 tained 2,000 lbs. of comb and 1,000 of 

 extracted honey. The bees are in a 

 good dry cellar, waiting for the balmy 

 days of spring to come. 



Wm. IIealb. 



Mt. Sterling, Iowa, Dec. 22, 1882. 



Bees Pay Well. 



I began the season with 14 colonies, 

 4 of which were transferred in May. 

 one colony did nothing during the 

 whole season , consequently I can really 

 count but 13 available. 1 ran 8 of the 

 colonies for extracted honey, witli 

 sections for side storing in several of 

 them. I now have 30 colonies all put 

 into winter quarters on the summer 

 stands, packed in hay, and sheltered 

 entirely from rain or snow, and pro- 

 tected on the west and north by a 

 board fence. I had 10 swarms and in- 

 creased 6 by division. Introduced un- 

 tested 12 queens, 9 of which were 

 successful, ail producing apparently so 

 far an excellent offspring. My honey 

 product foots up, 781 lbs. one-pound 

 sections; 234 lbs. bulk; 1,000 lbs. ex- 

 tracted ; in all 2,015 lbs. really from 

 spring count of 13 colonies. You re- 

 member, 2 seasons since, of selling me 

 a queen ; she produced lieautif ul bees 

 and active workers. This season that 

 colony gave me 284 lbs. of honey, and 

 an increase of 5 swarms, the last of 

 which came out on Aug. 27, filled the 

 brood chamber and gave 22 lbs. of nice 

 surplus comb honey. I think my net 

 results would have been at least 1,000 

 lbs. larger had I given strict atten- 

 tion at the proper time. This does not 

 near compete with some of the reports, 

 but when coming from one who is not 

 a practical bee-keeper, it gives you an 

 idea what a man of average intelli- 



fence may do, even with the pressing 

 uties of another business. I believe 

 I can, in localities iu this county, buy 

 land cheap, and with 150 or 200 colo- 

 nies, that have pasturage intelligently 



prepared, make $1,.500 to $2,000 clear 

 money yearly, besides paying some at- 

 tention to stock or poultry. 



r. A. GUOVE. 



Kirksville, Mo., Dec. 30, 1882. 



Size of the Half-Pound Sections. 



After spending a few days with two 

 of the brightest and most experienced 

 boe-keepers in this country, I have 

 settled, in my own mind, the size of 

 section that I shall use to hold one- 

 half pound gross, viz. : 4}4x2 13-16 

 inches plump, by 1^, or, more exactly, 

 7 to the foot for separators, or 1^4 

 without. This measurement, 4y, is 

 adapted to the old length of fixtures, 

 cases, broad frames, etc. The 2 13-16 

 piece is such a width as makes 3 fill 

 the place of 2, 4}^, thus, 6 of them fill 

 a broad frame in length. The IJf 

 with, and 1}4 inches without separa- 

 tors, is such a thickness as will fit my 

 case, 8 to tlie foot, but necessitates a 

 change and addition of cases and par- 

 titions, using 5 instead of 3. For the 

 broad frames it simply means cut 

 them down 3.4 in thickness and use 

 separators. If I used broad frames 

 at all I should surely use the separa- 

 tors. While this section is not adapted 

 to either case or broad frames, just as 

 they are, it requires an alteration that 

 costs but very little in either capital 

 or l^bor, and the comb it will contain 

 will be one well adapted to storing and 

 finishing rapidly, shipping safely and 

 selling quickly. Do not be in a hurry 

 to change from the one-pound section 

 where you have them all in working 

 order. You may be sorry if you do. 

 Wait and see what the market says 

 when plenty of both are there. 



James IIeddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Jan. 1, 1883. 



Bees in Good Condition. 



My 58 colonies of bees are in good 

 condition. Some gave me 28 lbs. of 

 comb honey, and some 50 to 60 lbs. of 

 extracted honey. I think any number 

 of the Bee Journal is worth to me 

 all it costs for a year. 



G. W. ASHBT. 



Valley Station, Ky. 



Abnndantly Satisfied. 



Just received the last number of the 

 Bee Journal for 1882, and I have it in 

 the Emerson Binder, and on looking 

 over the numbers, I cannot tell you 

 how well satisfied I am, to think I 

 have them all in, clean and snug. 

 Without the binder, there would have 

 been great risk of soiling the numbers, 

 to say nothing of them being laid 

 aside ; but with the binder, all this is 

 avoided. To all bee-keepers who do 

 not take the Bee Journal, I would 

 say, take it for one year ; you do not 

 know the loss you suffer by not taking 

 it ; and to all who take the Journal, 

 and not the binder, I would advise, 

 take it, you will never regret it. It 

 will do more than merely satisfy you ; 

 if you have any phrenological bump 

 of order, you will be compelled to say 

 and do as I advise ; you will be com- 

 pelled to acknowledge that you are 

 abundantly satisfied. 



Edward Moore. 



East St. Barrle, Out., Dec. 29, 1882. 



Queen Born without Wings. 



In a letter published in the Bulletin 

 B^ Apiculture de la Somme just to hand, 

 there is the following, which is inter- 

 esting to all scientific bee-keepers : 

 " Miss Josephine Chinni, of Bologna, 

 Italy, a distinguished apiarist and 

 queen breeder, has a queen bee which 

 was born without wings, and, for all 

 that, has been a very good layer of 

 drone eggs, and worker eggs also. If 

 you want to know more details, write 

 her, and I do not fear contradiction." 

 Arthur Todd. 



Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 25, 1882. 



Correction. 



On page 809 of the Bee Journal 

 for Dec. 20, in the 10th line from the 

 bottom of the first column, for the 

 word " Heddon's," read Lowmaster's. 



Wagon Works, O. A. B. Mason. 



Enticed to Take a Flight. 



On Christmas day it was so pleasant 

 that our bees came out from the hives. 

 Next morning I found great numbers 

 dead at the entrances. Was it so cold 

 that they died before going back in ? 

 Or what V It would hardly do, would 

 it— to open the hives and look in V 

 M. E. Stevens. 



Lebanon, Ohio, December 29, 1882. 



[Of coiuse, they became chilled and 

 could not return to the hives. While 

 the sun was warm— the air was very 

 cold. They were probably old bees 

 that would soon have died. — Ed.] 



Bees Pay Better than Stock. 



My apiary, which remunerates for 

 labor spent, is the best of anything 

 yet. My 300 head of feeding steers 

 and 250 head of fat hogs afford me no 

 greater pleasure than my bees. The 

 steers cannot compete with the bees 

 for the amount of capital invested, 

 and one is just as gentle as the other. 

 I have hardly a steer but what I 

 can ride, .and my bees are just as 

 tame, when necessary to get near 

 them. I saw Mr. Jackson Woodward, 

 of Mahaska county, who said that 

 from 40 colonies this year he obtained 

 90 swarms, put back 60, leaving him 

 70 colonies, all told. From these he 

 took 2,600 lbs. of extracted and .500 

 lbs. of comb honey. lie is using the 

 improved Langstroth hive, and is 

 selling off aU he has in the old form, 

 at $10 per colony. My bees fairly 

 swarmed on my cannmg corn, this 

 summer. I think it pays well to plant 

 it for its honey qualities, if nothing 

 more ; but corn brought at the can- 

 ning factory, $12 per acre, after the 

 bees were done with it. My buck- 

 wheat did well. G. B. Olney. 



Atlantic, Iowa, Dec. 23, 1882. 



Honey Market at Home. 



I commenced the season with 60 

 colonies ; increased to 100 by natural 

 swarming ; obtained 3,000 lbs. comb 

 honey, all stored iu one-pound sec- 

 tions ; sold it for 18 cts.*, wholesale, at 

 home. Wm. Courtney. 



Bichview, 111., Dec. 20, 1882. 



