480 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



As soon as circumstances would per- 

 mit, I bought a colony of bees, and was 

 very successful with them, for those old- 

 fashioned times and ways of keeping 

 bees. 



In those days, I never used any protec- 

 tion when working among bees. I have 

 hived many swarms with my sleeves 

 rolled up to my elbows, having no pro- 

 tection to arms or face, and it was very 

 seldom that I was stung. 



Up to this time (1856), I had lived in 

 New Hampshire, but that year I moved 

 to Wabasha county, Minn. That part of 

 the State was sparsely settled on account 

 of its being a half-breed reservation, 

 consequently, there were no bees in that 

 section, but the honey-bee came with 

 civilization. 



I bought 2 colonies of Italians, in 

 frame hives, for $10 each. These were 

 the first frame hives, and the first Ital- 

 ian bees, that I had every seen. I pur- 

 chased Quinby's book on bees, and made 

 my hives according to his directions. I 

 paid an enormous price for my bees, but 

 did the best that I knew how to make 

 them profitable, and succeeded beyond 

 my expectations, for I made more on 

 this investment than on any §20 that I 

 ever spent. 



Keeville, Minn, 



Pollen fiatlierini tiy Oaeenless Colonies, 



A. N. DEAPER. 



The following letter is in reference to 

 the article under the above heading, 

 published on page 879 : 



I am just as much puzzled to know how 

 you arrive at your conclusions, as you are 

 to know how many of the noted authorities 

 have arrived at theirs. 



When I walk along in front of a line of 

 bee-hives, and see one-third of the bees 

 going into each hive loaded with pollen, 

 except one hive, and into that hive not one 

 bee in five hundred carrying any pollen, 

 upon opening that hive, without exception, 

 I find it queenless. Nearly every Spring I 

 find from 2 to 6 queenless colonies, and one 

 Spring I found 13 or 15, and I have never 

 failed to discover them by this rule. 



I was greatly interested in that article, 

 notwithstanding your experience was so 

 different from my own. 



Marshalltown, Iowa. O. B. Barrows, 



I find that bees that become queenless 

 during the Winter, are so thoroughly 

 discouraged that they carry in but very 

 little, either of pollen or honey. 



I generally examine every colony of 

 bees I have, in March or April, and unite 



all the queenless colonies with weak 

 colonies having queens. By reference 

 to the article in question, you will find 

 that I distinctly say, in the Summer 

 time. 



That I am not alone in my conclusions, 

 the following extract, from a letter re- 

 ceived, will show : 



Your article on page 379, of the Bee 

 Journal, is good. When the question was 

 asked, I was surprised at the answers, but 

 concluded that the "big guns" knew in 

 which direction they were firing, and that 

 I did not. 



My experience in that direction is 

 limited, but I have noticed that the hives 

 containing an excess of pollen were either 

 queenless, or had been so. 



Sometimes, however, a colony in appar- 

 ently a normal condition, will gather an 

 undue amount of pollen. This, I believe, 

 is owing to the fact that where there is no 

 nectar to gather, the bees, otherwise idle, 

 will pitch into the pollen. C, E, Yocom. 



Sherman, Ills, 



With a small brood-nest, nearly every 

 bit of the surplus honey is taken off in 

 June and July — here, in June, if I ex- 

 pect to keep sections clean and nice. If 

 I should use a small hive, and take all 

 the white honey off as surplus, the bees 

 would starve during July or August. 



Last year, the colony in my best large 

 hive gave me 169 pounds, net, of ex- 

 tracted-honey. The colony in my Hed- 

 don hive gave less than 20 pounds. My 

 average was 50 pounds per colony, 

 Spring count. 



During July and August the pollen 

 nuisance is the worst, and it comes off 

 corn-tassels and horse- weed. If there 

 is plenty of honey surrounding the 

 brood-nest, this pollen is converted into 

 brood, which makes a colony valuable 

 property during a good Spanish-needle 

 yield, or for a clover yield the following 

 Spring. Of course, there must be a vig- 

 orous queen in the hive. 



It is the nature of the bee to store a 

 surplus in time of plenty, and if you un- 

 dertake to run a colony without com- 

 plying with this fundamental principle, 

 you upset the whole economy of the bee- 

 hive. 



The bees are not nearly as liable to 

 store an excess of pollen in empty combs 

 kept above the brood-nest, as in empty 

 combs kept below it, and I doubt very much 

 the advisability of keeping empty extract- 

 ing-combs in the hives during July and 

 August, in a locality like this. The 

 purer, cleaner, and whiter the extract- 

 ing combs are kept, the better. Never 

 allo%v any pollen to be stored in them 

 that you can avoid. 



Upper Alton, Ills. 



