(Entered as second-class matter at lli- I'ost-Office at Hamilton, 111., under Act of March 8, 1879.1 



Published Monthly at $1.00 a Year, by American Bee Journal, First National Bank Building 



C. p. DADANT, Editor. 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Associate Editor. 



HAMILTON, ILL, JANUARY, 1913 



Vol. LIIL— No. 1 



Editorial 



Comments 



the soft maple is in bloom, so they may 

 go to work gathering pollen as soon as 

 taken out. 



Eueouragement 



Our thanks are due to the Editor of 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture and to a 

 number of friends who have privately 

 written complimentary letters on the 

 present appearance of the American 

 Bee Journal. We do not propose to 

 spend time and take space singing our 

 own praise, for deeds are better than 

 words. We are highly gratified with 

 the support we are securing. 



Ventilatiou lu Cellar Winteriiiff 



At the Toronto meeting, the question 

 of cellar ventilation elicited consider- 

 able discussion. The climate of Onta- 

 rio shows much variation, from the 

 southwestern corner, which is almost 

 as far south as the south line of Michi- 

 gan to the northeastern limit, which is 

 farther north than the north line of 

 New York State. For that reason, the 

 discussion was animated, and opinions 

 varied. Mr. R. E. L. Harkness, who 

 lives in the extreme east of the prov- 

 ince, gave a very interesting account 

 of his method of cellar wintering. He 

 leaves his colonies in the cellar as late 

 as May; once they remained until the 

 11th. He does not lose any bees, and 

 finds most of them with two or three 

 combs of brood, when brought out. 

 All the ventilation he gives come 

 through the door leading into the main 

 part of the cellar, which is contigious 

 to his bee-cellar. But his colonies are 

 not piled in tiers, filling up all the avail- 

 able space, as with most of us. He has 

 shelves, and the hives are placed on 



those shelves without any bottom- 

 board. The number of cubic feet of 

 unoccupied space is therefore greater 

 than in most bee-cellars, where we 

 place the hives in tiers of four or five. 

 The result is that the temperature is 

 more equable, and the need of active 

 ventilation lessened. When colonies 

 are piled in tiers there is a sufficient 

 amount of heat developed to greatly in- 

 crease the temperature. If ventilation 

 is given from outside, there are possi- 

 bly places where the degree. may be 

 lowered to 38 or less, while other spots 

 are still too warm, owing to the emis- 

 sion of heat from the clusters. Mr. 

 Harkness' method is therefore the best. 

 It requires a larger cellar than most of 

 us have been in the habit of using, but 

 it evidently pays, in the long run. 



Taking all things in consideration, 

 ventilation of bee-cellars cannot be 

 overdone, provided the proper degree 

 of temperature is maintained. Cellar 

 wintering becomes dangerous only 

 where the outside temperature is so 

 high that it is impossible to keep the 

 cellar cool, or where the cellar is so 

 poorly ventilated that the air becomes 

 foul. Iv should be added, however, 

 that although it is generally considered 

 that the temperature in the cellar 

 should not go above 45 degrees, yet a 

 temperature of 50 degrees or more 

 may be all right provided there be a 

 constant flow of fresh air. 



If the cellar can be kept cool enough 

 to maintain quietude, authorities agree 

 that it is best to keep the bees in until 



A Profitable Crop 



The Kansas Industrialist, published 

 by the Agricultural College of Man- 

 hattan, gives,"in its number of Nov. 2, 

 the record of a yield of $27 worth of 

 honey from one colony, produced in 

 the apiary of Wm. R. Lewis. His 10 

 colonies gave him $1.50 worth in all for 

 the season. 



Advertising' Honey 



One of the most profitable things for 

 advertising honey locally is a public 

 demonstration with a hive of bees or a 

 single comb in an observing hive. A 

 demonstration of this kind, with full 

 explanations, made in front of a gro- 

 cery at Guelph, Ont., attracted so large 

 a concourse of people that the street 

 was blocked to traffic for a while. 

 Field days for apiary demonstration, 

 when extracting honey, if properly ad- 

 vertised, will attract hundreds of peo- 

 ple, who will thereaftergain confidence 

 in the producer who thus discloses the 

 secrets of the bee-hive to the consumer. 

 Too little is known of our industry by 

 the masses. 



Comb v.s. Extracted Honey 



Not so very long ago there was a cry 

 that more attention should be given to 

 extracted honey. Producers of comb 

 honey were made to feel that perhaps 

 they were making a mistake, and no 

 doubt some of them seriously consid- 

 ered the question whether it might not 

 be to their interest to change from 

 comb honey to extracted. That was 

 only a year or two ago. Now comes a 

 cry of an opposite character. "The 

 demand is for comb honey, bee-keepers 

 should realize that extracted is a drug 



