246 



Jul/. 1915. 



Americanize Journal 



warm day comes in winter and the bees fly 

 out and drop on the snow, are they sickly or 

 healthy bees ? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— I. At first I used two thick, 

 nesses. and punched a very small hole 

 through the paper. Latterly I have used a 

 single thickness of paper, and I don't see 



but it works just as well. 1 pay little atten- 

 tion to the paper, leaving it until the first 

 time I want to open the hive for some 

 other purpose. 



2. A porch makes a nice nesting place for 

 spiders, so I prefer a hive without a porch. 



3. Either or both. 



Wintering Small Nuclei 



In November. Ki2. ten nuclei contained 

 each about two handiuls of bees with a 

 young queen I was at my wits' end to win- 

 ter them. As they were some 3o miles west 

 of Philadelphia. I concluded to move them 

 to my cellar here. These bees were car 

 ried over rough country roads in an auto- 

 mobile, and arrived here about 7;30 p.m. 

 and placed in a cellar, having had no cleans- 

 ing flight for five weeks. I lost one. 1 he 

 queen got killed. I think. There were 12 

 tons of coal and one load of wood dutiiped 

 in the cellar within 15 feet of these bees. 

 The heater was 8 feet away, and the cellar 

 was used to dry clothes in on rainy and cold 

 days, so there could not have been absolute 

 quietness there. 



I placed them in one corner, and three or 

 four times when bees could fly. I carried 

 out the little iframe boxes and the bees had 

 a fine flight. On Feb. 18. I gave each of the 

 ten nuclei a small bottle of syrup, sugar and 

 water equal parts. Making a small hole in 

 the super cover, and a small hole in the top 

 of a uncovered bottle, so the feed would be 

 very slow in passing out. The bees were 

 kept dark, so they did not fly. They bred 

 up fast, and when nice warm days came, 

 about April 10. they were ready to set out. 

 and had enough young bees to take care of 

 the heat problem inside. I he older bees 

 gathered pollen and nectar enough to keep 

 things going. 



The only fear I had in my first wintering 

 was spring dwindling. That was overcome 

 by the hatching of bees and brood. Brood 

 in that state helps to keep bees warm. Six 

 of these colonies were covering five or more 

 frames June I. and would have stored sur- 

 plus if there had been any at that time. 



In 1013. 1 wintered some 24 small colonies 

 in the same place. I use building paper 10 

 make the corner dark. There was no roar, 

 and all were quiet until warm days; then 1 

 placed them in the front yard within 10 feet 

 of the sidewalk, and the bees took a flight. 

 In the middle of February I started feeding. 

 The little lots of bees consumed some » to 15 

 pounds of honey while in the cellar and 

 rearing brood. I shall in the future winter 

 all my mating nuclei this way. and have nice 

 young tested queens early. 1 placed 27 in 

 the cellar on Dec. 15. 1514. and expect them 

 to do as well as in the past. 



I am sure bees can be kept where the tem- 

 perature will go as high as 60 degrees, and 

 never as low as 38. Noises do not seem to 

 hurt as much as light. I looked into a 

 nucleus last Friday. Jan. i. and they were 

 lively I took a lamp with me. and a man 

 ■ who thought I was fooling when I told him 

 I had a cellar full of live bees. When 1 

 opened the hive they came up to greet me 

 as in June, and my friend wanted to run. 

 but as the bees did not fly. he and they 

 quited down. The hum just lasted one min- 

 ute I advise all who wish to winter bees in 

 the cellar to try a few weak ones and feed 

 them as I did and see if they don t gather 

 more honey than those wintered outside. 

 Geo. M. Steele. 

 Philadelphia. Pa., Jan. 4. 



(The above letter should have been in- 

 serted earlier. We hope to hear whether 

 our correspondent has succeeded as well 

 this winter as previously. His report men 

 tions some interesting questions for tlie 

 amateurs who have no special winter re- 

 pository, and who are compelled to winter 

 their bees in an ordinary house cellar — 

 Editor.) 



The San Francisco Fair 



I have visited the Panama-Pacific Exposi' 

 tion a couple of times in San Francisco, and 

 noted some of the honey exhibits Of course, 

 the show is so gigantic an affair that it is not 

 possible to take it all in at a hop-skip-and 

 jump visit. I should judge that to do it jus- 

 tice it would take a month to begin to see 

 anywhere near everything I spent ten days 

 at the Columbia Exposition at Chicago in 

 iSgj. and I did not see a third of the things 

 that I would like to have seen, not counting 

 the Midway. 



One of the best exhibits at the San Fran- 

 cisco show is that made by Australia; it 

 seems the most complete and is well ar- 

 ranged. It is an education in itself. Its 

 wool, mineral, native woods, apples and 

 other fruits are well shown; also some nice 

 samples of its honey in exhibition jars. In 

 the California building, one of the counties 

 makes a good display of honey. It gives 

 prominence, in very large letters construct- 

 ed of whitewood and filled out by the bees 

 in delicate white comb, to its alfalln hottev. 



I did not see any exhibits of apiarian sup- 

 plies, but will hunt them up on my next 

 visit. W. A. PRyAL. 



Oakland. Calif. 



Spring Condition of Bees in Black Belt 

 of Alabama 



The winter and spring of igi4 and 1915 was 

 so changeable and irregular that the bees 

 used plenty of winter stores before spring 

 came to stay, and for this reason the loss 

 was very heavy. Enough feeding of honey 

 was done in the latter part of February to 



build up the weakest colony and have them 

 ready for the first bluom. that of swamp 

 trees vine creepers and blackberries. At 

 the time these plants began blooming our 

 spring drouth began which lasted until May 

 10. As it %vas general throughout this sec- 

 tion, the effect on this crop depends largely 

 upon the location. Melilotus is the impor- 

 tant and. practically speaking, the only 

 honey producing plant in this section. It 

 will begin blooming about June 10. and will 

 last until after the middle of July. 



The w ather at this time is cloudy one 

 day and clear the next I'hese conditions 

 s. em to keep the bees within ihe hive and 

 discourage swarming, of which thus lar we 

 have had very little, though the bers are un- 

 usually strong. If conditions continue we 

 expect the usual average crop. 



Demopolis. Ala . May 20. Jay W. Null. 



Experiences of an Amateur 



Since I made Nashville. Tenn,. my perma- 

 nent home, about four years ago. my wife's 

 people have had several hives of 3banded 

 Italian bees sitting under a shady walnut 

 tree, about 100 feet from the family resi- 

 dence Up to last spring I used to venture 

 within 50 feet of these hives, as I well re- 

 member the effects of a sting delivered right 

 on the end of my nose by one of our neigh- 

 bors most vicious bees. 



Last spring my wife handed me an Ency- 

 clopaedia, and showed me an article describ- 

 ing in the most comprehensive and inter- 

 esting way the " Ways of the Bees." This 

 article was so interesting to me. that I 

 thought it a good idea to make myself better 

 acquainted with those bees under the wal- 

 nut tree 



Last March I determined to force an ac- 

 quaintance with our bees. I wrapped my- 

 self in an overcoat (bullet proof), put on a 

 pair of buckskin gloves, wrapped a blanket 

 around my lower extremities, put a veil over 

 my face, armed myself with a repeating 

 "smoker." and proceeded to the hives as 

 bold as any warrior. , , , . 



I ventured to remove one of the brood- 

 frames, and held it at arm's length in front 

 of me to observe their way of conducting 

 their business. After examining several 

 more frames without being stung. I replaced 

 the frames as I found them, closed the hive, 

 and set my mind on going into the bee busi- 

 ness on a big scale. „ , , , 



In reading the American Bee Journal i 

 noticed a good many discussions on increase, 

 artificial and otherwise, and some of the 

 plans used appealed to me as a means of 

 quick increase. I started out to try my skill 

 on artificial increase. I communicated with 

 a queen-breeder in one of our southern 



INTERIOR OF HONEY HOUSE OF F. H. MINOR AT PERRY, N. Y. 

 Notice the wax-press at the right. 



