THE AMERICAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



217 



Are Bees Taxable in Iowa I 



Will you please state whether the 

 laws of Iowa exempt bees from taxa- 

 tion y All aarree here that if bees are 

 animals they are then exempt. Some 

 think they are insects. 



Peter S. Tbiem. 



Mt. Auburn, Iowa. 



[We are informed that the Attorney 

 General, some 15 years ago, decided 

 that in Iowa bees are not taxable, and 

 according to the laws of that State, 

 they are not assessable. Apiarists In 

 Iowa should show this to the new 

 assessors.— Ed.] 



Honey Flow in Louisiana. 



There has been a fine flow of honey ; 

 the bees are in splendid condition. I 

 have been running for increase, and 

 yet from 100 colonies I liave taken 

 3,.i00 pounds of good honey. I stall 

 start for the North about April 25, 

 with a lot of colonies. 



E. T. Flanagan. 



Kenner, La., April 16,1883. 



A Beginner's Experience. 



My father kept bees as long ago as 

 I can remember, and I was always 

 fond of them. About 5 years ago, I 

 and a neighbor procured about a 

 dozen each, and as we had heard of 

 the new way of dividing, we divided 

 them again and again, expecting to 

 get rich in that way, but the winter 

 cleaned us out of the bee business. 

 Taking the advice of a friend, I sub- 

 scribed for the Bee Journal and 

 bought Cook's Manual, and concluded 

 to try agaui, after learning more 

 about bees. I sold enough honey to 

 pay for my bees, and all that I had 

 over spent on them, and still have the 

 bees left. They are in good condition 

 now, and will be ready for the harvest 

 when it comes. 



Casey. 111. D. R. Rosebkough. 



Wintering Bees, etc. 



As dry sawdust is hard to get in the 

 fall, I procured it dry, after harvest, 

 and had plenty in the fall. I have 

 tried chaff with success, but do not 

 want it any more ; it harbors mice, 

 and gets damp very quickly. I must 

 either clip the queen's wings or run a 

 great risk of my neck, so I choose the 

 former. I like a deeper frame than 

 the Langstroth, for Canada. I want 

 my frames crosswise ; I think a divis- 

 ion-board as needful as the hives. I 

 use an outside box about 6 inches 

 larger than the hive, with the en- 

 trance bridged, and packed around 

 and on top { with movable side), pressed 

 tight on sawdust. In frosty morn- 

 ings, in the fall, I remove all outside 

 combs, which can be done very fast, 

 and feed up, on from 5 to 7 frames. 

 Where do bees cluster in the fall and 

 winter ? Below the honey ; the only 



place for them, and just where they 

 should, to give heat for sealing ; they 

 have warm honey all winter. I have 

 yet to lose the tirst good colony pre- 

 pared in the above manner. I have 

 no carrying to do, in the spring, and 

 bees are packed all the spring, and are 

 not coaxed out, with every sunbeam, 

 to get lost. Two colonies starved, in 

 Langstroth hives, with honey in the 

 hive; sometimes bees cluster in the 

 centre, and getting to the end of the 

 frames in a cold spell, they will starve 

 with honey at the other end. Some of 

 my bees have not down for 147 days ; 

 neither do they seem to want to 

 They are in excellent condition, with 

 about 5 inches of sawdust on the top. 

 For such a terrible winter, bees that 

 are packed have wintered well. My 

 experience will not agree with that of 

 Prof. Cook, as stated on page 85 of 

 his Manual. In every case, with me, 

 the Held bees have decided what shall 

 be done. Last summer I found them 

 keeping the queen from drone cells, 

 and even using violence to stop her 

 from laying drone eggs. I learn from 

 them as to whetlier there should be a 

 second swarm or not. 



Chas. Mitchell. 

 Molesworth, Ont., April 9, 1883. 



Willows for Pollen. 



I send a shoot taken from a bush or 

 tree, for identitication. I find it lit- 

 erally covered with bees, for the sake 

 of the profusion of its pollen. lean 

 liken their labors upon it to nothing 

 else except what we have all witnessed 

 at the rye meal basket. I take it to 

 be a species of the willow, of which 

 Br. Barrett (1850) enumerated 100 

 species growing in North America. 

 Wm. S. Barclay. 



Beaver, Pa., April 17, 1883. 



[It is one of the willow family, as 

 you have surmized.— Ed.] 



My Experience With Bees. 



I have liad bees for more than 30 

 years, but never paid much attention 

 to them until the spring of 1879, when 

 I concluded to give them my atten- 

 tion (having quit active business), 

 and to that end, I procured a book on 

 the subject, read the science up, and 

 tliought I was master of the situation. 

 Having 5 colonies of black bees I 

 divided them according to instruc- 

 tions in King's Text Book, and suc- 

 ceeded beyond ray expectations; in 

 the fall I found myself possessed of 10 

 colonies in good condition for winter, 

 and got some surplus honey. I put 

 them in the cellar, and they came out 

 all right in the spring of 18H0. I again 

 divided and had 20 in the fall, and got 

 a small amount of surplus ; all being 

 heavy and in good condition for win- 

 ter, I thouglit I would try out-door 

 packing, and packed 10 in oat straw 

 and chaff (after Mr. Ileddon's plan), 

 and 10 put in the cellar. March being 

 so pleasant I set set them all out, and 

 unpacked those that were out, all be- 

 ing in good condition, so far as I 

 could see ; but April and part of May 

 being wet, cold and windy, they com- 

 menced to die off very I'apidly, leav- 

 ing nice clean combs full of honey, so 



by the middle of May I had but one 

 weak colony left, which died in tlie 

 fall, after all my nursing. With over 

 100 frames full, or partly full of honey, 

 I concluded to try itagain, and bought 

 12 colonies, part hybrids and part 

 blacks, and got one colony from Mr, 

 King, of New York. Increased them 

 to 26, and got 335 lbs. of box honey, 

 which I sold at 20 cents per pound, 

 which paid for the 12 colonies bought. 

 I put them away for the winter, 

 packed in the summer stands, as be- 

 fore, all in good condition. They 

 came out in the spring of 1882 with^ 

 out the loss of a single colony. Ex- 

 pecting big things, I bought $47 worth 

 of supplies, and increased my stock 

 to 48, by my former method a little 

 modified. Upon examination Oct. 1, 

 I found them nearly all short of win- 

 ter stores, some not having 5 lbs. of 

 honey, and I got no surplus, except 

 from one colony, and that gave me 

 about 25 lbs. of inferior honey. I did 

 not like to see them die, if I could 

 help it, so I bought two barrels of cof- 

 fee A sugar, and made it into sryup 

 and fed them, so they averaged in 

 weight from 18 to 30 lbs. I have 

 packed them in plainer shavings. I 

 suppose there never was a worse sea» 

 son for honey in our county before. . 

 Wm. B. McCormick. 

 Uniontown, Pa. 



Queen Nursery, Observing Hives, Etc. 



Please answer the following ques^ 

 tions in the Bee Journal : 



1. Seeing that queen nurseries are 

 required for the purpose of having a 

 supply on all occasions when needed, 

 and few bees can be spared for such 

 nurseries, how are they to be protected 

 through the winter ; it being neces- 

 say to have them strong to keep up 

 heat for winter protection ? As high a 

 temperature being as necessary for a 

 weak colony as a strong one, and the 

 natural heat will not be sufficient, 

 how is more heat to be created V I 

 have never seen anything giving in- 

 structions on this subject, although 

 Prof. Cook so strongly urges rearing 

 queens. 



2. In the observatory hive, as de- 

 scribed by Prof. Cook, page 113 of the 

 present volume of the Bee Journal, 

 which, of course, is intended to be in 

 the house, study, or some such place, 

 should not the alighting board be at; 

 an open window, for the egress and 

 ingress of the bees, to prevent them 

 coming into the room, where it is de- 

 sired to see them V I suppose that, 

 during the winter season, the observa- 

 tory hive may become a queen nursery. 



3. What plan must be taken to stim- 

 ulate late breeding, as urged in Cook's 

 Manual V He gives the advice, but 

 not the information which is neces- 

 sary to many ; in fact to all who have 

 not had the experience in that way. 

 If the bees have plenty of honey, ia 

 there something else better for that 

 purpose V Edward Moore. 



Barrie, Ont. 



[Prof. Cook replies to the above 

 questions as follows :— Ed.] 



1. I suppose Mr. Moore means by 

 queen nurseries the small colonies or 



