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AMERICAN BEE ICXJRNAL 



Sept. 26, lycl. 



admit of the requisite sized combs for the latitude in which 

 they are to be used, the bees will not be able to winter suc- 

 cessfully in them. 



The fecundity of the queen, so far as we know, does 

 not vary with the latitude and can not, therefore, be brought 

 to bear on the subject in regard to the general area of 

 combs used. 



The bees survive through the winter by preserving as 

 well as they possibly can the heat of their clusters ; and as 

 the general interior temperature of the hive can only be 

 raised by the loss from these clusters, it follows — paradoxic- 

 ally, as it may appear — that the colder the general interior 

 of the hive the better are the bees wintering, through the 

 preservation of heat in their clusters ; and it also follows 

 that if upward ventilation, or draught, through the hive is 

 prevented — which draught the bees dread above all things 

 — the entrance to the hive can not be too large. 



In the spring, however, when the bees extend from the 

 cluster over their combs, warmth in the general interior of 

 the hive has its advantage ; but if great enough to cause 

 the bees to leave the clusters too soon, it might be produc- 

 tive of more harm than benefit. 



The controversy concerning the merits and demerits of 

 cold and warm hives by the presentation of the above facts 

 is reduced in importance. The main object to be consid- 

 ered is their construction to admit of combs adapted to the 

 size of bee-clusters required in various latitudes. — British 

 Bee Journal. 



No. 2.— A Bee-Keeper's Vacation in Wisconsin. 



BV C. P. DADANT. 



FRIEND reader, last week I left you after telling you a 

 fish story, yet I have no doubt that you wish you had 

 been along with me when those fish were caught. But 

 this happy neighborhood has other attractions besides good 

 fishing, for they tell me that there are both deer and bear 

 in the woods around Sturgeon Bay. I was rather inclined 

 to doubt the existence of the latter in a section alreadj' so 

 well populated, but having had occasion to take a drive into 

 the country for a visit to an apiarist, the ladj' who accom- 

 panied us showed us the spot where she had been badly 

 frightened by the appearance of a bear while walking 

 along the road. " And," said she, " though I turned to run, 

 the bear was as badly frightened as I was, for he also 

 turned and ran the other way." 



The woods are indeed wild, in spots, more brush than 

 timber, for all the good timber has long ago been cut, and 

 made into lumber, and the forest fires have destroyed what 

 had not been despoiled by human wastefulness. The 

 thickets are so dense that it is, in some places, almost 

 impossible to get through, and they say that in the deer- 

 hunting season it is not very safe to travel about in those 

 woods, not on account of the bears, but on account of the 

 careless hunters who are apt to shoot at anything that they 

 see moving in the thickets, before they have ascertained 

 what sort of game it is. 



Those woods contain all sorts of evergreens and many 

 deciduous trees, chief among which are the beech and 

 birch. There are also shrubs, blackberries, and the inevit- 

 able red raspberry, which I am told exists all over the North, 

 clear up to Alaska and the Klondike. This is certainly a 

 very nice thing for the bees, and if the honey from the 

 raspberry is half as fragrant as the wild berries them- 

 selves, it must be delicious. But it may be with this as it 

 is with the early fruit-bloom in Illinois, perhaps the colo- 

 nies are not sufficiently powerful at the time of the bloom 

 to take any advantage of it. But there is plenty of this 

 bloom, for the waste land and the woods are full of red 

 raspberries. 



The white pines that formerly composed the bulk of 

 the forests in those parts have disappeared, and if you 

 accidentally notice one, towering above the rest of the for- 

 est in lonely majesty, you may be sure that its trunk is 

 defective and rotten at the core, for that is the only thing 

 that could have saved it from the ax. When the first set- 

 tlements were made, the main puzzle for the white man was 

 how to get rid of the wood, and we can still see traces of 

 an awful waste of timber that would now be valuable. I 

 saw a small apiary in an enclosure made of trees two to 

 three feet in diameter. Two logs had been rolled side by 

 side, and a third one put on the top of them, making a bar- 

 rier about four feet high and four feet in diameter at the 

 base. Of course this fence was old, probably 25 years or 



A TIGBOAT TOWINCi SAILBOATS OX TUE LAKE. 



more, but it was still sufficient to keep out stock, and stood 

 as a witness of the haste with which people destroyed the 

 forest. May we not, as a nation, be sorry later on, for not 

 having retained at least a part of those beautiful forests ? 

 The pine timber is getting more expensive, and experienced 

 lumber-men predict that within ten years most of the pine 

 will have to be purchased in British America. Already 

 most of the timber on the shores of the big lakes has been 

 picked over, even on the Canadian side, and although many 

 and many a boat-load is seen coming southward towards 

 Chicago and the big centers, yet the quantity is less than 

 formerly. Some saw-mills are cutting only hemlock, such 

 timber as was considered worthless 20 years ago. 



But the destruction of the forest does not seem to injure 

 the bee-industry, for if many wild plants are thus des- 

 troyed, it is there as in our prairie States, many of the cul- 

 tivated plants are honey-yielders, and the white clover 

 steadily gains a foothold wherever cattle graze. So the 

 prospect is rather for an increase of honey-production than 

 for a decrease. And the Golden Age, in a country "flow- 

 ing with milk and honey," is certainly more in the pros- 

 pective future than in the past, in all these hills that have 

 seen the Indian disappear when the white man came. 



But, dear reader, it is now time to go home, and our 

 vacation is coming to an end. At ten o'clock, Monday 

 morning, the whistle of the "Chicago" boat announces to 

 us that she is at the dock, waiting for her passengers, and 

 we bid farewell to our new acquaintances, and embark. 

 " Grandpa " Dadant, who is to stay till the end of Septem- 

 ber, accompanies us to the boat. In another hour we pass 

 through the Ship Canal, and are afloat on the blue waters 

 of Lake Michigan. We give you herewith a view of one 

 of the many sights we encounter — a tug drawing three sail- 

 ships loaded with lumber, bound for some southern port. 

 This view may be familiar to many of our Chicago friends, 

 but it will surely interest our prairie bee-keepers, who have 

 no occasion to visit the lakes. 



On the second day of our trip we had a little storm, 

 just enough to give our ladies an idea of seasickness, and 

 its pleasures!?); but this was soon over, and gave them 

 just that much more appetite for a hearty supper in a 

 Chicago restaurant. 



When we arrive in Chicago, the romance is at an end. 

 There is nothing left but noise 'and bustle, smoke and dust. 

 No, no, don't talk to me of Chicago I We hurry home as 

 soon as we can, barely taking time to pay a short visit to 

 our worthy friend, Mr. York, the kindly editor of the 

 American Bee Journal. In a few hours, through smoke 

 and dust, we are again at home, resuming the daily duties 

 of life. Hancock Co., 111. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hem. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



