42 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



SEl£^&^&>At 



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Bees Buried in the Snow. 



My bees had a nice flight on Novem- 

 ber 20, after I liad them snugly packed 

 in prairie hay, and they went into 

 winter quarters with an abundance of 

 stores, and, for the past three weeks, 

 they have been under a big snow drift ; 

 nearly the entire 11 colonies are cov- 

 ered out of sight. I have adopted the 

 plan of Mrs. Harrison, of Peoria, 111., 

 and am letting them remain entirely 

 quiet until the warm rays of the spring 

 sun shall call them out. 1 did not 

 work for honey last season so much as 



I did for increase of bees, so I only 

 took off a small amount of honey, but 

 as I have mentioned once before 1 had 



II good healthy colonies ready for 

 winter quarters, from 1, commencing 

 ■one year ago last August. Our win- 

 ter, so far, has been very pleasant and 

 favorable for bees, and we hope to see 

 the little fellows come through all 

 right. W. W. Eastman. 



Yankton, Dakota, Jan. 6, 1883. 



Jlees Winter Better than Otiier Stock. 



I commenced last spring with 50 

 colonies ; increased to 90, and obtained 

 3,000 lbs. of honey, one-half extracted, 

 I might have obtained one-third more, 

 could the bees have had full attention. 

 I use the premium section box. After 

 reading .James Heddon's article, I 

 think, from my experience, he is nearly 

 right. I tind by cutting the premium 

 section box down to 4x.5>4XlJ4; inches, 

 outside measure, I can use my honey 

 racks without much loss in changing 

 them. My bees seem to be wintering 

 well. I have thus far lost but few in 

 wintering, say about 3 per cent, since 

 1 have been keeping bees. I winter 

 them in the barn cellar ; have about 

 as much ventilation as I would give a 

 ■calf or pig, to make tliem comfortable. 

 I have everything stripped from the 

 brood chamber but tlie blanket, and 

 pile them up .5 feet deep ; in fact, if I 

 ■could winter my otlier stock as safely 

 and cheaply as the bees, I would do 

 much better. Jos. Wood. 



Anamosa, Iowa, Jan. 9, 1883. 



He Lived with His Bees. 



I put into winter quarters 33 colo- 

 nies ; one queen proved to be a worth- 

 less drone layer. I lost 2 queens, 

 which gave me 2 queenless and weak 

 colonies, and 20 in fair condition. The 

 season was uncommonly wet and Gold 

 up to June 28, at which time " the 

 silver lining of the clouds " made 

 themselves visible, and, at that time, 

 I had the blues in earnest, but when 

 the season had ended and I could 

 count 48 colonies, and over ■1,000 lbs. 

 of honey, of which three-fifths atleast 

 was comb in 2-lb. sections, I could say 

 from experi[nental knowledge that 

 honey (especially in large quantities) 

 is good for the blues. I did not get 

 anything like all that could have 

 .been taken, for money matters were 

 Tery close with me, in one sense, but 



not in the other; I could not quite 

 reach it, therefore my bees were idle, 

 considerable of the time, and then it 

 cost me considerable of honey to as- 

 certain that my drones were not of 

 that kind that actively participated in 

 tlie building of comb and tlie sealing 

 up of honey. For my success the past 

 season 1 want to extend both hands to 

 Mr. Doolittle, for I attribute much of 

 it to his series of articles, which I 

 followed as closely as I could, and the 

 balance to a hard season's work ; in 

 fact, as some one as remarked, "I 

 lived with my bees," and I could add 

 that I can do that better than most 

 men, for I have no one else to live 

 with, but, for the fear that it would 

 be taken as an advertisement, I will 

 omit it. I have three objections to 

 the Bee Jouknal, : 1st, it does not 

 come often enough ; 2d, there is not 

 enough of it, when it does come ; and 

 3d, when I get it, I have to stop every- 

 thing else until I have read it. 



E. F. Cassell. 

 Illinois City, 111., Jan. 9, 1883. 



Poor Locality for Bees. 



I am located in a very poor section 

 of country for bees. My surplus 

 honey in the comb was 390 lbs., ex- 

 tracted, 110 lbs. The beeswax I have 

 not weighed. I had 10 colonies in the 

 spring, and 29 this fall. Several colo- 

 nies are short of stores. 



B. H. Westlake. 



Sycamore, 111., Jan. 10, 1883. 



The Past Season's Returns. 



Statement of past season's returns 

 from my 116 colonies, spring count: 

 Increase 24, mostly by dividing, and 

 obtained on an average, spring count, 

 30 lbs. per colony. 1 nave 138 colonies 

 now nicely tucked up in chaff, for their 

 long winter nap. J. M. France. 



Auburn Corners, Pa., Jan. 4, 1883. 



From a Lady Bee-Keeper. 



From 43 colonies, spring count, we 

 took 4,1001bs. of honey, about one-lialf 

 comb honey in 1 and 2poMnd sections, 

 and increased to 84, mostly by natural 

 swarming. They are in good condi- 

 tion for wintering. We winter in the 

 cellar and have good success ; it is dry 

 and well ventilated. The flow of honey 

 was great, and the amount would have 

 been far greater could they have been 

 run for extracted honey. A great deal 

 is said about tin and wood separators 

 for surplus honey. I use starters and 

 have the hive set right and have no use 

 for them. S. L. Vail. 



Coal Creek, Iowa, Jan. 7,-1883. 



A Good Market for Honey. 



I have taken, this poor seasouj over 

 3,000 lbs. from less tlian 30 colonies of 

 bees. I retail at the following prices : 

 White clover comb, in 2-lb. sections, 

 glassed, 26 cts. per lb.; raspberry and 

 golden rod, same ; buckwheat, 20 cts. 

 Extracted, of all kinds, 20 cents. I 

 get the sections back again, free of 

 cost. They are kept so clean that they 

 can be used again another season. 

 Honey is very scarce in the city of 

 Troy. I think I may safely say that 

 there is not 500 lbs. outside of my 



honey in the city. It is very cold here, 

 5 degrees below zero to-day. My bees, 

 85 colonies, are in winter quarters, in- 

 sured for $8-50 against tire. 

 Troy, N. Y. G. II. Adams. 



Amateur's Report. 



I am an amateur in bee-keeping. I 

 had 2 good colonies last spring ; in- 

 creased to 5, and obtained 200 lbs. of 

 extracted honey. I sold all I had to 

 spare at 18 cents per lb. I think this 

 is doing well. R. Crawford. 



Patterson, K. J., Jan. 6, 1883. 



Value of Good Comb Foundation. 



In the spring of 1882 1 had 5 colonies 

 of Italian bees and obtained from 

 them 25 swarms and about 820 lbs. of 

 surplus honey, all in sections. This 

 gives me 30 good colonies, all in good 

 condition, for winter and spring ; 

 every hive being well supplied with 

 honey, bees, and bee-bread. The above 

 result being obtained by supplying 

 every swarm with combs, saved from 

 colonies that I lost in former years, 

 and the above was wliat convinced me 

 more than anything else, of the value 

 of good comb foundation. 



C. F. Neubert. 



Bryant, Iowa, Jan. 6, 1883. 



Are Bees Taxable J 



Please answer the following ques- 

 tions through the Bee Journal.— 

 1 . Are bees taxable property V 2. Do 

 assessors generally assess bees ? Last 

 year mine were assessed, while those 

 in other townships were not. 



I). M. DiEHDORFF. 



Waterloo, Iowa, Jan. 10, 1883. 



[If bees are property of value, there 

 can be no doubt of their being taxable 

 PiOperty. However, quite a number 

 of assessors omit them, and hence they 

 are not uniformly taxed. — Ed.] 



An Average of 100 lbs. per Colony. 



The year just closed has been favor- 

 able to the bee-keepers here. The 

 honey crop has been good, making an 

 average yield of 100 lbs. of extracted 

 honey to the colony in my apiary. The 

 early part of the season of 1882 was 

 very disastrous on account of rains 

 and cold weather in May ; many colo- 

 nies of bees starved and there was an 

 almost total destruction oi the brood. 

 But soon after, sweet clover came into 

 bloom, and this, with the honey dews, 

 again gave the bees a start, and they 

 were in good condition when the fall 

 bloom came on and gathered honey 

 rapidly. Bees went into winter quar- 

 ters in good condition. 



Lee Em kick. 



Harrisville, Mo., Jan. 10, 1883. 



How to use Small Sections. 



In reading the various opinions 

 about the best way to get half-pound 

 sections of honey, the thought came 

 into my mind, why not have the comb 

 built in a large frame and capped 

 over ? Then, cut into pieces the right 

 size and shape to exactly fill the sec- 

 tion, put them in a frame or case and 

 give them to a good colony of bees to 



