Part 4

S. N. Black, of Clayton, had 37 colonies in the spring, and 44 now. He produced 150 pounds of mainly white clover, buckwheat and heart’s-ease honey. Bees were in fair condition for wintering. He has but little loss either in cellar or out-door wintering. He expected to put them into the cellar this winter.

On motion by A. N. Draper, Article 5 of the By-Laws was amended, changing the words “Upon the Executive Committee,” to “Upon an order signed by the President, and countersigned by the Secretary.” Carried by a two-thirds vote.

The convention then adjourned _sine die_.

JAS. A. STONE, _Sec._

“=A Modern Bee-Farm= and Its Economic Management,” is the title of a splendid book on practical bee-culture, by Mr. S. Simmins, of England. It is 5¾ × 8½ inches in size, and contains 270 pages, nicely illustrated, and bound in cloth. It shows “how bees may be cultivated as a means of livelihood; as a health-giving pursuit; and as a source of recreation to the busy man.” It also illustrates how profits may be “made certain by growing crops yielding the most honey, having also other uses; and by judgment in breeding a good working strain of bees.” Price, postpaid, from this office, $1.00; or clubbed with the BEE JOURNAL for one year, for $1.60.

FROM “THE STINGER.”

Only a bee! Only a bee, as it flew through the air, And tried to hum the sweet elfin air.

Only a bee! Only a bee, and yet when it stings, The air with loud cries of pain loudly rings.

Only a boy! Only a boy, on mischief bent, Only a boy who was not content.

Only a grave! Only a grave on yonder hill, Contains a corpse both cold and still.

The man who wrote that “poem” must have thought himself funny; to The Stinger he was a--I don’t think I shall say fool this time, but I hope the next time he tries his hand at rhyming, he will give us something with more sense in it. No bee has yet driven a boy into an untimely grave; the boy of these times cannot be killed so easily as the writer of the above lines would seem to imply.

However, The Stinger would say to all boys bent on teasing the bees: Keep away from the dear little insects until after they are fed, or they might hurt you.

In casually looking through the November number of the _Review_, I saw the name of Mr. H. A. Burch mentioned along with that of James Heddon. I remember the time when the name of Mr. Burch figured quite prominently in the pages of our bee-papers. It was he, I believe, who used to furnish the delightful series of “Walks and Talks” for the earlier volumes of the old _Bee-Keepers’ Magazine_.

These “Walks and Talks,” with some other articles that appeared in the _Magazine_, gave it a tone that I do not find in any of the bee-publications of this later day, I am sorry to say. It seems, that although we have some very good writers on apiculture pure and simple, still we have none of those classic writers of a number of years ago. My taste may be somewhat vitiated, and I am unable to recognize the beauty of style of the leaders in apicultural literature of the present time.

If I remember correctly, it was the same James Heddon that I just referred to, that found fault with the writings of “those literary fellows.” Yet it is this same critic who has secured no less a writer than the Mr. Burch I have mentioned above, to assist him in building up his (Heddon’s) newspaper. While complimenting Mr. H. on his good taste in securing such an eminent writer as Mr. Burch, I must say that he was a little too severe on a class of writers who did much to make apiculture what it is to-day.

It was such “literary fellows” as Langstroth and others who did much to give us some books on bees that rank high as literary productions.

I am inclined to think that Mr. Heddon did not really intend to cast any reflection on writers like those I have been mentioning, but he wanted to head of such writers as the Rambler and the Somnambulist. It was these, and nothing more!

The Stinger is not very well disposed toward those people who have the running of the Agricultural Experiment Stations in the United States. He believes that these Stations are, in the majority of cases, managed by persons who are not in all cases fitted for the places they are assigned to. There is a good deal of humbuggery about these matters; it is too often that they are used to give some political fellow a berth where he can draw down a good salary.

What I would like to see, is some way of making these Stations more useful than they now are. Not all the men who are in charge of them are competent to fulfil the duties assigned them.

A correspondent writes saying he was in hopes The Stinger would be put into winter quarters and not taken out again until the spring. The Stinger thanks the aforesaid correspondent, and would say that he regrets that the witless correspondent did not sign his name to the letter, that I might pay my respects to him in a way that would make him sorry for his impertinence.

The Stinger is not the kind of a bear that has to seek some den during the winter months; nor is he exactly like the bee that has the misfortune of living in a cold clime. The Stinger is out every day in the year, and if he does not come your way often, do not feel you have escaped a pestilence. It is generally the man with a guilty conscience that fears to have his misdeeds ventilated.

A correspondent has written me to know what he should do with his surplus honey. The way I do when there is any surplus honey in our house, after we have brought home a jar of honey, and it is not all consumed at the first meal, is to put it aside until the next meal, when the surplus will surely disappear.

Never kick a hive of bees when you are down; wait until you are up and can run away.

Why is killing bees like a confession? Because you unbuzz ’em.--_Ex._

☞ 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.

=Read= our great offers on page 62.

Honey & Beeswax Market Quotations.

Rules for Grading.

The following rules for grading honey were adopted by the North American Bee-Keepers’ Association, in Washington, and, so far as possible, quotations are made according to these rules:

FANCY.--All sections to be well filled; combs straight, of even thickness, and firmly attached to all four sides; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel-stain, or otherwise; all the cells sealed except the row of cells next the wood.

NO. 1.--All sections well filled, but combs uneven or crooked, detached at the bottom, or with but few cells unsealed; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel-stain or otherwise.

In addition to this the honey is to be classified according to color, using the terms white, amber and dark. That is, there will be “fancy white,” “No. 1 dark,” etc.

CHICAGO, ILL., Dec. 4, 1893.--There were but few shipments of honey to this market last week. The cold weather started business up, and honey moved some better than heretofore. Fancy and No. 1 is getting scarce, and prices are on the upward tendency. Fancy, 16c.; No. 1 white, 15c.; fair, 14c. Extracted is moving slowly with plenty to satisfy demand. Beeswax, 20@22c.

J. A. L.

ALBANY, N. Y., Dec. 22.--Honey market is very quiet and dull. All prices are nominal and demand very light. We look for a better demand after the Holidays, but the past month has been the slowest honey trade we ever saw in this market.

H. R. W.

CINCINNATI, O., Dec. 19.--There is a good demand for honey in the small way, while demand from manufacturers is still slow. Extracted honey brings 5@8c. Comb honey, 12@16c. in a jobbing way for fair to best white.

Beeswax is in fair demand at 20@23c. for good to choice yellow.

C. F. M. & S.

NEW YORK. N. Y., Dec. 22.--Our market for comb honey is unusually dull and shows no activity whatever. The supply has been large, while the demand has been very light, hence the stocks have accumulated. We quote: Fancy white, 1-lb., 12@13c.; off grades, 11c.; buckwheat, 10c. It is necessary to shade even these prices to effect calls for round lots. Extracted is in fair demand with plenty of supply of all grades. We quote: White clover and basswood, 6c.; California, 5½@6c.; Southern, 55@60c. per gal.; buckwheat, no demand.

Beeswax, is in very good demand at 25@26c. for good average quality.

H. B. & S.