202 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



sion, duly " signed and sealed." This will 

 of course satisfy M. D. T.; if not, however, 

 friend Chapman says he will return it to us 

 to be seen by any one desiring it, at any 

 time.— Ed.] 



■ I *m I « « 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering Nucleus Colonies. 



I use Quinby hives, but prefer one small- 

 er, frames 18)^x10 deep. In the fall I 

 double up swarms, till they fill the spaces 

 between 8 combs. Select two frames, very 

 light, not more than 3 Sbs. each, and about a 

 quart of bees (I winter some with not more 

 than a pint); put in two division boards, so 

 that the two frames may be in the centre of 

 the hive with division boards on each side, 

 packed with old rags and chaff on each side 

 also a layer of rags on the bottom. Pack 

 with chaif on top, 6 in. deep; cap on top for 

 ventilation. Bore an inch hole near the 

 top; tack over it wire clotii, and leave a 

 small hole at the bottom — say %xl in. 



I winter all of these on summer stands, 

 without loss. If in tlie spring none of your 

 bees are queenless you can sell early queens 

 and with the bees build up other stocks. 



Vermont, 111. Hakbin Haines. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How my Bees Wintered. 



I put 83 colonies in my bee house about 

 the middle of Nov.; 70 of them in prime 

 order; the rest light, and by mistake left 

 one out-of-doors through Dec. and Jan. I 

 put my bees all out in Feb. and let them 

 have a good fly; the comb was bright and 

 nice. The main thing to keep comb bright 

 is to have the hives and comb dry and free 

 from frost when put into a frost-proof 

 house, and they will come out the same if 

 not diseased, or have poor honey. 



In Feb. I found one good swarm queen- 

 less, one light, and another with a drone- 

 laying queen, another starved to death, and 

 I let two others starve to death by careless- 

 ness, as I supposed they had honey enough 

 to carry them to the 1st or middle of April. 

 When the cold weather came— the last of 

 Feb.— I put them all back in the bee house, 

 but 25 of the strongest that were within 3 

 in. of the ground; when the snow storm 

 came they were mostly drifted under, and 1 

 left them to the mercy of the weather, but 

 they came out all right. I carried out those 

 in the bee house for the second time, the 

 first part of April, and found another dead; 

 could not discover the cause. My bees are 

 now doing splendidly; breeding rapidly 

 and having no indication of spring dwind- 

 ling. 



Those that were wintered on their sum- 

 mer stands, so far as I have heard, are in 

 Eoor condition; some have lost all, others 

 alf, and what are left are weak and dwind- 

 ling away. It is less trouble to put my bees 

 in a house than to fix up out-of-doors. My 

 house is 16x18 outside, two sets of studding, 

 boarded inside and out. with 1 foot of space 

 filled with sawdust. The lower joist 10 in., 

 boarded on under side, and that space filled 

 with sawdust, and room 8 ft. in clear, witli 

 18 in. sawdust over head. The upper joist 

 is boarded on under side. The building is 

 above the ground, and sets on a wall 18 in. 



thick, with room to get all around.under the 

 floor, by throwing out some of the dirt 

 inside the wall. There are two holes in the 

 wall, on opposite sides, for ventilation, and 

 a hole in the middle of the floor to let pure 

 air in, and a tube in the centre of the ceil- 

 ing, with two elbows, to let out the heated 

 air; the heavy or foul air can go below or 

 into the cellar, you might call it. 



R. R. MUBPHY. 



Garden Plain, 111., April 16, 1877. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



To fasten Strips of Comb Foundation 

 in Sectional Frames. 



Make a block a trifle less than the length 

 and depth of your frame, inside measure, 

 and half as thick as your frame is wide, less 

 half the thickness ot your foundation; nail 

 this block on a suitable board, and fasten 

 the board on your work-bench or otherwise, 

 slip your frame over the block, and lay 

 your strips of foundation on it. Take a 

 piece of copper wire 4 in. long and 3-32 in. 

 thick, flatten one end of the wire about J^ 

 in. in length and 3^ in., or less, wide; then 

 file away from each side of the flattened 

 part till its diameter is even with that of 

 the wire, bend the flattened part a little and 

 attach a handle to the other end of wire, so 

 thin that it will roll in your fingers like a 

 lead pencil. Have a burning lamp, and put 

 the wire diagonally into the top of the 

 chimney, where it will rest, suspend, and 

 soon get hot; then with a strip of paste- 

 board or wood push your foundation firmly 

 against the frame where it is to be fastened 

 and hold it there. Now take the hot wire 

 and pass it along tlie edge of the foundation 

 where it touches the frame, the motion of 

 the hand must be regulated to suit the heat 

 of the wire, which is best done by quick, 

 repeated motions of some 3 or 4 in. in 

 length. At first you may not melt it suffi- 

 ciently to adhere to the wood, or you may 

 melt it down, but don't be afraid to try it. 

 By a little perseverence you will be enabled 

 to fasten it quick, neat, firm, and exactly in 

 the centre. 



For starters and guides I prefer the foun- 

 dation to everything I have tried — wax, 

 wood, or natural comb. I have white comb 

 but use the foundation in preference. For 

 guides I find two rows of cells sufficient, 

 and have used some single rows successful- 

 ly. Henry Crist. 



Stark Co., O., April 14, 1877. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Price of Queens. 



I would like to reply to a question in the 

 May number of the Journal by Mr. Da- 

 dant, viz: "Are dollar queens profitable to 

 the buyer ? No ! cheap product is often 

 dear at any price," says Mr. D. Within a 

 very few years Mr. D. sold his imported 

 queens at $15 each; now the highest hgures 

 tor them, by the single queen, is but $7.00. 

 That is coming down rather more than one- 

 half. Now, has the quality of the queens 

 depreciated or only the price ? I presume 

 that his queens are just as good at $7 each 

 as they were at $15. 



There is not much money made in raising 

 queens at $1 each, but if a man will work 



