56 



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them, send a simple, plain statement 

 of just how and where they winter 

 their bees, it would go very far towards 

 settling this question. By loading that 

 great "gun" — the American Bee 

 Journal — and firing a few rounds at 

 this Monster, he would be either dead, 

 or so badly crippled, that he would 

 limp off to die in the near future. 

 With this end in view, I will report 

 how I have wintered my bees for the 

 last four years, without loss. 



I have an ordinary house-cellar, 

 18x24 feet, without any ventilating- 

 pipes running to it. My bees are in 

 the 8-frame Langstroth hives — 94 colo- 

 nies in the cellar at this writing, all 

 bright, clean and quiet. They were 

 put in on Nov. 12. 



A few days before putting them in, 

 I remove the enameled cloths, and sub- 

 stituted a quilt made of two-thirds of a 

 pound of batting, held in burlap. I 

 then prepare the cellar by putting 

 three empty hives along one side ; on 

 these I lay two 2x4-inch scantling. 

 Now I am ready to put in the bees. I 

 take a lot of pieces of lath, one for 

 each hive, 14 inches long, to close the 

 hive-entrances. I drive a carpet-tack 

 through each end — they just reach 

 through so that the points enter the 

 wood, and prevent the force of bees 

 from pushing them off. 



Then I liave carrying-racks made of 

 6-inch boards, 6 feet long, with pieces 

 nailed across to put the hives on. I 

 place two hives on, and two men carry 

 them to the cellar top, and from there 

 they put them down in with their 

 arms. 



When the first row of scantlings are 

 full, I lay two more on top of these, as 

 near the ends as possible, and place 

 another row of hives on these, and so 

 on, having nothing on the hives but 

 the quilts. 



Now I put down three more hives 

 far enough from the other row to ad- 

 mit of walking between, and tier up 

 the hives as before, and so on until the 

 cellar is full, or the bees are all in. 

 Putting the hives right over each other, 

 gives a circulation of air up between 

 them. 



When the bees are all in, I darken 

 the cellar, and when the bees quiet 

 down a little, I remove the laths from 

 the entrances as quietly as possible. I 

 want to say right here, that the bees 

 should not be disturbed any more than 

 possible. You will observe that the 

 sound of a hammer has not been heard, 

 as was said of the " building of Solo- 

 mon's Temple." I do not allow the 

 hives or supports to touch the sides or 

 top of the cellar, so as to receive any 

 jar from above. 



I now bring the temperature as 

 nearly 42° as I can, as I find that the 

 bees come nearer hibernating at this 



point, than at any other. They be- 

 come so quiet that if a stranger would 

 go into tiie cellar without a light, he 

 would stumble upon them, for want of 

 any warning sound. 



Wlien Rev. W. F. Clarke advanced 

 his " hibernation tlieory," he sounded 

 tlie key-note to successful wintering ; 

 for, rest assured, that if the bees are 

 making a noise, there is something 

 wrong, and you had better find out 

 what it is, and correct it, or there will 

 be a lot of empty hives in the spring. 



I do not think that my bees con- 

 sumed 4 pounds of honey per colony 

 last winter. They were so full of bees 

 in the spring (April 8), that a good 

 many colonies hung out the first day 

 they were put out of the cellar. 



The first year I kept bees, I left the 

 enameled cloth on, and all the bees on 

 the summer stands died. There was a 

 half inch of ice in the hives, all around. 

 The moisture from the bees had rushed 

 to the cold surfaces and then con- 

 densed there. I then saw that it was 

 moisture in the hives that killed the 

 bees. This I have since prevented, by 

 using quilts to keep the cluster warm, 

 but at the same time let the moisture 

 pass off and condense on the cold 

 cellar-walls, instead of on the inside of 

 the hive. Since I have practiced this, 

 I have had no loss, notwithstanding one 

 year they had ver}- poor stores — mostly 

 honey-dew and oak-juice. 



Grand Rapids, Mich. 



THE UNION. 



Importance uf Joining the Bee- 

 liecpers' Union. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY HENRY K. STALKY. 



In looking over the list of members 

 enrolled under the " National Bee- 

 Keepei-s' Union," I was somewhat as- 

 tonished at the fact that it has only a 

 few hundred out of the 300,000 bee- 

 keepers of America ; and that many of 

 the names of our leading apiarists,who 

 make their bread and butter from this 

 pursuit (as well as some of the leading 

 editors of our bee-papers), should have 

 their names absented from its list. 



In view of these things, I ask. What 

 can members of the Union expect 

 from minor apiarists, who may have 

 only a few colonies, which they work 

 with ad arbilrium, during liours of rec- 

 reation from their studies or pursuits, 

 and to produce enough honey for their 

 own use ? These people do not depend 

 upon a livelihood from the bee, and 

 tlierefore should be less expected to 

 join the Union, than those who make 

 their living from bee-keeping, and who 

 cannot afford to be assailed by ignor- 



ance, prejudice, and the whims of re- 

 porters. 



Yet I am persuaded, that if the lead- 

 ing apiarists of our land would show a 

 greater interest in this object, the 

 minor apiarists would then bring up 

 the rear with their dues. A good many 

 of them have seen tlie wonderful mon- 

 ument of adamant truth and prosperity 

 raised by this small handful of bee- 

 keepers, on the lands of Arkadelphia. 

 They have seen how the high-handed 

 Council of the city of Arkadelphia, had 

 to sneak off like " whipped spaniels," 

 and in the sweat of their faces, eat 

 their own bread of bitterness, when the 

 unprejudiced and unalloyed light of 

 the Supreme Court of Arkansas was 

 thrown upon them. 



Here we have a precedent, obtained 

 by some 300 bee-keepers, which will 

 stand as a guide for judges to be gov- 

 erned by, in such and analogous cases, 

 as well as for the enlightment of City 

 Councils, and as a cover for biased and 

 prejudiced men against an honest pur- 

 suit. The immensity of this decision 

 can hardly be comprehended by one 

 not familiar with our laws, and the 

 highest law of the land — the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States. 



I think that every apiarist whose 

 name was on the roster of the Union, 

 when this case was won, may feel 

 justly proud, in that they, each and 

 every one, helped, by their means, to 

 contribute toward its success. In- 

 directly, they helped to show that bees 

 are no more a nuisance perse, than 

 that a mule may put into operation his 

 natural propensity of recalcitrating 

 when irritated ; and that bee-keepers 

 have rights which cannot be trampled 

 on by biased City Councils. 



Now, to keep up the good work that 

 the Union has done, and is still doing, 

 more bee-keepers must become mem- 

 bers ; and the way to do that, is to 

 arouse all the energy, and create an 

 incentive at the top of the bee-keeping 

 world. Every editor of every bee- 

 paper, who is not a member, should 

 become one at once, thereby setting 

 the example ; and then create an uu- 

 stopable stampede, by writing an arti- 

 cle sine die, and by means of the same, 

 inform his subscribers what the Union 

 is, what it contemplates doing, and 

 what good it has rendered for every 

 bee-keeper in the land. Let them 

 known how Mr. Clark was thrown into 

 prison, and maltreated, and command- 

 ed not to keep his bees within the city 

 limits. Let them know of the magnifi- 

 cent argument of the Hon. S. W. 

 Williams, attorney for the Union, and 

 of the skunky argument of Messrs. 

 Crawford & Crawford, for the city of 

 Arkadelphia ! 



I think that by so portraying this 

 case to the bee-keepers of the land. 



