54 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



®orve$i^on(Iettce» 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Candying of Honey. 



Having read a great many iwiorts and 

 theories about honey candying, I will put 

 in my mite for what it is worth. This sum- 

 mer, as 1 extracted, I emptied the honey 

 into an open-ended barrel until it was near- 

 ly full I then drew it off from the bottom 

 into self-sealing glass fruit cans, and placed 

 them in a box that held two tiers ot jars; 

 45 in a tier with a close-fitting false bottom 

 between them. , , ^ , , 



About the 1st of September I pasted 

 labels on all that were in the top of the box 

 except four, having to lay the jars on then- 

 sides to do it. I also opened the box several 

 times to take out jars as I needed them. 



The other day (Nov. 28) I examined the 

 jars that were left in the top of the box and 

 found them all candied, except the four that 

 had no labels on them, and not one of those 

 that were in the bottom of the box, as tar 

 as I examined, were candied. In those that 

 were candied 1 observed that the topsot 

 the jars were always candied more than the 

 bottoms. Now have I a right to draw this 

 conclusion: honey will not candy so soon 

 when it is kept from the light and is not 

 disturbed, as when it is disturbed and ex- 

 posed to the light. . , ^ „ . , 

 I have also observed that m a lot ot 1 and 

 2 lb. jars that had been filled out of the 

 same vessel and had been exnosed exactly 

 alike, as far as 1 knew, some two or three 

 of them would be as perfectly clear ot 

 candying as they were the day they \yeiT, 

 put in the jars, while the others would all 

 be more or less candied. In making ex- 

 periments would it not be best to takC;^ a 

 dozen or more jars and expose them to the 

 same condition, instead of a single jar, as 

 reported by one of your correspondents .^ 



Bees have done extremely well with us 

 this season, giving both increase and sur- 

 plus, but from what I observed there will 

 be a great many of the swarms that came 

 too late to lay up enough stores for winter. 

 The most of my neighbors are still using 

 the box hives, or are afraid to work with 

 the movable frames when they do have 

 them. W. S. Boyd. 



Dubuque, Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How I Winter My Bees. 



Mk. Editor:— I want to tell you how I 

 am wintering mv bees. I live on the White 

 River. The river makes one of her largest 

 bends here, circling round near 1,000 acres 

 of first and second bottom lands. I live on 

 the second Ixittoni land, which is underlaid 

 with gravel and sand; though mostly sand. 

 As this makes the best cellar, I resolved 

 last fall to have one for my bees. I dug 6 

 ft. deep; struck pure sand at 5 ft. deep; 

 walled it with boulders 8 ft. high; walls IS 

 in. thick. I filled up around the walls a 

 foot, with the dirt I took out of the cellar. 

 This leaves a foot of tiie wall above the 

 ground. Over head it is sealed to the joists 

 8 in. high, with a floor above, and filled in 



between with sawdust. So I have it 10 ft. 

 wide, 8 ft. high and 13K ft. long in the 

 clear. 1 put my 50 colonies of bees into it 



on Nov. 2.5. , , .. , ^■,, 4., 



The temperature stood at 44 deg. till the 

 cold weather came, then it went down to 

 40. where it stands without change. I have 

 some apples and potatoes in it. The tem- 

 perature is too high for them; at least they 

 are rotting badly. I never saw bees m 

 nicer condition than they seem to be. Have 

 two nuclei with about a pint of bees each; 

 they are all right. They have lost but few 

 bees. I bought 4 colonies of black bees, 

 about 10 days ago, that had stood out up to 

 that time. I brought them home some 30 

 miles, part of the way on freight cars, the 

 rest in a buggy. 1 put them into the cellar. 

 One of them has the cholera a little, and is 

 very restless, while all the others are very 



^ I turn the box hives upside down and 

 leave on the honey boards of the movable- 

 comb hives, to get rid ot the moisture-- 

 which condenses and stands in drops about 

 the ceiling, but does no harm. The bees 

 are perfectly dry. 



The bees in this locality that are winter- 

 ing on their summer stands are halt dead 

 now, and the rest badly diseased. 1 think 

 there will be but few left by spring. A 

 neighbor said to me yesterday: "\ou will 

 save bees enough to pay for 3 or 3 cellars 

 this winter." , - • 1 j 



I ventilate by opening the inside dpor, 

 while the outside one is shut; this gives 

 plenty of air, as the cellar way is outside. 



Hamilton Co., Ind. John Booker. 



» ♦ > < « 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Our Michigan Convention, 



Mr. Editor, is over, and we have had a good 

 visit, seen each other's faces, talked over 

 our centennial poverty, and concluded to go 

 right on with the business, as no one wants 

 to buy us out. "Stick to one thing, for suc- 

 cess ' ' We will probably meet success face 

 to face, by and by, from force of necessity. 

 Our "supply table" was rather bare this 

 time, the only fixtures gracing it being a 

 patent duplex, close-communion, box hive, 

 a choice Michigan box of honey (4 ps. 

 gross) and a bee-smoker presented by Mr. 

 T. F. Bingham, of Abronia. Wellj as much 

 as I guard against apiarian supplies, I fell 

 into the line with the rest, and all the mem- 

 bers but two subscribed for one each, at .$i. 

 Though I have used up two Quiiiby smok- 

 ers within two years, if this one does not 

 last ten vears, and burn all that time it kept 

 filled with fuel, I shall be more deceived 

 than ever before. A strong, durable smoker 

 is one of the few necessaries to a well 

 regulated apiary. I hope this honest, solid 

 implement will soon grace your curiosity 

 shelf. . . 



I think probably Novice is correct in re- 

 gard to bee-keepers' conventions, that they 

 afford merely nothing of pecuniary advan- 

 tage, compared with the expenses of attend- 

 ing. If some of us cannot afford to pay for 

 a bee journal, how can any of us afford to 

 pay out from m to §20 to attend a conven- 

 tion? Perhaps b«es will pay such expenses, 

 but not at "Michigan Apiary." I think by 

 far the best reward for the outlay will be 

 realized by actual visits to our nearest suc- 

 cessful apiarists. Sectional meetings, not 

 extending over 50 miles, with discussions m 



