AMERICAN BKE JOURNAL. 



549 



taken the American Bee Journal for 2 

 years, and am satisfied that I cannot do 

 without it as long as I keep bees. It is 

 a great pleasure to read the letters from 

 Mrs. Harrison, and other lady bee- 

 keepers. Mrs. G. W. Morrison. 

 North English, Iowa, April 10, 1891. 



Mildew and Dampness. 



Last Fall I put my bees in a cave, and 

 they wintered very well, I think, but on 

 looking into the hives I find some of 

 them have mold, or mildew, in the 

 lower part, and on some of the frames it 

 extends to the top. Now, I would like to 

 know if it will injure the bees? What 

 can 1 do to get rid of it ? Also, what 

 caused it, and what can I do to prevent 

 it in the future ? Please answer these 

 queries at your earliest convenience. 



Frank Wheelock. 



Stevens Point, Wis. 



[The mildew was caused by dampness, 

 but it is not detrimental to the bees. 

 Let it alone, the bees will " clean house" 

 in due time, and will do it better, 

 cheaper, and more thoroughly than you 

 can. — Ed.] 



Better than was Expected. 



On Dec. 1, my bees were put in the 

 cellar in Pickering, where they remained 

 until March 10, when I selected 7 of 

 the best colonies and sold the remainder. 

 These 7 colonies I nailed up and loaded 

 on the cars, on the latter date, and they 

 arrived here on March 12, and were 

 again put in the cellar. To-day I took 

 them out, and found that one colony had 

 starved to death, and one had lost their 

 queen, but was strong in bees. The 

 remaining 5 colonies are in as good con- 

 dition as I ever had bees at this date, 

 although I did not expect to have one 

 colony alive after such treatment. The 

 weather was such that they have not 

 taken a flight from the time they were 

 first put in the cellar until to-day. 



J. Baxter. 



St. Paul's Station, Ont., April 6, 1891. 



Losing Their Bees. 



My bees have wintered well, consider- 

 ing the condition they were in when 

 placed in the cellar, on Dec. 5. I took 

 them out on April 11, and found 9 colo- 

 nies dead out of 173. A number of 

 colonies are weak, and will doubtless 



die before May 1. My bees began flying 

 the day they were taken from the cellar, 

 and before night were bringing in pollen. 

 Clover looks well, in this part of the 

 county, and we had a nice rain on April 

 12, which will start it to growing. Bee- 

 keepers in this county did not get much 

 surplus honey the past season, and those 

 distant from timber got scarcely any 

 honey at all. My crop was 4,000 

 pounds — about one-half comb-honey, in 

 one-pound sections, and the remainder 

 extracted. Farmers in this locality who 

 keep from 5 to 20 colonies of bees, and 

 who say they have no time to " monkey" 

 with a bee-periodical, bees, or what 

 others write, etc., are losing their bees. 

 Oswalt, Iowa. Wm. Pearson. 



Honey-Comb Bee-Feeder. 



Last Winter I kept my bees in a shed, 

 and on examining them Feb. 1, I found 

 they were dying in great numbers, and 

 concluded that dampness was the cause. 

 It being a warm, sunny day, I aired 

 them well, nailed some boards on a 

 fence, placed the hives on a platform on 

 the south side of the fence, covered 

 them with boards, and, so far, have lost 

 but one colony. They are destitute of 

 stores, and I am feeding them with 

 sugar syrup, placed in the top of the 

 hive, using some old comb as a feeder, 

 and think it is as good a feeder as I can 

 get. Will some of the readers of the 

 Bee Journal please inform me how to 

 transfer my bees from box-hives to dove- 

 tailed hives ? A. J. Buss. 



Belmont, Wis., April 9, 1891. 



[You will find, on page 472, an article 

 detailing the method of transferring 

 practiced by Mr. James Heddon; also, on 

 page 545, an article by Mr. Highbarger. 

 These will, no doubt, furnish the desired 

 information. — Ed.] 



Very Well Pleased. — The Sewing 

 Machine and Scales are received in good 

 order, and I am well pleased with them. 

 They do good work. The sewing ma- 

 chine is ornamental as well as useful. 

 The scales are very handy for family 

 use. — G. PtUFF, Burlington, Iowa. 



"We Club the American Bee Journal 

 and the Illustrated Home Journal, one 

 year for 31.35. Both of these and 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture, for one year, 

 for $2.15. 



