AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



231 



prompt — while the State Legislature is in 

 session. We accordingly met, and de- 

 cided in accordance with your sugges- 

 tion, to meet at an early date, and invite 

 the bee-keepers throughout the State to 

 come and organize an. Illinois State Bee- 

 Keepers' Society. Therefore, the Capi- 

 tal Bee-Keepers' Association will meet 

 in the Supervisors' Room of the Court 

 House,at Springtiekl, Ills., on Thursday, 

 Feb. 26, at 10 a.m. Why cannot each 

 county in the State be represented ? 



C. E. YocoM. 

 Sherman, Ills., Jan. 80, 1891. 



Crop of 44 Pounds Per Colony. 



In my locality the locust and poplar 

 failed to secrete honey last Summer. 

 White and red (tlover gave a fine surplus 

 of white honey. I had 2,200 pounds of 

 surplus from 50 colonies, or an average 

 of 44 pounds per colony. My colonies 

 gave 40 pounds of comb and 50 pounds 

 of extracted-honey per colony, which 

 wholesales at 16 and 20 cents per 

 pound. They gathered enough honey from 

 asters to winter on. H. P. Fawcett. 



Dilworthtown, Pa., Jan. 19, 1891. 



Rather Discourag-ing. 



My experience in 1890 is not very en- 

 couraging. I had 60 colonies in the 

 Spring, which number was decreased (by 

 robbing) to 57 'colonies in the Fall. 

 After feeding 20 pounds of sugar, there 

 was a decrease of 5 pounds in the comb- 

 honey, and no extracted-honey. I gave 

 them about one month's work, and every 

 time I touched them did harm. Had 

 they not done well on the white clover, 

 they would have starved in July and 

 August. The Winter being mild and 

 dry, I have left them out of the cellar 

 until the present time, and I think they 

 may be left out until Spring, although 

 they are weak, and not well supplied 

 with food. I put on sections, and the 

 bees did not fill them, which accounts 

 for the loss in weight of honey. The 

 mercury has not been as low as zero yet, 

 and the bees have been out every few 

 days, ten days being the longest they 

 have been confined at any one time. I 

 find sulphur good for mice as well as 

 moths. This Winter and Spring will 

 materially reduce the number of colonies 

 in this locality, especially if the Spring 

 should be unfavorable. There seems to 

 be great difficulty in rearing queens in 

 this vicinity, as a number of them have 

 been lost before getting to work. 



David M. Imi.ay. 



Seward, Xebr.. Jan. 24. 1891. 



Bees Uniting in the Cellar. 



Some may not know that bees will, of 

 themselves, unite in the cellar. They 

 usually do this in the Spring, when the 

 temperature gets so high as to cause 

 them to run over the hives. I know 

 from experience, that they will move up- 

 ward on the hives, cluster on the outside, 

 and when cold or hungry will go into the 

 nearest hive. Therefore, if we place 

 those that are light on top, they will, in 

 all probability, come out strong in the 

 Spring. I have usually kept a few colo- 

 nies of Italians, and when put away in 

 the cellar with my blacks, I find them 

 through nearly all the hives in Spring. 

 Those who unite their queenless colo- 

 nies with light ones in the Spring, can 

 take advantage of the above fact, by 

 putting them back in the cellar for a few 

 days, then unite and leave them 3 or 4 

 days more. The only trouble I have 

 while uniting in the cellar is, that the 

 bees crawl inside of my clothing. 



John Handel. 



Savanna, Ills., Jan. 30, 1891. 



Experience of a Novice. 



Your correspondent is a novice in bee- 

 culture, shall I call it and last October 

 purchased 6 colonies, one of which died 

 before Winter set in. The others are 

 well supplied with honey, and I think 

 will go through the Winter all right. I 

 put three colonies in the cellar, but I am 

 afraid mice have gotten into one of them, 

 as they are very restless all the time. 

 Mr. Grimes is an old bee-man, and has 

 about 30 colonies. He moved into this 

 neighborhood last year, and is a near 

 neighbor of Mr. Johnson, another of our 

 new subscribers to the Bee Journal, 

 who has kept bees for 30 years, but the 

 last 20 all the honey he could get would 

 be by killing the bees, and then get an 

 inferior quality. Well, his new neighbor. 

 Grimes, managed his bees for him last 

 year, and he got 90 pounds of extra- 

 nice honey from his 2 colonies. We have 

 another enthusiast in bees, H. B. Ritter, 

 who is making big preparations for next 

 season. We are thinking of organizing 

 a local bee-club, and getting our farmers 

 more interested in this profitable busi- 

 ness. I want to find out how to transfer 

 my bees from old-fashioned hives to good 

 ones, and if your book, "Bees and 

 Honey," does not tell, will you please 

 inform me in your Journal. 



Scott D. Junkin. 



North Webster, Ind. 



[You will find instructions for trans- 

 ferring bees in all the bee-books. — Ed.] 



