THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



165 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How my Bees Wintered. 



Last fall I had 51 colonies of pure Italian 

 bees. I cut holes through the combs of 

 nearly all, for winter passages, packed the 

 caps full of hay and left them on their sum- 

 mer stands. Owing to the scarcity of 

 honey in the fall, and my not having time 

 to give them tiie attention they ought to 

 have had, some of tliem were deficient in 

 stores, more so than 1 supposed. Some of 

 them were also deficient in bees. Now for 

 the result. Nine either starved t» death 

 before I was aware that they were in dan- 

 ger, or perished because there were not 

 bees enough to maintain the necessary 

 heat; and three, with plenty of bees and 

 honey, died of dysentery. I am inclined to 

 the opinion that these died of too much pol- 

 len. The combs in which the bees cluster- 

 ed contained a great deal of it, much of it 

 being left in the bottoms of the cells after 

 the honey had been eaten out. The bees 

 were full of pollen. 



I have observed that bees that are fed late 

 in the fall, but not too late for the food to 

 cap over, whether fed with syrup or honey, 

 invariably winter better than others. And 

 the reason I believe to be that there is little 

 or no pollen within reach of the bees. Last 

 summer 1 had a colony that became queen- 

 less, and no young bees were raised after 

 August. They were also destitute of suffi- 

 cient stores for winter, although there were 

 plenty of bees. I gave them a queen in 

 October, and having some very thin extract- 

 ed honey which was almost sour, 1 fed it to 

 them, thinking that they would raise young 

 bees enough to live through the winter, but 

 though the honey \vas stored away and 

 properly sealed, tlie queen laid no eggs. I 

 expected to loose tliem, but have been 

 happily disappointed. They have wintered 

 well, began to breed early, and are now one 

 of my best stocks. The bees were all old, 

 and I attribute their longivity to the fact 

 that the lioney they had to winter on con- 

 tained little or no bee-bread. If bees eat 

 much bee-bread, they must either have 

 opportunity to fly or tliey must perish. 



1 have now 39 stocks, all of them strong 

 but one, and that, though rather weak, is 

 building up nicely, and will be ready for 

 business by the time white clover blooms. 

 One of my strong stocks is queen less. I am 

 building it up by giving it brood from such 

 hives as can spare it. It will soon have a 

 queen. M. Mahin. 



New Castle, Ind., April 3, 1877. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



"Apiarian or Apiarist." 



I see by the last Bee Journal that the 

 editor's apiarianism is not sound. He 

 says apiarian is an adjective and not a 

 noun; will he give us his reasons why it is 

 not a noun. We have a deal of respect for 

 Webster's Dictionary, but on apiarianism 

 it will set us back to the time when every 

 swarm of bees had a king bee. What are 

 the words amphldiun, and sectarian, 

 nouns or adjectives ? Do you think that 

 sectarist and amphidist would be better? 

 What makes a word right or proper ? Is it 

 not its use by reputable writers ? of course 

 you will admit that; then look at the 



authorities. Langstroth, Quinby, and Wag- 

 ner, ought to be the authority that would 

 settle the dispute on apiarian and apiar- 

 ist! The fact is apiarist is a word that is 

 hardly ever used by apiarians, unless it be 

 some novice that has gone to a Dictionary, 

 and laimches forth witli the word apiarist. 

 Thinking that he has " made a grand dis- 

 covery by which he shall be known to all 

 posterity." Now, Mr. Editor, we want you 

 to consult the authorities and set the Bee 

 JouRXAL right. 



Look in Vol. 7, page 111, and you will see 

 what the founder of the Journal says. I 

 think you will find that the word apiarist 

 is out of use, if it was ever in use; and 

 more, you will find that the definition of 

 apiary and apiarist in Webster, is not 

 what is meant now by apiary and apiarian. 

 We are perfectly willing to' let Prof. Cook 

 and others have Webster's definition, if it 

 will satisfy them. Webster says: ''Apiary 

 is a place where bees are kept; a stand or 

 shed for bees." Apiarist is "one who keeps 

 an apiary." (We Italicise a few words to 

 draw particular attention to what an apiary 

 is). Consequently, according to the above 

 definitions, an apiarist is a person that 

 keeps a stand or shed or place where bees 

 are Kept. It is not necessary that he should 

 tell a bee from a toad, to be an apiarist, ac- 

 cording to Webster. If apiary now means 

 a shed, stand, house, or cellar, then my 

 apiarianism is not sound. 



I take apiary to mean a number of stands 

 of bees; apiarian, the person that keeps 

 and manages them; apiculture is the 

 science or art of bee-keeping; apiculturist 

 is one who practises or understands the art 

 of bee-keeping; and apiarianism is the 

 general belief of apiarians. The next man 

 that makes a dictionary (if he is a live 

 man) will have all these words in it; and if 

 he does not, he ought to; for we need every 

 one of them. And 1 think that when Prof. 

 Cook has looked this matter up he will haul 

 in his horns (one at a time) and not "bul- 

 doze" us any more with apiarist, for it is 

 appar(i)ent that his authority is antideluvi- 

 an. N. Cameron. 



Lawrence, Kansas. 



[Friend N. Cameron suggests that we 

 would be goinu back to the time when a 

 "king bee" was acknowledged, should we 

 adopt Webster's use of the word apiarist 

 for the noun. He bases his principal argu- 

 ment for the use of apiarian as a noun, on 

 the fact that the pioneers in apiculture used 

 it thus. Is he not, therefore, drifting back 

 towards the " king bee " age ? The best of 

 writers and scholors, to avoid ambiguity, 

 prefer a difference in the orthography of 

 the adjective and noun, in the use of such 

 words, e. g., as anatomist, apiarist, botanist, 

 entomologist, hydropathist, physiologist, 

 etc., etc. Webster, and all lexicographers, 

 are the authority, for the position taken by 

 this Journal. Worcester defines the word 

 apiarist : " a keeper of bees "—not toads .' 

 A " keeper " is " one who has the manage- 

 ment, care or superintendence of anything;" 

 hence, a beekeeper {ov apiarist) is not merely 

 " a person that keeps a stand or shed where 



