THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



343 



and the bees went for it in masses, filling 

 their hives, and when winter came they had 

 but little other food than the juice of the 

 aphides; and the consequence was that I 

 lost 18 out of 30 stands. A neighbor of mine 

 lost 60 out of 80. Another. 23 out of 34. 

 Many others lost all they had. 



Last year we had more of it, with about 

 the same result. One neighbor lost 35 out 

 of 50; I lost 10 out of 20; one of my nearest 

 neighbors lost all he had— 16. Some stands 

 that appeared strong, and flew vigorously 

 wjien put uijon their stands this spring, 

 soon began to fail, and even after commenc- 

 ing to carry in pollen they died out entirely, 

 leaving brood in the combs. 



K. P. Kidder advances the idea that all 

 the saccharine matters scented by the 

 flowers one day, unless it is all gathered by 

 insects, is absorbed by the atmosphere, and 

 at night falls with the dew. If that were 

 the case would it not be alike upon all kinds 

 of timber? I have seen it dripping to the 

 ground from some kinds of timber, while 

 there was not a particle of it upon other 

 varieties, standing so that their branches 

 almost touched. Such things will not 

 harmonize with K. P. K's theory! 



Three years ago I sent T. G. McGaw, of 

 Monmouth, some leaves from the jack oak, 

 (so called in this section) upon which the 

 insect had been busy, eating every particle 

 of the tender part of the leaf from its frame- 

 work; it left then nothing but frames of 

 tendons, so to speak. His reply was "'that 

 it was evidently the work of an insect." 



Upon all the trees where the honey de- 

 ])osits were found, were the same marks of 

 insects, be they wliat they may, and upon 

 no others, etc. C. Hotchkiss. 



Kock Island Co., 111. 



For the Araerioan Bee .lournai. 



A Cheap Bee House. 



I find on page 298 an inquiry from Mr. 

 Gustave Ilisch, in relation to a cheap bee 

 house, and friend Andrews' invitation to 

 those having experience in constructing 

 such houses. 



Two years ago I was without a proper 

 bee house, and not having a great amount 

 of capital to invest, I studied upon the sub- 

 ject, and the result was the construction of 

 a house upon the following plan: 



We first dug down about 4 feet into the 

 ground in a place that could be drained, and 

 removed the earth from a space 18x12 feet. 

 We put down six posts, 10 ft. long, on each 

 side, and united by girts 7 ft. from the floor. 

 We covered the whole interior with match- 

 ed boards, and filled in on the outside with 

 the dirt removed from the interior. As we 

 dug down 4 ft., the 3 ft. above ground, was 

 built up with stone and dirt, making a 

 thickness of 4 ft. all around. The si)ace 

 directly over the bee room was filled in with 

 sawdust 1 ft. thick. To the projecting ends 

 of the posts, we built a roof that covers all, 

 it covers a space about 30x30. In the centre 

 is a ventilator; there is but one entrance, 

 with double doors. We have wintered 80 

 swarms in it successfully, and use it during 

 the summer for extracting and in which to 

 store honey during the hot weather. It is a 

 delightful place in which to work, being 

 "charming and cool." 



The outlay in cash on our house did not 

 exceed $15. We have in addition to our 



wintering room a large loft in which to 

 store various utensils. It is well to have 

 such a house built early in the season, that 

 all moisture may dry oiit before storing the 

 bees therein. A house on the same ijlan 

 can be made much smaller for small apiar- 

 ies. We think a house 8x13 would accouio- 

 date 75 swarms, but it is well not to crowd 

 too many into one room. 



We have lately seen so many testiraonals 

 from apiarists in various portions of the 

 country in relation to chaff packing, and our 

 experience in that direction leads ns to dis- 

 card indoor wintering. We intend to give 

 both plans a trial during the coming winter. 

 We go into winter quarters with 110 swarms 

 —enough to try various plans, but none to 

 try hazardous experiments with. 



We do not wish to spoil your trade in 

 slates, but wisli to tell your readers that 

 dealers in school books sometimes have 

 broken school slates on hand, which can be 

 obtained at small cost, and can be cut up 

 into the size desired. I have used them 

 several years and could not dispense with 

 them. J. H. Martin. 



Hartford, N. Y. 



[Friend Martin need not be alarmed at 

 our slate trade. We got them wholly for 

 the convenience of bee-keepers, and not for 

 the purpose of making a profit on them. 

 Had that been our object, we should have 

 been sadly disappointed, for the margins 

 on them are infinitismal. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Answer to Dadant. 



Mr. Dadant in his answer to Mr. Hender- 

 son on dollar bees and imported queens, re- 

 minds me that I did not answer his short 

 question in the Bee World last year or year 

 before, I forgot which. When I read his 

 answer I determined not to neglect to an- 

 swer it, but press of other business did 

 cause me to neglect it till now. Friend Da- 

 dant is right. My first imjxirtations from 

 Italy were from Uhle as Dadant says. I, 

 with Nesbit and Dr. Hamlin and Winder 

 formed a club and received three importa- 

 tions, very few queens alive in any of them; 

 when we tried them, not one of us would 

 give 10 cents for such queens though we had 

 already paid $4 each besides the express. I 

 am the only one who condemned them in 

 any of the journals that I know of. The 

 other parties got no more good out of them 

 than I did, though if they ever published it 

 I never noticed it. But this all amounts to 

 nothing as I got rid of Uhle's queens the 

 same season 1 introduced and found them 

 to be Hybrids. There has not been a year 

 since, that I have not had good imported 

 queens in my yard either from Italy or the 

 yards of Dr. Hamlin, Nesbit, Grimm, etc. 

 Those I got from the latter apiaries had 

 been tried before they were sent to me and 

 were all good ones. I think Nesbit got the 

 one he sent me from Dadant's yard, as he 

 had used her one season in bis own yard. 

 Of all other queens 1 imported direct from 

 Italy, I never got but one to suit me ex- 

 actly. This is why I make so few importa- 

 tions direct from Italy. I would rather buy 

 from other breeders that import to be sure 

 to get good ones. I would by no means be 



