258 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 26, 1900. 



infused, by getting queens from reliable dealers, but they 

 are well tested before they are accepted by me as breeders. 

 I would buy a few of the best queens obtainable every 

 year if it were "not for the fear of thus introducing foul 

 brood into my apiary. All my queens are reared when the 

 colony is under the swarming--impulse, and only choice cells 

 are selected, for rearing- queens. 



The superseding of queens, and the culling out of old 

 queens, are attended to as much as practicable early, and 

 before the closing of the fall honey-flow. 



I never extract from the brood-chamber, but after con- 

 tracting for wintering I preserve all honey-filled combs of 

 the brood-chamber not needed for wintering, by storing 

 them in the empty hives in the tier above, to be returned 

 the following spring wherever needed. 



When arranging for winter I contract the brood-cham- 

 ber to 7 or 8 combs, and give side- packing in all large hives. 

 This is followed up by putting on three cross pieces, an- 

 swering in effect to the Hill's device, when a clean burlap 

 sheet is spread over all, and a super put on. This done, a 

 good woolen quilt is tuckt down in the super, followed by a 

 bag filled with dry oats-chaff of about five to six inches in 

 thickness, when a cover finishes the packing. In winter I 

 leave the entrance wide open, but fasten to each entrance a 

 strip of lath, arranged so as to prevent mice from getting 

 into the hives. i 



Two or three times during the winter (on a very warm 

 day, and when the bees are flying) I take out all top packing 

 for drying, and replace it while it is yet warm. 



My bee-shed is about 8 feet wide, thus affording a pas- 

 sage in the rear of the row of hives of 4 feet, and the 'roof 

 in front overlaps 2 feet. Were I to build a new shed, I 

 would give two additional feet in the rear, and thus make 

 the structure 10 feet wide. 



The 30 double-walled hives in the lower tier were all 

 hand-made by myself, as long ago as 18 to 20 years, and 

 they are to-day as good as new. 



The four hives seen on top of the bee-shed are so-called 

 " cottage hives," and carry the same frame as all the rest 

 of my hives. They were a patent concern 20 years ago, and 

 while they are very good for wintering bees in, they are no 

 good for the production of honey. I have put them on top 

 of the shed as an ornament, and to get rid of them, and also 

 to catch occasionally a runaway swarm. 



In front of the apiary, about 20 feet wide, the ground is 

 covered with fine gravel, and is kept entirely clear of weeds 

 and grass ; adjoining this is a blue-grass lawn about 36 feet 

 wide, kept well trimmed with a lawn-mower. 



The bees have free flights towards the south, east, and 

 northeast, over low-growing shrubbery and black-locust 

 trees. On the west and north a dense artificial park of 30 

 acres protects the apiary against high winds in winter and 

 early spring. 



The workshop and honey-house referred to before is 

 about 30 feet from the right-hand wing of the bee-shed, and 

 is 18x28 feet. 



A sun wax-extractor and watering-trough of my own 

 construction, tho not shown in the picture, are usually kept 

 in front of the apiary. 



For bee-keeping carried on as a side-issue and hobby I 

 consider a bee-shed, such as I have, a very practical and 

 convenient thing, as well in winter as in summer, and the 

 success I have had with my bees proves it so. Of course, 

 for hundreds of colonies it very likely would be too expen- 

 sive to build sheds of this kind. Hall Co., Nebr. 



Does Mixing Races of Bees Cause Bee-Diarrhea? 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



THE following, taken from among my multitude of cor- 

 respondence, shows a novel idea regarding bee-diar- 

 rhea : 



"Durinff the past two or tbree years I have beeti purchasing- queens 

 from diEferent parties, so that I now have a mixt race of bees, aud this 

 winter and spring my bees are having the diarrhea to quite a larjje 

 extent, while heretofore it was a rare thing that any colony was affected 

 in this wav. Therefore, I conclude that mixing the races of bees brings 

 about a state of affairs which tend toward bee-diarrhea. From what I 

 can gather from old bee-keepers years aj?o, when there were only (lei man 

 bees in this country, bee-diarrhea was a thing not known." 



If I mistake not, this idea has been advanced before, 

 but there are some things which stand in the way of such a 

 theory being accepted as truth, and the first is the assertion 

 that years ago when there were only black or German bees 

 in this country, bee-diarrhea was unknown. If any person 

 will turn to pages 287 to 292 of (Juinby's " Mysteries of 



Bee-Keeping Explained," 1865 edition, he will find there a 

 conversation (between Mr. Ouinby and a bee keeper to 

 whom Mr. Q. went with a neighbor, the purpose being that 

 of buying some coloiiies for the neighbor) which shows that 

 Mr. Ouinby was perfectly familiar with what is now called 

 "bee-diarrhea," but then called "dysentery." And this 

 conversation took place before there were even any Italian 

 bees in this country, to say nothing about the Cyprians, 

 Syrians, Carniolans, etc. 



No, this is not chargeable to the mixing of thedifi'erent 

 races of bees, and, in fact, I doubt if chargeable to any one 

 thing more than to the ignorance of the " fathers " regard- 

 ing the matter of bee-diarrhea, for in that conversation of 

 the man with Mr. Quinby, it is conclusively proven that 

 he (the inan) did not ktiow anything about dysentery, altho 

 he had lost heavily from this disease (if it may be so called) 

 the winter before Mr. Quinby's visit to hiin. 



If the disease is any more prevalent now than in the 

 SO's and 60's, the difference could be easily explained thru 

 the fact that the country was more protected then from the 

 fierce winds we now have, by the abundant forests then in 

 existence, but now cut down to give place to the " onward 

 march of civilization." 



When I was a boy, and bees were kept by my father, 

 from 40 to 45 years ago, the woods came close around our 

 dwelling, and the bees could fly every time the sun broke 

 thru the clouds, when the mercury reacht 45 degrees or 

 above. But now everything is different ; for four times out 

 of five, when the temperature reaches that degree at the 

 present time, during the three winter months and the first 

 one of spring, the wind blows so hard that no good flight 

 can be had, and the little that is done is at a great loss in 

 numbers in comparison to those which fly. And so the 

 bees suffer on, or die, as the case may be, and the cause is 

 ascribed to the mixing of the different races of bees. 



From careful watching for the past 25 years I am con- 

 fident that the trouble known as diarrhea in bees is caused 

 by confinement beyond the endurance of the colony. The 

 trouble is wholly incident to a continuation of weather un- 

 suited for the flight of the bees, and is more a question of 

 frequent flights, or no flights for months in succession, 

 than of a disease. Many things may conspire to shorten or 

 lengthen the struggle for existence, such as bad food, damp- 

 ness, weak constitution, etc. Any of these may make the 

 struggle short, and the reverse of these may vary all he 

 way from successful wintering to a long, tedious hanging 

 on to a life that ends in " spring dwindling," or a barely 

 building up for another winter, only to try the same thing 

 over again. 



With no return of balmy weather, and no chance of 

 voiding the feces outside of the hives, the end must come 

 sooner or later, and for these reasons I do not see how the 

 word " disease " can be made to apply fully to this case. 



COMBS FOR EXTRACTING PURPOSES. 



A card from one who says he is a reader of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal lies before me, and on it is the following : 



"Which is the best aud cheapest way, all things considered, to ob- 

 tain extra combs for extracting purposes ? Heretofore I have workt my 

 apiary for comb honey, so I have no extra combs on hand. I now think 

 of working for extracted hone.v the coming season." 



With the above circumstances I think I should buy 

 comb foundation, putting it into wired frames. I could 

 never make the bees do satisfactory work for me building 

 comb in upper stories, altho I think that where working for 

 comb lioney there is greater success in allowing the bees to 

 build their own combs, where an apiary is workt on the 

 swarming plan. 



The trouble in trying to have combs built in upper 

 stories lies in the fact that too large a proportion of the 

 comb will be built of the drone size of cells, hence it can not 

 be transferred to the lower story of the hive without pro- 

 ducing a host of useless drones as consumers of the honey 

 gathered by the workers. 



Looking toward the best results, I would suggest that a 

 few of the stronger colonies be supplied witli frames of 

 foundation, two or three weeks before the honey harvest 

 arrives, and fed sugar syrup if you have no inferior honey, 

 feeding quite liberally, so they will work to good advantage 

 drawing out the foundation into combs, and thus you will 

 have some combs to use in the upper stories to alternate 

 with the foundation necessary to fill out the hive. In this 

 way the bees will not have any excuse for idling in waiting 

 for the foundation to be drawn out when the honey-flow is 

 upon them. 



For this purpose of feeding to have foundation drawn 



