618 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



plies to him for information, is always 

 liberally rewarded. 



I must also mention Mr. J. John- 

 son, of Martin's Creek, who has about 

 100 colonies, and annually markets a 

 larse amount of surplus honey. 



Easton,o* Pa. 



American AdrieuUurist. 



Bee-Notes for October. 



L. C. ROOT. 



During the present month all colo- 

 nies should be well protected from 

 the cold. All openings for ventilation 

 should be closed, and the entrance to 

 each hive contracted. If care is used 

 in this respect, breeding may be con- 

 tinued much later, which is extremely 

 desirable. Surplus combs, which 

 have been nsed for extracting, should 

 be removed, and general preparations 

 mada for winter. If bees are to be 

 •wintered in-doors, it is all important 

 that the room be clean and sweet, and 

 well prepared for the bees. Many 

 who propose to build, or arrange a 

 new room for this purpose, neglect 

 doing so until too late in the season. 

 If a wall is to be laid, or plastering 

 done, or even green lumber is to be 

 used, the work should be done early, 

 so that all may become thoroughly 

 dry. Facilities for thoroughly ven- 

 , tilating a wintering room should be 

 supplied. 



Some do not have facilities for win- 

 tering bees in-doors, and other persons 

 advocate wintering out-of-doors, in 

 preference to indoors. AVliile I 

 strongly advocate wintering in the 

 house, I am aware that it is better to 

 winter out-of-doors under favorable 

 circumstances than in-doors under 

 unfavorable conditions. 



As to the needs for out-of-door win- 

 tering : It is well known that bees 

 do not winter so well upon the sum- 

 mer stands, as they formerly did. The 

 cause of this, I believe to be, that the 

 country being so thoroughly cleared 

 of its forests, the winter winds are 

 more cold and searching. This being 

 so, w^e must resort to some means of 

 giving our hives protection. First, 

 then, it is important to select as 

 sheltered a place as i)ossible to set the 

 hives. Next, it is generally agreed 

 that some kind of packing is neces- 

 sary. 



Last winter I made some experi- 

 ments in out-of-door wintering, the 

 results of which were of value to me. 

 The outer cases of my hives were 

 large enough to allow about 4 inches 

 of packing on all sides of the brood- 

 combs, and 6 inches on top. I used 

 both chaff and dry sawdust for pack- 

 ing, and both proved successful. The 

 hives were tipped slightly to the front, 

 so that the dead bees were easily 

 removed. The brood-combs were 

 raised about an inch from the bottom- 

 board, so that room was afforded for 

 the dead bees to drop below the frames. 

 A large entrance-stick, to till an en- 

 trance one inch deep and as long as 

 the entire front of the hive, was sup- 

 plied, with a small opening made in 

 the centre of it. This entrance-stick 

 could be taken out to remove the 



dead bees when necessary, and re- 

 placed to protect the bees "from cold. 

 Next, and most important of all, the 

 hives were surrounded with a per- 

 fectly tight enclosure. This I con- 

 sider of extreme importance. 



Experience has proven that bees 

 can stand extreme cold weather, if 

 not .subject to drafts of cold air. Some 

 of my experiments, which have 

 brought me to those conclusions, have 

 been'dearly bought, and I urge those 

 who have not had experience, to con- 

 sider them well. 



Mohawk, 5 N. Y. 



For Ihc American Bee Journal. 



The Ontario Convention. 



BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. 



The adjourned meeting of the On- 

 tario Bee-Keepers' Society was held 

 in the City Hall at Toronto, on Tues- 

 day evening, Sept. 1.5, President Thom 

 being in the chair. After the trans- 

 action of some routine business, the 

 President called the attention of the 

 convention to some instances of dis- 

 ease and mortality among bees which 

 he had noticed about the time bass- 

 wood bloom had commenced. He had 

 his theory about the cause, but before 

 stating it be wished to learn if any 

 other apiaries had been similarly af- 

 fected, and whether any of the mem- 

 bers had any explanation to suggest. 



Mr. D. A. Jones said that his atten- 

 tion had been called to the matter by 

 Dr. Thom. He was of the opinion 

 that the trouble resulted from Paris- 

 green used to poison the potato bug. 

 It had but slightly affected his apiar- 

 ies, and he believed this was owing to 

 the fact that Paris-green was gen- 

 erally used in his locality mixed with 

 flour or tine meal of some sort. In 

 this dry form bees were not so likely 

 to take it up as when it was mixed 

 with water. 



Mr. "W. F. Clarke said that he liad 

 noticed the same phenomenon as had 

 Dr. Thom. and had been much per- 

 plexed by it. The Paris-green theory 

 furuishecl the first light he had ob- 

 tained on the subject. 



Dr. Thom said that he concurred 

 with Mr. Jones, and had been led to 

 that view from being a druggist as 

 well as a physician. The trouble be- 

 gan just after his first sales of the 

 poison. Again, when a second appli- 

 cation of the poison came to be made, 

 he noticed the same phenomenon. In 

 his locality the poison was generally 

 used mixed with water. 



Mr. Jones remarked that it was 

 only fair to say that the Paris-green 

 solution of the trouble was not origi- 

 nal with him, it having been sug- 

 gested to him by Dr. Thom,in a letter, 

 and he liad no doubt that this was a 

 true solution of the mysterv. 



A member inquired, " AV^hat is the 

 best method of uniting weak colonies 

 in the fall V and should the queen be 

 caged?" 



Mr. D. A. Jones replied thus : If 

 you have more than one apiary, take 

 weak colonies from one locality to the 

 other, place the colonies to be united 

 side by side, shake off all the bees into 



a fresh hive without combs ; they will 

 then unite peaceably. Bees tight for 

 their homes, and in the absence of 

 combs are not disposed to quarrel. 

 After they settle down, combs can be 

 given them. To add a small number 

 of bees to a larger number without 

 the precaution stated was to insure 

 the slaughter of the few by the many. 

 They would be killed and carried out 

 almost as fast as one can put them in. 

 If you have a valuable queen it is well 

 to cage her for 2-1 hours. This fall he 

 had 100 to 150 nuclei, and he united 

 them to other colonies in the way 

 described, without trouble or loss. 



Mv. R. McKnight preferred to stim- 

 ulate breeding and build up weak 

 colonies to self-support. Every one, 

 if wintered safely, meant a strong and 

 profitable colony next year. 



Mr. Clarke exhibited a model of his 

 hibernating bee-stand, which the 

 members examined individually, 

 quietly passing it around while the 

 discussions and business were going 

 on. 



The following officers were elected 

 for the ensuing year : President, S. 

 T. Pettit, Belmont; 1st Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Allen Pringle, Selby ; M Vice- 

 President, Mrs. McKechnie, Angus ; 

 (This lady has personally looked after 

 160 colonies during the past season.) 

 Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. Couse. 

 Meadowvale. The following execu- 

 tive committee was appointed : 

 Messrs. D. A. Jones, Jacob Spence, 

 S. Cornell, Dr. Thom, and R. Mc- 

 Knight. 



A resolution was passed empower- 

 ing the Secretary to grant certificates 

 of delegation to any member who 

 might be able to attend the forthcom- 

 ing annual meeting of the North 

 American Bee- Keepers' Society at 

 Detroit, Mich., on Dec. 8, ISSo. 



The convention then adjourned un- 

 til next year. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Signs in ftueen-Rearing. 



OSCAR F. BLEDSOE. 



System is all important in the 

 apiary, and the more perfectly it per- 

 meates the operations of the bee- 

 keeper the more capable is he of large 

 success. One of the fascinations of 

 bee-culture is its capacity of great ex- 

 pansion under one master mini. But 

 an indispensable condition to large 

 results is perfect system, and this is 

 especially required in that most dif- 

 Hcult branch of bee-culture— the rear- 

 ing of tine queens. As the hives and 

 nuclei employed in this branch have 

 to be examined often, it is important 

 for the queen-breeder, by the use of 

 slates and signs, to be able to know at 

 a glance the exact condition of the 

 hive or nucleus inside, so that he may 

 waste no labor or time, and may not 

 be compelled to perform any opera- 

 tion not absolutely necessary. 



The use of small slates is essential, 

 and tliey must always be marked with 

 a lead-pencil so that the rains may 

 not wash out the marks. But he 

 must not be compelled to look at the 

 slates whenever he wants to know the 



