TM® M'smmmi^mM mmm j^^mnmi^. 



9'S 



kept by small bee-keepers, will starve 

 to death before next spring. I will 

 try to take good care of my bees, hop- 

 ing that next season may be more 

 favorable. The American Bee Jour- 

 nal is a welcome visitor. I have read 

 it with interest for the last eiglit years, 

 and I could not get along without its 

 information. 



[Most likely you mixed your syrup 

 in a vessel made of galvanized iron, 

 and the bees were poisoned from the 

 action of the acid on the zinc. — Ed.] 



Got Good Prices for Honey. — 



H. H. Rosebrock, Owatonna, $ Minn., 

 on Feb. 1, 1888, writes : 



My bees wintered well in 1886 and 

 1887. I put in the cellar 90 colonies 

 in the fall of 1886, and took out 90 

 in the .spring of 1887. No " spring 

 dwindling ;" propects were never bet- 

 ter, bnt the dry summer made my 

 honey crop 1,000 pounds of extracted, 

 and 1,000 pounds of comb honey. I 

 have 10.5 colonies in the cellar now. 

 The bees in my new Heddon hives 

 were the first to swarm last spring, 

 and I like them well for comb hone}-. 

 I sell my honey at home mostly. The 

 editor of the Bee Journal has my 

 thanks for assisting to get better prices 

 for honey. 



Bees and Red Cloi'er — B. F. 



Fritz, Fulton, P Mich., on Jan. 27, 

 1888, writes : 



In the Bee Journal of Kov. 17, 

 1886, page 731, Joseph Heath, of Corn- 

 ing, Iowa, says, if any one's bees 

 worked on tln^ first crop of red clover 

 he would like to know it. Mine did 

 last June, in large numbers. They 

 were working there when we com- 

 menced haying, and were there a week 

 later when we finished. It must have 

 been heavily laden with nectar, as I 

 observed a bee on a pale blossom. The 

 bright sun slione on it, and I could see 

 the tongue in the tnbe, and it did not 

 1:0 over lialf waj- to the bf)ttom. My 

 bees did fairly well last year. I have 

 12 colonies, all wintering well but two 

 colonies. 



Father Liangslrotli. — Mr. James 

 Heddon, Dowagiac, p Mich., on Jan. 

 -6, 1888, wrote as follows : 



It was with much pleasuic that I 

 \iewed our genial and genius-faced 

 friend on page 53 of the American Bee 

 Journal. It was jjleasant to read Mr. 

 Pond's sketch of his life-work, but one 

 moral point, one which is of vast im- 

 portance to our great benefactor,seems 

 to have been over-looked, viz : Why 



should one who did so much for his 

 brothers, now have so little to .show for 

 it ? What is the trouble ? Has he 

 been profligate, spi'nding his money as 

 a whirlwind spends the leaves of a 

 forest, or did ingratitude rob him ? 

 Some of ns have paid him |10 each as 

 a small reward for the great benefits 

 we have received, but is it not a truth, 

 and one that should never be left out, 

 when his history is written, that 

 through the action of a few designing 

 men, that this great benefactor and 

 good man was robbed of the due re- 

 ward of his labors ? 



[It has been repeatedly stated, that 

 he was defrauded. — Ed.] 



|i>iipport tlie ITiiion. — F. A. Snell, 



Milledgeville.xj IHs., on Jan. 29, 1888, 

 writes : 



If necessary for the good of the Bee- 

 Keepers' Union, call on me for a dona- 

 tion of$l towards the Defense Fund. 

 The apathy of the bee-keepers is as- 

 tounding. I should think that every 

 bee-keeper in America would see the 

 great importance of energeticallj' sup- 

 porting the Bee-Keepers' Union. The 

 Union is supporting riglit and justice, 

 in every sense of the word. It would 

 be a power in the land supported to 

 the extent that it should be. It has 

 done much by the support of the noble 

 little l)and of brothers of which it is 

 composed. The Union, I think, should 

 have at least 1,000 members. 



Allow me to congratulate the pub- 

 lishers upon the very neat and tasty 

 appearance of the American Bee 

 Journal for 1888. 



Zephyrs from the West.— F. P. 

 Stiles, Haverhill,;^ Mass., on Jan. 28, 

 1888, writes : 



I wish the fellow that works the 

 bellows out yotu' way would kindly 

 point them in the opposite direction. 

 By strict economy, with the aid of the 

 proverbial " east wind diet" of New 

 England, we have managed to live 

 quite comfortably until recently. With 

 the displacement of east wind by your 

 western zephyr, and the necessity of 

 hiring a boy to liohl our hair on, the 

 outlook is a disastrous spring dwind- 

 ling, unless we can unite with some 

 plumber. 



Xot Di<«eoura$;ed. — F. J. Sawin, 

 Monmouth.-K3 His., on Jan. 30, 1888, 

 writes : 



I had 70 colonies of bees, spring 

 count, but I did not get a pound of 

 honey nor a swarm. This was caused 

 by drouth. I packed my bees on the 

 summer stands ; they had honey 



enough for winter stores, and I thought 

 they would winter well. I examined 

 them to-day, and I find that they have 

 the diarrhea. I expect to lose all of 

 them ; but will stock up in the spring, 

 if there are bees enough left in War- 

 ren county. I am not discouraged, for 

 we must expect reverses in any busi- 

 ness. 



The good old American Bee Jour- 

 nal in January improved so that I 

 hardly recognized it, when it came on 

 its friendly visit. I could not keep 

 bees without it, and do not see how 

 any one else can. 



Wishing; that the Bees Averc in 



a Cellar or Cave M. Miller^ 



Le Claire, ot Iowa, on Jan. 27, 1888,. 

 writes : 



It has been one month and two days 

 since the bees in this country have 

 had a flight. It has been quite cokl 

 most of the time. We had a thaw for 

 two days last week, but there was no 

 sunshine ; consequently the bees did 

 not have a flight. Lots of bees went 

 into winter quarters short of stores ; 

 consequently there will likel}' be con- 

 siderable loss, especiall}' if this cold 

 weather continues long. I wish I had 

 mine in a good cave or cellar. Thej' 

 are packed on the summer stands. 



Right Temperature for Bees> 



— W. B. Stephens, Stephen's Mills, p 

 N. y., on Jan. 24, 1888, says : 



I commenced the season of 1887 

 with 157 colonies of bees, and in- 

 creased them, by natural swarming, 

 to 230 colonies. They stored 6,000 

 pounds of honey in one-pound sections, 

 and 2,000 pounds of extracted honey. 

 I have 146 cohjnies packed with chaff, 

 and 84 colonies in the cellar, all being 

 in good condition. The bees in the 

 cellar are the most quiet with the 

 temperature at 40°. I have had it 

 above and below that point, Ijut 40° 

 seems to be about right. 



Bees "Wintering Satisfactorily^ 



— W. Mason, Fillmore, +0 Ind., on Jan. 

 25, 1888, writes : 



The bees are so far wintering well, 

 notwith.standiug a hea\-y crop of honey- 

 dew was stored, but it was of superior 

 quality. Reports from all parts of the 

 State at our convention was satisfac- 

 tory. The attendance was not as large 

 as common, I)ut the meeting was inter- 

 esting. We were honored with the 

 Agricultural Room in the new State 

 House. After the adjournment we 

 were shown through the basement of 

 the building, where we obtained much 

 information. 



