134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



secretary. Mr. VVolcott spoke briefly 

 of the importance wlilch bee-l<eeping 

 Imd assumed, especially in Central 

 Illinois. He thought such an associa- 

 tion was a necessity, and believed its 

 work would be advantageous to all 

 concerned. 



Mrs. F. A. Bailer was chosen vice- 

 president, and O. Barnard, treasurer. 



Tlie next regular meeting will be 

 held on the second Wednesday of 

 May next, at 10 o'clock a. ra., an ap- 

 priipriate date, as at that season the 

 bees will have swarmed, and topics of 

 interest can be presented. Tlie" Asso- 

 ciation will meet at Surveyor Ela's 

 office until further notice. 



Jas. Poindexter, Sec. 





Bees in Cellar Doin^ Well. 



In April I bought .5 colonies, in- 

 creased to 11 by division, caught a 

 runaway swarm and took 658 lbs. of 

 extracted honey. Thanks to Cook's 

 Manual and the Bee Journal. Bees 

 are in cellar, which is ventilated, as 

 Prof. Cook recommended, and, so far 

 as I can tell, are doing well. In the 

 above report I should have used we 

 {that would include my wife and little 

 girl) instead of /, for I have not 

 walked without the use of crutches 

 for over 15 months. J. R. Craig. 



Beatrice, Neb., Feb. 27, 1883. 



Large Yields of Honey in Texas. 



Several years ago I became ac- 

 quainted with the American Bee 

 Journal, and have profited much 

 from its able writers, and now I look 

 ■with delight for its more tlian wel- 

 come weekly visits, and it is not only 

 necessary to have an able editor at its 

 head, but it must be supported. The 

 grand watch word is: "Keep all 

 colonies strong ;" yes, pile on your 

 subscriptions by the thousands, and 

 still there is room for more, and the 

 Journal grows. Does he split up 

 this colony into 3, 5. or even 10, and 

 make a little puny sheet out of each ? 

 No ; it needs be he moves to a larger 

 hive, where he can find more room, 

 pile on story after story until the great 

 Bee Journal hive is filled full every 

 week. Just so, when I take the edi- 

 tor's advice to keep colonies strong, 

 by adding story after story, not by 

 doubling up two or more colonies, 

 but by simply giving the one colony 

 plenty of room as it increases, thus 

 preventing any division by natural 

 swarming, wheVeby I am enabled to 

 get 300, .500 or 800 lbs. of extracted 

 honey from single colonies, the cry is 

 " such reports may be tnw in fact, but 

 totally unfair, and therefore unrea- 

 sonable." I cannot see theiinreason- 

 ableness of such reports. Do not the 

 authors of these reports tell how they 

 accomplish these grand results ? A 

 Texas Hoosieris not particular about 

 the spoon, a cow's horn will answer 

 in case of necessity. Texas is a big 

 State, her bee pasturage grand, and 



with a continued honey flow from 30 

 to 50 days, there is nothing " unrea- 

 sonable" at all about our reports. 

 Did not Dr. J. E. Say (a noble speci- 

 men of Texas' bee-keepers) say at the 

 last National Convention, that he 

 made an average of 800 lbs. per col- 

 ony 'f J. S. Tadlock, of Luling, had 

 247 lbs. per colony, and had nearly 500 

 lbs. from one. This is not all ; the 

 grand news will be wafted from Maine 

 to California, that Texas has produced 

 a ton of honey from a single colony, 

 and its legitimate increase, in one 

 year, and when she does this, do not 

 say it was unfair. Let us have a little 

 more charity. Are we not inmates of 

 that great hive of nature ? And if 

 my spoon is a little larger than the 

 Iowa spoon, by (>2 lbs., just go to work 

 and make it larger. 

 Dresden, Texas. B. F. Carroll. 



[Mr. Carroll is referred to page 115, 

 where, we think, he will find a satis- 

 factory explanation. — Ed.] 



Mice as Bee Enemies. 



On page 96, Mr. H. J. Northrup 

 tells how Mr. O. has wintered his bees 

 successfully tor 12 years. That is 

 good ; but here it would be a " sweet 

 jubilee" for the mice. We have, be- 

 sides the common mouse, a timber or 

 field mouse. It is dark on the back, 

 brown on sides, white throat and 

 belly, with fur on the upper edge, and 

 rather short tail. We also have the 

 mole with its peaked nose ; that 

 pushes its way through on top of the 

 ground under the snow, grass or 

 leaves. Have they those three to 

 contend with in winter among their 

 bees in Lansingburgh, N. Y.'i* 



Limerick, 111. E. Pickup. 



Feeding Poor Honey in Spring. 



I began the season of 1882 with 4 

 colonies, in box hives ; have taken 440 

 lbs. of comb honey from them and 

 their increase (mostly from the in- 

 crease) in 1 and 2 lb. sections. I have 

 sold nearly all at about 16 cts. per lb., 

 and increased them, by natural 

 swarming, to 13. But, owing to the 

 lack of experience, they were rather 

 light in stores, the sections having 

 been left on too late to give them 

 stores enough for winter. I had to 

 feed 80 lbs. of sugar. I had every- 

 thing to buy tor working the apiary, 

 most of which will come in use this 

 season. My expenses were $95, and 

 counting the goods on hand at a low 

 price, and cash received from sale of 

 honey, I have made $16 on the invest- 

 ment, without setting any price on 

 the bees ; if they winter through, I 

 shall be that much more ahead. Some 

 of the colonies appear to be wintering 

 all right, packed in sawdust with 

 chaff on top of frames. Two colonies 

 I packed with sawdust on top of 

 frames, as an experiment ; one of 

 which suffered with dysentery, until 

 the 15th, when the weather became 

 warm enough for them to fly with 

 safety. The colonies in the box hives 

 I left on the summer stands, without 

 packing. They have suffered with 

 dysentery, and one is dead. It did 

 not do well last summer, sent out two 



swarms, but did not gather any honey 

 in sections ; the combs were very wet, 

 and some were a little moldy. There 

 was 12 lbs. of honey in the hive, and 2 

 combs coutained some capped brood 

 in the centre of cluster. About three 

 weeks before I found they were dead, 

 they seemed to be all right. The 

 weather turned cold, and, on the 14th, 

 I found them dead. I think their 

 death was caiLSed by too much damp- 

 ness in the hive, as it was very wet 

 throughout. Will it do to feed this 

 honey to the bees in the spring y The 

 com bs showed some signs of dysentery, 

 and some are a little moldy. 



Alfred Gander. 

 Adrian, Mich., Feb. 19, 1883. 



[I'es ; when the bees have a chance 

 to fly you can teed them almost any 

 kind or quality of honey without 

 danger.— Ed.] 



Will Freezing Eradicate Foul Brood J 



I would like to inquire, through the 

 Bee Journal, of Mr. D. A. Jones 

 and others, in regard to freezing hives, 

 combs and honey that contained foul 

 brood last summer. The bees cleaned 

 it out of the comb after they stopped 

 brood-rearing in the fall, and the bees 

 were changed into new iiives. Would 

 it be safe to use them next summer, 

 after being frozen as hard as they 

 have been this winter 'f Mr. Jones 

 claims that boiling will kill it. Is not 

 freezing as good as boiling V 



O. E. Burden. 



Birdsall, N. Y.,Feb. 24, 1883.* 



Wintering Bees in Dakota. 



I removed the snow from my bees 

 to-day, and found 4coloniesout of the 

 11 had died; 2 were in Simplicity 

 hives, 1 American, and the other a 

 Langstroth that had no upper story. 

 The rest of the colonies, in Langs- 

 troth hives, were all right, and the day 

 being warm and pleasant, the bees 

 had a good flight, the first since Nov. 

 20. They seem to be iu splendid con- 

 dition. I do not want any more 

 Simplicity or American hives to win- 

 ter bees in. I am satisfied out-door 

 wintering, with hay packing, in 

 Langstroth hives, is the best way. 

 Wm. W. Eastman. 



Yankton, Dakota, Feb. 28, 1883. 



Old Fogy Notions. 



On page 42 of No. 3, of the Bee 

 Journal, I am made to say 83 colo- 

 nies, when it should be only 28. In 

 the tall of ISSl, at the time when I 

 should have been preparing my bees 

 tor the winter, I had to serve 3 weeks 

 on the jury, but we had a mild, open 

 winter, and, contrary to the general 

 ideas and practice, I worked with 

 them many times during the winter, 

 and with no bad results, and this last 

 tall I was summoned as a witness on 

 two different occasions, and my bees 

 were again neglected. I am anxiously 

 watching for a nice warm day, that I 

 can look after their wants, as they are 

 keeping up a loud roaring in their 

 sheltered location. As we, in this 

 section, have but little else than 

 ignorance to report concerning bee- 

 culture, and believing that none but 



