THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



59 





jgH^i^^' 



Growing and Satisfactory. 



I began bee-keeping in 1879, with 1 

 stray swarm ; in ISSO I procured cliaff 

 hives ; in 1881 I had 5 colonies in cliaff 

 hives ; in 1882 I increased them . to 

 28 colonies, mostly by dividing, a'nd 

 obtained 2,000 pounds of extracted 

 honey, and 500 pounds of comb honey, 

 and sold all of it at 12 and 16 cents 

 per pound. A. Motlay. 



Ottawa, 111., Jan. 16, 1883. 



" Notliiag but Leaves" for Packing. 



I had, in the spring, 5 colonies of 

 hybrids and blacks, spring count ; by 

 natural swarming and dividing 1 in- 

 creased them to 17 colonies; sold 1, 

 and 2 colonies left me for parts un- 

 known, leaving nie 14 colonies packed 

 in leaves. I obtained 375 lbs. of comb 

 honey, and 75 lbs. of extracted. The 

 above amount was received from 9 

 colonies. In Italianizing, they killed 

 and lost 6 queens, which left me 4; 

 with loss of time and delay, I can 

 safely say that I lost 200 lbs. The 14 

 colonies in winter quarters have 50 

 lbs. of honey in each hive. 



S. J. McKenney. 



Burlington, Iowa. 



Statistics for Canada. 



I would ask whether Dr. C. C. Mil- 

 ler wishes for statistics from bee- 

 keepers in Canada as well as the 

 States y Perhaps other readers of the 

 Bee Journal besides myself would 

 like to know. II. F. Buller. 



Campbellford, Ont., Jan. 13, 1883. 



[Of course Dr. Miller wants statis- 

 tics for Canada as well as the States. 

 Canada is rapidly advancing in bee- 

 culture, and it will be quite interest- 

 ing to know what she is doing.— Ed.] 



Binder for tlie Journal as Protection. 



I think that the present " make up " 

 of the Weekly Bee Journal can 

 hardly be improved ; certainly not as 

 suggested by l)r. Mason, for the rea- 

 son that we want the advertising as 

 well for reference as the rest of the 

 reading matter, at least, as far as I 

 am concerned. I would very much ob- 

 ject to the soiling of any copy so that 

 a part of it has to be thrown away. 

 Let those who wish protection get 

 one of the binders for the Bee Jour- 

 nal. A. K. KOHNKE. 



Youngstown, O., Jan. 18, 1883. 



Wintering in Chaff and in the Cellar. 



After receiving all my numbers for 

 1882, and looking them over in the 

 Emerson binder, I can hardly refrain 

 from writing to thank the editor and 

 tlie many correspondents for such an 

 excellent instructor in the art of bee- 

 keeping. I^ast spring I had 4 colonies 

 of Italian bees (2 being strong and 2 

 very weak); they increased to 10 

 strong colonies by natural swarming. 



The increase all came from 2 colonies; 

 and I took 120 lbs. of comb honey from 

 them. I could have taken a quantity 

 of extracted, but had no extractor, so 

 thought I would keep it for spring 

 feeding. After the honey season was 

 over I sold 2 colonies, and bought 16 

 Italians and hybrids in Simplicity 

 hives, at |5 per colony. I packed 10 

 in sawdust, and 6 in cliaff ; the other 

 8 I put in the cellar. They are all 

 alive yet, but I cannot tell how they 

 will come ont. I thank Mr. Ileddon 

 and Mr. Doolittle for their able articles 

 in the Bee Journal. These articles 

 alnne were worth more to me than the 

 subscription price of the Journal. 

 We have had a nretty solid winter 

 since November 23. The coldest be- 

 ing 13° below zero. Henry Gripe. 

 N.Manchester. Ind., Jan. 18, 1883. 



An Old Fogy Bee-Keeper. 



A neighbor of mine, who keeps 

 bees, had a swarm of bees cluster on 

 the body of a very fine and large ap- 

 ple tree, about 6 feet from the ground. 

 He got the hand-saw. and down came 

 the tree, to get the bees. If my 

 neighbor that saws down apple trees 

 to get his bees, when clustered on 

 them, would read the Bee Journal 

 for one year, I think he would not 

 saw any more trees down to hive his 

 bees. E. Doty. 



Mackesburg, Iowa, Jan. 9, 1883. 



Markings of Holy Land Bees. 



Please tell me, through the columns 

 of the Journal, if the Syrian or 

 Holy Land bees have any markings 

 different from the Italians. 



Miss L. E. Davison. 



Caribou, Maine. 



[That is a difficult question to an- 

 swer. Mr. Jones says he can tell 

 them by a " shield " on the body 

 above the abdomen ; Prof. Cook says 

 the Syrian queens can be easily dis- 

 tinguished by peculiar ■■ bars " across 

 the abdomen. It is easier to distin- 

 guish them, however, by the extra 

 amount of brood in the hive, and 

 their sensitive dislike of jars. — Ed.] 



Italians Ontstrip the Black Bees. 



I started last spring with 9 colonies, 

 all but one in box hives and log gums. 

 I transferred them m April and May, 

 but the cold and wet weather was very 

 hard on the bees. I increased to 23 by 

 natural and artificial swarming, but 

 doubled back to 16 ; I have but 2 

 strong colonies, both Italians ; my 

 blacks stand no chance with them. 

 While blacks are starving all around, 

 my Italians are full and strong ; I got; 

 about 50 lbs. per colony, spring count. 

 After white clover bloomed I had to 

 feed the bees and am still feeding 

 them. I am the only person in this 

 county that has taken over 30 lbs. of 

 honey this sea.son. I am trying to in- 

 troduce ttie frame hive, b<'t everybody 

 is predicting failure for me ; 1 hope 

 they will be mistaken. This lias been 

 the poorest year for honey I ever knew. 

 Bees, as a general thing, have not 



gathered enough to winter on. The 

 colonies 1 transferred were very large 

 and my early swarms worked well. 

 Here, in south wtstern Kentucky, we 

 did not see " the silver lining to the 

 clouds,"' but lam tliankful that others 

 did. I did but little myself but I am 

 truly glad that others have reaped a 

 rich harvest. E. C. Frazibb. 



Hanson, Ky. 



Weak Colonies, bnt Wintering well. 



The season of 1882 was the hardest 

 year on bees in this section (Eastern 

 Ontario) that I can remember. Bees 

 wintered vvell, but the spring and sum- 

 mer were very cold and wet; some 

 bees having to be fed in June and 

 July, to keep them from starving. 

 They gained during the latter part of 

 July and August, giving a few swarms 

 and some surplus honey, but did not 

 average more than 10 lbs. per colony, 

 and went into winter quarters weak 

 in bees, but seem to be wintering well 

 so far. J. N. Raymond. 



Newington, Ont., Jan. 10, 18S3. 



The Blizzard has Come. 



The Bee Journal is indeed a wel- 

 come visitor at our house, and, more- 

 over, wlien other visitors take up the 

 paper to read it, I do not feel ashamed 

 at having such a fine-looking and 

 useful weekly to present them. The 

 Weekly Journal is a perfect fit for 

 me. It was a very favorable autumn 

 for bee-keeping. The autumnal leaves 

 fell from the trees after beiiiu; tenderly 

 nipped and were strewn with far less 

 violence than is usual in our country. 

 There were no tempests here, but 

 when December came we caught a 

 storm — caught a storm did I say, we 

 called it a blizzard, etc., and we have 

 got it again, and that is not all, we ex- 

 pect to have it for months to come. 

 John Morris. 



Mauston, Wis., Jan. 15, 1883. 



Bees Qnlet in the Cellar. 



I cannot brag of my success, this 

 season, with bees and honey. I was 

 away most of the summer, leaving the 

 bees to take care of themselves, but I 

 gave them a good supply of room to 

 store in ; being at home a few days in 

 July ami again in September, at which 

 times I extracted, getting 110 lbs. of 

 comb and 1,103 lbs. of extracted honey 

 which 1 sell at home, the comb at 20 

 and 25c. per lb., and the extracted at 

 16c. per lb. I had 3o colonies in poor 

 condition in the spring ; sold 14, and 

 increased again to 25, all of which are 

 now in the cellar and very quiet ; there 

 are no dead bees on the fioor yet ; I 

 had more than a bushel of them by 

 this time last winter. 



D. H. Hopkins. 



Bear Lake, Mich., Jan. 9, 1883. 



Footer, not Foster. 



I notice in the report of the Md., 

 Va. and W. Va. convention that my 

 name is printed Foster instead of 

 Footer. I should not liave called at- 

 tention to it, but I have received a 

 letter to-day from the post office, ad- 

 dressed to Thos. Foster and intended 

 for me ; this makes about 10 letters so 



