14 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



®xxv i£jfdxaugc5* 



it all thus for comb honey; but for the brood 

 chamber, we believe the dark wax to be 

 equally good."' 



BRITISH BEE JOUKXAl,. 



Friend Abbott has removed to Southall, 

 and there proposes to start a School of Api- 

 culture, which he thus describes: 



"It comprises nearly four acres of pad- 

 dock, orchard, lawn, garden, and premises; 

 and Ijeing almost surrounded by open pas- 

 ture-land, orchards, and gardens, we hope 

 it will serve as a m^^ans to illustrate every 

 phase of bee-keeping. It is proposed to 

 build a light, movable tent, with gauze 

 front, in which nervous visitors may view 

 any and every kind of maniuulation in per- 

 fect safety, yet be so close to the operators 

 that every word of explanation sliall be 

 audible to those whose hearing is not defec- 

 tive." 



BEE-KEErEK*' MAGAZINE. 



After remarking upon the very slim honey 

 show at the Centennial, friend King says : 



" Capt. lletherington, an uncommonly 

 busy man, visited the Exhibition in Septem- 

 ber and was so struck with the lack of en- 

 terprise exhibited in this department, that 

 he went straight home and at considerable 

 expense shipped and put up in tine style in 

 the centre of the large Agricultural Hall, 

 about 3000 pounds of his nicest white clover 

 box honey, and for this act of pure patriot- 

 ism, he deserves and will receive, not only 

 the premium from the Centennial Connnis- 

 sion, but the lasting gratitude of every 

 American bee-keeper. We understand he 

 is now preparing his 1600 colonies for win- 

 ter." 



tlLEAXIXeS I> BEE-CLLTIRE. 



HOW TO PREPARE WITH CHAFF. 



Novice remarks that " in usin^ chaff for 

 out-door wintering, it is well to nave a va- 

 cant space above the chaff under the roof; 

 and the roof or cover must not be too close- 

 fitting, or you will have frost and dampness 

 collecting on its under side, that may run 

 down and wet the chaff packing. If you 

 will take a look at the nnder side of the 

 cover after a freeze, you will get the idea. 

 To carry off" this dampness, the air must be 

 allowed to circulate to some extent above 

 the chaff; raising the cover a little, or having 

 holes^covered with wire-cloth just underthe 

 eaves, will answer. Be sure you keep the 

 chaff dry, and that none of your covers are 

 leaky." 



COMB FOUXDATIOJN^. 



"Mr. Doolittle brought us a cake of 

 yellow wax to be made into foundation,— 5 

 cells to the inch for brood coiubs— that for 

 beauty and purity, goes considerably ahead 

 of any furnished us heretofore. When ques- 

 tioned he said it was purified with vinegar, 

 as given in Quinby's book. On turning to 

 the page we find: 



" By adding an acid to the water in which 

 the wax is melted, it may be separated much 

 more readily. A quart of vinegar to a gal- 

 lon of water, or a small spoonful of nitric 

 acid is sufficient." 



Such wax makes beautiful yellow founda- 

 tion, and it will without donbt pay to treat 



©ur %ztUx ^ox. 



Cohunbiana Co., O., Dec. 24, 1876,—" This 

 has been the best honey season for years, 

 and the honey was of extra (luality. Bees 

 gathered it almost the whole summer, and 

 till frost came." Jos. Huestis. 



Ingham Co., Mich., Nov. 24, 1876. "Last 

 season was a poor one, though I wintered 

 51 colonies without loss, and received 75 

 new swarms, and 3000 lbs. comb honey, and 

 about 500 of extracted." Jonx L. Davis. 



Montgomery Co., Ind., Dec. 2.3^ 1876.— 

 "The honey season was good tdl July. 

 Since then bees gathered no surplus. The 

 bee business is on the increase here. I am 

 building up a home market for my extract- 

 ed honey at 20c. I was troubled consider- 

 ably with fertile workers." 



Isaac Sharp. 



Crawford Co., Pa., Nov. 22, 1876.— " I am 

 trying to make bee-keeping pay, but I never 

 could do anything great with a large number 

 of colonies ; but with a small number, I 

 have realized $'66 per hive. That is doing 

 very well, but why cannot that be done with 

 from 100 to 200 colonies ? I have the Italian 

 bees, extractor, frame hive, and foundation- 

 comb, and can manipulate bees in any way 

 I please, — practice artificial swarming in 

 part. I also have a number of works on 

 bee-culture, and read all the journals." 



J. M. Stephenson. 



Chickasaw Co., Iowa, Nov. 20, 1876.—" lu 

 the fall of 1872, 1 had .59 stocks of bees; lost 

 all but 9 during the following winter ; in- 

 creased, during 1873, to 31 stocks, and lost 

 all but 7 during the winter. In 1874, in- 

 creased to 11, and lost all but 5 wintering. 

 In 1875, increased to 11 again, and succeeded 

 in saving tlu'Ui all, in' perfect condition, 

 through last winter. I have now 31 stocks 

 in fine condition for winter, and have taken 

 during the past season about 100 lbs. of hon- 

 ey, mostly extracted. Was troubled by late 

 swarming, having two first swarms come 

 off on September 2, nearly a month later 

 than usual. It will be seen by the above 

 brief account of my bee keeping experience 

 that I have made an almost total failure of 

 wintering for several winters, until last 

 winter, and of course I am very much in- 

 terested in learning how others manage, 

 who have been successful ; and I judge that 

 a large number of the s'obscribers of the 

 Jouknai. are interested as much as I am. 

 I would suggest that your subscribers be 

 asked to send you brief reports from time 

 to time to enable you to tabulate and publish 

 such tables as the one sent you by the 

 North Eastern B. K. Society last spring, 

 and published on page 74 of your March 

 number. Such persons who may report 

 extra good success can be requested to give 

 their management more in detail." 



O. O. Foppleton. 



[We should be glad to have such " re- 

 ports ;" believing that it would be a very 

 interesting table.— Ed.] 



