198 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



reared to a certain extent where the 

 stores are only sugar syrup, as far as 

 the unaided eye can see. 4, Bees can 

 perish with bee-diarrhea in its worst 

 form, with practically only sugar 

 syrup for stores. The above four 

 reasons annihilate the pollen theory 

 as far as it could be made practical to 

 bee keepers generally. 



In conclusion I wish to thank Prof. 

 Cook for helping us to know some 

 things that myself and others could 

 only guess at were it not for his scien- 

 tilic skill. I wish also to say that he 

 knew nothing regarding the manner 

 in which the l)ees were prepared for 

 winter, hence, he gave his unbiased 

 judgment. 



Borodino,© N. Y. 



ror thtt Amencaa Bee JoumaL 



Apicultural Imposition. 



A. P. FLETCHER. 



Seeing Mr. W. F. Clarke's article 

 on page 103, I wish to call attention 

 to another of the same kind, by Mrs. 

 Lizzie E. Cotton. On page 67 of her 

 hook, first edition, " Bee-Keepiug for 

 Profit," she says : 



" Very early in the spring I selected 

 the most populous colony in my pos- 

 session. It was ruled by a young and 

 exceedingly prolific hybrid queen, a 

 mixture of Italian and native blood. 

 I commenced early in the spring to 

 feed this colony lightly, but regularity 

 every day at evening. I fed aboui ^^ 

 pound of feed per day, until a few 

 days before the flowers were in bloom 

 j>rofusely. This was done to encour- 

 age breeding. Very early in the 

 spring they were fed corn and rye 

 meal. 



■• !■ or a few days before the flowers 

 were blooming profusely, I fed liber- 

 ally—in fact, giving them all I could 

 possible induce them to take up, the 

 object being to get the stored comb in 

 the body of the hive, not occupied 

 with brood, completely filled with 

 honey. The glass boxes, 26 In num- 

 ber (with feeder), each holding about 

 41^ pounds of honey, were arranged 

 in connection with the hive (sides and 

 top) several weeks prior to the ap- 

 pearance of the flowers, that the bees 

 might become accustomed to them, 

 and the more readily enter them and 

 commence work. When I ceised 

 feeding (which was on the appearance 

 of the flowers yielding a good supply 

 of honey), the boxes were tilled with 

 bees, and comb-building had com- 

 menced. The hive, at this time, was 

 filled to overflowing with bees, and 

 the combs had brood in all stages of 

 growth, from the egg to the perfect 

 bee. I had taken the precaution to 

 cut out nearly all the drone-comb, 

 and fit in its place worker-comb, so I 

 had but very few drones to consume 

 the honey. I had also arranged so as 

 to have no increase by swarming, but 

 have all my bees employed storing 

 surplus honey in the boxes, through- 

 out the season. 



"As fast as the boxes were filled, 

 they were removed, and empty ones 

 were substituted in their places. I 

 never saw bees work with such de- 



termined industry, early and late, and 

 in all kinds of weather. When honey 

 failed at the end of the season, there 

 was a set of boxes on the hive par- 

 tially filled; I immediately gave the 

 bees feed until these, too. were fin- 

 ished. I found, on weighing the pro- 

 duct of this colony in the fall, that 

 they had given me a fraction over 380 

 pounds of surplus honey in boxes. 

 This honey I sold at 35 cents per 

 pound— a little over $133 for surplus 

 honey sold from this one colony. 

 Reader, go thou and do likewise." 



Is not the above a parallel case to 

 Mr. Clarke's " Apicultural Humbug 

 and Fraud ?"' Of course it is need- 

 less to prolong this article on this 

 line. We have all known Mrs. C. by 

 reputation, for several years. Hum- 

 bugs, swindles and frauds are old 

 people now, and we shall have to let 

 them die a natural death. 



Freligbsburg, Quebec. 



ror me American Bee Journal. 



How My Bees Have Wintered. 



I. .J. GLASS. 



I asserted in ray letter on page 27, 

 that 1 would report my success in 

 wintering, and the manner in which 

 my bees were prepared for winter. I 

 do not wish it understood that I am 

 presuming winter to be over, although 

 the nice, pleasant weather, with the 

 birds singing so merrily, I will have 

 to acknowledge that it makes me feel 

 that spring is almost here, and I can- 

 not see anything premature in ventur- 

 ing to predict a little. In putting my 

 bees into winter quarters, I used no 

 new plans ; 1 simply put them into a 

 warm, dry cellar, with the caps of the 

 hives removed, and the quilts ghied 

 on just as the bees had waxed them 

 tight during the summer, only where 

 I found the cloth torn asunder I sealed 

 it tightly with a hot iron. Now, mark 

 a big mistake here. The quilts whicli 

 I use are heavy bed-ticking, and with 

 a thick coating of propolis they are 

 almost impervious to moisture, and 

 the result is moldy combs ; although a 

 quart measure would hold all the bees 

 that have died from 32 colonies, after 

 a confinement of losi days. The other 

 requisites of my cellar, are simply; 2 

 windows, blinded with curtains, with 

 which I sometimes used to ventilate 

 the cellar, although for six weeks 

 they were closed tightly, and I had to 

 resort to artificial lieat' to retain the 

 temperature above 40-'. The lack of 

 ventilation may have caused a greater 

 amount of moisture in the hives, 

 therefore causing the combs to mold 

 so badly. 



I presume that some are wondering 

 if my bees had any symptoms of diar- 

 rhea. I would say that 7 colonies are 

 affected — 2 or 3 badly, and further- 

 more those colonies are some late, 

 weak swarms whose stores were cane 

 sugar, and plenty of pollen also, as I 

 find by examination. 



Now comes the most interesting 

 part of my experience, at least it is 

 with me. As those colonies related 

 to above are diseased, I carried 5 of 

 them out last Saturday for a flight, I 



and upon inspection, found brood in 

 all stages. The bees flew about and 

 seemed elated at being set at liberty 

 after their long confinement. Here 

 mark another mistake. I thought 

 that it would be an excellent plan to 

 pull the wet, moldy cloth back and 

 let the sun's rays shine directly upon 

 the combs and dry them out. But, 

 what do yon think ? Two of these 

 nice little colonies that I was feeling 

 quite proud of, left their "bed and 

 board " and united with two others, 

 and labored industriously during the 

 entire day, transporting what they 

 could of their deserted stores. Did 

 my bees act unusual V I do not think 

 I will put any more out until I put 

 them on the summer stands to stay. 



I have made diligent inquiry among 

 my neighbors who have bees, and 

 wintered without any protection, and 

 the loss is dreadful. In three in- 

 stances they have lost their entire 

 apiaries. I think that the loss will 

 estimate nearly 75 percent., judging 

 from the frightful mortality of bees 

 in this neighborhood. I think that 

 the cellar is a gt>od place to winter 

 bees, but they need more ventilation 

 than I was able to give, owing to the 

 extreme cold weather; and in the 

 future I will use a more porous quilt 

 to absorb the moisture. 



Sharpsburg,© Ills. 



ror tne American Bee Journal, 



Marshall County, Iowa, Convention. 



The Marshall County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met at JMarshalltown, 

 Iowa, on F'eb. 21, 1SS5. The President 

 and Vice-President being absent, Mr. 

 O. B. Barrows was called to the chair. 

 The minutes of the previous meeting 

 were read and approved. 



The subject, " Spring care of bees," 

 was then discussed. 



Mr. L. Colper said that he puts his 

 bees out when it is warm enough in 

 the spring. He then raises th.e quilts, 

 cleans out the hives well, closes the 

 entrances so only one bee can pass at 

 once, makes all warm so as to promote 

 breeding, and if necessary, puts out 

 flour for feed as soon as brood begins 

 to appear, using a mixture of equal 

 parts of rye, oats and corn ground 

 Hne. The bees seem to like it. His 

 24 colonies had used a bushel of it a 

 day. To keep them strong he unites 

 two weak colonies. 



Mr. Dewy puts out his bees when 

 warm enough, and fronts the hives 

 toward the east or south. He had a 

 hive on exhibition, but the majority 

 thought it too complicated and ex- 

 pensive for modern bee-keeping. 



Mr. Cover generally puts out his 

 bees about April 1, placing thera on 

 the summer stands without any re- 

 gard to the positions they occu- 

 pied when put in in the fall, and he 

 never has had any bad results from it 

 by colonies fighting. He uses rye . 

 and oat-flour for pollen as long 

 as they will work on it ; and also 

 sometimes uses comb honey. He does 

 not close the entrances to the hives 

 when carrying them to the summer 

 stands. He puts a few pieces of 

 comb honey on the pollen trays to en- 



