a ridged roof over it, to guard against heat. 

 Upper ventilators are through flat cover, 

 and tlien through gables of roof, ventilators 

 for brood chamber through lower, back 

 corners of inside vi^alls and front, lower 

 corners of outside walls, none of them ad- 

 mitting light. 



Now, is it not best for a beginner to make 

 haste slowly, and use such a hive as this, 

 than to go it on the cheap and use a poor 

 hive? Working from patterns, 1 can make 

 '2 in a day, with the 7 inch cap. The hive for 

 extracting, doubled and complete, will take 

 50 feet of lumber, but it can be used, tempo- 

 rarily, single, in part or throughout, till you 

 have time and means to put case on; and so 

 can many others. 



A 12x14 glass can be put into the back of 

 brood chamber, with a close, double cover, 

 hung on hinges; but, this would be more 

 curious than useful, perhaps, and when you 

 have many visitors, a source of annoyance 

 to the bees, the thing most important is to 

 have a hive of the proper size, but especi- 

 ally to resist the changes of temperature 

 and the extremes of every season. 



Those looking for a business in which 

 they can make something out of nothing, or 

 a great deal out of very little, will have to 

 look farther than bee-keeping before they 

 find it. Bee-keeping will pay, but only in 

 proportion to the amount of capital, intelli- 

 gence and industry invested in it. It takes, 

 perhaps, less money to start in it, but what 

 it does not call for in cash has to be made 

 up in knowledge, pains-taking, and persist- 

 ent industry; and to any, or all, who think 

 of trying to grow their own honey, I would 

 say, get a book before you get any bees. 



Winchester, 111., Wm. Cam. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering, Robbing, &c. 



I commenced last season with 27 colonies 

 of bees; part hybrids, and part pure Ital- 

 ians, in the standard Langstroth hives. Of 

 these colonies, 7 were quite weak. The 

 others were in good condition. I hived 7 

 swarms, one of which I gave away, and 2 

 left for the woods after being hived. Other 

 swarms came off, but at times that I was 

 not observing, and they went off. So my 

 colonies were increased to 31. From these 

 bees I took about 2,500 lbs. of honey, part 

 comb, but most of it extracted. Tliis 

 honey was gathered mostly in June and 

 July. We have no fall harvest here that 

 amounts to anything. My honey netted me 

 $.500.00. A portion of the honey I take, 

 (that which is gathered when the linden 

 tree is in bloom), when poured from one jar 

 to another, effervesces. It does so every 

 season, and continues to till cold weather. 

 Persons not familiar with the honey would 

 at once pronounce it souring. But it never 

 has soured. Leaving it in the hive till 

 capped, it effervesces the same. 



In the fall 1 thought I had 31 colonies in 

 good condition for winter. All had a good 

 supply of honey, and seemed to have plenty 

 of bees. About the 1st of Dec. I discovered 

 1 colony dead and all stores gone; robbed, 

 I suppose, by other bees, after bees had 

 died, or were not in condition to protect 



themselves. Shortly after, I found a colony 

 with many dead bees on bottom board, but 

 before had noticed robber bees disposed to 

 trouble it. I opened it and found bees 

 sluggish. I changed them to a new hive, 

 but they soon perished. 



About the middle of December I discov- 

 ered my bees eagerly engaged in robbing.— 

 Did all I could to control it, but with little 

 success. Several colonies were destroyed. 

 The ones attacked must have been affected 

 similarly to the one above mentioned; for 

 my assistance availed nothing. Had they 

 been in vigorous condition, the contraction 

 of the entrance would have enabled them to 

 resist the robber bees. It may not be im- 

 probable that 1 or 2 of the hives were 

 queenless. 



After the cold spell in January, I found 

 several other colonies dead, and several 

 very much reduced in bees. Some of these 

 colonies had nearly every cell filled with 

 honey, a considerable portion of it un- 

 capped, and some quite thin. One colony 

 of Italians had their hive filled so that 

 hardly an empty cell remained, and with 

 the same kind of honey. They were pretty 

 strong, and passed through the cold spell in 

 January, though having so much honey, 

 without injury. 



I continued to lose my bees till I lost 19 

 colonies out of the 31 I had in the fall. I 

 have kept bees since 1872, and this is the 

 first loss of bees in wintering that I have 

 ever experienced. 1 winter on summer 

 stands; and till thia winter, 1 or 2 colonies, 

 lost from oversight as to stores, or by the 

 loss of queens, has constituted all the fail- 

 ure I have met with in wintering bees. 



Goshen, Ky., April 2, 1878. Jno. Rule. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Detroit Honey Dealers. 



Press of business prevented our reading 

 the excellent article from the pen of W. L. 

 Porter, in which he kindly informs us, (the 

 bee-keepers of Sanilac and Lapeer counties), 

 that the dealers of Detroit charge us with 

 buying sugar to feed to our bees, to make 

 honey. Now, I am acquainted with most of 

 the bee-keepers of Sanilac, living, as I do, 

 in the center of the county; and I know, 

 and am authorized to state that the charge 

 is false. 



We invariably go to Detroit in the month 

 of October, to market our crop, and any 

 person should know, that knows anything 

 about bees, that we cannot feed sugar or 

 anything else after that date. Some of our 

 bee-keepers, while in Detroit, buy their 

 sugar, tea, coffee, boots and shoes, also other 

 necessary articles, to last them till their 

 next yearly pilgrimage to Detroit, for the 

 purpose of selling their honey. Why do 

 those dealers not charge us with feeding 

 tea, coffee, boots and shoes to our bees to 

 make honey ? We will call a convention 

 of the bee-keepers of Sanilac and Lapeer 

 counties some time in June or July, and 

 will probably take some steps to teach a 

 lesson to the dealers in Detroit, by sending 

 our honey to, and purchasing our supplies 

 in, a more honest, and less suspicious 

 market. 



