THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



'Z'Sd 



out to look for a new location, and 

 the loyal braves inform her that the 

 virgin daughter is singing in her 

 prison cell, and the guards are break- 

 ing the seals to release her from her 

 16 da\'s' imprisonment. The old 

 Queen's loyal braves are a committee of 

 thousands, and then she is informed 

 that they will lead or conduct her to 

 the selected location, and all civil 

 business inside is suspended for a 

 few minutes, the guards are relieved 

 at the enti'ance, and join the old 

 loyals in their flight to their " new 

 home," and the young virgin queen, 

 in about 5 days, takes a wedding 

 flight with a crowd of fat, lazy drones, 

 and returns the same day, if not 

 molested by pirates ; the colony is 

 re-organized, and the drones are or- 

 dered exterminated. 



Drones Flying.— Dr. H. R. Dorr, 

 Worden, ? Ills., on April 2, 1887,says : 



My bees are doing splendidly this 

 spring. I have one fine colony of 

 Italians that have drones flying to- 

 day. Who can beat that for this lati- 

 tude ? Bees in this neighborhood were 

 carrying in pollen on March 1. My 

 bees were left to winter on the sum- 

 mer stands in chaff hives. I have not 

 lost a colony for three winters in suc- 

 cession. I await a rich harvest for 

 the bees this year. 



View of an Apiary.— Mrs. J. N. 

 Heater, Columbus,© Nebr., writes : 



I send you by this mail a view of 

 my bees in their winter quarters, to 

 be placed in your " bee-keeper's 

 album." I have always used the 

 chaff hives for wintering, and with 

 uniform success. 



[It is a very pretty scene. The ice- 

 covered hives and trees, in the sun- 

 shine, makes it attractive. It is placed 

 in our bee-keeper's album, as re- 

 quested.— Ed.] 



Loss by Spring Dwindling.— Chas. 



r. Uhl, Millersburg,O0., on March 

 30, 1887, says : 



I hear of a great many bees through- 

 out this locality that were dying dur- 

 ing the last two months. A great 

 many of them were lost by spring 

 dwindling. So far I have wintered 

 mine all right; they all had a nice 

 flight three days ago. But the coming 

 two weeks will try them the hardest. 

 I am generally successful in wintering 

 my bees on the summer stands. I also 

 use the Langstroth frame, and mostly 

 the single-stoi7 chaff hive, and some 

 two-story chaff and portico hives. My 

 bees are pure Italians. 



Onr Various Climate.— W. J. Davis, 

 Youngsville,-o Pa., on March 30, 1887, 

 writes : 



The Bee Journal gives us North- 

 ern people some strange reading. For 

 instance, in .January and February to 

 read of bees carrying in pollen and 

 honey, drones Hying and swarms is- 



suing,while we in northwestern Penn- 

 sylvania are ice-bound, and not a bee 

 dare leave the cluster. Yesterday the 

 piercing wind and driving snow made 

 out-door existence anything but com- 

 fortable, and this morning the mer- 

 cury was just at zero. Possibly some 

 of our Southern brethren, sweating in 

 the shade of leafy trees, may gather 

 some comfort by the reflection that 

 up here we have " cool breezes." 

 Truly, a broad land is ours. Before 

 the ice leaves our Northern lakes, we 

 may feast on the strawberries of the 

 South ; and before we dare commit a 

 melon seed to the ground, the luscious 

 melons of the South are in our market. 



Fastening Foundation in Sections. 



— L. N. Tongue, Wonewoc,© Wis., 

 writes : 



Mr. E. W. H., of Indiana, on page 

 203, asks how foundation is to be 

 fastened in sections where a groove 

 is cut. The best, easiest and fastest 

 way is to melt of wax two parts, and 

 of rosjn one part, by putting in a 

 shallow dish over a lamp wick turned 

 down so as to keep the wax just 

 melted ; not let it get hot enough to 

 melt the foundation when dipped into 

 it. Take the section in one hand, the 

 foundation in the other, and dip it 

 into the melted wax and place it in 

 the cut in the section. You must 

 have but little wax in the dish at a 

 time. One can fasten in this way as 

 fast as he can pick up a section, and 

 it will stay, too. 



Cold and Stormy March.— Arthur 

 Todd, Philadelphia,os Pa., on March 

 30, 1887, writes : 



The month of March has been very 

 cold and stormy, with a bright sun, 

 often a freezing wind affording bees 

 no chance to fly without danger. Since 



?utting my bees into winter quarters 

 have not disturbed them. We had 

 one mild day some three weeks ago, 

 and every colony was flying, so I hope 

 for a slight loss. Yesterday and to- 

 day we have had a blizzard ; the tem- 

 perature was 20° Fahr., and high 

 wind and snows prevailed. 



Rain Needed Badly.— B. F. Carroll, 

 Dresden, 6 Tex., on April 4, 1887, says: 



Rain is badly needed in this State 

 now. There has been none in places 

 since last October. Bees are doing 

 well here. 



The Alsike Clover Leaflet.— James 

 Heddon, Dowaptiac, 9 Mich., writes : 



The new Leaflet on the . ^"^1- of 

 planting Alsike clover is a move in 

 the right direction. I say " right 

 direction " because its propagation is 

 not only of interest and proflt to bee- 

 keepers, but it is a most profitable 

 plant for the farmer. Mr. Baldridge 

 is one of those bee-keepers whose 

 clear comprehension and long ex- 

 perience makes him authority on sub- 

 jects connected with our chosen pur- 

 suit. Our wisest bee-keepers will 



distribute these leaflets by the thou- 

 ands. I have copied it into my weekly 

 paper, and a thousand subscribers 

 will thus be given the benefit of It. 

 As there are many persons in the 

 world who live and suffer in the 

 canker of envy and jealousy, there 

 may be many bee-keepers who had 

 better get some farmer neighbors to 

 distribute the leaflets than to do it 

 themselves. 



Bees in Fine Condition.— J. C. 



Armstrong, Bromley ,OIowa, on April 

 6, 1887, says : 



I took my bees out of the cellar on 

 April 1, and I have never had them 

 winter in better condition. I used to 

 be anxious to give them a flight in 

 mid-winter, but I have gotten over 

 that. They had been confined 135 

 days, and had commenced breeding. 

 They began gathering pollen the next 

 day after their liberation. If the 

 weather had required it, I believe I 

 could have kept them confined a 

 month longer. 



Honey Yield from One Colony.— J. 



H. Higgins, Victoria, cxTenn., writes; 



I desire to know what has been the 

 largest amount of comb honey any 

 one has obtained from one colony, aa 

 an average for the past 10 years. Will 

 some one please answer through the 

 AaiERiCAN Bee Journal V 



The numbers of the Asiekican 

 Bee Journal for the first 3 months 

 of this year have been very valuable 

 to every one interested in bee-keeping 

 — every number has been worth the 

 cost of a year's subscription. The 

 question department is a grand help 

 to me. 



Bees Working Hard.-T. S. Hall, 

 Corinth, 6 Miss., on April 4, 1887,says: 



Bees are in fine condition ; they are 

 swarming, having wintered finely. 

 Thousands of yellow drones are flying 

 from the Italian colonies that are 

 bringing in the honey fast. It is a 

 beautiful sight to see the yellow Ital- 

 ian bees from 100 hives all at work, 

 and all in a rush. 



Lost None in Winter.- Abe Hoke, 

 Union City,ot Ind., on April 7, 1887, 

 writes : 



I reported 33 colonies in winter 

 quarters on the summer stands— 32 in 

 straw hives, and one in a three-frame 

 observatory hive in wood and glass. 

 The one in the observatory hive is all 

 right so far, and so are the 32 in straw 

 hives. One was queenless, and was 

 being robbed, so I united it with 

 another ; it had plenty of honey. iTwo 

 or 3 colonies are light in bees, but 

 have plenty of honey ; 5 or 6 are not 

 crowded with honey, and I have fed 8 

 of the lightest ones. I will have to 

 feed if the weather does not change 

 soon. I have not lost an entire colony 

 in the three past winters. Maple 

 bloom is entirely destroyed on account 

 of severe weather. 



