THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



283 



if I had had plenty of the " Alsike 

 Clover Leaflets " to show, I could 

 have been still more successful ; but 

 the Leaflets were issued too late for 

 me. I am trying the Chapman honey- 

 plant this year; also the white mus- 

 tard, which will be ready for the bees 

 in June ; and sweet clover. 1 mean 

 to keep sowing bee-pl;ints until my 

 bees can have something else than 

 the heart's-ease to get honey from. 

 The basswood last year yielded honey 

 pretty well for a few days, but when 

 it came there was plenty of bees 

 starving. Now I hope that the Alsike 

 clover that has been sown this spring 

 will furnish lots of honey in June 

 next year. My apiary is out of town 

 a little ways, and the bees were killed 

 in the store windows, in June, by the 

 thousands eyery day, and a good 

 many store men were getting sick of 

 their company. The only way " to 

 keep peace in the family," is to do 

 just as I have been doing this spring. 



Breeding up Nicely.— B. W. Peck, 

 Richmond Centre, rf O., on April 22, 

 1887, says : 



My bees have again come through 

 the long, cold winter, and are breed- 

 ing up nicely. Bees in this locality 

 generally have not wintered as well 

 as they did last winter. My loss was 

 3 colonies out of 38. 



Bees in Prime Condition, etc.— F. 

 M. Taintor, Coleraiue,*o Mass., on 

 April 25, 1887, writes : 



I am happy to say that our bees 

 (those of Mr. W. W.'Cary and mine, 

 as we are in company) have wintered 

 extremely well. We think we have 

 some of the largest colonies we ever 

 ■wintered. Every colony that was out 

 in chaff hives are in prime condition. 

 The spring is quite backward here, 

 but we hope for warmer weather 

 soon, as we have considerable trans- 

 ferring, and other important work to 

 do. The valuable old Ajubrican Bee 

 Journal is worth more to me than 

 all the rest, for the good common- 

 sense which it contains. 



Terrible Mortality among Bees- 

 Late Snow Storms,— Geo-. A. Wright, 

 Glenwood,(^ Pa., on April 20, 1887, 

 writes : 



It seems to be the impression that 

 bees have wintered well all over the 

 country, which I think can hardly be 

 the case. In this locality, at least, 

 the mortality among bees has been 

 terrible, and for beekeepers to report 

 only the bright side, and leave the 

 dark side untold, is to give the busi- 

 ness a false coloring, which will 

 surely opperate against us. As far 

 as I am concerned, I want the public 

 to know how I have succeeded in 

 "wintering my bees. I began the win- 

 ter with 106 colonies, 67 in chaff 

 hives and 49 in Simplicity hives. Out 

 of the 106 colonies 56 are dead, 6 are 

 queenless, and more than 40 are weak. 

 They all had plenty of stores, and 

 were well packed with chaff ; in fact, 

 I put them up with greater care than I 



ever before ; but, alas ! I do not 

 think that 20 per cent, of the bees in 

 this locality can possibly survive. We 

 have had a few warm days, and bees 

 began to breed very fast; but day 

 before yesterday we had one of the 

 worst snow-storms of the season, and 

 last night the mercury lowered to 10'^ 

 above zero. So that I think the brood 

 must surely have been chilled. Many 

 small bee-keepers have lost all of their 

 bees, and in every case where bees 

 were not thoroughly packed, they are 

 all dead. This has been the hardest 

 winter on bees in this locality since 

 the winter of 18S0-81. The clover has 

 not been injured by frost, as it has 

 been protected by the snow ; so what 

 few bees are left will stand an ex- 

 cellent chance to get a good harvest. 

 I want to hear from the dark as well 

 as the bright side of bee-keeping. 



Bloom Frozen.— Mr. Eugene Secor, 

 Forest City, 6 Iowa, on April 26, 1887, 

 writes : 



The weather is bad for unprotected 

 bees outside. The fine weather of a 

 couple weeks ago, which brought out 

 the soft maples and all early blos- 

 soms, received a sudden backset last 

 Saturday. One of the worst snow- 

 storms of the season reached us. I 

 finished taking bees out of the cellar 

 on April 19. They came out in good 

 condition generally, but I fear the 

 effects of the late cold weather. If 

 they were inside I should feel glad. 

 I hear of heavy losses in some locali- 

 ties ; and we" are not " out of the 

 woods " yet, since all the pollen and 

 honey-bearing plants in bloom are 

 frozen. 



Unfavorable Weather for Bees.— 



F. A. Snell, Milledgeville,-o Ills., on 

 April 26, 1887, writes : 



The weather being very fine, and 

 soft maples in bloom, I removed my 

 bees from the cellar on April 7, in 

 good condition. Every colony was 

 alive and strong, and the combs were 

 bright and free from mold. The 

 hives and combs were as dry, appar- 

 ently, as they would have been in the 

 sitting-room or kitchen. I placed 

 them in the cellar on Nov. 23, 1886. 

 I have wintered my bees on natural 

 stores for years, with excellent re- 

 sults; in fact just as good or better 

 than on granulated sugar syrup, 

 which I gave a good trial 15 years 

 ago. The weather for the last two 

 weeks has been very unfavorable for 

 bees. It has frozen for the last few 

 nights quite hard, ice forming as 

 thick as window glass. I prefer a 

 late opening of spring for bees. 



Great Mortality of Queens.- O. B. 

 Barrows, Marshalltown,© Iowa, on 

 April 22, 1887, writes : 



On May 1, 18S6, 1 had .54 colonies of 

 of bees— 50 were strong and 4 were 

 weak. I increased them by natural 

 swarming to 98, gave away 2 colonies, 

 and found 2 queenless in October. I 

 put 94 into the cellar from Nov. 12 to 

 Nov. 16, 1886. and a slow fire was kept 



constantly burning in the cellar from 

 Nov. 22 to April 1. The bees were 

 put out from April 6 to April 8, and I 

 found 2 queenless colonies and the 

 bees all dead ; since that I have found 

 9 more queenless, making 13 queenless 

 colonies out of 96 colonies, since Oct. 

 1.1886, and more than half of them 

 were the old colonies having queens 

 reared in 1886. The hives were all 

 dry, with no moldy combs, and had 

 plenty of honey. Was not this an 

 unusual mortality among queens ? 

 If so, from the above data, wherein 

 did I err ? Two or three thicknesses 

 of burlap over the brood-chamber was 

 all the cover they had. 



[I cannot account for your unusual 

 loss of queens on grounds other than 

 old age, or too high a temperature in 

 your cellar, and the degree you did 

 not state. When the temperature is 

 kept too high, both workers and 

 queens ofttimes leave the hive and 

 never return.— Jasies Heddon.] 



Honey and Beeswax Market. 



The following are our very latest 

 quotations for honey and beeswax : 



CHICAGO. 



HONEY.— Sellers ask from 7 to 10 cts. for any- 

 thing otr in comb honey : this includes dark unde- 

 sirable and crooked combs, and 2-pound sections. 

 Good 1-lb. sections, 10(a>i2c. ; choice, I2>4®i3c.— 



BEESWAX,-25C. R. A. BURNETT. 



Mar. 28. 161 South Water St. 



DETROIT. 



HONBT.— Best white comb, liai2c. Market is 

 improving. 



BEB8WAX.-23C. 

 Apr. II. M. H. HUNT, Bell Branch, Mich. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



HONEY.— We quote : Extracted, white, 4®4M 

 cts. Comb, white. 7'*13c. Market Arm. 



BEESWAX.-Soarce at 19g)22c. 

 Apr. 4. SCHACHT & LEMCKB, 122-124 Davis Bt. 



CLEVELAND. \ 



HONEY.— Choice white in lib. sections, 12@13c.; 



second quality, lu®I ic: and buckwheat unsalable 



at 8'a-9C. Extracted, 5@6c. 

 BEESWAX.— 25c. 

 Apr. 20. A. C. KENDEL, 115 Ontario St. 



ST. LODIS. 

 HONEY.— Choice comb, 10IB12C. Strained, 



ID 



oarrels, 3!^'%4Mc. Extra fancy, ^ more than lore- 

 going prices. Extracted, 41'4<§'*ic. Market dull. 



BEESWAX.— Firm at 21c. for orime. 



Apr. 2L D. G. TUTT & CO.". Commercial St. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



HONEY.— We quote : White comb, I2@14c.: am- 

 ber, 7'*9c. Extracted, white, 4H<^5c. ; light amber, 

 3^(3i4Kc. Market quiet. 



BEESWAX.-iaa22c. 



Apr. 16. O. B. SMITH & CO., 423 FrOut St. 



BOSTON. 



HONEY.-i-lb. packages of white clover honey 

 at 13(dl5c.; 2-pound8at 11(^130. Extracted, 5®7c. 

 Sales slow. 



BBB8W AX.— 26 cts. per lb. 

 Apr. 22. BLAKE Si UIPLXT. 57 Cbatbam Street. 



CINCINNATI. 



HONEY.— We quote for extracted. 3@7c. per lb. 

 Best comb brings 1 l®14c. per lb. Demand fair. 



BEESWAX.— Good demand,— 2U(g)23c. per lb. for 

 good to choice yellow. 

 Apr. 21. C.P.MCTTH & SON.Preeman & Central At 



MILWAUKEE. 



HONEY.— We quote choice 1-lb. sections at llld 

 12c.; 2-lbs.. 10®lic. No call for dark. Whlteex- 

 tracted. In barrels and kegs.0@6^c. ; in small pack- 

 ages. 6!^@7c.: dark. In barrels and kegs, 4<&5c.— 

 Demand good. 



BBE8WAX.-2.'ic. 



Mar. 28. A. V. BI8B0P, 142 W. Water St. 



