Chapter C: F. Smith, Jr

Vandalia, Mich., March 12, 1881.

=Carrying in Pollen.=—My 5 colonies of bees wintered well on summer stands, in double-walled Langstroth hives. They are carrying in dark pollen to-day; I think they get it from the maple.

H. H. LITTELL.

Louisville, Ky., March 5, 1881.

=Chaff-Packing of Bees Triumphant.=—The winter has been a severe one everywhere. Since the 1st of Nov. until the first days of this month my bees had not had a flight. I live in a very high altitude, about the highest good land in the State. The winter begins early and lasts long. We have an abundance of snow now and it is blustering wildly to-day. I despaired of seeing my bees come out alive; they were covered solidly with snow for 3 months, only the tops of the hives being visible. At last the weather softened and I dug away the snow. The next day or 2 the sun came out warmly and my bees began to fly, and greatly to my happy disappointment they are all alive—all that I had out on the summer stands. One only was dull, which I examined and found enfeebled with dysentery, arising from the feed I gave them in the fall. All others were strong. Just 122 days had intervened between the flights. The sick colony has since died, but the others are in the best condition. This success is a tribute to the chaff-packed hive. Is there another record of 122 days’ confinement and yet come out strong?

W. S. BLAISDELL.

Randolph, Vt., March 11, 1881.

=Look out for the Robbers.=—We have had a very hard winter on bees in this section of the country. Bees that were not properly packed for winter are nearly all dead, while those that were properly packed are nearly all in good condition. We are having good weather now and the bees are flying nicely. Those having weak colonies and hives of combs without bees will have to look out for robbers and keep their small colonies crowded upon as few combs as they can, keeping the entrance contracted, so that only 1 or 2 bees can enter at one time. Hives in which the bees have died should be closed tightly. The Weekly BEE JOURNAL is a welcome visitor. I could not think of doing without it.

J. A. OSBORNE.

Rantoul, Ill., March 17, 1881.

=Two-thirds of the Bees have Died.=—Over ⅔ of all the bees in this part of the State are now dead. I have met with a heavy loss, on account of a cider mill that was within 80 rods of my apiary last fall.

HIRAM ROOP.

Carson City, Mich., March 12, 1881.

=Bees in Good Condition.=—We put out on the summer stands on the 9th and 10th of March, 150 of our 200 colonies that we had in the cellars in good condition. These were the first days that bees could fly with safety since the first of Nov. We have 50 colonies more in one cellar, but as they seem to be doing well, we shall leave them in until it becomes settled weather. We left 9 colonies on their summer stands but the winter was so long and severe that we could not feed them and 3 of them starved. Now we are busy transferring, that is shaking the bees off the combs, cleaning them off and putting them into clean hives. If we find any not strong enough we double them up. We consider ourselves nearly masters of the wintering question, as our real losses for the last 10 years, we think, would not exceed 6 per cent.; in fact we did not lose a colony in winter or spring, until the number had reached about 100. The BEE JOURNAL is a welcome Weekly visitor.

T. S. BULL & SON.

Valparaiso, Ind., March 15, 1881.

=Death Reigns among the Bees.=—Having made some inquiry concerning the bees within a radius of about 2 miles, I find some bee-keepers, some who keep bees, and those that let the bees keep themselves. Mr. H. had 3 colonies, all are dead; Mr. L. had 7, one left; Mr. D. left his 11 colonies without protection and now has 11 empty hives for sale; Mr. B. let the winters’ blast try his 20 colonies and now has 12 empty hives; Mr. F. packed 37 in chaff and has 11 left; Mr. A. put up 57 in complete order, but with all his precaution all are dead; Mr. B. put into winter quarters 73 colonies of fine Italians, 58 of them are dead. I packed in clover-chaff 101 colonies, and 23 have gone the way of all the earth. My bees were confined in their hives from Oct. 20 until March 6. I packed 24 in Langstroth hives with space the whole width of hive left open, to give plenty of fresh air, yet at the same time warm, with a due amount of packing, and in this lot have not lost one colony, and very few bees; but the end is not yet. To-day I found young bees with brood in all stages.

G. W. NAFTZGER.

South Haven, Mich., March 17, 1881.

=No Loss In Wintering.=—Nearly all the bees in this vicinity that were left to care for themselves are extinct. I had 14 colonies packed comfortably in chaff before the cold weather commenced, and have not lost any yet. I am highly pleased with the Weekly BEE JOURNAL, and wish it great success.

J. P. MOORE.

Morgan, Ky., March 14, 1881.

=Poor Season but Fair Profit.=—After selling my surplus colonies, I commenced the season of 1880 with 37 colonies in fair condition; increased by division and natural swarming to 63, and 12 nuclei. I reared 30 Cyprian and Italian queens; had 100 Gallup frames of foundation drawn out, and extracted 400 lbs. of honey. Estimating the increase at $6 per colony, and deducting the expenses, my income for care and labor is $250, or about $6.50 for each colony in the spring. I put 75 colonies, in fair condition (including the 12 nuclei), into winter quarters Dec. 8; some were short of stores, and all had poor honey. On March 1st I found 8 colonies and 4 nuclei dead—4 starved and 8 died from the effect of poor honey and long confinement. More of them are diseased and must have a flight soon or die. With the loss of stock already mentioned, and allowing for more to follow, the credit will be cut down to $3.50 per colony. The season has been the poorest I ever knew, but even $3.50 is a fair profit on the investment. White clover gave no honey; basswood lasted only 10 days, but yielded well; had it lasted 2 weeks longer I should have had an average yield of honey for the season. Without this flow of basswood honey, the bees must have been fed, but now they have enough stores to carry them through till spring. As the heavy snows have no doubt preserved the clover, the outlook for honey this summer is good. I hardly need say that I am pleased with the Weekly BEE JOURNAL.

T. E. TURNER.

Sussex, Wis., March 1, 1881.

=Planting Buckwheat for a Honey Yield.=—In answer to Mr. A. Hodges, on page 78, I will say that buckwheat is a peculiar plant about yielding honey. I have never known it to fail here in yielding enough honey for the bees’ winter stores, and usually very much more; in other localities in the same latitude, it cannot be relied on at all for a honey crop. It seems, however, that it never yields through the entire season in which it can be made to bloom. Quite a large amount of it is cultivated every season in my vicinity, much of it generally coming into full bloom as early as the middle of July, yet I have never known it to yield any honey earlier than the 1st of August, and very rarely before the 10th; but when it commences to yield honey, it does so profusely until the plant itself is ripe, or killed by frost. I would say to Mr. Hodges, or any one else intending the sowing of successive crops of buckwheat, that it is useless to sow any early in the season, to blossom before the 1st of August. I am intending to sow about 20 acres of it this season for my bees. I shall put the first crop of it in the ground about June 25; the rest about July 10. That from the last sowing will remain in bloom until frost comes, even if that is delayed later than ordinary.

O. O. POPPLETON.

Williamstown, Iowa, March 9, 1881.

Local Convention Directory.

1881. _Time and Place of Meeting._

April 2—S. W. Iowa, at Corning, Iowa.
5—Central Kentucky, at Winchester, Ky.
Wm. Williamson, Sec., Lexington, Ky.
7—Union Association, at Eminence, Ky.
E. Drane, Sec. pro tem., Eminence, Ky.
7—N. W. Ohio, at Delta, Ohio.
13—N. W. Missouri, at St. Joseph, Mo.
D. G. Parker, Pres., St. Joseph. Mo.
May 4—Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valley, at Cambridge,
Guernsey Co., O.
J. A. Bucklew, Sec., Clarks, O.
5—Central Michigan, at Lansing. Mich.
10—Cortland Union, at Cortland, N. Y.
C. M. Bean, Sec., McGrawville, N. Y.
11—S. W. Wisconsin, at Darlington, Wis.
N. E. France, Sec., Platteville, Wis.
12, 13—Texas Bee-Keepers’ Association, at McKinney,
Collin Co., Texas.
W. R. Howard, Sec., Kingston, Hunt Co., Tex.
Sept. — —National, at Lexington, Ky.
—Kentucky State, at Louisville, Ky.
Oct. 18—Ky. State, in Exposition B’d’g, Louisville, Ky.
W. Williamson, Sec., Lexington, Ky.

☞ In order to have this Table complete, Secretaries are requested to forward full particulars of time and place of future meetings.—ED.

CLUBBING LIST.

We supply the Weekly =American Bee Journal= and any of the following periodicals, for 1881, at the prices quoted in the last column of figures. The first column gives the regular price of both:

_Publishers’ Price._ _Club._

The Weekly Bee Journal (T. G. Newman) $2 00
and Gleanings in Bee-Culture (A. I. Root) 3 00 2 75
Bee-Keepers’ Magazine (A. J. King) 3 00 2 60
Bee-Keepers’ Exchange (J. H. Nellis) 2 75 2 50
The 4 above-named papers 4 75 3 75
Bee-Keepers’ Instructor (W. Thomas) 2 50 2 35
Bee-Keepers’ Guide (A. G. Hill) 2 50 2 35
The 6 above-named papers 5 75 5 00
Prof. Cook’s Manual (bound in cloth) 3 25 3 00
Bee-Culture (T. G. Newman) 2 40 2 25

For Semi-monthly Bee Journal, $1.00 less.
For Monthly Bee Journal, $1.50 less.

Honey and Beeswax Market.

BUYERS’ QUOTATIONS.

CHICAGO.

HONEY.—The market is plentifully supplied with honey, and sales are slow at weak, easy prices. Quotable at 18@20c. for strictly choice white comb in 1 and 2 lb. boxes; at 14@16c. for fair to good in large packages, and at 10@12c. for common dark-colored and broken lots. Extracted, 8@10c.

BEESWAX.—Choice yellow, 20@23c.; dark, 15@17.

NEW YORK.

HONEY.—Best white comb honey, small neat packages, 14@16c.; fair do., 14@16c.; dark do., 11@12; large boxes sell for about 2c. under above. White extracted, 9@10c.; dark, 7@8c.; southern strained, 80@85c.

BEESWAX.—Prime quality, 20@23c.

CINCINNATI.

HONEY.—The market for extracted clover honey is good, at 8@10c. Comb honey is of slow sale at 16c. for the best.

BEESWAX.—18@22c.