Chapter D: Videto

North East, Pa., March 15, 1881.

=Bees Confined 4½ Months.=—This has been the severest winter that I can remember. My 27 colonies of bees have not had a flight since Nov. 1. They are in a cellar; one of my neighbors had over 50 colonies, but there are only 5 left. He tried to winter out of doors, but has put what he had left in a cider mill. Another had over 20 colonies, wintered out of doors and lost all. I have but little hopes of having over 6 or 8 colonies; there is but little hopes of having weather that bees can have a flight for 2 weeks yet. We are in a snow blockade yet. We have had but one mail in over 2 weeks. I like the Weekly better each number; it brings us nearer together and we can sympathize with our bee-keeping friends. Let us hope for the best; there are better times coming. Success to the Weekly.

E. BUMP.

Waterloo, Wis., March 14, 1881.

=Closed out by Fire.=—I had the misfortune to be “closed out” of the bee-business by fire, on the night of March 4, losing all of my 36 colonies of Italians, one of which contained an imported queen. They were all in the cellar; I also lost all the implements necessary to carry on the business, my house and contents. This was “closing out” rather unexpectedly, but I hope not to remain out very long.

WM. H. TRAVIS.

Brandon, Mich., March 10, 1881.

=Bees in Good Condition.=—Though there is a great loss of bees hereabouts, mine are yet in good condition, and I hope they will come out right in the spring. The Weekly BEE JOURNAL I value more and more all the time.

THOMAS LASHBROOK.

Waverly, Iowa, March 11, 1881.

=Lost 8 out of 37 in Wintering.=—I put 37 colonies into winter quarters, all in good condition except 4 or 5 small late swarms, and as it was a poor season for honey, they did not fill up; 29 were packed under a shed, open to the south and east. Before packing I removed the outside frames and put in cushions made by covering empty frames with sacking and filling with chaff; also 2 inches of the same on the top of the racks. My loss to date is 3. I prepared 5 in the same manner, but left them on the summer stands; lost 4. Two that I was sure would starve if not fed, I removed to a room over another where a fire is kept, placed them at a window and arranged a passage leading outside; then, with wire cloth over the frames, I can feed and examine without their flying out. They are all right. One I left on the summer stand with a set of section boxes, unprotected, and it is very strong. On March 9th my bees had their first good flight since Oct. 25. I had one colony in a box-hive; of course they are dead. Total loss to date, 8 out of 37. Nearly all are strong now. I am with the majority when I say that the Weekly BEE JOURNAL is a decided improvement. Success to it.

WM. MORHOUS.

Dearborn, Mich., March 14, 1881.

=Sweet Clover.=—Must the sweet clover be sowed over again, or does it sow itself? Please answer in the Weekly BEE JOURNAL, which I could not do without. It is the best bee paper that is published.

LEWIS SIEGMAN.

Newstadt, Ont., March 11, 1881.

[A good “stand” of sweet clover will sow itself, as there are
generally some seeds that do not catch the soil the first
season, but germinate the second. It is more satisfactory,
however, to plant the second season about half the complement
put in the first, after which it will bloom annually, and sow
itself.—ED.]

=Had a Flight in January.=—In the winter of 1879 I put 30 colonies into my cellar; but it was so warm that they were uneasy and I put them back on the summer stands. I lost 10 colonies; I now have 20 colonies, facing the south, sheltered by a board fence on the north and covered with about 18 inches of straw. About 10 days ago they had a nice flight, and I covered them up again. I think of building a house for them facing the south, and boarding up the other 3 sides; I will then cover the hives with about 2 feet of straw, which I can remove on a bright day and give them a flight. I intend to leave the straw on them until warm weather, and thus aid them to keep warm for brood rearing, &c. I wish the BEE JOURNAL success.

T. RICE.

Lenox, Ill., Feb. 4, 1881.

=Nearly All Dead.=—Bees are nearly all dead in this region. I had 33 colonies last fall and now have but 10; a neighbor had 40 and now has none; another had 44 and now has 2; another had 75, and 3 weeks ago they were reduced to 20. Several have lost all but 1 or 2, and some have lost all.

WM. S. BUCHANAN.

Hartford, Ind., March 14, 1881.

=Bokhara Clover.=—Please answer the following questions in the JOURNAL:

1. When is the best time to sow Bokhara clover?

2. Should it be sown alone or with a grain crop, or with other kinds of clover?

3. Should it be cut for hay, pastured, or kept for bees only?

4. Which is the best kind of hive for comb honey—a one-story with racks to hold sections, or a two-story, with section boxes put in cases in the upper story?

JOHN H. HEARD.

Flesherton, Ont.

[1. Early in spring is as good a time as any for planting
Bokhara, melilot or sweet clover—we fail to discover any
difference in them.

2. For bees alone, sow it alone.

3. If desired for cattle or sheep, sow it with timothy,
letting them graze it, as it blooms but little the first
season; afterward keep them off.

4. One-story with rack is more easily manipulated.—ED.]

=An Enthusiast.=—My apiary is located on a hill-side sloping to the west, and hives fronting south. The Macoupin creek is ½ mile south of it, and several sloughs within a mile, with plenty of soft and hard maple, willows and cotton-wood. I packed rags around and on top of my 13 hives, on their summer stands, on the 25th of October. The bees were in good condition. Only one colony gave any surplus; from that I took 40 lbs., and left them 35. I examine my bees every week and clean out the dead ones. They had a good flight on the 13th of December, and again on Feb. 22d, when every colony had brood in all stages, and No. 2 was crowded full of young bees, and had a queen cell just ready to put the egg in, which I took off. Feb. 26th was a warm day, and No. 2 sent out a swarm; it was queenless, however, so I sprinkled them with peppermint water and united them with No. 12, which was weak. I do not keep bees for profit in dollars and cents, but for pleasure, as I do love them. I am a merchant, and own 275 acres of land, but being an invalid, look to my bees for recreation. In a radius of 4 miles from my apiary, on Nov. 1st, there were 13 bee-owners, with a total of 73 colonies. On the 1st inst. there were 19 colonies left, and they were in bad condition. I am the only one taking the BEE JOURNAL here—success to it.

R. M. OSBORN.

Kane, Ill., March 4, 1881.

=Bees All Dead.=—I now send you my report for the winter of 1880–81, which will long be remembered by the bee-keepers in this locality. I commenced the winter with 9 colonies of bees, all carefully packed in chaff on the summer stands with plenty of nice sealed honey. They were packed on the 13th day of last Nov., and from that until the present time (121 days) there has not been a single day that the bees could safely fly, and the consequence is my bees are all dead, from the effects of their long confinement. They left plenty of honey, but the combs are badly soiled. I am not discouraged, however, and shall try again. A gentleman living not far from here had only 8 colonies left out of 39, 2 weeks ago, and when spring condescends to smile on us again we think it will not need a returning board to count the bees in this county. I am well pleased with the new Weekly; it is always a welcome visitor.

J. R. KILBURN.

Fisher Station, Mich., March 14, 1881.

=Bees Robbing.=—Here in Texas we have had a severe winter, but not much snow. The thermometer went down to 20° above zero. Last season was a poor one for honey; we had a cold spell in Nov.; then had warm weather for 2 weeks, and my hybrid bees began to rob. The pure Italians behaved well, neither robbed nor let the others rob them. I used water and kerosene oil, but it was of no use; at last I hit upon a remedy. My hives have the bottom boards projecting in front. I ripped out one-inch square pieces 5 inches long, cut coarse wire cloth 2x6, bent it lengthwise in the middle, tacked on 2 sides of each block, leaving wire about 5 inches to give them air; I drove a nail through each end and nailed it in front of each hive. Every 10 or 15 days when the weather was fine, an hour before night, I let them out to have a fly. We have had fine weather for the last 2 weeks. I let the bees out on Jan 30; they have been busy carrying in pollen from elm since Jan. 31, and have forgotten their stealing propensities. I opened some hives this evening and found plenty of sealed brood, and will have drones flying by Feb. 24.

J. W. ECKMAN.

Richmond, Texas, Feb. 10, 1881.

=Chloroform.=—About 10 years ago I used chloroform in handling bees, after the following plan: I provided myself with a tin slide about 5 inches long and 2 wide; punched a few holes in it, and stitched on one side of it a pad of 3 or 4 thicknesses of cotton cloth. Then after closing all ventilators and entrances except the lower one, I turned about one teaspoonful of chloroform on the pad and slipped it through the entrance, and immediately closed the hive with a wad of cloth, I then listened carefully until the bees had nearly ceased humming (or about 1 or 2 minutes) and then opened the hive and withdrew the slide. They were cross hybrid Italians.

P. F. WHITCOMB.

Lancaster. Wis., March 5, 1881.

=Test for Honey.=—Bee-keepers need a good honey test, to expose the “rag syrup,” an admixture of honey and glucose, with which the New York market is flooded. In every grocery, meat market and drug store there, can be found cans of “Walker’s best honey,” labeled “Greenpoint, N. Y.,” but there is not much honey in it. Last fall I went into a drug store there with 4 samples of my best honey. They tested it, and what they used turned it perfectly black. I saw one of Walker’s cans of honey there, and asked them to test that; they did so, but the same drugs had no effect whatever on that. They would not tell me what they used to test it; but I would like to have a good and simple test given in the BEE JOURNAL.

H. RICHEY.

Sing Sing, N. Y.

[Pure green tea, well steeped, is used by many to detect the
presence of glucose in honey. If the honey dissolves without
changing the color of the tea, it is supposed to be pure.
But in these days of “enterprise,” it is frequently a matter
of doubt whether the tea is pure; again, if, as is claimed,
glucose is sometimes manufactured without leaving sulphuric
acid or other deleterious substances in it, then the tea
would hardly expose it when mixed with honey. Alcohol is also
used to detect the presence of glucose; but besides being
frequently inconvenient to obtain, it requires considerable
skill in its use.

Thousands of bee-keepers will unite with us in thanking
Prof. Kedzie, of the Michigan Agricultural College, for a
simple test to detect adulterations in honey and syrups, and
instructions for its application.—ED.]

=Three-Fourths of the Bees Dead.=—The present severe winter has killed ¾ of the bees in this section. Bees have not had a thorough cleansing flight since Nov. 8. One apiary of 61 colonies, well packed in chaff and plenty of good stores, will not go through with over 50 per cent. Mine have been confined in the cellar for 118 days, have wintered well so far, but are becoming uneasy.