RICHMOND, OHIO, August 18, 1870.--I have put off writing till harvest is
over, and will now have a short talk with you on different subjects.
This summer has been a very pleasant one in this part of the country,
with good crops of all kinds except fruit, of which there will be a
small yield. We have been favored with plenty of rain and consequently
good pasture for stock, and plenty of flowers for the bees which the
latter did not fail to enjoy, for they gathered large stores of honey
and multiplied more generally than they have done for a number of years.
I have been keeping bees all my life as my father did before me, but
never made it a study until about two years ago. Since then I have been
trying to put my bees in movable comb hives. These I think every
bee-keeper must and will have ere long, as also the Italian bees, which
I think are much better then the natives, except that they are inclined
to rob the blacks. But I would keep them for their beauty, if they had
no other good qualities. I wish some one would give us a general test of
their purity as known in Italy. This should be known throughout this
country, as nearly every queen breeder has a test of his own. My bees
have four bands, counting all; two broad ones next to the middle, and
two narrow ones behind those. If this is not enough, then I will go for
better and purer ones, as I want the best and none others.
The time of year is coming to think of wintering bees, and I want to
build a wooden house large enough to accommodate one hundred hives. I
wish some of the knowing ones would give us, through the Journal, proper
directions for building such a house.
Now, a few words in conclusion. Inclosed you will find my subscription
for the Journal for this year; and please accept my thanks for the
valuable instruction I have received from the American Bee Journal, and
my best wishes for its success. May its contributors and readers grow
wiser and sweeter every year.--J. W. TAYLOR.
BROOKLIN, ONTARIO, August 20.--Bees have done exceedingly well in this
Province, this season; better than they have done for several years.
Though the loss was fearful last year, it has nearly been made up. This
Province is not abundant in forage for bees, and we never expect to
realize the figures of _Novice_; yet some have taken from my hive four
boxes of virgin honey, eighty (80) pounds; and one hundred and forty-two
(142) from the body of the hive, with the Extractor--making _two hundred
and twenty-two_ (222) pounds from one colony. Another writes me he has
taken this season over two thousand (2,000) pounds in boxes, and five
hundred (500) pounds with the Extractor.--J. H. THOMAS.
GHENT, OHIO, August 22.--I have read and re-read every number of the
Journal, and find it instructive and profitable. My bees wintered well,
last winter, in my house as described in Vol. V. page 100, of the
Journal. Last winter was with us mild and nice for wintering on summer
stands. I have realized two hundred and fifty (250) dollars from thirty
hives this season, and have two hundred (200) pounds of honey on hand.
It was all box honey. The increase was twenty-five (25) good strong
natural swarms. They are all black bees except one, a hybrid queen sent
to me last fall, as pure, from an Eastern queen breeder. They are not
very sociable. The season was all one could wish for. Bees have done
well. The spring opened just right, and continued favorable throughout.
Success to you and the readers and columns of the Bee Journal.--T.
PIERSON.
ELIZA, ILLS., August 22.--Bees have done well here this season up to
this time. I have some in Langstroth hives that have stored one hundred
and twenty-five (125) pounds of honey to the hive. I enclose two dollars
for the Bee Journal, as I cannot do without it.--J. BOGART.
LEROY, ILLS., August 23.--This is the first year that I have kept bees,
and find it a very pleasant business. Bees did not swarm here until
August, and then but little. I divided my old stocks in June, all of
which, both old and new, are doing finely. I should like to have some
older head than mine give me his opinion as to the plan of reducing the
number of my stock to one-half this fall, in order to have them stronger
and to have plenty of spare comb to commence with in the spring. And,
again,--as I am asking favors--I should like to have the plan given on
page 109, Vol. IV., B. J., for out-door wintering republished, for the
benefit of new beginners generally as well as myself. The August number
came just in time for me to try the new plan of controlling the
fertilization of queens. I succeeded in every thing but having the queen
mate in the wire case. Will some one else give us his experience? I say
three cheers for the American Bee Journal, for I take time to read and
re-read every article in it, and find it, together with Mr. Langstroth’s
valuable book, to be the staff for new beginners to lean upon for
apiarian knowledge.--P. YOUNG.
RISING SUN, IND., August 26.--We have a neighbor at Vevay, Mr. W.
Faulkoner, who has had great success this season, with his bees. I
called on him last week, and had the pleasure of seeing 3,500 lbs. of
white clover honey, which with 1,500 lbs. that he has already sold,
makes _five thousand_ (5,000) _pounds_ for this year. He had but
forty-eight stands in the spring, so that his hives have averaged over
one hundred pounds each. His increase is fifteen stands, making now
sixty-three, which is as many as he wants to manage. His hives are a
modification of the Langstroth, allowing the use of surplus boxes on the
sides of the frames.--N. H. SHAW.
SHREVE, OHIO, August 26.--As I have seen no communication from this
place, I have concluded to write and let the readers of the Bee Journal
hear of my success in the bee business. I commenced four years ago with
the old black bee in the old fashioned way. For a few years I made only
slow progress, till of late I have taken more interest in it, and have
now increased my stock to seventy-six colonies, all Italians, in good
condition.
I was surprised when I read Novice’s report of honey this season; but
when I came to think over how much I had taken from a few hives with
the honey-emptying machine, and as the season was, I think I too could
have had a right smart crop, if I had attended to the bees as I should
have done in the honey season. As it is, I shall probably not get much
over one thousand (1,000) pounds, principally box honey. I will just
state, for the benefit of the bee-keeping public, that I have tried a
Peabody machine, which works to perfection, and is what every bee-keeper
that uses movable frames needs. As far as the different hives are
concerned, there is not so much difference as some suppose. I think a
plain frame in a simple hive of convenient form is all that any one
needs. As far as reliable queen raisers are concerned, I will just state
that I have dealt with a good many, and have found Adam Grimm, of
Jefferson, (Wis.,) perfectly reliable and prompt in filling orders. I
have got quite a number of queens from him this season by mail, post
paid. I inclose a photograph of my apiary, and if any of the readers of
the Journal wish one, I will send it on receipt of forty cents, or send
one on receiving one for exchange. In conclusion I wish the Journal
success, and all its readers good luck and much pleasure in the pursuit
of so profitable a business as bee-culture.--G. W. STINEBRING.
EDGEFIELD JUNCTION, TENN., August 29.--This season, thus far, has been
the poorest, both for swarming and honey, of any for more than
twenty-four years that I have been in this State. We had a drouth in
May, followed by frequent and severe cold rains for more than three
weeks, by which time our clover harvest for bees was nearly past. As a
general thing July and August do not furnish much forage for bees, but
we have every prospect for honey this fall. The last two seasons we had
a honey harvest from almost the first of April till late in the fall;
and on both occasions, late in the fall my hives were so filled with
honey that in many of them there were not a hundred empty cells. I
removed from one to three frames of honey, placing the remaining frames
half an inch or more apart for winter. By doing this, and protecting my
hives from the cold winds, I saved them all--one hundred and sixty-four
in number last year, and sixty-eight the year before. This season being
a poor one, I have not increased stock so much, though I have made
fifty-one good colonies. In July I had to feed a few colonies, and found
it difficult to keep up my nuclei.--T. B. HAMLIN.
WEST GROTON, N. Y., August 31.--The honey season has been very good
here, and scientific bee-culture is progressing. Old fashioned
bee-keepers are amazed when they see the large quantity of honey we got
from eight colonies of bees--over eight hundred and seventy-five (875)
pounds.
I like the American Bee Journal very much. We should not have had near
as much honey, if we had not had the Journal to read and study.--D. H.
COGGSHALL, JR.
FULTON, ILLS., September 3.--Bees are doing very well here now, though
the forepart of the season was not generally favorable on account of the
drouth. Buckwheat is not yielding much honey. The second crop of red
clover is in full bloom, and the bees are working on it very busily.
This is the first season that I have seen bees do much on red clover, in
this section, as the blossom is usually too large; but this year, owing
to the drouth the heads are smaller. The different varieties of the
golden rod are just coming into bloom, as also the wild aster; and the
prospect is that the bees will do well until after we have hard frosts.
Light frosts do not affect the aster. If acceptable, I will try to
furnish some account of the doings, of the bees in this section, at the
close of the season.--R. R. MURPHY.
GENOA, ILLS., September 9.--Please excuse my being thus dilatory in not
making an earlier remittance for the Journal. This little amount I could
have turned to very good account in other directions; yet, as I am
circumstanced, I think that one volume of the American Bee Journal is
worth three or four times as much to me as the same sum laid out in any
other way at home. For had it not been for the Journal, I should long
since have been as many of my neighbors are--“_one that_ USED _to keep
bees_.” I am aware that my location is not naturally favorable for
bee-keeping, as we sometimes have two or three seasons in succession
that are hard on the bee business; yet I am not inclined to give it up
so. In 1868, I put twenty swarms into my kitchen cellar. Most of them
had not one pound of honey on the first of January; but I made up my
mind to try the winter feeding to my full satisfaction. I took off caps,
cut a hole two inches by five through the honey board, which was half an
inch thick; fastened cotton cloth upon the under side, which made a box
large enough to hold all the food I wished to put in at a time. The food
was syrup of good refined sugar. I took care that they were all
ventilated according to the size of the stock; and as the temperature
would change in a measure with that outside, I would regulate
ventilation accordingly; and by constant attention they come out in the
spring with the loss of only two swarms, besides two that became
queenless. No more bees died than usual in wintering; and although the
season last year was wet and cold, they managed to procure sufficient to
carry them through the winter in tolerably good condition. But this
spring and summer the drouth seemed to threaten them with starvation. We
had no rain from the last of March till the first of July, with the
exception of two slight showers that did not, either of them, wet the
ground more than an inch deep. Notwithstanding, with the white clover,
which put out some small blossoms and in moist places where not
pastured, continued fresh, and some wild flowers, the bees kept along
till the rains came in July. Then the clover and other blossoms came out
quite fresh; so for a few weeks the bees gained a little and afforded
some surplus honey. Now the buckwheat is in full bloom, and the bees
seem to be taking time by the foretop, by improving each hour, shine or
no shine. The hybrid bees, as well as the pure-blooded, appear to be
exerting themselves to vindicate the superior merits of their ancestors;
and although it may seem cruel, I stand ready, with open and greedy
hands to receive their hard-earned stores, and furnish them with
store-room to enable them to continue on another willing task. My
eighteen acres of Alsike and two of melilot clover are entirely killed
by the drouth. For three years I have not only had to contend with
adverse seasons, but have been a target for friends and neighbors to pop
their jokes at, for my persistence in such unprofitable business. But I
had made up my mind to fight it out on this line; and by the assistance
of the American Bee Journal, with its able and generous contributors, am
confident that eventually I will come out all right. Though the season
has been a hard one, I have now taken out honey enough to pay for all
the sugar I have used and for the four volumes of the Journal, and have
added one-third to the number of my stocks this season--while many old
fogies of my acquaintance, who laugh at the idea of using patent hives
or paying the trifling sum for the Journal, have lost some nearly all,
and others quite all of their bees.--A. STILES.
SPARTA CENTER, MICH., September 7.--I cannot think of getting along
without the Journal. I supposed that I was doing extremely well in the
bee business, until I read Novice’s reports, which are surprising. I
have kept bees four years, commencing with nine colonies in box hives.
At the end of the first season, I had fourteen, all told. I buried them
according to the plan recommended in Langstroth’s “Hive and Honey Bee,”
and lost two. The second summer I had fourteen new swarms, making my
stock twenty-six in the fall; but, as the season was a poor one, I had
no surplus honey. I buried them in clumps, as before, and in the spring
found three were _non est_. This was the spring of 1869. During the
ensuing summer, I had twenty-four new swarms and nine hundred (900)
pounds of surplus honey, and began to know something of the habits, &c.,
of bees. In the fall of 1869, I built a bee house for wintering, 10 feet
by 20, outside measure, 8 feet by 18 inside. The walls were made by
using two rows of studding, boarded up outside and inside of each row,
leaving an air space between the walls, and filling between the studding
with saw dust. This spring I had forty-six good stocks, and have
obtained 2,194 pounds of No. 1 honey. I have now one hundred and ten
(110) colonies, all but three or four in good condition for wintering. I
have no Italian bees, as I wished to learn to manage and handle the
blacks, before trying any that might require more skill. I use
Langstroth’s “shallow things.” All except five of my swarms are in frame
hives, and every comb is straight with not over sixteen square inches of
drone comb to a hive. Sixty-nine of my queens are of the present season.
All my new colonies were made artificially, except six. I made them by
starting nuclei, and building up by taking comb, honey, and brood from
strong stocks. I fed each colony a little syrup every alternate day from
April 1 to June 1. Nearly all the surplus honey of this year is made
from or _gathered_ from white clover blossoms. Last year it was from
linden or basswood.--I should like to know if Novice or others using the
melextractor, have had any trouble with the honey fermenting after being
canned. I have had several cans spoil. It assumed a reddish hue and
became watery in appearance. I should like to know how to avoid losing
any in future.--A. B. CHENEY.
WINCHESTER, VA., September 10.--This has been a good season for honey,
but few swarms. I started in the spring with sixty-four colonies and
have had twenty-one swarms. They will make a fine lot of honey. I use
the Langstroth hive. Some of my neighbors that have ten or twelve
old-fashioned box hives, think the Langstroth hive costs too much, but
come to me every fall to buy honey. I have seven colonies of Italian
bees. I think they are superior to the black bee, both for swarming and
making honey. I obtained my queens of Mr. Henry Alley. I think he
deserves great credit for sending pure queens and acting honorably with
his patrons. My bees are not making any honey now, as there was no
buckwheat sown in this part of the country. The most that we have to
depend on in this country is white clover and blue thistle. We sowed one
pound of Alsike clover seed in April, 1869, and mowed it for seed July
25, 1870. I thought it a humbug, but am agreeably disappointed. My bees
worked on it from early morn till late at night. The farmers are much
pleased with it, both for hay and pasture.--B. F. MONTGOMERY.
* * * * *
It cannot be too deeply impressed on the mind of the bee-keeper, that a
small colony should be confined to a small space, if we wish the bees to
work with the greatest energy, and offer the stoutest resistance to
their numerous enemies.--_Langstroth._
[For The American Bee Journal.]
Two Queens in One Hive.
When removing some honey boxes on the 25th of July last, I found that a
large strong stock had two queens. I see in Vol. V., No. 8, of the
Journal, that Mr. E. M. Johnson discovered two queens in one of his
hives in January. Before movable comb hives were used to any great
extent, such a thing was considered impossible; but we hear of such
cases frequently, now that we have easy access to the interior of our
hives.
After removing the boxes, I placed them in my cellar, to have the bees
go back to their hives; which they all did, except those in one box,
which I found contained the queen that I had saved about a fortnight
before, a few days after they had swarmed. In removing a frame of brood
to give to a weak stock, when brushing off the bees in front of the
hive, I saw there was a fine looking queen with them. She went into the
hive and was received by the bees. Now, why was this queen in a box
containing sealed honey? I should judge both queens were fertile. The
bees had killed off their drones a number of days before, so that they
did not think of swarming.
Now can we say positively that two queens are not tolerated in one hive?
Is it not possible that the workers cluster around them, and keep them
apart?
The next day, I returned the queen, after smoking both queen and bees.
She was well received, and was all right the next time I opened the
hive; and for all I know, they have two queens still. If other
bee-keepers have such cases, I should be pleased to hear from them
through the Journal.