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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



as a means of " renewing the combs " 

 — in ttiese words, " reversing the hive 

 not only allows of the perfect renewal 

 ■of the wax, but furnishes an oppor- 

 tunity of inspecting everything pass- 

 ing within — by means of the movable 

 •combs, and at the same time of con- 

 ducting all the ov)erations at pleasure, 

 thus uniting all the advantages of the 

 two systems of horizontal and vertical 

 section hives— such as the separation 

 •of tlie swarms," etc. 



It speaks of " placing dry wax along 

 the top-bar of the frames — before 

 they are set upon the ' adapter'— for 

 the purpose of directing the bees 

 ■where to construct the combs." 



Of the honey thus obtained, it says: 

 " It is of remarkable purity, and may 

 he taken to market in the same frames 

 in which it was originally stored. 

 These may even be packed together 

 in cases and transported in wagons to 

 great distances without doing the 

 ieast injury to the honey." 



Baltimore, 5 Md. 





Bees in the Cellar.— D. G. Webster, 

 Blaine, 5 Ills., on Nov. 30, 1885, says : 



My 84 colonies of bees were placed 

 in the cellar on Xov. 16, but since 

 then the weather l)a8 been warm and 

 pleasant. Perhaps I have made a 

 mistake, but they are very quiet, with 

 the temperature at 40'. I am trying 

 •one of the "beaten tracks "of one 

 •viho every time succeeds in wintering 

 bees in the cellar. 



Condition of Bees in Winter.— T. S. 



Bull, Valparaiso,^ Ind., on Nov. 26, 

 18S.5, says : 



My 1.50 colonies of bees are all 

 sp "gly put itway in the cellar under 

 mv sitting-room. The mercury ranges 

 from .'30^ to H'P above zero, which 

 temperature I intend to maintain 

 throughout the winter. -If necessary 

 I mean to l)uild a (he in tlie stove, 

 wliich I have already placed in the 

 cellar with the bees. Any condition 

 in which the bees are placed through 

 the winter, that causes them to starve 

 to death witli honey in the hive, is 

 wrong. 



Preparing for the Honey-Flow. — J- 

 "\V. Winder, Sun Miguel de Jaruco, 

 Cuba, W. I., on Nov. 22, 188.5, writes : 



I have been in this land— the land 

 that changes winter into spring- 

 thirty days, lean tell but little re- 

 garding the people and the country, 

 or of the capabilities of the latter, as 

 I have scarcely been out of the sha<ie 

 of our extensive apiaries (Casanova's) 

 since I have been here. We are get- 

 ting things into shape for the honey- 

 flow that comes next month. We 

 will run two 6-frame extractors, and 

 after ripening the honey we will put 

 it into casks holding 110 gallons each. 

 We (Mr. A. W. Osburn, A. J. King 

 and myself — a trio of veterans), hope 



to be able to make a good report of 

 our stewardship, by the first of Feb- 

 ruary, 1886. 



Bees in Good Condition, etc. — D. R. 



Rosebrough, Casey,o Ills., on Nov. 

 27, 188-5, writes : 



I commenced last spring with 35 

 colonies and increased tliem to 55, all 

 of which are now in good condition, 

 except 2. White clover was plentiful, 

 but the bees did not gather honey 

 from it as they should have done. I 

 obtained 800 pounds of honey from 

 that source. It blossomed from June 

 1 until the middle of July. During 

 all the month of August some honey 

 was coming in from blue-vervain and 

 other flowers, so their was no lack of 

 breeding. In September the buck- 

 wheat, Spanish-needle and heart's- 

 ease bloom was immense, but the 

 rains and cold weather were quite a 

 serious drawback. On Oct 4, the 

 weather beginning to be warm again, 

 the bees went to work in earnest, and 

 in 10 days they stored 1,200 pounds of 

 nice comb honey. My bees go into 

 winter quarters with plenty of bees 

 and honey. As my bees are mostly 

 young ones, and Mr. Doolittle's are 

 old, we will see which will winter the 

 best. I will winter my colonies on 

 the summer stands, with oilcloth 

 next to the bees, and with all the sun- 

 shine they can get. Last winter I 

 wintered all of my colonies in that 

 way, except one, and I do not look for 

 a worse winter now. I do not fear 

 the cold, if it does not continue too 

 long. Stiould we have a cold spell for 

 more than two weeks, I intend to 

 heat bricks and place them over the 

 bees. This I consider as the secret 

 of success. When bees are conrtned 

 too long in one place, we may look for 

 a heavy loss. 



Putting Bees into the Cellar. — O. B. 



Barrows, Marshalltown,OIowa, on 

 Nov. 28, 1885, writes : 



On page T.SO, Mrs. L. Harrison says: 

 " By vote of the Northwestern Con- 

 vention last year, it was decided that 

 November was too soon to store 

 bees." Also, " Last season ours were 

 stored on Dec. 1," etc. "Experience 

 teaches us that it is better to store 

 late," etc. In the fall of 1S.S4, Mr. 

 Asa Pinkerton, who lives in the out- 

 skirts of this city, stored in his cellar 

 from Nov. 20 to 27, 106 colonies of 

 bees, of which he took out alive, on 

 March 31 and April 1, 103, and sifter 

 " spring dwindling " and doubling up 

 some, he had 100 colonies, from which 

 he has obtained 2,4.50 pounds of ex- 

 tracted and 1,260 pounds of comb 

 honey. Now, how much better would 

 his bees have done if he had waited 

 until some time in December before 

 he stored them V 



Bee-Keeping in Texas.— G. Hillje, 



Schulenburgb,© Texas, on Nov. 22, 

 1885, writes : 



I started in the spring of 1884 with 

 20 colonies of bees, and increased 

 them that season to 81 colonies, by 

 natural swarming. My bees swarmed 

 in March, May and June. The horse- 

 mint crop was splendid. From one 



swarm that was hived on June 1,1 

 took 75 pounds of extracted honey on 

 J^ne 15. I sold 40 colonies, and com- 

 menced the season of 1885 with 41, 

 which I have since increased to 80 

 colonies. In May I had to feed my 

 bees to keep them from starving, but 

 in June I was again busy extracting. 

 This year the horse-mint did not 

 yield so well as it did last year, but 

 the fall crop was indeed splendid ; the 

 common ice-plant— sometimes called 

 tobacco-weed — yielded more honey 

 than did the horse-mint. The honey 

 is of an amber color, but it is the 

 thickest honey that I ever saw, and 

 the flavor is "splendid. This honey 

 will not granulate. My bees are in 

 very good condition now, they are all 

 strong, and have nearly all the combs 

 filled with honey and sealed over ; so 

 I think they will make a good start 

 next spring. To-day the bees are 

 busy gathering pollen from some 

 weeds. 



Size of Hives, etc.— 8— Fayette Lee, 

 (66—123), Cokato,© Minn., on Nov. 

 28, 1885. writes : 



In a large hive there is all the room 

 that the queen wants to lay in, and 

 also room to store honey for winter. 

 With such a hive the bee-keeper is 

 not troubled with so much swarming. 

 I do not think much of a hive that is 

 too small in the forepart of the honey 

 season. A lOframe hive is small 

 enough till the bees swarm, then I 

 want a hive so small that only one- 

 third of the bees can get into the 

 brood-chamber, the balance of them 

 to be found in two upper surplus- 

 cases. I contract the hive by using a 

 division-board, and in 8 days there- 

 after I stop all second swarms in the 

 old colony. In 5 days more I take 

 out 4 coinbs and shake off all the 

 bees, put in their stead 2 wide frames 

 tilled with sections, and place the 4 

 combs in the hive of the new colony. 

 In this way I get comb built in the 

 sections in both hives, for the young 

 bees are the comb-builders, anil, as a 

 rule, I get as much honey from the 

 old colony as from the new one. Bees 

 swarm too much in 8-frame Lang- 

 stroth hives. Last season 26 of my 

 colonies in such hives swarmed before 

 one of the colonies in large hives cast 

 a swarm. Basswood being my first 

 honey crop worth mentioning, it will 

 be seen that a large hive is best for 

 me, although most of my hives have 

 8 frames. Next season I expect to 

 work my apiary for comb honey, and 

 I suppose I will have quite a time 

 with swarming; but I shall give 

 plenty of room on top of the hives, 

 and try to control it, so I can have 

 all the comb built in the sections. I 

 have plenty of bees, and now I want 

 honey. Bee-keepers should use a 

 hive adapted to their locality. I ob- 

 tained the first premium on Syrian 

 bees, and on comb and extracted 

 honey, this fail. I have sold all my 

 honey (4.000 pounds) in my home 

 market this year. 



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