Volume 33 — OUR Letter Box
Reading edition
REPORTS PROSPECTS &c.
☞ Do not write anything for publication on the same sheet of paper with business matters, unless it can be torn apart without interfering with either part of the letter.
Wintering Finely—The Stinger.
The bees are wintering finely so far. They had a good cleansing flight on Dec. 23rd and 24th. Last year was a very poor one for honey here, on account of the severe drouth, but we hope for a boomer next year.
Say, do not let “The Stinger” sting so hard. He might lose his sting, and die like the bees.
G. E. Nelson.
Bishop Hill, Ills., Dec. 30, 1893.
Bees Did Fairly Well.
Bees did fairly well here the past season. The bees in this neighborhood are nearly all blacks, and are mostly kept in round and box hives, and but very little attention is paid to them. Mine are Italians and hybrids, and are in good condition for winter. I am well pleased with the American Bee Journal.
A. T. Mull.
Knob Creek, N. C., Dec. 12, 1893.
Cherokee Strip No Good for Bees.
I will say for the benefit of Mr. Spencer, of Farmersville, Mo., that I am well acquainted with the Cherokee Strip south of Hunnewell, Kans., and I have kept bees here (due south of his location about 60 miles) for the last three years, and although I have a better location for bees, my bees haven’t made their own living, nor do I think they will more than one year in five, and my advice to all Strip settlers is, to let bee-keeping for profit severely alone for the present.
Rufus Williams.
Crescent City, Okla. Ter., Dec. 25, 1893.
Had a Good Flight—Late Introducing.
Bees had a good flight on Dec. 11th. It was a beautiful day, and they enjoyed it to its fullest extent. They are in good condition for winter, after some feeding. I will remove to my own place in the spring. It is a 40-acre farm, in a tolerably good bee-locality. I will then make bee-keeping my main pursuit.
I got a queen from Texas when the ice was an inch thick here; there was not a dead bee in the cage, and I introduced her safely while the thermometer ranged from 20 to 25 degrees above zero.
I have Italianized nearly all my bees, and won’t I just enjoy manipulating those yellow beauties next spring? If any of the bee-keeping friends will do us the favor to call at Crystal Spring Farm Apiary, they will be most cordially welcomed.
Edw. Smith.
Carpenter. Ill., Dec. 15, 1893.
Got Honey of Fine Quality.
One of my bee-friends calls on me very often for instructions. His apiary is on the roof of his building. We had a good honey season. We have had a very fine quality of honey in this locality, no dark honey at all. My bees gave me a better average per colony than any that I have heard from. I guess I have read every word in the American Bee Journal this far, and have found some interesting points. Some are not in accordance with my experience, though.
J. H. Brown.
Rochester, N. Y.
Did Very Little the Past Season.
My bees did very little this year. I got about 20 pounds of comb honey per colony. I had two colonies of Italians, and they did nothing in the supers, nor did they swarm. They are the meanest things to rob I ever saw. They kept me in “hot water” all summer. I am tired of the yellow rascals. Bees didn’t work any on white clover, and very little on buckwheat. The season was very dry here. I had some Alsike clover, and the bees worked on that for about three weeks.
S. M. Robertson.
Grey Eagle, Maine, Dec. 23, 1893.
Inventing New Things—A Frame.
I read Query 892, and was somewhat surprised at some of the answers given by the 25 expert apiarists; and yet I am glad that the great majority have not yet out-lived their day. The answers of some of them sound like the arguments that I heard offered by old men (when I was a very small boy) against the introduction and use of the double-shovel plow, and the reaping and mowing machines, etc. Yet those that were satisfied with the utensils then in use, soon fell in line, and were as loud in praising the new as they had been in condemning them. But we have to admit that there have been a great many bee-hives and other fixtures patented that have proven to be detrimental, or an out-right humbug, and, after all, this does not prove that there is nothing left for the inventor to invent, that will be as useful as anything now in use.
We have quite a variety of frames now in use; each one has its good or bad qualities, according to the way it is used. Having this in view, last spring I invented a frame that will always hang perpendicularly, regardless of the position of the hive; will never warp or sag, and cannot be eaten by the moth-worms. The queen cannot hide on it anywhere. It will last a lifetime, and then will be just as good as new. It can be used with or without comb foundation, the same as any other frame. I tested nine of these frames the past summer, and got nice, straight combs, with the center of the comb on the center of the frame all the way around. I have extracted 7¼ pounds of honey from one frame. The summer problem has been solved to my satisfaction. Now if the bees winter on these frames all right, and I think they will, then I will apply for a patent. I pack the hives in chaff under sheds 14 feet long, with nine hives in each shed.
W. H. Burkey.
Very Mild Winter So Far.
The winter has been very mild so far, and bees are in fine condition. We expect a fine spring crop of honey, as we have had some nice rains of late. We have had hardly any ice yet, and the bees fly freely almost every day.
W. H. White.
Deport, Tex., Dec. 22, 1893.
How I Managed the Bees.
I put my bees on the summer stands on April 2, 1893, and found them in bad condition. I had to move them about 12 miles over the rough roads, and that didn’t help them. We had a cold, wet spring, and the queens kept dying. I tried to rear some queens, but when they would fly out to get mated, it was so cold and wet that they never returned. I sent to Illinois for some queens, but they reported the same results, and my colonies kept dwindling down, till out of 35 I lost all but 19, and they were weak. I covered the hives at night with old carpet, and put boards around them, and in the daytime I removed them to dry the hives. As soon as it was settled weather, and they commenced gathering honey, I opened the hives, spread the brood-nest, and put in one frame between. I waited a few days, and spread again, and this time put in two frames between. My hives being 10-frame Langstroth, that makes 5 frames of brood that we have.
I waited a few days and spread again, this time I put 3 frames in between, and that made 8 frames of brood. I waited a few days longer, then I put on a top hive, took out 5 frames of brood from the lower hive, and put in the upper hive. I put in empty comb below in their place, and filled the balance of the top hive with empty comb. I waited about two weeks, and then took another hive, put in 5 or 6 frames of brood from the lower hive, and filled in with empty combs as before, and took the top hive and raised it, setting this empty one under it. I waited a few days, then I extracted from the top hive, and raised the lower one and put the top one under it.
I run my hives three stories high, and this way I had as high as 20 frames of brood in one hive.
We had a splendid white clover flow, but basswood did not amount to much—it was too wet in the forepart of the season, but it turned dry in the after part, and the blossoms dried it up. We got no fall flow on account of the drouth.
I extracted 3,500 pounds of honey by the above method, and didn’t have a swarm. I kept the brood-nest disturbed, and gave them plenty of room, and oh, what strong colonies! I had to raise my hives and slip inch blocks under the covers to let the bees pass in and out.
About the first of the second week of basswood I commenced to make nuclei. First I made one of my strong golden Italian colonies queenless, and let them rear queens; when they were about ready to hatch, I formed the nuclei. I went to a colony and took out 2 frames of hatching brood, and put into a hive. I put in one empty frame and took out some frames of bees just hatched, from the mother colony, and shook all in the nucleus. The reason I took young bees was, they will stay, but old bees will go back. I waited a few days and gave them two more frames of brood. Three days after I formed the nucleus, I took a queen-cell from the colony I made queenless. Now my colony is completed. In this way I wasn’t bothered with swarming, and increased from 19 colonies to 50—all good, strong colonies, and took 3,500 pounds of nice, white honey.
John Boggs.
Cazenovia, Wis., Oct. 23, 1893.
Very Light Crop—A Hive-Cover.
My honey crop was very light the past season, being only 250 pounds, but it does not discourage me. I have 30 colonies in fine condition for winter.
I send a model of a hive cover that I like very much, and all bee-keepers who have seen it think it is good. The zinc is crimped over at each end ⅛ of an inch. It makes a very light cover—weight 4½ pounds, and it is strictly water proof.
I will give a short description of the hive-cover. I call it “The Favorite.” The zinc is 17 × 21-5/16 inches; the ends of the wood frame are 4½ × 14¾; sides, 20-5/16 × 2½ inches; thickness of lumber, ⅞ inch. Shiplapped all around ¾ inch deep, which makes it lap on the hive so the wind will not blow it off, and it will not leak. This size is for 8-frame hives, Simplicity style, but it can be cut to fit any size hive. I think this cover will suit Dr. C. C. Miller, as he likes a very light one. If I have not made it plain, I will try again later.
J. E. Enyart.
McFall, Mo., Nov. 30, 1893.
Another “Bee in the Ear.”
That account of the editor of the Progressive Bee-Keeper having trouble with a bee in his ear (page 649), sent a convulsive shudder over me. Three years ago, while working in the apiary, a few bees got inside of my veil. I paid no attention to them until one started with a firm determination to go through my head by way of my ears. Just how near she succeeded I would not like to say, but it seemed as if she had accomplished half her journey, and was still going further. Well, to say I was scared the worst I ever was in my life, is putting it mildly. When I tell you I take delight in robbing ordinary yellow jackets’ nests with my naked hands in the hayfield, with a crowd of men looking on at a safe distance, you will know I am not very timid around bees, either.
My first thoughts were to run to the house, but I had taken but a few steps when I realized that I would not be any better off there, as my wife and family have never materialized yet. As a last resort I turned the smoker in my ear full blast, and the bee came out, or I believe I would not be here to tell the story.
No person has any idea of the great terror it brings over one, without a trial. Who will be first among the many bee-keepers, to bring forth an invention to slip over the ears, having a screen in order to not interfere with the hearing? I will give up all my part, and only ask that the inventor deal liberally with his customers.
J. H. Andre.
Lockwood, N. Y.
Look Before You Leap.
This is the leisure season, and people gather around the warm stove to “cuss” and discuss the merits and demerits of different sections of our great country, some favoring one State and some another, some favoring South, some East and West—any place but cold Minnesota. I spoke of Texas. One of our townsmen spoke in regard to Texas, something after this style: You don’t know what you (as a Northerner) are talking about. Just after the War closed, there were eleven families that left Osakis for Sherman, Tex., and all came back that could. I tell you a person from the North has no business down there. I left here in January, and got back in June, and I have located on a farm here for life.
The cemetery at Sherman has three little graves marking the resting-place of our three little children, all being taken from us in three weeks. My wife being sick, she thought it advisable to go North again; she barely survived to get back, but soon recovered, and three more children blessed our home, which are with us, plump and healthy; while children in the extreme South resemble calves reared on “skim-milk.”
W. T.
Osakis, Minn., Nov. 29, 1893.
Extracted Honey for Farmers, Etc.
The past year has been one of the poorest of all the poor years of the past, in my locality. The bees were so weak from poor wintering, and the cold, wet, backward spring made it impossible to get them ready for the harvest from clover. The flow from clover was very good; basswood was only fair, the bloom not being very profuse. At the close of the basswood season a long and protracted drouth set in, which “done up” everything brown. Bees here are very light in stores.
I worked a part of my colonies for extracted honey the past season. I used up all my empty combs that were vacated the past winter and spring. It was my first experience with extracted honey. I think it is just the way when the bees are not up to the required pressure for comb honey. If the farmers who keep bees would use the extractor, and give their bees plenty of combs at the right time, they would get more from their bees than they do. It requires a specialist to make a success at comb honey.
My best colony gave me 150 pounds of extracted honey, and my average of comb and extracted was about 20 pounds per colony, spring count. The increase was about 25 per cent.
I have some of the extra-light colored bees, and I like them. My queens are prolific, their colonies are just as populous as any of my dark ones—they are rustlers to work. If honey is left exposed, they will find it first, and get the lion’s share, too. I think they are just a little inclined to steal from the blacks. They are very easy to handle, stick right to the combs, and protect them from robbers. If they prove to be hardy to winter, I will requeen all my colonies in the spring.
C. P. McKinnon.
Bangor, Iowa, Nov. 30, 1893.
A Beginner 65 Years Old.
I am 65 years old, though a young bee-keeper, and have never happened to be where many bees were kept. I have had a great deal of bad luck the last two or three years. I had my safe blown open, and robbed of nearly $2,000 of the town’s money, which used me up financially. But I believe my little busy bees are going to help me out soon.
I traded my watch, last winter, for 3 colonies of bees, and I think they have done well this season. After cleaning the sections and sorting the partly-filled ones, I had 330 sections of honey, 7 new colonies of bees, making me 10 to put into winter quarters on Nov. 25th, with plenty of honey to winter, with the exception of one small colony that I fed for a week; it had not very many bees, but it may come out all right in the spring.
I think the above is doing pretty well for a greenhorn; and I also think I should have made a grand failure of bee-keeping if I had not subscribed for the American Bee Journal. I traded for the bees last winter—about a year ago—and subscribed for the Bee Journal, and became a little posted by spring. It paid me ten times the amount of the subscription price. I wish we had another Mrs. Jennie Atchley here in the northwest.
Daniel Smethurst.
Seneca, Wis., Dec. 4, 1893.