THE AMERICAI^ BEK JUVIWAL. 



567 



account of it." Consumers of honey 

 should understand that bees do not 

 gather honey from manure. Occa- 

 sionally, in a very dry time, they may 

 be seen about manure in search of 

 water, but not honey. 



Mr. tiould and myself fought out 

 this battle the best we could ; we had 

 no one to help us, as a well established 

 bee- paper was not in existence at that 

 time. (The Ameuican Bee Journal 

 was in its infancy, and struggling to 

 reach its present state of prosperity), 

 lilany of its oldest readers will c-tll to 

 mind the articles relating to the Wen- 

 ham bee-controversy. The "fools" 

 of Wenham were the " laughing- 

 stock " of the whole world, as every 

 paper, far and near, were poking 

 " fun " at the town-meeting, and their 

 attempt to move the bees, and at the 

 idea that bees injured fruit 1 



The result of this controversy was 

 that Mr. Gould, when he got ready, 

 removed his family and bees to a 

 neighboring town, and has not since 

 been molested by troublesome neigh- 

 bors ; and I have continued to do 

 business here for 28 years. My dis- 

 position is such that 1 cannot be 

 driven from town. I am more of a 

 " fighting man " than my friend Gould, 

 and if a town-meeting were held every 

 day, I could not be driven from my 

 place of business. 



Herewith I send my membership 

 fees. I hope that one million dollars 

 may be raised to defend the bee- 

 keepers in their rights. 



Wenham, (5 Mass. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeping in Virginia, etc. 



KIIIEDEMANN GREINER. 



ports, without specifications, do us no 

 good, save that we are informed of 

 the good honeyllow of a particular 

 locality. 



I cannot make as good a report as 

 the one mentioned above, as I have 

 not only not increased, but I had to 

 unite some colonies in order to get 

 forces together so that they might 

 gather enough honey to winter on. I 

 had 128 colonies in one apiary last 

 spring, and now there are only 120 ; 

 and I took only 200 one-pound sections 

 full of honey. 



Another apiary of 28 colonies (2 

 miles from the other), I managed with 

 better results. The average yield was 

 21 pounds per colony ; and no increase 

 whatever. The bees of this last 

 apiary were in smaller hives, with a 

 capacitv of an eight-frame Lang- 

 stroth "hive ; the other 128 colones 

 were in ten-frame Langstroth hives. 

 The result proved the superiority of 

 the smaller hive for this location, at 

 least in such a poor season. 



White Post, 5 Va., Aug. 19, 1885. 



Pbiladelpbia Press. 



Bees Working in the Sections. 



REV. O. CLUTE. 



If I am not mistaken, it is generally 

 accepted as a rule, that bees, when 

 gathering honey and pollen, do not 

 extend their visits over more than one 

 class of plants (at one trip) ; however, 

 1 had occasion to notice, this summer, 

 their changing from blue-thistle (the 

 main honey-plant in this part of Vir- 

 ginia) to the blossom of plantain 

 {plantayo lanceolata), then back again 

 to blue-thistle, etc., establishing the 

 fact that they will not always strictly 

 adhere to the rule. 



About the " Union :" It is really 

 wonderful how few of the fraternity 

 take an interest in this just cause. 

 Arise, fellow-bee-keepers, and take 

 hold of this matter. Do not be as 

 unjust as to be willing to reap where 

 you do not sow. I will not get S50 for 

 my summer's work, but I feel it my 

 duty to stand my share of the defense. 



On page r>07 is a letter with the 

 heading, " Wonderful Honey-Yield 

 and Increase." I would like to say a 

 few words about this increase. No 

 mistake, it looks big, " wonderful I" 

 this increase of 24 from 2 I but if all 

 the particulars were known, perhaps 

 it would appear far less wonderful. 

 I believe that all of the bee-keepers, 

 that have had a tew years of experi- 

 ence, could, with the necessary combs 

 and a good honey-flow, or by feeding, 

 accomplish the same feat. Such re- 



The one-pound sections for comb 

 honey have become very popular. 

 They are attractive in appearance, 

 and hence sell well. They hold about 

 the quantity an ordinary family de- 

 sires for one meal. In some quarters 

 the two-pound sections are used ex- 

 tensively, but the tendency is to the 

 smaller section. In buying sections, 

 be sure that they are clean, and that 

 they are accurately made, so as to fit 

 together neatly and firmly. Nearly 

 air the sections are now dovetailed. 

 White poplar is much used in making 

 them, because it is easily worked, 

 and makes a smooth, clean, sweet 

 section. 



The hives made in the last few 

 years are mostly intended to take on 

 a section-case for holding these sec- 

 tions. This case fits down close on 

 top of the brood- chamber, and then 

 the top of the hive fits on the case and 

 becomes its top. These cases hold 

 the sections and bring them close 

 down to the tops of the brood-frames, 

 leaving a passage of about three- 

 eights of an inch between. 



Sometimes bees are a little slow 

 about going to work in sections. They 

 will fill the brood-chamber with honey 

 and then swarm, refusing to store in 

 the sections. This can usually be 

 overcome by having one or two of the 

 centre sections already full or partly 

 full of honey. If you saved carefully 

 the partly filled sections last fall, you 

 can now use them very profitably liy 

 putting one or two of them in the 

 centre of the sections on each hive. 

 The bees are at once attracted into 

 the sections, and almost always will 

 go' to storing in them immediately — 

 provided there is any honey in the 

 fields for them to store. 



It is always best to use starters in 

 the sections. A starter is a piece of 

 comb, or of comb foundation, put in 



the section just where you want the 

 bees to begin work. If you have nice 

 white comb, you can cut this in small 

 pieces and fasten a piece in the centre 

 of the top-bar of each section. To 

 fasten these comb-starters, you can 

 use a cement made of one-fourth 

 resin and three-fourths beeswax. Melt 

 these together, dip the edge of the 

 starter in the cement, and set it 

 quickly where you want it. The 

 cement cools rapidly, and holds the 

 starter firmly. 



Of later years nearly all producers 

 of comb honey are using starters of 

 comb foundation in the sections. For 

 this purpose very thin foundation is 

 used. A very small piece of the foun- 

 dation will ilo, but if it nearly fills 

 the section, so much the better. Thia 

 foundation starter can be fastened in 

 the centre of each section by care- 

 fully pressing the edge of it down on 

 the centre of the top-piece with a 

 knife. Where many bees are kept, 

 this process is rather slow, and a 

 small foundation fastener is used that 

 does the work quickly and well. 



As fast as sections in the centre are 

 filled with honey and sealed, it is a 

 good plan to remove them, moving 

 the partly filled ones to the centre, 

 and putting empty sections with 

 starters, at the outside. 



Iowa City,*o lovpa. 



For tue American Bee JoumaL 



Wintering Bees. 



MOUCH AJIIEL. 



The time has arrived, at the North, 

 to begin to prepare for wintering our 

 bees. First, is it certain that all 

 varieties of honey are devoid of 

 poison ? If not, why not extract the 

 honey and give the bees food known 

 to have no poison, namely, pure cane- 

 sugar syrup. If it is suspected that 

 pollen is the cause of disease, why not 

 remove the frames that contain it and 

 return them in the spring, as it is 

 known that bees do not need it in the 

 winter ; or substitute for it meal in 

 the spring. 



If it is cold that causes bee-diar- 

 rhea, why not keep the bees warm ? 

 If the bees are in a cold cellar or 

 cave, why not warm it with an oil- ■ 

 stove ? Do you ask how warm ? Well, 

 so warm that a single bee may at any 

 moment traverse any part of the hive. 

 How warm may the loom be and the 

 bees not become uneasy ? To the 

 point that they begin to fan and hang 

 out. But suppose they do hang out, 

 what of it V If the frames were hung 

 on two sticks in such a room or cellar 

 without a hive, would they not winter 

 well, the feed being healthful ? 



If the repository is too damp, why 

 not place some uiislaked or fresh lime 

 in it, to gather the moisture? What 

 good does tlie moisture in the cellar 

 do? JSIay it not be injurious ? Now, 

 if we liave our bees put up for winter, 

 thus conditioned, why will they not 

 survive for KJO or 170 days or more ? 



To catch a queen, brush her with 

 the finger into a basin of water. 



Fargo, <5 Dakota. 



