_Pierce, Mo._
* * * * *
If asked how much such contrivances against the moth will help the
careless bee-man, I answer not one iota; nay, they will positively
furnish him greater facilities for destroying his bees. Worms will spin
and hatch, and moths will lay their eggs, under the blocks, and he will
never remove them. Thus, instead of traps, he will have most beautiful
devices for giving effectual aid and comfort to his
enemies.--_Langstroth’s “Hive and Honey Bee.”_
[For the American Bee Journal.]
Bees in Bennington, Vermont.
MR. EDITOR:--The season in Bennington has been very good for bees, that
is, considering that they were in poor condition last spring. Many
colonies died last winter in this town, and I should think it safe to
say that one half our bees then perished for want of honey. I was not at
home in February to attend to mine, and lost five colonies before I was
aware of their being so short of supplies, which I discovered only after
losing my best stock of Italians. It was quite warm in January, and one
day was so like spring that I carried my hives all out, and for a couple
of hours it seemed like swarming time. The weather was so mild that my
bees began to breed considerable, and so used up their honey. When I
removed the dead bees from one of my hives, I found brood in three combs
sealed over, a spot as large as my hand in each, besides eggs and larvæ.
February was very cold, and a terror to light swarms. I set my hives out
again the last of March, and had then only fifteen stocks. Three of
these I united with others, thus reducing the number to twelve. One of
these got discouraged, and tried to form a partnership with another
colony, but got killed in the operation. Thus, by the first of May, I
had only eleven colonies remaining, and they were very weak. I fed them
every day till I began to see they were getting stronger. Then, thanks
to the Bee Journal, I knew enough to double their feed as they increased
in numbers and the hives in weight of brood, for they could not of
course get much honey till the first trees blossomed. The weather then
became warm and pleasant, and the bees got a good start in life, so that
when clover and red raspberries bloomed, they were soon ready to march
out and take a limb of a tree on their own account. I soon had
twenty-five swarms and began to think hives and all would swarm. Besides
those we hived, four swarms took the wings of the morning. By the way, a
great number of swarms ran away this year to the woods. I found a small
swarm about three miles away from home. They came over a barn I was
painting, and clustered near by. I hived them in a powder keg, and
carried them home at night.
I have taken two hundred and twenty-five (225) pounds of box honey from
my bees, besides ten six pound boxes partly filled, of which I take no
account. I have twenty-one hives to winter. They are very heavy, too
heavy, I fear, to winter well; but hope for the best. Bees within half a
mile of mine have not done anything at all; because they had no care or
feeding in the spring, and when summer came they were merely ready to
begin their spring’s work. I think it pays to feed bees as well as other
stock.
I have only two swarms of black bees, and some hybrids, the rest are
pure Italians. I received two queens from Mr. Cary this season, and
inserted them all right. They were, to all appearance, accepted and
owned for four or five weeks, when one day I found one of them thrown
out dead on the bottom board; and if it had not been for the Bee
Journal on the superseding of queens, I should not have known what the
trouble was. The other is all right so far, and the young bees from both
queens are beauties. I never saw finer, and am well satisfied with them.
My bees are all descendants of Mr. Cary’s stock, and another year I
shall get some more from him and other breeders, to avoid breeding in
and in.
I have never yet seen a honey extractor at work, but there is one within
a few miles of me and I am going to see it. If it proves to be the one
thing needful in my case, I shall go for one another year.
I have procured some of the Rocky Mountain bee plant seed from Mr.
Green, and if it is good, as I have no reason to doubt it will be, I
shall let you know all about it.
The season has been quite favorable here, not as dry as it was in some
places; and our crops are very good, with an abundance of fruit. Taking
every thing into consideration, I am well satisfied with my bees and
their labors last summer. When I bought my bees, a man in the same
business blowed a good deal and said it would not be a great while
before I would run out with my Italian bees and wintering in the house.
Last year (1869) he had in the summer sixty-six colonies. He fed two
barrels of sugar this spring, as he says, and now has twenty or
twenty-one colonies. Who has run out? I fed half a barrel or one hundred
and twenty-five pounds of sugar. He don’t “fool away his money for Bee
Journals, nor Italian queens.”