THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



697 



then return them to the cellar. It is 

 always best when taking colonies 

 from the cellar to place them on the 

 same stands from which they were 

 removed when carried to the cellar. 

 We sl)onld not remove the bees finally 

 from the cellar till they can go to 

 work in tlie spring. In Central Michi- 

 gan this is not before April 10 or 15. 



In the spring when the bees are 

 placed on tlie stands, I would clean 

 all of the hives out thoroughly (this 

 should be on a warm, quiet day), re- 

 move frames of comb, and move up 

 the division-board so that all the 

 frames left will be covered with bees. 

 I sliould also cover above them and 

 protect at their sides withample pack- 

 ing. I have found that bees in single- 

 walled hives thus protected do as well 

 in spring as those in chaff hives. As 

 the bees increase more frames should 

 be added, and so soon as the bees can 

 protect the brood, the weaker may be 

 strengthened by receiving capped 

 brood from the stronger, but never so 

 rapidly as to endanger the brood from 

 chilling. Such has been our practice 

 here at the College, and our apiary 

 has not been troubled by loss from 

 " spring dwindling." 



I feel very sanguine that if the 

 foregoing suggestions are heeded, 

 winter losses will cease lo vex our 

 Northern bee-keepers. 



Agricultural College, 9 Mich. 



For tlie American Bee JournaL 



Bee-Keeping in Maine. 



J. B. MASON. 



I think it can safely be said that 

 this year Maine has had a good sea- 

 sou for honey, especially the western 

 part of the State. Last winter was 

 a hard one on the bees, and probably 

 caused the heaviest losses for 20 years, 

 so bee-keepers felt rather "blue " in 

 some parts of the State. The spring 

 was very backward, and colonies 

 were very weak, but as the maples 

 began to put on their dress of red, the 

 bees aroused from their stupor, and 

 went at it with a will. Fruit trees 

 blossomed profusely, and the bees 

 made a good start on it, when rainy 

 weather cut them off so that they 

 lost the principal part of that run ; 

 altliough the few days they did work 

 upon it, gave them more honey than 

 has been obtained from that source 

 for several years. Then came white 

 clover and red raspberry which 

 furnished our surplus. This usually 

 is of about three week's duration, 

 while this year it continued through 

 the entire season in some parts of tlie 

 State. 



The season has been what might be 

 called wet, and in the western part 

 there has been a continuous flow of 

 honey from the time white clover 

 commenced to bloom until the frost 

 killed the flowers. Strong colonies 

 commenced to swarm in tlie first of 

 June, when left to their own instincts, 

 a great many swarming three times, 

 when they built up strong and went 

 right over the ground the second time. 

 Nearly all prime swarms swarmed 

 twice and three times, and some sec- 



ond-swarms cast swarms. In my 

 yard of from 100 to 150 colonies I 

 have not seen a drone molested by 

 the worker bees through tlie entire 

 season until October. 



The crop of honey in this section is 

 large, and the increase is immense, 

 so that what bee-keepers lost last 

 winter they have more than made up. 

 Bees have been gathering honey so 

 late, and when the weather was so 

 cold, that they are very much re- 

 duced, and colonies will go into winter 

 quarters heavy in honey but light in 

 bees. 



It was but a few years ago that the 

 bee-keepers of Maine looked with 

 distrust upon the reports of 100 

 pounds from a colony, that was oc- 

 casionally reported by Western bee- 

 men ; but with improved implements 

 and modern management, to-day 

 many Maine bee-keepers can report 

 100, and even more, pounds of comb 

 honey from a single colony. Bee-cul- 

 ture is progressing very rapidly in 

 Maine. Bee-keepers are becoming 

 enthusiastic, two associations — the 

 Maine State and the Western Maine- 

 have been organized within the last 

 few years, besides several county as- 

 sociations, and a much larger exhibit 

 at the State Fair was made this year 

 than ever before, which attracted 

 much attention and called out many 

 comments througli the local papers. 



Mechanic Falls, ? Me., Oct. 20, 1885. 



For toe American ISee JournaL 



Observations in Apicultnre. 



W. M. WOODWARD. 



The following are the results of my 

 studies and experiments in the bee- 

 yard, and are drawn wholly from my 

 own observation ; but I think it will 

 be found that they do not conflict 

 with the general opinion of experi- 

 enced and practical bee-keepers : 



YOUNG BEES AS COMMONERS. 



Toung bees are free commoners, 

 whether of any kind or race, so long 

 at least as there is need or use for 

 them in the hive. In Italianizing 

 some of my colonies this year, I have 

 had a good opportunity for observing 

 the bees change from one hive to 

 another, and have seen both drones 

 and young workers pass directly from 

 one hive to another, and enter either 

 hive equally unmolested. After ob- 

 serving this, I felt sure that young 

 bees might easily steal eggs from any 

 hive to build queen-cells, as from 3 

 colonies of Albinos nearly all of my 

 black colonies received more or less 

 yellow bees. This will explain some 

 of tlie mysterious mixtures mentioned 

 in a late number of the Bee Journal. 

 Doubtless they might begin the work 

 of stealing honey, and the robbed col- 

 ony Ijecomiiig lised to them, would in 

 souie cases allow them to continue 

 robbing all their lives. 



races of bees. 



The various races of bees, with me, 



show some marked traits both good 



and bad, some of which I have not 



' seen mentioned in the bee-papers. 



Black bees hardly ever leave a win- 

 dow to escape from a room, but worry 

 themselves out and die trying to es- 

 cape tlirough the glass. My Albinos 

 fly from window to window and from 

 door to door, almost like hornets, but 

 they always effect their escape alive. 

 They are much more sure, both on 

 foot and on the wing, than are the 

 blacks, almost always alighting at 

 tlie entrance all right; when the 

 blacks miserably fail. But, the gen- 

 eral opinion notwithstanding, I hnd 

 them much worse inclined not really 

 to rob but to search for forbidden 

 sweets. I also notice that they are 

 more active in all their operations. 

 In cleaning and scrubbing up their 

 home they move two or three steps, 

 while the blacks merely stretch out a 

 little, but do not move the posterior 

 feet. 



LARGE niVES vs. SMALL HIVES. 



After using large hives for two sea- 

 sons, and closely observing the re- 

 sults, I lind that, as a general thing, 

 from once to once and a half the 

 space actually used for brood-rearing 

 purposes is all the surplus room, or 

 rather honey-space, required in any 

 hive ; hence no hive is the better for 

 being any larger than can be well 

 filled with' brood throughout ; and by 

 tiering-up. using three tiers of 414x414 

 sections, there is room enough for any 

 colony of bees to work to advantage 

 over the frames really occupied with 

 brood. 



SECTIONS WITHOUT SEPARATORS. 



I have used all sizes of sections 

 from \}4 to 2 inches wide, with and 

 without separators, and I must say 

 that I find no difference on account of 

 the width. I can get 2-inch sections 

 filled as nicely as any, if the bees do 

 not (as they do occasionally) build au 

 extra piece of comb down between 

 the right ones. The point to be ob- 

 served, in getting nice comb honey, 

 is to have the cases crowded equally 

 with bees in every section throughout, 

 and one can laugh at any man's claim 

 of a "race" or "strain" as being 

 " straight comb builders." I have 

 used wide sections in the centre and 

 small or narrow ones outside with as 

 good results as in any other way. 

 They will then be finished and sealed 

 at about the same time. I prefer 

 them to average ] pound scant, and I 

 like them about 7 to the foot, or 1% 

 inches wide, without separators. 



SIDE-STORING VS. TOP-STORING. 



Although no more room is needed 

 (nor is it desirable) in a hive for comb 

 honey at least, thau will be well filled 

 with brood during the breeding sea- 

 son, vet comb honey can be produced 

 and finished off at the side without 

 separators, in as fine a shape as it is 

 possible to do on the top. This I have 

 had done for two seasons in a side 

 case made on the Heddon-case prin- 

 ciple, using the edge or the side-piece 

 of the section to the brood-frames. 

 The case has room for two tiers, each 

 of which rests in a 414-inch box with- 

 out bottom, although a bottom H of 

 an inch thick is used as a bee-space 



