798 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Dec. 12, 1901. 



the cellar when it first began snowing, and it 

 is pleasing to hear their merry, contented, 

 quiet ■' tallv'' to each other, as the.y hang in 

 clusters below the frames as large as the 

 crown of a hat. Eight colonies have been 

 left out, in chaff-packed hives, so that I can 

 hear them fly, should a day or two of warm 

 weather occur during the winter. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y ., Nov. 29. 



Experience with Bees. 



I came here in March, liiiiO, and commenced 

 farming on my father-in-law's place, two 

 miles from town. My father-in-law, Abner 

 Bliss, has kept a few colonies of bees for 

 many years, with varying success. He be- 

 came very much interested lately, however, 

 and commenced studying the business to 

 learn it more perfectly. As for me, I have 

 been interested somewhat in years gone by. 

 During the winter of ISSa-S-t, I had the privi- 

 lege of forming the acquaintance of Mr. N. 

 Johnson, of Douglas County, who was a suc- 

 cessful bee-keeper, and a reader of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, if I remember rightlj'. 

 There 1 saw a Langstroth hive for the first 

 time, a foundation machine, comb founda- 

 tion, a press for putting it in the sections, 

 and many other things. I had a few colonies 

 of bees at the time, and so became much in- 

 terested, but lost them in 1S85. I secured a 

 colony or two afterwards, but lost them, still 

 I determined to try again. 



Mr. Bliss told me if I would get a Danzen- 

 baker hive he would give me a swarm to put 

 into it. Accordingly, I sent for one and got a 

 start again. To be safe, I thought I would 

 better get another, which I did, and had it 

 ready. Shortly after receiving it my son 

 found a swarm on a hedge, and I put it in 

 the hive. When autumn came I found the 

 first colony had some surplus honey, but the 

 other needed feeding, so I fed them and put 

 them into the cellar, hung up a thermometer, 

 and kept the temjierature correct through tlie 

 winter. Mr. Bliss has practiced keeping his 

 bees in this cellar for some years with excel- 

 lent success. When we took our hees out of 

 the cellar last spring we found them in good 

 condition, but the mice had eaten away some 

 of the combs. 



After I had secured a start in bees again I 

 subscribed for the American Bee Journal. 

 Mr. Bliss has the '' A B C of Bee-Culture;' 

 and Doolittle's "Scientific Queen-Rearing."' 

 and I have "Langstroth on the Honey-Bee." 

 Cook's " Manual of the Apiary," and New- 

 man's "Bees and Honey." And / »-f"(/ last 

 winter. 



Mr. Bliss bought 19 queens, and I 6; we 

 then began making hives. We ordered sec- 

 tions and foundation, and I made a machine 

 for putting in starters, which is adjustable, 

 and works with a foot-lever and an alcohol- 

 lamp. I think it is a success, and beats 

 anything I have seen. 



When our queens came we had " business 

 at home '' for awhile, and I think we were 

 remarkably successful, but we do not know 

 it all yet. I saved six queens out of si-\. and 

 made some mistakes besides. We have learned 

 something, and appreciate the assistance we 

 get from the .American Bee Journal and the 

 books very much. Our honey-yield the past 

 season was fair, and of very fine quality. 



R.,L. WiLDMAX. 



Peoria Co., 111., Nov. 1. 



"iNVINcVBrrfiATCHER CO./"'^''- ^''sPRrnGFIELD, OHIO. 



PleaHe mention Bee Journal "wlirfn "WTitin? 



If you want the Bee-Book 



That covers the whole Apicultural Field more 



completely than an v other published, 



send $1.25 to 



Prof. A. J. Cook.Claremont, Cal., 



FOR HIS 



" Bee=Keeper's Guide." 



Liberal Discounts tc the Trade. 



Please mention Bee Journal wtieii vn\\\^}.z 



Lanosirollion... 

 TiieHoiieyBee 



Revised by Dadant — 1900 Edition. 



This is one of the standard books on 

 bee-culture, and ought to be in the 

 library of every bee-keeper. It is bound 

 substantially in cloth, and contains 

 over 500 pag'es, being- revised by those 

 large, practical bee-keepers, so well- 

 known to all the readers of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal — Chas. Dadant c& Son. 

 Each subject is clearly and thoroly ex- 



plained, so that by following the in- 

 structions of this book one cannot fail 

 to be wonderfully helpt on the way to 

 success with bees. 



The book we mail for $1.25, or club 

 it with the American Bee Journal for 

 one year — both for $1.75 ; or, we will 

 mail it as a premium for sending us 

 THREE NEW subscribers to the Bee 

 Journal for one year, with $3.00. 



This is a splendid chance to get a 

 grand bee-book for a very little money 

 or work. 



GEORGE W. YORK & CO. 



1+4 & 146 Erie Street, - CHICAGO, ILL. 



/ '" After the theatre or other even- 

 ing entertainment, the Night Express 

 on the Nickel Plate Road leaves daily 

 at 11:20, from the Van Buren Street 

 Union Passenger Station, .\rrives at 

 Cleveland at 10:20 a.m. Breakfast in 

 Dining Car. Makes connections at 

 Buffalo for all points East. Arrives 

 at New York City 7:50 second morning, 

 and Boston at 10:15. Sleeping Cars 

 open at '•:30 p.m. Ticket office. Ill 

 Adams Street. 'Phone Central 2057. 

 47— 50A3t 



Hanagement of Foul Brood. 



The Rocky Mountain Bee Journal is quite 

 optimistic with regard to the management of 

 a colony of bees run for comb honey in case 

 such a colony is affected with foul brood, 

 saying : 



Some of our largest and best comb-honey 

 producers have for years made a specialty of 

 producing fancy honey. It is a well-known 

 fact that section honey produced over new 

 brood-combs will be cleaner and whiter than 

 that produced over combs that are one year 

 old, or older. In most localities there would 

 be a big loss in having new brood-combs built 

 every year. To one who has never tried it, 

 such would seem to be the case in Colorado, 

 but those who are practicing it assert that 

 there is not only not any loss in the number 

 of pounds of surplus honey produced, but an 

 actual gain in the superior grading quality of 

 the honej' secured, and the yield of wax from 

 the old combs. 



To secure new brood-combs each season 

 and not lessen the crop of surplus honey at 

 the opening of the honey-flow, each colony is 

 shaken into a new hive containing only foun- 

 dation starters in the frames, but full sheets 

 of foundation in the sections, with a queen- 

 escluding zinc between the first super and 

 the brood-chamber. The bees will prefer the 

 full sheets of foundation to the starters, and 

 begin to work vigorously in the sections, 

 building comb in the brood-chamber only 

 just fast enough to accommodate the mater- 

 nal capacity of the queen. By the close of 

 our long honey season the brood-chamber will 

 be filled, and the best possible work will have 

 been secured in the sections. 



To make a success of this system, colonies 

 must be strong, and the work must be done 

 at exactly the right time. It may be said 

 further in its favor, that it effectually solves 

 the problem of swarming. 



Do Queenless Bees Prefer Too Old 

 Larvse for Queen 'Rearing? 



Last year I attemiUed to get an answer to 

 this question. I think the result was conclu- 

 sive; but Hon. R. L. Taylor thought the posi- 

 tion of the combs was such as to favor start- 

 ing queen-cells from the younger brood. This 

 year 1 thought I would make the test in such 

 a way that no such objection could be made. 

 At the same time I simplified the question 

 put to the bees, putting it in this form : 



" Which do you prefer for queen-rearing, a 

 cell in which an egg was laid not less than 

 six days ago, or one in which an egg was laid 

 not more than four days ago !" Or, assum- 

 ing that the larva hatches from the egg in 

 three days, the iiuestion would be, " Which 

 do you prefer, a larva three days old or one 24 

 hours old ?" 



July 16, at 10 a.m., I took from a nucleus 

 the only comb it had, which comb we will 

 call comb n. The iiueen in the nucleus had 

 been laying about a week, and during that 

 time had been confined to one comb, so I 

 could be morally certain that eggs had been 

 laid just before removal. The comb was 

 about two-thirds filled with brood and eggs. 

 I put it in an upper story of a strong colony 

 over an excluder, along with other unsealed 

 brood that had been there for some days, a 

 feeder being on top, so that it would be well 

 cared for. 



July 18, at 10 a.m., I took from a nucleus 

 (in which was my best queen) its two brood- 

 combs, and gave it a comb that had not been 

 with a queen for more than a week. It had a 

 few cells of sealed l)rood, and its cells were 

 well polished, ready for immediate use. This 

 I called comb b. 



July '22, at 10 a.m., 1 took from a full col- 

 ony its queen and all its brood, putting in the 

 center of the hive combs n and 6, and filling 



