THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



G73 



3. I have known queenless colonies, 

 and colonies with queens confined, on 

 granulated sugar syrup, within their 

 hives, out-of-doors for five months, 

 including the worst winter weather ; 

 then come out dry, bright, and no 

 sign of diarrhcea, and have seen them 

 do nearly as well on good honey.; 



4. I have seen bees wintering on 

 ordinary honey stores after long con- 

 finement, void their excrement on the 

 combs witliin the hive, and pollute 

 them as we all know they do without 

 seeing them. 



.5. I have seen bees wintering on 

 pure cane sugar stores after long con- 

 finement, void their excrement over 

 the combs without pollution, it being 

 thin and as clear as water ; I have 

 seen this day after day, and have 

 never observed any evil results from it. 



Probably T. F. Bingham suggested 

 this pollen theory some S or 9 years 

 ago ; I think so, but cannot prove it. 

 I luiow that James Ileddon has 

 slashed right and left about this thing 

 tor some years, and lately G. M. 

 Doolittle calls for the facts. Lets 

 have tliem, and be done with it. 



Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 12, 1883. 





Packed on Summer Stands. 



Last spring I had 15 colonies of 

 bees. Tliree of them were queenless. 

 I doubled up 4 of tlie others, so that 

 1 had but 10 good working colonies. 

 The season was wet, cold, and unfa- 

 vorable for rearing and fertilizing 

 <iueens for my queenless colonies ; so 

 I ordered some queens from Ken- 

 tucky, but did not get them until 

 about the first of -July. I unpacked 

 my bees on April 25. One swarm came 

 out April 30 ; I hived it on 4 frames of 

 comb foundation, and it gave my 45 

 pounds of honey in two-pound boxes. 

 My bees produced 607 pounds of honey 

 in one and two-pound boxes, and 147 

 pounds of extracted honey, making 

 in all 7.54 pounds of clover honey. 

 August was so dry that I got no honey 

 after .July. My Viees increased Ijy 

 natural swarming to 27 polonies, which 

 I packed for winter on the summer 

 stands, each having 33 to 40 pounds of 

 good clover honey. Wm. Morse. 



Kockford, 111., Dec. 15, 1883. 



Bees Starve in the Midst of Plenty. 



I would like to give an instance of 

 how easily bees may be starved with 

 plenty of honey near them. A friend 

 of mine had neglected to take the 

 honey boxes off his hives, until about 

 Dec. 1. While removing them, he 

 found where the bees in one hive had 

 taken up their winter quarters in the 

 surplus arrangement ; he undertook 

 to drive them below with smoke, but 

 as they did not go readily, he took the 

 honey out, and as there was an abund- 

 ance of stores below, he supposed they 

 would be all right. But what was his 

 rstonishment on opening the hive, a 

 few days later, to find the bees all 

 clustered in the box as natural as life, 



but cold and stiff in death's embrace. 

 This was a strong colony, and came 

 through the cold winter of 1882-3 on 

 the summer stand, without any pro- 

 tection. I would say the mercury only 

 indicated UP below freezing.when the 

 bees starved. S. J. Youngman. 

 Cato, Mich., Dec. 15, 1883. 



Wintered on Siigrar-Candy. 



On Nov. 20, 1882, 1 put into the cel- 

 lar 23 colonies in Carey's improved 

 hives. I took them out on April 20, 

 1883, all in good condition, except one 

 which was queenless. which I put witli 

 two weak colonies ; that left me 22 

 colonies, spring count. The season 

 was cold and wet. I started queen- 

 rearing on June 1 , when tlie bees were 

 at work on raspberry and white clover. 

 I made 60 nuclei, and reared 100 

 queens. I sold 40 of the nuclei and 75 

 queens. I extracted 700 lbs. of white 

 clover honey, and had 300 lbs. of comb 

 honey. I have 42 colonies of Italians, 

 and 38 colonies of blacks, wliich I 

 bought this fall. These I put into 

 the cellar on Nov. 15 ; they were gen- 

 erally light, on account of early frost. 

 I gave each 10 lbs. of candy made from 

 granulated sugar and honey (25 lbs. of 

 sugar and 5 lbs. of honey), which 

 makes the best candy I have tried for 

 winter stores. I like it better than 

 honey. The bees do not come out 

 gorged, and have the dysentery in the 

 spring. I keep the cellar as near 45° 

 as possible, and have only one venti- 

 lator (a 6-inch stove pipe). Since I 

 tried this method of wintering, I have 

 lost but 8 colonies all told, in 5 years. 

 A. A. Byakd. 



West Chesterfield,N.II., Dec.l7,18a3. 



To Bee-Keepers of Iowa. 



I want to call together all tlie bee- 

 keepers of tlie Cedar River A'alley and 

 surrounding territory that may be in- 

 terested in forming an organization in 

 the interest of modern bee-keeping, 

 and the production and marketing of 

 honey, to meet at Waterloo, Iowa, 

 Fell." 13 and 14, 1884. Do not wait 

 until tlie organization is formed, but 

 come along and help organize it. Help 

 us make tile start, for we need an or- 

 ganization of this kind in this vicin- 

 ity. Among the prominent bee-keep- 

 ers of this section, who are anxious to 

 form an association, I may mention 

 J. W. Spaulrting. of Charles City ; 

 John Bird and Chas. Tracy. of Nashua; 

 O. O. Poppleton, of Williamstown : 

 A. J. Norris and E. A. Starks, of 

 Cedar Falls ; J. M. and A. Bennett, of 

 Waterloo; L. L. Triem and Dr. Oren, 

 of La Porte ; Samuel August, David 

 Thayer and James Ralston, of Vin- 

 ton ; Robert Quinn, of Shellsburg; 

 Thos. B. Quinlan, of Cedar Rapiils ; 

 E. A. Sheldon and A. R. Blood, of In- 

 dependence; J. K. Oren and George 

 Black, of Brandon ; Wm. Hunt & Son, 

 of Centre Point. All the above 

 named are interested, and a great 

 many more not mentioned, no one of 

 wliom have less than 50, and from that 

 up to 300 colonies. We extend an in- 

 vitation to all outside of this territory, 

 who can, to meet with us. I have 

 mentioned Waterloo, so as to make it 

 central from all directions, and I will 

 send a notice to each of the county 



paper^' along this valley, one or two 

 weeks before the time of the meeting, 

 and try and make arrangements with 

 the hotels for reduced rates during 

 our stay. Remember, bee-keepers, 

 " united we stand, divided we fall." 

 H. O. McElhany. 

 Brandon, Iowa, Dec. 15, 1883. 



Wintering on the Summer Stands. 



My report for 1S83, is— a light crop. 

 I commenced in the spring with 3.S 

 colonies— increased 66 per cent. I ob- 

 tained 2,1.50 lbs. of extracted honey, 

 and have some 300 lbs. left in the 

 surplus combs for spring stimulating. 

 They winter on summer stands, part 

 in 2-story liives with the top story filled 

 with oat-straw, and part in one stoiy 

 with no protection, except a (luilt and 

 5 thicknesses of paper spread on the 

 frames, with a tight-fitting cover. I 

 formerly wintered my bees in the cel- 

 lar, and prefer tlie ceHar for a cold 

 winter; but I prefer the summer stands- 

 for a warm winter. A. S. Edson. 



Martinsville, Mo., Dec. 11, iHSj. 



Fair Honey Harvest. 



Bees have done well in this part of 

 the State, during the past season, es- 

 pecially the early part, which was very 

 good up to the first of July, when the 

 dry weather cut off the flow for the 

 season, so far as surplus was con- 

 cerned. The bees gatliered enough 

 honey to keep up brood rearinsr and 

 el'ioiigh for winter stores, with those 

 that took interest enough in the busi- 

 ness to take care of their late swarms 

 and return them to the parent colony. 

 But those that were hived in empty 

 hives did not gather enough, and they 

 will be numbered with the dead when 

 spring comes. My 34 colonies of bees 

 are in winter quarters in good condi- 

 tion, and with honey enough to last 

 until fruit bloom. Geo. Cole. 



Freeport. Ind.,Dec. 18, 1883. 



(iot only lialf a Crop. 



As long as I keep bees I never want 

 to be without the 15eb Journal. 

 IJees did not do as well liere last sea- 

 son as the year before. I think I shall 

 get about half a crop, compared with 

 the season of 1882. I had 38, spring 

 count — increased 4 ; 42 this fall (I 

 worked against increase) ; all are well 

 supplied with honey now. I have sold 

 my comb honey at 16 cents mostly, 

 and extracted at 12t.< cents. My crop 

 will be about 2.000 lbs., of which I 

 still have hj on hand. My supplies 

 came so late that I have them all on 

 hand for next year; they were 2 months 

 coming, from the time I ordered them. 

 Weather is very pleasant here — more 

 like spring than winter, so far. Bees 

 were flying nearly every day. I have 

 3 colonies that I have taken from the 

 neighbors that were going to kill theui. 

 I have for several years took such, 

 and liave always wintered them as 

 well as any. I took 13 colonies last 

 fall ; doubled them down to 6 ; 1 gave 

 them frames from luy other colonies, 

 of sealed honey, and they are all right 

 for winter, just the same as any colony. 

 I use the Laiigstrotli hive and am well 

 satisfied with it. W. H.tiKAVES. 



Duncan. 111.. Dec. 14, 18.8;^. 



