314 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



low down, not more than 6 inches 

 from the ground, and the whole space 

 around it should be kept perfectly 

 clean and free from weeds. The 

 hives should not be nearer tlian with- 

 in 6 feet of one anotlier, if natural 

 swarming is be depended upon ; if in- 

 crease is to be made artificially, they 

 can be witliin 3 feet of one another. 



Having located his api;u-y, the be- 

 ginner is now ready to learn by prac- 

 tical work among the bees, to apply 

 to the best advantage the principles 

 with which he has already familiarized 

 himself, and right here is tlie " rock 

 on which too many slip ;" viz : they 

 are too ambitious, and want to in- 

 crease their number of colonies too 

 fast to simultaneously secure a large 

 yield of surplus honey. The begin- 

 ner naturally desires rapid increase, 

 and at the same time looks for some 

 of those remarkable yields of honey 

 that he reads of as having been 

 secured. His first desire was in- 

 crease, second surplus ; the first he 

 secures, the second he does not ; and 

 so lie at once forms the conclusion 

 that his location is not a good one for 

 honey. Now this rapid increase and 

 large surplus cannot be secured at the 

 same time, except in particular cases. 

 Let it be remembered that every 

 move made towards increase, whether 

 made naturally or by dividing the 

 colonies, is in exact opposition to the 

 storing of honey. To secure a good 

 crop of honey there are four things 

 absolutely necessary : 1 . To secure a 

 knowledge of the flora of the locality, 

 to know every flower within flight- 

 range, and its time of duration of 

 such secretion. By this means he 

 will be able to know just when to put 

 on and when to take off sections, 

 when to teed for stimulating or otlier- 

 wise — in fact, such knowledge will be 

 the key to the situation, and the 

 means by whicfi he "^an turn an ordi- 

 narily poor season into a productive 

 one. 2. At ffie time the honey-flow 

 commences, to liave the liives full of 

 bees. .3. To keep tlie whole working- 

 force together through the entire 

 honey-flow. Tliere are different 

 methods of accomplisliing this, some 

 one of wliicli the bee-keeper should 

 adopt. 4. Tlie flowers must contain 

 the lioney, else tlie crop cannot be 

 secured. 



I have only attempted to outline 

 some of the dirticulties that a begin- 

 ner meets at the outset. Fellow bee- 

 keepers, we are all working in unity 

 and harmony for the common good of 

 our common cause. I.,et us hope that 

 our meetings, small though they are 

 in point of numbers, and springing as 

 they have from weak beginnings, will 

 eventually grow till tliey become, as 

 they should, a power in the land. 

 They will, if we only do our i)art well. 

 Shall we not do it V 

 Mechanic Falls, P Maine. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Methods of Curing Foul Brood. 



A. W. OSBUKN. 



On page 24.5, Mr. G. M. Doolittle 

 gives his experience in curing foul 

 brood, and his method of cure is pre- 

 cisely what I liave practiced for many 

 years in California, i. e., Are and 

 water. While I have been here I have 

 tried the phenol method, but did not 

 succeed with it ; perhaps I did not do 

 it right. I do not condemn Mr. Che- 

 shire's treatment, because I did not 

 succeed with it, but the old way will 

 succeed. 



As to confining the bees of a dis- 

 eased colony, it makes this difference: 

 If you take the bees and put them on 

 empty frames, it is not necessary to 

 confine them, or starve them ; because, 

 as Quinby says, the honey which the 

 bees have with them will be con- 

 sumed in building comb. I have 

 never tried putting the bees on foun- 

 dation, but if the colony was small, 

 so that several days would elapse be- 

 fore there was any comb completed 

 for the queen to lay in, it would be a 

 success. I have tried full, drawn-out 

 combs, to no purpose ; for the bees 

 would store the honey that they took 

 with them, and when the eggs hatched 

 feed it to the larvte. 



Again. I have caged the queen, put 

 the bees on full, drawn-out combs, 

 and kept the queen caged three days, 

 so the honey would be consumed be- 

 fore there wa^ any eggs laid ; but I 

 invariably failed , as there would be 

 sure to be honey left that contained 

 the disease, and my trouble was lost. 

 So now I confine the bees three days, 

 and give them water once a day, for 

 more bees will perish for want of 

 water while confined, than there will 

 for want of food in that length of 

 time. 



Nothing could please me better 

 than to know that some American 

 apiarist had succeeded in curing the 

 Simon-pure foul brood by the Che 



shire cdefhod of treatment ; then 

 should be encouraged to try again. 

 Cuba, AV. I. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



The Wintering Problem. 



J. F. LATHAM. 



^^The Bee-Kpopei's' Association of Cen- 

 tral Illinois will meet at Itlooininffton, Tils., 

 on July 1.3, 188.-), at lo a. m. 



W.M. B. Lawrksck, Sec. 



^"The Mahoninj; Valle.v Bee- Keepers" 

 Association, will liolil its ne.\t inoetins at 

 Newton Kails, Ohio, on Thursday, .lune ."), 

 1883. E. W. TuiiSEH, Sec. 



The solution of the wintering prob- 

 lem, if an opinion may be formed 

 from the details of last winter's ex- 

 periments as they appear in tlie Bee 

 Journal, seems to exist in the sim- 

 ple process of allowing well consti- 

 tuted colonies of bees the privilege of 

 surviving the winter on the strength 

 of their bodily vigor ; the superior in- 

 telligence of the manipulator being 

 but a minor auxilliary to the workings 

 of nature, through bee-instinct. The 

 fact is very apparent that mechanical 

 efforts, counter to the instinct of the 

 honey-bee. fail to list among the re- 

 quisites of hibernation in the only one 

 applicable sense of the term, if the 

 original is allowed credit fiu- the root, 

 on which our linguists liave con- 



structed the word, and assigned its 

 definition ; especially when observa- 

 tion leads to the conclusion that bees 

 hibernate " scientifically " at any sea- 

 son of the year— accepting conse- 

 quent hibernal requirements as a 

 necessary repose, incident to the sea- 

 son of actual liibernation during the 

 winter months. 



During the season of winter repose, 

 or " pralaya " — if the term " pralaya" 

 be admissible — the habitual require- 

 ments of the honey-bee evince the 

 embodiment of certain prime requi- 

 sites, or one requisite to each in- 

 stinctive demand; viz: 1. A healthy 

 body. 2. Wholesome food. 3. A clean 

 domicile. 4. Warmth sufficient to 

 prevent devitalized functionality. 5. 

 Pure air drawn from a quiet source, 

 fi. Quietude. Other factors might be 

 added to the foregoing as adjunctives, 

 but they can be only accounted as re- 

 sults of the preceding requisites — not 

 as co-workers. 



At this point, although making the 

 statement with reluctance, I think 

 that a slight defect exists in the gen- 

 eral indices of some of our apistical 

 teachings ; for, in the fullness of 

 man's ingenuity and culture he can 

 only apply the accomplishing means — 

 the elements really possess the con- 

 trol—and only when conditions of 

 preparation conform to climatic con- 

 ditions, will bees winter uniformly 

 in all localities ; when they do co- 

 operate, healthy colonies will pass 

 through any winter within the limits 

 of our latitude safely and well. 



I have no hesitancy in stating that, 

 when the general requirements that 

 may be deduced from the foregoing 

 as elemental in the process of winter 

 preparation are properly applied, it 

 will not require lengthy articles for a 

 correspondent to narrate how he lost 

 or killed his bees in attempting to 

 winter them. Athough destitute of 

 originality, the statement that last 

 winter, in this vicinity, was a severe 

 one for bees, and, in fact, everything 

 else possessing life, wliether habitu- 

 ated to "scientific" hibernation or 

 not, is no less true. With one excep- 

 tion, my hives are free from the ac- 

 credited evidence of bee-diarrhea. 

 The exceptional colony, as a conse- 

 quence of brood-rearing and long, un- 

 interrupted confinement, smeared the 

 edges of the combs next to the en- 

 trance quite badly. This fact, that 

 the diarrhetic discharges were over 

 and about the entrance to the hive, 

 seems to point to the devitalizing ef- 

 fects of cold as a factor in producing 

 bee-diarrhea when bees are in a con- 

 dition most susceptible to its in- 

 fluence. Although the diseased col- 

 ony was weakened in numbers, their 

 loss was not disastrous, as they are at 

 work vigorously "building up" as 

 fast as a cold, backward season will 

 permit. 



Four of my colonies succumbed to 

 starvation, the consequence of having 

 been robbed in November and De- 

 cember, which were unusually warm 

 months for our seasons. The combs 

 on which those bees died are as clean 

 and free from offensive odor as those 

 of a colony in a normal condition in 

 midsummer; notwithstanding they 



