THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



683 



mer stands, .and has no chaff hives. 

 He takes off the honey-department, 

 and lays on top of the brood-nest a 

 little frame to keep the cloth from 

 fitting tight to the frames. He then 

 makes a box just the size of the 

 honey-department, without top or 

 bottom, nails the coarsest kind of 

 coffee-aaekiug on it at the bottom, 

 fills it about;! inches deep with wheat; 

 chaff thrown loosely in (not packed 

 down at all), puts on the cover that 

 belongs to the (Langstroth) hive, and 

 lets them alone until spring. 



His hives face to the south, and he 

 very rarely clears tlie snow from the 

 entrances (which he contracts to %xo 

 inches)— never, unless there is a sud- 

 den thaw, and the snow prevents the 

 bees from flying out. 



Now, if I used Langstroth hives I 

 should do just as Mr. Porter does. 

 But mine are Gallup and Simplicity 

 hives, and there is no such cover to 

 either of them. I am going to experi- 

 ment a little the coming winter ; not 

 because it will prove anything if I do 

 succeed, but just because I thought 

 of it myself. 



Vermont +o Ills. 



know it. We may not know the full 

 design of the bee, and it is best not to 

 look into the dark. 

 Trumbull Co., 6 O. 



For ttie Amencan Bee Journal. 



Controlling the Honey-Bee. 



M. PISTE R. 



Has the honey-bee the right to 

 gather honey or other food wherever 

 it can V It has ; for the Creator so 

 designed it, and man has no right to 

 limit it in its course. For, if he had 

 the right, lie would have the power so 

 to do. We have no power to teach it 

 where to go or where not to go. The 

 natural limit for the bee is as far as it 

 can go, which is a circuit of nearly six 

 miles or more in diameter. Every 

 open space in this circuit is its 

 domain. If we open our doors, it has 

 the right, like the sunshine, to go in. 



If the owner possessed that amount 

 of land, his bees need not gather from 

 his neighbor's fields ; but only a few 

 can own that amount. The earth is 

 not for the rich alone, but for all who 

 live upon it. A law that required us 

 to be rich enough to own that amount 

 before we kept bees, is unjust. 



If the owner of bees owned less 

 than about six square miles of land, 

 he would have to fencj his land, if 

 the law required us to restrain bees 

 from going on the lands of a neighbor. 

 A fence to restrain bees would nearly 

 reach to the clouds, hence unreason- 

 able. 



To illustrate a bee's instinct : When 

 14 days old it can go alone to the fields 

 in search of food, fertilize seed, gather 

 honey or pollen, return to its home 

 and store its treasure, as far as we 

 know, as perfectly the first time as at 

 any other. 



We have no skill to teach the blood 

 how to circulate in the veins. We 

 may, by force, hinder its free circula- 

 tion. Our power or force to hinder 

 does not make it right to do so ; for 

 science tells us that when we hinder 

 the natural course of the blood, we 

 hasten our bodies into the grave. We 

 know this, or those who inquire may 



For tho American Bee JonmaL 



"Sunny Florida"— The "Union." 



7— IIAIIRY G. liUKNET, (5—25). 



While our fellow-bee-keepers at the 

 North are packing their bees for win- 

 ter, feeding sugar syrup, and other- 

 wise trying to avoid winter losses, we, 

 at the extreme South, are about en- 

 tering the season of harvest, which 

 continues without interruption from 

 November until June. For my part, 

 after trying it three years in Iowa, 

 and part of a season with Mr. Heddon 

 in Michigan, I gave up trying the 

 " winter problem," and hied myself 

 off to "Sunny Florida," where such 

 things are unknown ; and here, under 

 the palms and moss-hung live-oaks I 

 have started an orange grove and 

 apiary, in a small way, it is true ; but 

 it will " grow up with the country," 

 I hope. I find it much pleasanter to 

 spend the winter in extracting honey, 

 hiving swarms, making garden, eat- 

 ing oranges, fresh strawberries and 

 vegetables, than to " shiver out " a 

 winter in Iowa. 



I would like to make a suggestion 

 to the readers of the Bee .Journal, 

 as follows : Since the publishers 

 have seen fit to reduce the price of the 

 Bee Journal to one dollar, let us, in 

 renewing our subscriptions, send in 

 two dollars as of old, with an added 

 quarter, and thus have all subscribers 

 to the Bee Journal members of the 

 Union. That is what I am going to 

 do, and am trying to get up a club of 

 subscribers on the same plan. The 

 Union is to be of use only by receiv- 

 ing the united support of bee-keepers 

 of the United States. In these hard 

 times the above plan, I think, will 

 make it seem easier to join the Union. 



Alva,? Fla., Sept. 30, 1885. 



[This is a good idea, and we hope it 

 will be acted upon by all. The 

 " Union " ought to be a well-supported 

 and efficient organization for the de- 

 fense of our chosen pursuit.— Ed.J 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Progressive Convention. 



The Progressive Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation met in the G. A. R. Hall at 

 Macomb, Ills., on Oct. 15,1885, at 2 

 p.m., the President, A. W. Fisk, of 

 Buslmell, occupying the chair. After 

 hearing the iniu'utes of the last meet- 

 ing, the audience was entertained by 

 a song entitled, " Come where the 

 Lilies Bloom," which was sung by 

 the choir, consisting of Mr. J. S. Gash, 

 Mr. Keach, Miss Cora Tullis, Miss 

 Anna Stewart, and Mrs. Geo. Kerman. 



An address on apiculture by Bev. 

 E. L. Briggs, was then delivered. He 

 said : " We cannot expect everybody 

 to believe as we do ; however, two 

 things must go together to make a 

 success in business — ' muscle and 



brain.' " He gave a full description 

 of bee-keeping in all its branches, and 

 for all seasons of the year. He said : 

 " Bee-keeping is no small business, 

 but of great dimensions, and covers a 

 great field of labor. We cannot ex- 

 pect to make a living by keeping only 

 one colony of bees, neither can we do 

 so in keeping only one cow or one 

 hog ; but any man or woman with a 

 quarter of an acre of ground, well 

 stocked with bees, can compete with 

 a farmer having 160 acres of land. A 

 beginner should first buy a good book 

 on the subject, and keep only pure 

 Italian bees. Also, take a good bee- 

 paper, and take extra care of the bees 

 in winter, either keeping them in a 

 cellar kept at a temperature of 50°, or 

 packing them in chaff on the summer 

 stands. If kept in a cellar, give them 

 an out-door flight as early in the 

 spring as possible, then return them 

 to the cellar again till warm weather 

 has come to stay." He closed by 

 saying, " When you get all the bees 

 you need, then stop and work for 

 honey only, for it does not pay to pro- 

 duce bees for sale." 



Miss Tullis then sang a solo en- 

 titled, " Spring Flowers." 



After the song, Mr. C, P. Dadant 

 gave the following in answer to ques- 

 tions : A 10 frame Langstroth "hive 

 is small enough, and he prefers a 

 larger one. A hive should contain 

 06,000 cells for the queen to lay in, 

 besides as many more in which to 

 store honey. He was not so well 

 posted on wintering bees, but he 

 thought that chaff packing on the 

 summer stands, or a good cellar, was 

 necessary. Bees are not dormant in 

 winter. They should be very strong 

 in numbers, and have plenty of well 

 ripened honey if we wish them to 

 winter successfully. He considers 

 the reversible frame as working 

 against nature, and thinks that ex- 

 tracted honey is the most profitable 

 to produce. The life of a bee is 40 

 days in the working season, but in 

 winter they live longer. A queen will 

 live from two to five years. Chaff or 

 some porous packing is necessary over 

 the frames in winter. It is profitable 

 if bees can fly every three weeks in 

 winter. He said that the purest bees 

 come from Italy. Climate has a great 

 deal to do with bees. He said that 

 " spring dwindling " is caused by cold, 

 wet weather at that time of the year. 



Mr. E. L. Briggs said that " spring 

 dwindling " was often caused by too 

 early breeding. 



The convention then adjourned to 

 meet at 7 p.m. 



EVENING SESSION. 



The convention was called to order 

 by the President at 7 p.m. First on 

 the programme was a song by the 

 choir, entitled, " Whip-poor-will." 



Mrs. Staley, of Adair, read an in- 

 teresting essay on " Practical Bee- 

 Keeping." She referred to the losses 

 of the past winter, and said : "■ We 

 must not be discouraged by this, but 

 press forward again if we would make 

 a success." She referred to bees as 

 acknowledging female supremacy ; in 

 fact, her essay all the way through 

 showed deep study and a thorough 

 knowledge of apiculture. 



