THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



91 



a syrup whose consistency is equal to 

 that of honey, and just as good. The 

 sugar cost me 7 cents per pound, and 

 honey sold here, last fall, for from 15 

 to 20 cents per pound. 



Up to the present date I find that 4 

 of my smallest colonies have died, 

 and I expect to lose 2 more light ones 

 soon, vet they are lively, and but a 

 very few are found on tlie bottom of 

 the hive. I clean the dead bees out 

 about once in two weeks. This win- 

 ter I have ray bee-cellar supplied with 

 a little artificial heat, keeping the 

 temperature from 40-' to 4-5° Fahr. 



Norrisville,~o Mich., Jan. 28, 1885. 



stiS^]WMM>M 



OURLE 



Kobber Bees,— N. L.- Minor, a deaf- 

 mute bee-keeperof Clarksville,(^ Mo., 

 writes thus concerning robber bees : 



I met one of my old friends lately, 

 and we had a pleasant conversation 

 regarding the plans of wintering bees. 

 During the conversation, he told me 

 that when he was a boy, bis father, 

 who was a pioneer, kept " gums" of 

 hees ; and when the bees were being 

 robbed and were fighting, his father 

 tried to separate them, thinking that 

 they would kill one another, not 

 knowing that they were being plun- 

 dered. He would take a piece of 

 cloth with which to cover his head, 

 and then try to separate the bees 

 which had fought all day. 



Best Hive for all Purposes.— C. M. 



Davis, Denison City, 6 Tex., on Feb. 

 2, 1885, writes as follows : 



One of my neighbors uses the fol- 

 lowing described hive : Length, 24 

 inches, with entrance in the centre ; 

 width 12 inches, and 12 inches deep, 

 with a division-board in the centre, 

 and % of an inch space at its bottom, 

 allowing free access for the bees from 

 one side to the other, consequently, 

 the entrance being in the middle, it is 

 free for the bees to enter on both 

 .sides, or one side, as the condition 

 demands. One side is used exclu- 

 sively for the brood, the other for sur- 

 plus honey, with frames to fill each 

 side. He has 125 colonies, and he 

 says that he has tried his bees in the 

 Langstroth two-story hive under like 

 conditions, and found that his hive 

 excels it. I am very favorably im- 

 pressed with his hive, and think I 

 shall try it unless I can find a better 

 one. I have used the Langstroth hive 

 for a number of years in Maine, and I 

 think well of it. I have spent 3 win- 

 ters in Texas. I was here during last 

 summer and bought a few colonies of 

 bees. Bees have not been confined 

 to the hives for more than one week 

 at a time on account of the cold 

 weather. The pollen theory, with 

 some, seems to conflict with nature. 

 Bees never exist in a dormant state 

 like the ant ; they may get chilled 

 and revive just the same as all ani- 

 mals, but when frozen, surely they 

 cannot be brought back to life by any 

 process. 



Report, from B. E. Foster, Utica, 

 N. Y., on Feb. .S, 1885: 



In 188."? I put my bees into winter 

 quarters on Nov. 27, having a fair 

 amount of honey and pollen. One 

 colonv was weak in bees, and I 

 thought I would see if it would live. 

 On April 15, 1K84, I put it out and 

 to my surprise I found it had lots of 

 beesand it was a good colony during 

 the season. The same year I had 2 

 second-swarms wliich had their combs 

 built only one-half way down and not 

 much hoiicy in them; these came out 

 all right and were my best colonies 

 during the past year, each producing 

 125 lbs. of honey, but they did not 

 swarm. My bees were put into win- 

 ter quarters on Nov. 28, having the 

 combs I3 full of pollen. At present 

 they are all in good condition. 



Cold Weather and (Jiiiet Bees.— W. 



R. Elwood. Lindley,5 Mo., on Jan. 

 30, 1885, writes thus : 



Winter still continues. Our weather 

 prophets have proven to be false ones 

 so far as cold weather is concerned in 

 this locality (northwest Missouri). 

 My bees seem to be wintering very 

 well, if quietude is any sign, with the 

 exception of one colony which appears 

 to be somewhat mieasy and gnawing 

 at the cushion. They 'have had but 

 one flight since Dec. 4, 1884, and that 

 was on Jan. 8. I thought I could de- 

 tect some sign of bee-diarrhea, but 

 being a novice in the bee-business, I 

 may have been mistaken. I judged 

 from the appearance of the feces 

 voided on the white hives and on the 

 snow. The discharges seemed to be 

 very thin and of a dark, brown color, 

 and having small pieces of comb and 

 pollen mingled with it. The Bee 

 JouKNAL bindet came safely to hand, 

 and I think that it is just the thing in 

 which to preserve the different vol- 

 umes of the Bee Jouknal, so as to 

 have them for reference when needed. 



" Busy Bees" to he Photographed. — 



P. M. Puhl, South Toledo,^ O., writes 

 as follows : 



I second the motion to have the 

 " Nortliwestern " of Chicago meet 

 with the North American Society at 

 Detroit, and all others to come that 

 can be induced to do so, and I will 

 make a large photograph of all the 

 " busy bees " that may be present. 



Bees Wintering Splendidly.— J. W. 



Bayard, Athens, ex O., on Feb. 3, 1885, 

 says : 



Our bees here broke ranks to-day, 

 and are having a good fly, the first 

 that they have had since about Jan. 

 12. Tliey have wintered splendidly 

 so far, for a bitter cold winter. All 

 are on the summer stands without 

 protection. The pollen theory may 

 get a heavy polt over the head by this 

 winter's experience. There is not the 

 shadow of doubt, in my mind, but 

 that bees can be wintered success- 

 fully either in cellars or on summer 

 stands with trifling loss, with now and 

 then an exceptional winter when some 

 extraordinary freak of nature may up- 

 set the whole condition of things. 



Fearing Oreat Loss of Bees.— J. G. 



Norton. Macomb, Ills., on Feb. 2, 

 1885, writes : 



Ttiis has been one of the coldest 

 winters known for a long time in this 

 part of the State, the temperature 

 going as low as 32^ below zero ; still, 

 the bees which have plenty of stores, 

 seem to be doing well on the summer 

 stands. I hear of great loss of Ijees 

 all over the country, but starvation 

 seems to be the prime cause of this. 

 A few bee-keepers report that the 

 bees in cellars were very uneasy dur- 

 ing the coldest weather, and they fear 

 great loss by diarrhea, if no flight is 

 given them soon. The chaff packing 

 on the summer stands seems to be 

 ahead as usual, and not one dead col- 

 ony is reported thus far where bees 

 are properly packed, but they areas 

 bright and dry as I ever saw them at 

 any time of tlie year. However, a 

 great amount of feeding will have to 

 be resorted to in this section, or the 

 loss will be great before fruit bloom. 



Report, from S. H. Waggoner, God- 

 frey,? Ills., on Feb. 2, 188.5: 



Bees did very poorly in this section 

 during the past season. I began in 

 the spring of 1884 with 30 colonies, 

 increased them to .So colonies, and 

 secured about 400 lbs. of comb honey 

 in one and two pound sections. I am 

 now wintering about 40 colonies of 

 Italians and hybrids on the summer 

 stands, v 



Report, from Chas. Haas, Lower 

 Salem,o. 0.,on Feb. 2, 1885 : 



The past season here was a very 

 IMor one for honey and bees, there 

 having been only about one-half of a 

 crop. I had an apiary of 29 colonies 

 in the spring, increased them to 46 

 colonies, and I took 703 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey. I will try producing 

 comb honey next summer. My bees 

 are all in a healthy condition at pres- 

 ent. They had a flight on Jan. 29, 

 and two or three flights before that 

 time. I prefer wintering them on the 

 summer stands, and I hnd that they 

 winter well. I have them in the Root 

 chaff hives, and keep cushions on top 

 of the brood-frames. I fed them 500 

 pounds of extra C sugar last Septem- 

 ber. I hope for a better crop next 

 summer, yet I am satisfied with the 

 result of the past season. 



Evidently an Oversight. — W. F. 



Clarke, Speedside, Ont., writes thus 

 in explanation : 



If Mr. W. J. Davis had carefully 

 read the article on page 665 of the Bee 

 Journal for 1884, he certainly would 

 not have penned the statements he 

 makes on page 55 of the current vol- 

 ume, in regard to hibernation as de- 

 fined by me. Nor, would he ask, 

 " Will liot Mr. Clarke find some other 

 term to convey the idea intended by 

 the word ' hibernation,' " because I 

 have shown in the article overlooked 

 by him, that the word is used in its 

 legitimate and accepted scientific 

 sense. Why should I coin a new 

 name for that condition which nat- 

 uralists unanimously agree to call 

 ' hibernation ' ? 



