THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 3, 



CONDUCTED BY 



MRS. JJE^TA'IE xXTCHLBY, BEBVILLB. TEX. 



A New Year's Greeting. 



Dear friends, I wish to thank you for your many kind let- 

 ters and kind words during 1894, and now, as the New Year 

 dawns, I wish to greet you with a New Year's smile, and wish 

 you all a Uappy 1895, and trust you may all reap a good 

 honey harvest this year. 



We are very busy just now (Dec. 20), as our bee-meeting 

 is almost at hand. But I feel that I must take time to thank 

 one and ;ill for your kindness to me in the past. It seems to 

 me now that nearly all my time is taken up entertaining bee- 

 keepers in some way, and I feel more and more attached to 

 bee-people as the years roll by. I can pass time more pleas- 

 antly in company with bee-keepers than with others, and this 

 is why I feel more attached to them. 



I wish to make my department more entertaining this 

 year than ever before, and ask the assistance of all my bee- 

 friends in making "The Sunny Southland" what it ought to 

 be. Now, that the "Old Reliable " is going to be greatly im- 

 proved, I must also improve my department. Send in your 

 questions, and all the good matter you can, and I will answer 

 and discuss all bee-matters in this department. 



Again I thank you, and wish all a prosperous 1895. 



Jennie Atchley. 



Bee-Keepers Arriving' at Beeville. 



This is Dec. 20, and the bee-keepers are beginning to ar- 

 rive. Mr. C. B. Bankston and two sons, of Chriesman, Tex., 

 came last evening ; and F. A. Lockhart, of Lake George, N. 

 Y., came this evening. All seem favorably impressed with 

 Bee county. A full report of our bee-meeting will appear in 

 my department soon after the meeting. We are having 

 lovely weather, and bees are gathering honey from black 

 chaperal, which is just now beginning to bloom. 



Jennie Atchley. 



—^ — m 



Flowers from Australia— The Bee-Bulletin. 



We have just received some flowers from Australia, sent 

 by Mr. E. Tipper, editor of the Australian Bee-Bulletin. One 

 is bloodwood, the other mahogam— both native Australian 

 plants, and, 1 suppose, good honey-yielders. 



By the way, have you noticed what an interesting journal 

 the Australian Bee-Bulletin Is ? I toll you, I believe if we 

 had our bee-meetings oftener, like they do in Australia, it 

 would be helpful to us. The Australian Bee-Bulletin is a 

 well-printed and well-gotten-up journal, and seems ever alive 

 to the interest of its readers. It comes monthly, and has 

 about 36 pages each Issue. May it prosper, and be well 

 patronized by the bee-keepers of Australia and other countries. 



Jennie Atchley. 



Those Bee-Lessons— Transferring' Bees. 



I will continue my lessons soon after our convention re- 

 port Is all published. Also, I have In store for you our visit to 

 the bee-keepers of Brazoria county. 



We are transferring bees this beautiful spring-like 

 weather— Dec. 21- and some of our bees are rearing brood 

 right lively. But we will put a stop to their brood-rearing as 

 soon as a few young bees are hatching, as they would use up 

 all their honey If left to do as they wished to do. We will 



cage the queens if breeding does not stop, as we do not want 

 bees at this time of the year. But unless we have some colder 

 weather, our honey-beariag plants will be in full bloom, and 

 then we will be ready to harvest the honey. Our bees, with 

 few exceptions, are in fine condition for winter, and if we can 

 keep down breeding, they will be all right. 



Jennie Atchley. 



■ I m 



The Bee-Bulletin Calls It " Ileanness." 



Do you keep bees? Then of course you take the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. The following I found in the Australian 

 Bee-Bulletin : 



"Oh, no, I always see it, though; Mr. So-and-So takes 

 it, and he lets me look it over always." Such a conversation 

 actually took place in one locality lately. One party was 

 mean, and the other thoughtless. What show is there of im- 

 proving a paper, or even of keeping it up to its present stan- 

 dard, with many such people ? 



Now, this is really too bad. I know it is your privilege to 

 borrow your good neighbor's journal, as well as his other 

 necessities, but all bee-keepers in the South who do not take 

 the American Bee Journal already, just send to me your sub- 

 scription for it, and I will promise you we will endeavor to 

 please you, and make you feel well repaid for the dollar, and 

 at the same time enable the " Old Reliable" to move out on 

 the line of progress and improvement. During these long 

 winter evenings, rake up items of news and bee-notes of in- 

 terest, and send them to me, or to Editor York direct, and we 

 will be glad to publish them. Remember, the " Old Reliable " 

 is strictly a bee-journal ! Jennie Atchley. 



CONDUCTED BY 



£>R. C. C. MILLER, M^XREX^GO, ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



When and How to Transfer Bees. 



1. At what time during spring or summer would it be 

 more suitable to transfer bees from the old-style box-gum into 

 frame hives ? 



2. Can I transfer them in time to get a full crop of comb 

 honey the first season ? 



'6. In transferring, is it best to transfer a part, or all, of 

 their brood-comb (from the old gum) into the frame hive, or 

 simply give them comb foundation to start brood anew ? 



Reynoldsville, III. C. H. S. 



Answers. — 1. The time generally taken for transferring 

 is fruit-bloom. 



2. If done in good shape, it ought not to put the bees 

 back, and, indeed, in some cases you may get a larger crop the 

 same season than if vou had not transferred them. For, as a 

 general rule, in box-hives a good deal of drone-comb will be 

 found, and an inch of drone-comb means a good deal more 

 than an inch of honey lost. 



3. As a rule, none but good, straight worker-comb is 

 transferred, but no brood should be wasted. 



Before doing much transferring, it will pay you to get a 

 good text-book and read up. 



The Standard Langstroth Frame. 



What is the length of a standard Langstroth frame ? I 

 have 17% inches, according to "Langstroth on the Honey- 

 Bee," before Dadant's revision, and as a hive has, that I got 

 from Mr. Heddon 10 years ago, from which all mine have 

 been made. The dovetailed hive, I believe, has frames 17 fi 

 inches long. There cannot be two " standard " lengths of any 



