588 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



nineteen l)ut one survived the winter, and of the seventy-nine vi^hich I 

 wintered in the cave I lost only two. Last fall I placed all of my 

 colonies of bees under ground and they seem to be doing well. A few 

 years ago it seemed a very difficuM task to winter bees. Most people 

 were trying to winter their bees out of doors and generally meeting 

 with poor success, but by the underground method it can be success- 

 fully and economically done. Place your bees in their winter quarters 

 at the freezing up of the ground in the fall and keep them in total dark- 

 ness. Give them plenty of ventilation and they will do the rest. Do 

 not be afraid that vegetables in the same apartment is going to harm 

 them. I use my bees to keep my vegetables from freezing, as they will 

 keep the temperature in the cellar or cave at from 40 to 45 degrees, just 

 the right temperature to sprout your potatoes and onions. They usually 

 become very restless in their winter quarters about the first of March, 

 when the cellar becomes much warmer, and you will find that some 

 of the colonies have commenced to hatch their summer bees. Give them 

 ventilation and be careful about admitting light. Keep them as quiet as 

 possible until April 1st, and then if the weather pemiits, place them 

 upon their summer stands as I have before described. 



Now, a few words as to do they pay. It has been said that a county 

 rich in the product of corn is poor in the product of honey, ibut they do pay 

 fairly well in this community, not so well perhaps as they do in the 

 heather covered districts of Britain and Russia, or the flowery regions of 

 the Nile, or the alfalfa growing communities of our western states. But 

 since the appearance of the dandelion and white clover and the more ex- 

 tensive cultivation of fruit it can be said that they pay fairly well and 

 it is advisable for every farmer in every farming community to keep a 

 few colonies of bees for the assisitance they render him in fruit growing, 

 if nothing else. And if he has not time to care for them let the children 

 look after them. We often find that the lady of the house is more 

 capable in caring for them. Some of our best bee culturers are ladies. 

 Get them for the boys upon the farm; they will take great interest in 

 them and in no distant day you will find your table provided with every 

 luxury and no small income. 



CORN CULTURE. 

 D. L. Pascal, DeWitt. Iowa, Before 'Johnson County Farmers' Institute. 



HOW TO PLANT, TEND AND HARVEST IOWA'S GREATEST CROP. HOW TO CARE FOR 

 SEED AND HOW TO TEST IT. 



We listen to the dairy men tell how important the dairy products are, 

 and the live stock men will tell about the cattle, pigs and sheep and 

 their valuation; then the poultry men will tell you about the old hen 

 and her eggs, which all sounds good and are important products, but let 

 the Iowa corn crop fail, where would the stock man be? The cattle and 

 hogs would be a drag on the market. 



