310 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the Langstroth hive are the favorites 

 here. I find bee-calture exceedingly in- 

 teresting, and spend many pleasant 

 hours in that retired portion of the 

 garden where my village of bee-hives is 

 located. The American Bee Journal 

 has become indispensable, and I attribute 

 my success greatly to its assistance. 

 Just here my wife suggests that it will 

 be quite appropos to mention that she 

 took the first premium at our county fair, 

 last week, for comb-honey— for the 

 thickest and best filled cells — and the 

 second premium for extracted-honey. 

 James R. Ogan. 

 Tipton, Ind., Aug. 25, 1891. 



A Correction. 



I wish to make a correction. • In my 

 letter, on page 119, the next to the last 

 sentence, where it reads, "but only 2 of 

 the queens were alive, the other 4 hav- 

 ing been destroyed by the carelessness of 

 the express company," I should have 

 said that "four pounds of»the bees, with 

 their queens, were destroyed by the care- 

 lessness of the express company, and 

 they were replaced by Messrs. Col wick & 

 Col wick." John Sundermann. 



Huntington, Ind. 



[The error was caused by the vague- 

 ness of the language used in the original 

 letter. Such errors as the above may be 

 avoided by the exercise of a little care on 

 the part of correspondents, to make 

 their statements plain and concise, leav- 

 ing nothing to be inferred. — Ed.] 



Grubb's Patent (?) Frame. 



I never used the so-called Grubb's 

 patent (?) frame, but saw it in use in 

 the apiary of a man by the name of 

 Stevens, near Sioux City, Iowa, in 1881. 

 I was informed by Mr. Stevens that the 

 device had been in use for several years. 



Monroe, Iowa. J. A. Nash. 



Poorest in Five Years. 



This is the poorest honey crop that we 

 have had in five years. I had 54 colonies 

 of bees. Spring count, and they increased 

 to 75, but they have not stored 5 pounds 

 of surplus per colony, though there was 

 white and red clover in abundance. The 

 prospects are very poor for a Fall crop. 

 What is the matter ? 



Anderson Hyer. 



Washington C. H., Ohio. 



Better than Last Year. 



I send you to-day a view of my apiary, 

 which numbers 42 colonies. I observe 

 that 5 colonies are omitted from the 

 view. This has been a poor season here, 

 although somewhat better than last year. 

 What honey we have is of better quality 

 than last year's crop, and I am living in 

 hopes of securing a Fall crop. We had 

 a splendid rain last night, and all we 

 want now is warm weather. Please 

 accept this view, If you have room in 

 your album. G. W. Logan. 



Elwood, Iowa, Aug. 11, 1891. 



[The view is placed in our office album, 

 with thanks. — Ed.] 



White Clover a Failure. 



Bees in this locality have done very 

 little this season. Basswood yielded 

 moderately well, but the honey was 

 mixed with "bug-juice." White clover 

 proved a failure, but buck-brush yielded 

 some nectar. Owing to the wet season, 

 Spanish-needle andsmartweed are grow- 

 ing luxuriantly, and beginning to bloom, 

 but whether they will afford any nectar, 

 remains to be seen. However, they are 

 our last hope. John Doty.. 



Gait, Mo., Aug. 25, 1891. 



Prospects for Fall Honey. 



There was no white clover honey in 

 this locality. There is, however, an 

 excellent prospect for a good crop of 

 honey from Fall flowers. 



John Q. Hill. 



Prophetstown, Ills., Aug. 17, 1891. 



Albino Bees. 



In response to an inquiry by Mr. I. F. 

 Diamond, page 216, "Are the Albinos 

 as hardy as the Italians, i. e. do they 

 Winter as well ?" I can say that the 

 so-called Albino bees are a type distin- 

 guished by three yellow bands (Italian) 

 and white rings below, and white thorax, 

 with purple about the eyes. Mr. D. A. 

 Pike, of Smithburg, Md., was the first 

 who called attention to the white devel- 

 oped on the progeny of an Italian queen, 

 in 1874. Prior to this, white markings 

 had occasionally been noticed here and 

 there among Italians, and Gen. Adiar 

 applied the name Albino to the white 

 Italians. Years ago I had fine Albino 

 queens of Mr. Pike, Mr. Valentine and 

 Mr. Taylor, and I got a fine Albino queen 

 of Mr. Pike last May. I had experience 



