THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



13S 



true reports should be made, I will 

 give your many readers a faint ideaot 

 It. When I launched out in the busi- 

 ness I had a partner, and we were 

 getting bees in the timber, and my 

 partner, one day, asked a German boy 

 if he had seen any bees V The boy re- 

 plied that his brother-in-law had some 

 pretty nigh a soda bottle full already ; 

 that he runs and catches them on the 

 flowers, and when he gets that soda 

 bottle full he will make a colony, and 

 then they will make honey in it. An 

 Englishman, about four miles east of 

 me, had some buckwheat, and he dis- 

 covered the bees working on it ; he 

 then hurried down to his neighbor 

 Johnson, that he could learn if they 

 would injure the grain. Johnson told 

 him that he could not see why they 

 would not injure it, that they were 

 certainly robbing it of the substance 

 that formed the grain. He very hur- 

 riedly got a brush and went in to 

 drive them out, he said, but as all can 

 imagine, they were not to be driven. 

 Illinois City, 111. E. F. Cassell. 



Damag'e to Bees by the Flood. 



The flood has subsided, and now I 

 know the amount of damage done to 

 my bees. I had 85 colonies drowned 

 outright, besides some damage to the 

 others from taking them out during a 

 cold rain ; the water was 414 feet deep 

 in my bee house. Pretty severe, but I 

 will show you before the end of the 

 year what I can do in the way of 

 building up. L. II. Scuddek. 



New Boston, March 2, 1883. 



Bees in Fine Condition. 



I have 72 colonies on the summer 

 stands, in the Langstroth hive, and 36 

 in the cellar, and all are doing well ; 

 all alive yet, and not one showmg any 

 signs of dysentery. Will say to S. G. 

 HoUey he has a young apiarist, but I 

 have a little girl of 3 years who can 

 open my observatory hive, and find, 

 and point out the queen, among other 

 bees, to visitors. I suppose they 

 would make a good convention of bee- 

 keepers of themselves. 



Daniel Whitmer. 



South Bend, Ind., Feb. 27, 1883. 



The Prospect in Kentucky. 



The past winter, with us, has not 

 been as cold as we sometimes have it, 

 but it has been one of the most disa- 

 greeable ones we have experienced for 

 several years. The changes have 

 been frequent and very sudden, con- 

 sequently our bees have suffered 

 severely. It is the general practice 

 with us to winter bees on the summer 

 stands, and often without any packing 

 or protection whatever. The fall was 

 very favorable for gathering in winter 

 supplies, consequently our bees were 

 strong both in numbers and supplies. 

 But few colonies have died, yet all 

 have dwindled very rapidly, and 

 many will be so weak in numbers as 

 to necessitate wintering with others. 

 The 14th and 15th were beautiful 

 days, and warm as May, and our little 

 pets made full use of them. In look- 

 ing through several colonies I found 

 brood in all stages, and queens busy. 

 Since then they have not been per- 



mitted to fly. The prospect, however, 

 for a good honey crop is very favor- 

 able. As we had but little fruit last 

 year, our fruit trees will be sure to 

 furnish an abundance of bloom. Also, 

 black locust, basswood and other 

 honey producing trees. But most 

 cheering of all is our prospect on 

 white clover. The winter has not in- 

 jured it in the least ; our fields are 

 densely sodded with it, which, even in 

 these few warm days we have had, is 

 showing cheerful signs of starting. 

 Last year, at this time, I could 

 scarcely discover it at all, yet it came 

 out well. With these hopeful signs 

 from vegetation, if we can get our 

 hives strong by the first of May, we 

 hope to roll up a list of statistics which 

 will make Dr. Miller, and that man 

 with his 500-pound colony, " come 

 again." L. Johnson. 



Walton, Ky., Feb. 25, 1883. 



Experiments in Wintering. 



To-day has been nice and warm. 

 Bees all out. I made an examination 

 and found that out of 12, with no pro- 

 tection, 5 had died ; that out of 5, with 

 outside protection, 2 had died; that 

 out of 80, in chaff hives, 1 had died. 

 There are signs of dysentery, but I 

 think to-day's flight will cure that 

 trouble, and, as I do not expect 

 "spring dwindling" in chaff hives, 

 I have commenced whistling 1 How 

 is chaff with you over in Indiana, Mr. 

 Kite y C. W. McKowN, 60-180. 



Gilson, 111., March 1, 1883. 



A Profit of $37 Per Colony. 



I commenced the season with 25 

 colonies, Italians and hybrids, and 

 have taken 5,000 lbs. of honey, mostly 

 extracted, and doubled the stock. I 

 have sold most of the honey at an 

 average of 16 cts., making me a proUt, 

 the way I figure it, of $37 per colony, 

 spring count. Milo Smith. 



Greenwood, Polk Co., Iowa. 



Sawdust Packing Ahead. 



Our bees flew well yesterday and to- 

 day, for the first time since Nov. 15. 

 From 137 colonies packed in chaff and 

 sawdust, 2 are dead. Nearly all are in 

 prime condition. Sawdust is ahead 

 of chaff for packing. Colonies, with 

 entrances % inch wide by 11, wide 

 open all winter, are in far better con- 

 dition than those with entrances % in- 

 by 4. H. D. BuRRELL. 



Bangor, Mich., March 1, 1883. 



The Season in California. 



Our bees have wintered splendidly. 

 The white willow commenced yielding 

 honey, this winter, November 26, 

 fully 3, if not 4 weeks earlier than 

 usual, and it has yielded most abun- 

 dantly ; so much so, the queens are 

 crowded out (in the strong colonies) 

 and the extractor must be used or we 

 will have light swarms to go into the 

 mustard harvest with. Alfalfa is com- 

 ing into bloom, but will not be at its 

 best for two weeks yet. We are well 

 pleased with our hybrid Holy Lands ; 

 they are rustlers. I speak of tliem as 

 hybrids, for we have the second gener- 

 ation of queens, mated both times 



with Italian drones, and the progeny 

 (so it seems to us) possess many of the 

 desirable traits so much looked for in 

 the " coming bee." We think we have 

 had rain sufllcient to give us a mode- 

 rate harvest in the valley (rain fall up 

 to date 6 inches), but this will give us 

 no sage honey at all. Last year we 

 had four inches of rain after this time, 

 so we are hopeful yet. 



A. W. OSBURN. 



ElMonte, Cal., Feb. 25, 1883. 



Conventica Notices. 



i^" The Union Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation will meet in Grange Hall, Em- 

 inence, Ky., on Thursday April 26, 

 1883. All bee-keepers, and the public 

 generally, are invited to be present. 

 G, W. Demaree, Sec. 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



1^ The Texas State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association willhold its Fifth Annual 

 Convention at McKinney, Collin Co., 

 on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 

 17th and 18th, 1883; at the residence of 

 Hon. W. H. Andrews. 



Wm. R. Howard, Sec. 



Kingston, Texas. 



1^ The next meeting of the Haldi- 

 mand, Ont., Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will be held at Nelle's Corners on Sat- 

 urday, March 31, 1883, at 11 a. m. 



H. Campbell. 



1^ The Western Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation meets at Independence, Mo., 

 April 28, 1883. 



S. W. Salisbury, Sec. 



1^ The Eastern Michigan Bee- 

 Keepers' Society, will hold its annual 

 meeting in Detroit, April 3, in Ab- 

 stract Hall, commencing at 10 a. m. 

 An interesting meeting is expected, 

 and bee-keepers are requested to send 

 items or questions of interest to the 

 secretary in time, that they may be 

 announced previous to the meeting. 

 A. B. Weed, Sec. 



75 Bagg St., Detroit, Mich. 



1^" The Central Michigan Bee- 

 Keepers' Association holds its spring 

 convention at Lansing, in the State 

 Capitol building, on Tuesday, April 

 17,1883,9 a.m. Programme: Presi- 

 dent's address (Prof. A. J. Cook), on 

 Wintering Bees. Essays : S. C. Perry, 

 on Chaff Hives ; C. Case, on Comb 

 Honey; O S. Smith, on the Best Bee; 

 A. D. Benham, on Extracted Honey ; 

 Mr. Harper, on Queen-Rearing ; Mr. 

 Waldo, on Best Method of Wintering 

 Out of Doors, in Single- Walled Hives ; 

 E. N. Wood, on Sections ; and E. 

 Greenaway, on Comb Foundation. All 

 bee-keepers are invited to attend or 

 send essays, papers, implements or 

 anything of interest to the fraternity. 

 A full attendance is reqi'ested. 



E. N. Wood, Sec. 



North Lansing, Mich. 



