THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



181 



I think the quantity stored by my 

 Italians about equal to that stored by 

 my best blacks, but my hybrids stored 

 more than either. The quality of that 

 put up by the hybrids, seems to be a 

 mixture of the two. 



I think the Italians are a little more 

 prolific, and more liable to dwindle, 

 but, when putting up white comb 

 honey for tlie market, the black bees 

 carry off tlie palm with me. Whetlier 

 the Italians do better in their own 

 native hills, I cannot say. There 

 should be some great exhibition, where 

 all can compare combs, and see for 

 themselves. I think if Maine men 

 would take more pains to improve 

 their own bees, they might make a 

 great saving in time and money. 



John Reynolds. 



Clinton, Maine, March 21, 1883. 



Rainfall in California. 



Quite a mistake appears in the 

 Weekly Bee Journal of Feb. 28, 

 under the heading of " Scarcity of 

 Water in California." On Feb. 5, I 

 reported the rainfall, so far this win- 

 ter, 2^2 inches; but in the Bee Jour- 

 nal it reads 22,13 inches. If we had 

 that much rain, we would not now be 

 complaining of drouth. Since my 

 communication of Feb. 5, we have 

 had S}4 inches more of rain, making 6 

 inches for this season. There is little 

 probability of getting much more rain 

 this season, consequently the outlook 

 for surplus honey is not encouraging, 

 although the bees are now doing well, 

 working on the Alfilerio (pin grass) 

 and sycamore. I have noticed that 

 everything that has bloomed, up to 

 date, is very rich in nectar. What 

 the future will bring, is yet unknown. 

 J. E. Pleasants. 



Carbondale, Cal., March 19, 1883. 



[True ; that was quite a mistake, 

 and we wonder that it was not dis- 

 covered. We try to avoid mistakes, 

 but perfection does not yet exist in 

 mortals.— Ed. 1 



Lost 2 Out of 83 Colonies. 



The spring here is cold and back- 

 ward ; bees are not in very good con- 

 dition, generally, as far as heard 

 from. Some have about one-fifth 

 left; mine are in good condition yet; 

 I lost 2 out of 83 ; but we are not out 

 of the woods yet. A. D. Bennett. 



Janesville, Iowa, March 26, 1883. 



Beginner's Satisfiiction. 



I commenced in the spring of 1882, 

 with 2 colonies, and Increased to 9. I 

 bought a few at $3.35 per colony, in 

 box hives, which I will transfer to 

 movable frame hives. I formerly lived 

 near Mr. Hill, of Kendall viUe, Ind. 



Edna, Kans. W. E. PoTTS. 



No More Loss than Last Winter. 



Bees are wintering fairly here, not- 

 withstanding the severe winter, and 

 I do not think the per cent, of losses 

 will exceed that of last winter, unless 

 very unfavorable weather should in- 

 tervene between this and warm 

 weather. I have about 20 colonies 



packed on their summer stands, while 

 the balance are stowed away in the 

 cellar, to remain until the weather 

 becomes warm enough to justify their 

 removal. Chas. S. Burt. 



Brecksville, O., March 26, 1883. 



Moving Bees. 



I have 2 colonies of bees, in the 

 cellar. I wish to move them 10 miles 

 ontheUth of May. I cannot move 

 before. VVill it injure them, or be the 

 cause of many being lost y It is where 

 I kept them last season. Please give 

 best plan of setting them in wagon, 

 and of preparing for the journey. 



Port Elgin, Out. Beginner. 



[By that time it should be warm 

 enough to move them with safety. 

 Put them in a spring wagon, with 

 frames running across the body of the 

 wagon. For manner of preparing 

 them, see directions given on page 77 

 of the Bee Journal for Feb. 7, 

 1883.— Ed.] 



Stimulative Feeding. 



The question is often asked, about 

 this time of the year, how sha'l we 

 keep our bees quiet in the cellar.and 

 yet have them breed up until we want 

 to put them out 'f We will suppose 

 that your bees were put into a warm 

 cellar last fall, and are in a healthy 

 condition, and that each colony has 

 plenty of stores. Now place near the 

 entrance, or at any place where the 

 bees can get at it, and it will not leak 

 or run into the hives, a piece of ice, 

 and, as often as it melts, replace it ; 

 the longer it is used, the more they 

 will require. I prefer ice to water, as 

 water takes up the poison that is in 

 the atmosphere, and the ice will keep 

 the air more humid ; in this way I 

 have increased ordinary colonies two- 

 fold by the time they were set out on 

 the summer stands. Do not give ice 

 more than 4 or 6 weeks before putting 

 them out in the spring. Then take a 

 frame of honey and place it in the 

 center of the brood-nest (if the colony 

 is strong enough to move the honey 

 out of the comb and not chill the 

 brood); make the hive as warm as 

 possible, and, if the weather is cold, 

 close tlie entrance to quite a small 

 one. As soon as sufficient bees are 

 hatched, which will be according to 

 the strength of the colony, place 

 another in the center, and so continue 

 until flowers secrete honey, so that 

 the bees can get plenty to use each 

 day (if you have no honey in frames, 

 put the feed in the empty frame by 

 pouring it from a distance above, in a 

 small stream), then place in the cen- 

 ter, the same as a frame of honey ; as 

 the bees move the honey or feed from 

 the comb, the queen is sure to fill it 

 with eggs, and the bees will feed the 

 young. When honey comes plenti- 

 fully from the fiowers. place empty 

 frames of comb in the center of the 

 brood-nest. If, at any time, for any 

 reason, honey should cease, and there 

 is none in the center of the hives, im- 

 mediately place combs, tilled with 

 honey or feed in the center of the 

 brood-nest. If tliese rules are ob- 



served, bees will continue to rear 

 brood until the main honey crop 

 comes, when you will have to see that 

 the bees do not crowd the brood-nest 

 with honey. Colonies that are too 

 weak to work thus, should be fed^ 

 using some kind of a feeder that will 

 not let out any of the original heat. 

 No matter how much honey the colony 

 has, if it is weak, feed it. 1 cut a hole 

 through the quilt, over the cluster of 

 bees, and place the food in a feeder, 

 made thus : Make a tin cup, 2 inches 

 deep and 2^ inches in diameter, with- 

 out top or "bottom, and another that 

 will just squeeze into it, without top 

 or bottom (the inside cup should be 3 

 or I inches deep) : place the cotton 

 cloth over the largest cup, squeeze the 

 other into it, until it comes within }4 

 inch of the bottom ; now you have a 

 cup without top or bottom, with a 

 partition ij i"ch above the bottom. 

 Wet the under side of the cloth with 

 the food, so as to attract the bees ; set 

 it over the hole in the quilt, put in the 

 food, quite warm, at a certain hour 

 each day, and feed just what they will 

 use. I have used the above feeder for 

 15 years, with the best of success. 

 W. H. B. 

 Oran, N. Y., March 27, 1883. 



Bee-Keepiiig in Minnesota. 



We have been having a cold, long 

 winter, 41° below zero was the lowest, 

 and 42° above zero was the warmest, 

 up to March 14, and still we are hav- 

 ing cold spells. The thermometer, 

 this morning at 6 a. m., showed 12° 

 below zero. I set out 130 colonies of 

 bees on the 14th inst., which I win- 

 tered in a double-walled bee-house, 

 but the weather was hardly warm 

 enough for bees to take a fly (which 

 they needed badly) ; a large number 

 of them dropped on the snow and 

 could not rise again. It was 43° in 

 the shade, and 60° on the south side 

 of buildings, in the sun, above zero. 

 Cold winds have been prevailing for 

 the past three days, with from 2 10 2% 

 feet of snow in the woods, and north 

 side of hills, which is hard enough to 

 walk over anvwhere. There were 

 about 2J^ bushels of dead bees on the 

 floor of the bee-house, though, with 

 the exception of a few colonies, they 

 are in splendid condition; most of 

 them have consumed but little lioney, 

 and the combs look nice and clean ; 

 also there are plenty of bees. My 30 

 colonies, which I wintered out of 

 doors, came all through safely ; they 

 were packed with chaff, on the south 

 side of the building; and were cov- 

 ered with 13^2 feet of snow for over 2 

 months ; then the snow melted be- 

 tween the hives and the top of the 

 snow ; as it was too warm and damp 

 for the bees, I cleared it away ; the 

 coldest weather was over, too. I have 

 no cushions on top or anywhere, and 

 left the entrances, on all my hives, 

 open the whole width, but made holes 

 through the combs, last fall, for pas- 

 sages. Nearly all bees in this vicinity, 

 as far as I have heard, are dead ; their 

 keepers gave them no protection . I 

 have not lost any out of 160 colonies, 

 so far, this winter. I believe a ball of 

 snow on each entry, in portico, is a 

 good idea, as Mrs. A. B. Winder (on 



