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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bees in Splendid Condition. 



Our tiistiSlei), after purchasing 40 

 colonies of bees, in box hives, was to 

 send for the ever-welcome and indis- 

 pensable Bek Journal. Our apiary 

 is on an elevation, known as East 

 Hill, descending to the west, }-4 of a 

 mile from the beautiful city of Elmii-a. 

 From our apiary every part of the 

 city can be seen. Near by is the 

 Chemung river (local name) ; on either 

 hand, as far as the eye can penetrate, 

 lies the valley of Chemung, teeming 

 with a busy population, but without a 

 bee-keeper for miles around. We 

 have (for the want of a better place) 

 wintered our bees in a plastered 

 room. I succeeded in keeping them 

 very quiet until the latter part of 

 February, when I was compelled to 

 move them to their summer stands. 

 They are in splendid condition, and I 

 hope to be able to give a good report 

 in due time. No expense or labor 

 will be spared to accomplish our pur- 

 pose, which is to have as fine an 

 apiary as can be found in New York. 

 We shall use the two-story Langs- 

 troth hive. Which is the best time to 

 transfer to the new hives '? I have 

 transferred early and late, but did not 

 register the results. 



CoLEGROVB & Beach. 



Elmira, N. V., Feb. 25, 1883. 



[The best time is during fruit 

 bloom ; for there is less honey in the 

 hives, and fewer bees. They will 

 more readily fix up the combs when 

 when they have some honey to 

 gather.— Ed.] 



Bees Saved a House. 



My bees were on the roof of my 

 house, at Shawneetown, 111., during 

 the great flood. They endured tlie 

 waves and high winds, and are all 

 right. Had it not been for the 140 

 colonies on the house, it would have 

 floated off, as many other houses of 

 similar size, in the neighborhood, are 



gone. 



R. Cable. 



Mt. Vernon, 111., March 1, 1SS3. 



Cellar Wintering Suits Me Best. 



We are having an unusual cold 

 winter liere. It commenced snowing 

 sometime in December ; the ground 

 has been covered ever since, and now, 

 at present wrifing. is, 1 think, about 

 18 inches deep, if it was not drifted. 

 I think it will be just as bad on bees 

 that are out of doors as it was two 

 years ago, and I expect to hear of as 

 many dying as then. Some of my 

 neighbors, that have a few colonies, 

 tell me they are nearly all dead. 1 

 only have 11 on the summer stands; 9 

 in chaff hives, and 2 in Simplicity 

 hives, without any protection. They 

 are both alive, so far, but one of them 

 has been in the upper story on live 

 combs, and are about one-half dead. 

 I have brought them into the house, 

 that is, the top story with the bees ; 

 the lower story has 10 frames filled 

 with sealed honey and ice ; this will 

 learn me not to leave any more bees 

 in tlie top story for wintering. One 

 of the colonies in chaff hives, is dead, 

 and another one or two have the dys- 



entery. I have 42 in the cellar that 

 appear to be getting along finely, and 

 I have about come to the conclusion 

 that cellar wintering suits me best. 

 My cellar is very dry, and I have a 

 stove pipe attached to the ovitside 

 door, and have ventilation inside also. 

 One of my neighbors found a bee 

 tree, and I happened along just they 

 had taken the honey ; about one-half 

 the bees were clustered in the side of 

 the tree, where they had taken the 

 honey from. I looked at them awhile, 

 and said to the parties, it looked like 

 a shame to let them freeze, as the 

 thermometer was, at that time, below 

 zero. I walked on home, studying 

 about the matter, and when I got 

 there I told my wife about them, and 

 she asked me if I could not save 

 them ? I told her I would try, and so 

 1 picked up a market basket and some 

 flannel cloths, and a garden trowel to 

 scoop them up with, and went back 

 and brought them home, warmed a 

 couple of frames of honey and put 

 them in a hive ; kept them by the 

 stove all night, and next morning put 

 them in the cellar ; they are doing 

 finely, and I calculate to make a good 

 colony of bees out of them. 



MiLO Smith. 

 Greenwood, Iowa, March 1, 1883. 



Bees in the Cellar All Right. 



I commenced the season, June 1, 

 1882 (which was the poorest for some 

 years), with 20 colonies, in poor condi- 

 tion, owing to the cold spring ; in- 

 creased to 50; extracted, July 1,250 

 lbs.; fed back about one-third, to late 

 swarms ; the balance is my surplus 

 yield. 1 put 50 colonies in the cellar 

 under the house ; it is a dry one, (35 

 feet above high water mark. I man- 

 age somewhat on the plan of Mr. Ira 

 Barber ; 1 threw in and saturated my 

 cellar with 6 or S pails of water, before 

 putting in the bees ; it has no venti- 

 lation, except a door to the kitchen, 

 to be opened when needed. To-day, 1 

 cleaned off the front of the hives, and 

 swept the cellar bottom clean, not 

 getting 1 pint of bees. I used a lamp, 

 and, during the operation, not a bee 

 flew out. A light roar only was heard, 

 but all answered to "roll call." I 

 never knew bees so quiet after three 

 months' confinement. J. B. Idb. 



Climax, Mich., Feb. 20, 1883. 



Bees Down iu Maine. 



We are having a hard winter for 

 bees down in Maine. The weather 

 has been cold e»er since Dec. 1, and 

 it looks now as thougti we migtit have 

 another grand disaster, like the sea- 

 son of 1880-81. Part of our bees are 

 in single hives, and part in chaff 

 hives; the chaff hives and a part of 

 tlie single hives were covered, so as to 

 stop the entrance up, by the first 

 snow that came in November, and 

 have been covered ever since, and the 

 bees have had no flight since the first 

 of November. The ottier hives are iu 

 a sunny place, and, in the middle of the 

 day, bees have flown a good deal 

 througti the winter. Tliey have 

 dwindled badly, and show signs of 

 dysentery. In three of them, the bees 

 have left the combs and are occupying 



the bottom boards. Those in the 

 hives under the snow, that have not 

 flown the entire winter, are looking 

 all right, and have not consumed half 

 as much honey as those that have 

 been flying. Such a winter as this 

 makes me yearn for a cellar to winter 

 my bees in. Will some one, having 

 wintered bees in a cellar with success, 

 give us a rousing article on how to 

 ventilate a damp cellar. My cellar is 

 not what might he called awet one ; 

 there is a spring in one corner, so 

 there is water in the cellar at all times, 

 and still the bottom of the cellar is 

 not wet. Is there any way to venti- 

 late such a cellar, so that it would be 

 a proper place to put bees, and, if so, 

 how y VVill some one give plain, sim- 

 ple instructions how to do it. 



J. B. Mason. 

 Mechanic Falls.Maine, Feb. 25, 1883. 



Lost One Colony. 



I have lost one colony, so far, this 

 winter, the cause of which we cannot 

 account for. They had about 20 lbs. 

 of honey left. Our bees are all in im- 

 proved Quinby, chaff-hives, same as 

 they were in 1880-81. Then we did not 

 lose a colony. The others are all 

 right. I do not expect to lose any 

 more. I should be glad to see more 

 letters from lady correspondents. I 

 have just read Mrs. C. J. Allison's ex- 

 perience, on page 110. Let us hear 

 from more lady bee-keepers. 



S. S. Bristol. 



Galesburg, Mich., Feb. 26, 1883. 



No Profit Without tlie Bee Journal. 



I have read the Bee Journal for 

 over 18 months, and cannot do with- 

 out it. I have kept bees for 40 years, 

 but I obtained no profit until I com- 

 menced to read the Journal, and 

 there saw that box hives were not the 

 kind of hives to use. I commenced, 

 last spring, with 22 colonies in boxes, 

 and all kinds of hives, except the 

 Langstroth. I got 24 Langstroth 

 hives and filled them, mostly by nat- 

 ural swarming. I have now 44 in the 

 cellar ; they seem to be all right, yet 

 have not had a Bight since Nov. 15. 

 I got 100 lbs. of surplus comb honey 

 this year. I have a farm of 560 acres, 

 and keep about 150 head of cattle, but 

 I am 59 years old, and expect to make 

 bee-keeping a part of my business. I 

 shall sow nearly }4 bushel of sweet 

 clover seed this spring. 



E. S. HOVET. 



Swanton, Iowa, Feb. 28, 1883. 



Remedy for Bee Stings. 



Bees did not have a good fly from 

 the time winter set in (which was 

 about Nov. 15) till Feb. 16. Mine are all 

 in good condition except one, in a 

 single-walled hive, which is very un- 

 easy, and has the dysentery sliglitly ; 

 the rest are in Simplicity chaff hives, 

 with inch holes in gables of covers. 

 The single-walled hive had only a hole 

 at one end of the cover, and conse- 

 quently the chaff packing above the 

 cluster was very damp, so much so 

 that I changed the packing and raised 

 the cover by putting nails under each 

 corner. This shows the necessity of 



