G64 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and like it so well that I shall always 

 follow it. where a loose bottom will 

 admit of it. It is very simple. Make 

 a frame an incli or two deep, and the 

 size of hive, and place it between the 

 hive and the bottom-board. One end 

 should be loose so the debris can be 

 removed without trouble. 

 Lockwood,9 N. Y.. 



Plowman 



Seasonable Hints— Wintering Bees. 



C. H. DIIiBERN. 



October is again here with its frosty 

 nights and falling leaves. The sea- 

 son for honey gathering is now over, 

 and the next work for the bee-kt- eper 

 is to see that his bees are properly 

 prepared for the winter. All honey 

 boxes of whatever kind should be re- 

 moved and stored in some dry place 

 for future use. If anv colonies are 

 short of honey, some' extra combs 

 should be giveii them ; if none are at 

 band, then a syrup made of A sugar 

 should be fed to them. All feeding 

 should be done inside the hive, and 

 should be given them in tlie evening, 

 so that the bees will have it all stored 

 away in their combs before morning. 

 A good deal of care is necessary at 

 this time, as robber bees are trouble- 

 some, and the only safe plan is not to 

 expose honey or syrup in the open air. 

 Robbing is easily prevented, but not 

 so easily controlled after it has once 

 commenced in an apiary. If many 

 hives are to be opened, it sliould be 

 done late in tlie afternoon, or other- 

 wise, the hives lieing carried to some 

 room wliere robber bees cannot enter. 

 All work of this kind should be done 

 vow, as it is diHicult and disagreeable 

 work in cold weather. Bees are very 

 cross too, when exposed in cold 

 weather, and everything comes apart 

 with a snap. 



Decide now liow you are going to 

 winter your bees. If no suitable cel- 

 lar is at hand, then they ought to be 

 made as comfortable as possil)le on 

 the summer stands. Where but few 

 colonies are kept this is easy enough. 

 A good plan is to place tlie hive in- 

 side of a dry-go«ds box, and pack it 

 all around with leaves or straw, leav- 

 ing an entrance for the bees. But 

 ■where many are to be cared for this 

 is impracticable, and I iirmly believe, 

 all things considered, a drv cellar Is 

 miicli the best. But if that cannot be 

 had, then the bees should be packed 

 in the best way possible. It should 

 be remembered that It is not exactly 

 the cold that kills the bees. iNIany 

 causes combine in a cold winter to 

 bring disaster to the bees, and this Is 

 what so greatly puzzles beekeepers. 



To insure successful wintering, it is 

 of great importance that the stores 

 upon which depend the health and 

 warmth of the bees, are first-class. 

 The moisture generated by tlie bees 

 should be absorbed by some covering 

 directly over the bees, and allowed to 

 pass off through holes in the caps. 

 All hives should be examined to see 

 that the roofs do not leak. These are 

 general suggestions, ami the bee- 

 keeper nuist use his own judgment in 



solving the wintering problem. Bees, 

 if left to themselves, would seal up 

 every crack and crevice with propolis, 

 making the hive water-tight except at 

 the entrance. Now if absorbents are 

 beneficial, why do the bees do thisV 

 Can it be possible tliat the bees would 

 do, in their natural way, what is con- 

 trary to their own good V Let us 

 think a minute. Instinct does not 

 teach the bees that there is any cov- 

 ering except what is immediately 

 over them, and it probably also 

 teaches them that it must be water- 

 proof to shed the rains, or they would 

 certainly perish were there no other 

 covering during our winters. Bees 

 work entirely in harmony witti 

 nature, and can be handled and cared 

 for as easily and as certainly as any 

 kind of animals, if we but work In 

 the right way. 



September did not prove a very 

 good montli for honey, and the season 

 closes with a very liglit crop secured. 

 We have the consolation, however, 

 that what we did get is first-class, and 

 there will be but little trouble in sell- 

 ing it at a fair price. The bees have 

 also abundant and good stores for 

 winter. Generally, bee-keepers have 

 more than made good the losses of 

 the past disastrous winter. Those 

 that gave their bees proper attention 

 have probably secured honey enough 

 to pay them" as well as any other 

 work. The possibilities of the future 

 are as great now as ever, and al- 

 together the bee-keeper need not be 

 discouraged. 



Milan, ND Ills. 



For tlie American IK-e Jourmiu 



More Misrepresentation. 



E. .J. FULLEll. 



EonoR Bee Jouun.\l :— I send 

 you the following from the Philadel- 

 phia 2'imes, which does a great in- 

 justice to bee-keepers and the pursuit 

 of bee-keeping. Here is the article 

 in full : 



" The adulteration of food has been 

 practiced to such an extent that pur- 

 cliasers no longer expect to get a pure 

 article; even wlien paying the highest 

 prices. It is generally believed that 

 two-thirds of the milk sold in all our 

 great cities is deprived of half its 

 cream; it is known that butter is 

 made from beef fat and cotton-seed 

 oil; maple syrups have lately been 

 made from anything of a sweet na- 

 ture, and now it is stated that most 

 of the lioney we eat is manufactured, 

 and that much of it has not even a 

 drop of genuine lioney about it. The 

 alleged honey was first sold in this 

 city some live or six years ago. Its 

 sale at first was scunt, but for the past 

 two years it has become very popular, 

 and it Is claimed that there is now 

 but little else to be found in the mar- 

 ket. Some of it is sold as manufac- 

 tured honey, though a great deal of it 

 is dealt out to unsuspecting jiiir- 

 chasers for the natural product of the 

 honey-bee. 



"The spurious kind is usually put 

 up in little square boxes, which sell 

 for i') to 30 cents a pound. It looks 



like honey, and it is said that it takes 

 an excellent judge to tell that it is a 

 fraud on the bee. The comb is man- 

 ufactured with such skill that few 

 can tell it from the genuine article. 

 It is made from parafiine or beeswax, 

 and the honey is blown into it by 

 machinery. Another kind put up in 

 glass vessels like ordinary jelly pack- 

 ages, the centre of which contains a 

 piece of honey-comb, and the honey is 

 made by pouring about six parts of 

 glucose around one part of honey in 

 the comb. Some of it is adulterated 

 with glucose, some with cane sugar, 

 and others liy heating ordinary sugar 

 with an acid, but it all resembles 

 honey, and to a certain extent has its 

 flavor and odor." 



This is the same old story of mis- 

 representation. What do you think 

 of it V 



Beaver Centre,-o Pa., Oct. 2, 188.5. 



[It is but the reiteration of that 

 "scientific pleasantry" which Prof. 

 Wiley wrote for the Science Monthly, 

 and which he says he thought was 

 a lie too big for any one to believe, 

 and so wrote it for the fanoi seeing 

 how many fools there were who would 

 give credence to it. ' 



The roily fabricator is now ele- 

 vated to the position of United States 

 chemist— but we know of no good 

 reason for his having such an office, 

 unless It is that he has invented and 

 promulgated one of the biggest lies of 

 this age.— Editou.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Value of Queens, the Season, etc. 



D. U. KO.SEUR0UGII. 



What value is there in a queen V I 

 should say five dollars ; and to prove 

 that a queen is worth that much to 

 me, 1 will state my experience. If 

 the bee-keeper has a queen on hand 

 to give to a queenless or divided col- 

 ony, that colony will make up the S-5 

 in honey. This year I had six laying 

 queens whicti I gave to 6 colonies, 

 and from eacli of them I obtained 

 about 8f pounds of honey. How about 

 the colonies that had to rear their 

 own queens ? Some of them swarmed 

 the second time, and one of them 

 swarmed four times. Thirty-three 

 pounds of honey is as much as any of 

 them produced, and some only 10 

 pounds. So it will be clearly seen 

 that having a queen at the right lime 

 frequently makes her very valuable. 



If a swarm of bees loses its queen 

 while In the air, and a frame of brood 

 from which to rear a queen is given 

 them, one will soon see the difference 

 in the amount of surplus obtained. 

 On .July 3 1 had 2 swarms that 

 swarmed in the air at the same time, 

 but I hived them without much dif- 

 ficulty. They were very large swarms, 

 ami one of them " balled " its queen ; 

 liiit by giving it a frame of brood they 

 reared a queen, and now have plenty 

 of honey for winter; but from it I 



