THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



779 



When I bouglit the colony Last 

 spring I was given some copies of the 

 Bke Journal, and after reading 

 them I decided to subscribe for it, 

 and it was a good investment, I as- 

 sure you ; for one of my colonies, after 

 filling its hive, lost the queen, and I 

 did not know it until after they were 

 reduced quite low. I sent a descrip- 

 tion of it to Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 whose name I saw in the Bee Jour- 

 nal, and he sent me a queen, telling 

 me to give it a couple of frames of 

 brood. I did so, and introduced the 

 queen, and in three days afterwards I 

 saw her laying, and now I have a 

 good colony, which would have been 

 lost if it had not been for the Bee 

 Journal. 



I have put all of my bees into the 

 cellar, and they are well supplied with 

 sealed honey, except the one that 

 came out on Sept. 2, and it has con- 

 siderable, but not what I would like 

 it to have. 



I read in the Bee Journal how to 

 make a cheap bee-feeder with two 

 pieces of tin bent into two hoops, tit- 

 ting one in the other, then putting a 

 piece of muslin over one, and shoving 

 the other down into it ; and then to 

 pour in syrup made of granulated 

 sugar. I did so, and it worked nicely 

 with my young colony. 1. Will it do 

 to feed them in the cellar 'i 2. If 

 there comes nice warm days, as there 

 often does here, will it do to put them 

 out on the summer stands and feed 

 them, returning them to the cellar at 

 night V I put a block one inch thick 

 under each corner of the hive, thus 

 raising it one inch all around, and 

 tacked on wire cloth, for ventilatioil 

 for them. 3. Will it be sufflcient for 

 them ? 



Eochester,5 Ind., Nov, 19, 1887. 



[1. Yes ; you can feed them in the 

 cellar in the same way. 



2. When necessary, the hives of 

 bees may be put on the summer stands 

 on any warm day, and the bees can 

 have a cleansing flight. Put them 

 back into the cellar at night. Feed 

 them in the cellar. 



3. That will be quite sufficient ; in 

 fact, many prefer not to give them as 

 much as that. — Ed.] 



For tbe American Bee JoumoL 



Bee-Keeping anil Garfleuing, etc. 



JOHN BOERSTLEK. 



As some people think that they 

 cannot do anything else when they 

 have bees to look after, I will tell how 

 I manage : I had one acre in straw- 

 berries this S'r'ason, with only a 14- 

 year-old boy to help me pick the ber- 

 ries, and as I have no team, I have a 

 wheelbarrow, on which I wheeled the 

 strawberries 134 ni'les to the landing, 

 and the empty crates back. 1 have 

 cleared about §12.5 this year above all 

 expenses, and have lost about $25 by 

 not having crates and boxes in time. 

 I wonder what Dr. Miller will say 

 when be reads this. That is worth 



the feeding of a few chickens, but I 

 did it, and will do it again if 1 keep 

 my health, and I am now 59 years oldl 



The following is my report for 1887 : 

 I bought 2 colonies of bees for $12; 

 Italian queens, $4; bee-hives, sec- 

 tions, and other bee fixtures, $11 ; 

 total, $27. The results were : Three 

 new colonies, $80; two new empty 

 bee-hives left, $3 ; sold in honey in 

 old comb, at 15 cents per pound, $4 ; 

 honey in one-pound sections at 20 

 cents per pound, $4; total, $41. 



Vashon,*oWash. T., Nov. 14, 1887. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1S87. Tine ana vlact oj MeeHno~ 



Dec. 7-8.— Michigan State, at East Saginaw, Micb. 

 H. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton, Micb. 



Dec. 15.— Soulbeastem Mlcblgan, at Adrian, Micb. 



A. M. Gander, Sec, Adrian, Micb. 

 1888. 



Jan. 7.— Susquehanna County, at New Mitford, Pa. 

 H. M. Seeley, Sec, Harford, Pa. 



Jan. 10, 11.— Ontario, at Woodstock. Ont. 



W. Couse, Sec. 



Jan. 11.— Nebraska State, at Lincoln, Nebr. 



Henry Patterson, Sec, Humboldt, Nebr. 



Jan. 20.— Haldimand, at Cayuga, Ontario. 



E. C. Campbell, Sec. Cayuga, Ont. 



|y In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Bd. 



Value of a Bee-Paper, etc.— S. M. 

 Cox, Alvarado,d Ind., on Nov. 29, 

 1887, writes : 



I cannot very well get along with- 

 out the Bke Journal. I get more 

 for my honey than those who take no 

 bee-paper, thanks to the market re- 

 ports. This has been a very poor 

 season here for bees. I started with 

 47 colonies last spring, secured about 

 900 pounds of honey, mostly comb 

 honey ; and I increased my apiary to 

 100 colonies. I sold 5 colonies, had a 

 few robbed, doubled up several colo- 

 nies, and I now have 77 colonies left. 

 Some of them are rather light in 

 stores; some are packed in clover 

 chaff, and the rest are in double- 

 walled hives. I. look for a better sea- 

 son next year. 



Death.— Miss Edna Jacobus, North 

 Urbana, N. Y., on Nov. 30,1887, sends 

 the following notice of her father's 

 death : 



John Jacobus died of heart trouble, 

 on Nov. 25, 1887, at the age of 67 

 years. He had been a member of the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Union for 

 about 18 months, had taken the 

 American Bee .Journal two years, 

 and had always been deeply interested 

 in bee-culture ; but had taken more 

 interest in bees since he joined the 

 Bee-Keepers' Union, than he ever did 

 before. We have at present 65 colo- 

 nies of bees. 



Bees in Winter ftuarters, etc.— F, 

 A. Gibson, Racine, o» Wis., on Nov. 

 29, 1887, says : 



I have 80 colonies of bees in winter 

 quarters, and all are doing nicely. 

 They have plenty of honey to live on. 

 I have taken one ton of extracted 

 honey, and 300 pounds of comb honey 

 from tbem. They gathered it all 

 from sweet and Alsike clover. My 

 extracted honey brings 15 cents per 

 pound, and the comb honey 22 cents 

 per pound. I took first and second 

 premiums on bees and honey at tbe 

 liacine County Fair. 



Bees had a "Picnic," etc.— J. H. 



Howe, Mansfield, <x Mass., on Nov, 

 27, 1887, says : 



I commenced the spring of 1887 

 with 8 colonies, increased them to 15, 

 and one colony was robbed to death. 

 I bought 3 colonies, and now have 17, 

 which I shall try to winter. I have 

 taken out 6 pounds of honey, and fed 

 230 pounds of sugar this fall. My bee» 

 have had a real " picnic " to-day. The 

 temperature at noon was 68°, to-night 

 it is 603 above zero. 



The Season's Results.— Mr. C. A. 

 Wright, Little Prairie Ronde, ? Mich., 

 on Nov. 23, 1887, writes : 



I put 39 colonies into winter quar- 

 ters on Nov. 17, 1886, 30 of them in 

 the cellar, 8 packed in chaff in a 

 clamp out-doors, and 1 in a double- 

 walled chaff hive. All were in good 

 condition except two that were light. 

 I brought out 38 about April 1, 1887, 

 losing one out of those that I put inta 

 the cellar. I moved my bees 2J4 

 miles on April 19. I have sold 2 colo- 

 nies, lost 1 by its being robbed, and 1 

 by spring dwindling. I increased 

 them to 72 colonies by natural swarm- 

 ing, and lost 5 by robbing during the 

 extreme dry weather in July and 

 August. I have 69 colonies now, 62 

 strong ones, and 5 light in bees and 

 stores. I paid $58.25 for liives and 

 supplies, and have taken about 200 

 pounds of comb honey in one-pound 

 sections— enough for my own use. 

 There was not much money in it this 

 year. 



The Season in Tennessee.— J. H. 



Higgins, Victoria, On Tenn., on Nov. 

 28, 1887, writes : 



My bees are doing very well now. 

 They brought in their last pollen on 

 Nov, 18, from a shrub on the creek. 

 Owing to the drouth, my bees did not 

 do very well this season, as I got only 

 about 30 pounds of comb honey per 

 colony ; the rest I got in reading the 

 Bee Journal, as a school fund, 

 which I hope to continue while I keep 

 bees. My bees are all Italians except 

 one colony, which is a hybrid. I use 

 ahiveot two storie.'", and tapered, 9' 

 frames below and 10 above, to hold 60 

 one-pound sections in the top story. 

 To-day we have an indication of 

 approaching winter from the north- 

 west. There is ice ^ of an inch ort 

 the ponds, which is uncommon for 

 this time of the year in this locality. 



