184 



T'Mm m.'mMmi.^MM mmw jo-ityKifMi,.. 



spring count, was less than 40 pounds 

 of honey, and most of it was buck- 

 wheat and golden-rod. 



THE ALMANAC A GREAT AID. 



The Honey Almanacs are the " boss" 

 to build up a home market. I ordered 

 100 to test the matter, and they just 

 rolled the orders in. and almost before 

 I knew it, the crop was sold at good 

 figures, viz : S cents for buckwheat, 

 and 10 cents a pound for the ba§swood 

 honej-, and purchasers furnished the 

 receptacles. These prices are for ex- 

 tracted honey, as I produce that, al- 

 most exclusivelj-. 



I also sent a few hundred pounds of 

 the buckwheat honey to Detroit, to a 

 commission house, and it netted me 8| 

 cents per pound ; but bee-keepers must 

 remember that to get such prices, the 

 honey must be of tlie very best quality, 

 in suitable packages for the trade — and 

 it does not pay bee-keepers to put any- 

 thing else upon the market. 



THE REESE BEE-ESCAPE. 



I have used this bee-escape for the 

 past two seasons, and I should think 

 seriousl}- of quitting the business if I 

 should be compelled to do without it, 

 or some similar contrivance. It is a 

 great help iu taking oft' comb honey, 

 and its value in tlie production of ex- 

 tracted honey is hard to estimate. 



DIVISIBLE BROOD-CHAMBER HIVES. 



I have had in use since 1886, a few 

 of the divisible brood-chamber hives, 

 and words fail to express mj- delight 

 in the use of them. They are certainly 

 the best hi^es for comb honey, and my 

 experience teaches me that they can- 

 Dot be excelled for the production of 

 extracted hcjney. I shall use the new 

 hive exclusively in the near future. I 

 have never before praised up the ad- 

 vantages of this hive, because 1 wanted 

 to be sure, by several years' experience, 

 that my convictions were not mislead- 

 ing me. 



DESTROYING BASSWOOD TREES. 



I, too, protest against the wholesale 

 destruction of our basswood, and I 

 would advise bee-keepers who produce 

 comb honey, to use the white poplar 

 4-piece section, as being the best, 

 whitest and neatest section upon the 

 market. This winter nearly 500,000 

 feet of basswood logs have been sold 

 to our sawmill men, and all taken 

 from my field, so 1 shall have cause 

 for alarm. I am doing what I can to 

 counteract the loss, by planting three 

 and four year old basswood trees, along 

 our streets and waste-places. 



BEE-EXHIBIT AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



Now that we are going to have the 

 World's Fair at Chicago, in 1892, I 

 want every progressive bee-keeper in 



the land to make an eftbrt to help the 

 show along, and we want to make the 

 grandest display of honey, bees, hives 

 and fixtures that the world ever saw. 

 We can do it, and with Dr. Mason to 

 lead us, there should be nothing left 

 unturned that would add to the grand 

 display. Let us hear from Dr. Mason 

 — what course he intends to pursue, 

 and then let us all take'a lift at the 

 wheel, and start it rolling. 



Glenwood, Mich., March 4, 1890. 



WIDE FRAMES 



Defended for their Advantages 

 Over T Supers, etc. 



Written for Vie American Bee Journal 

 J. V. CALDWELL. 



For the last year or more I have 

 been greatly interested in the discus- 

 sions ^iro and C071 as to the merits of the 

 T super, as compared with the old, re- 

 liable wide frames ; and, indeed, it 

 seems that unless some one becomes 

 a champion for our good wide-frame 

 super, too many of our good bee- 

 brethren will needlessly destroy the 

 frames that have done such good ser- 

 vice, and adopt some new-fangled 

 super, which will, in the end, give 

 them no more hone}', and will surely 

 — it seems to me — give more trouble 

 in manipulation than our old friend — 

 the wide frame. 



Let us note briefly the claims of the 

 T super : 



First, one special feature is that any 

 width of the 4Jx4?, sections can be 

 used ; and, second, that all the sections 

 can be removed at once. I will not 

 give any more, but will only say that 

 using all widths of sections is of no 

 advantage, in my opinion. I want 

 just one size of sections, and one size 

 of hives in my apiary. 



The next claim, that the sections can 

 all be taken out at once, is an objec- 

 tion to its use, as there often are times 

 when we want only to remove part of 

 the sections — especiallj' when only 

 filled in the centre of the surplus case 

 — and then we must handle sections 

 singly ; whereas, with the wide frame, 

 either four or eight pounds can be 

 taken out, and an empty frame in- 

 serted. 



Again, the T supers contain too 

 many loose pieces, as by the simplest 

 way they are made, the separators are 

 put in loosely ; while the wide frame 

 is compact, and has no loose pieces 

 whatever. The wide frame also pro- 

 tects tlie sections on all sides from the 

 bees, and to accomplish the same re- 

 sult with the supers, a lot of pieces 

 must be laid on the top and the bottom 

 of the sections. 



Now has the* wide frame any faults ? 

 It has but one that I know of, and 

 that is but a slight one, viz : the sec- 

 tions do not come out so easily ; but I 

 think that Dr. Miller, who has used 

 both systems, does not count this an 

 objection. 



If any of the fraternity think dif- 

 ferently, just let us hear from them. 



THE DIBBERN BEE-ESCAPE. 



Having just made a close examina- 

 tion of Mr. Dibbern's improved bee- 

 escape, I must say that I am greatly 

 pleased with it, and I think that it is 

 one of the most useful inventions ever 

 given to the bee-keeping world. I 

 have not as yet given it a trial, but 

 Mr. D. tested it thoroughly the past 

 season. 



I am personally acquainted with Mr. 

 Dibbern, and know him to be a skill- 

 ful bee-keeper, producing from five to 

 ten pounds of comb honej' each season. 

 He is also a man of the strictest in- 

 tegrity in every respect. 



Cambridge, Ills. 



BEES IN WINTER. 



The Temperature of Winter 

 Repositories for Bees. 



Written for the American Rural Home 



BV L. F. ABBOTT. 



When Mr. Langstroth prepared his 

 celebrated work on the honey-bee, and 

 which still remains a standard author- 

 ity of its class, he wrote concerning 

 wintering: "What way precisely is 

 the best, can only be determined by 

 careful and long continued experi- 

 ments, and yet, these ought not to be 

 conducted so as to hazard too much in 

 one venture." 



At present we think there is not so 

 much diversity of opinion in regard to 

 wintering bees, among practical bee- 

 keepers, as when Langstroth wrote his 

 book. What seems to be most neces- 

 sary in the conditions for successful 

 wintering, is protection from atmos- 

 pheric changes. This may be attained 

 by chaft" hives, or by wintering in the 

 cellar, or other underground apart- 

 ment. These conditions also include 

 colonies that are healthy, strong in 

 numbers, with an abundant store of 

 honey ; upward ventilation to the hives, 

 easy communication from comb to 

 comb, and if out-of-doors, the hive en- 

 trances sheltered from piercing winds 

 and the direct rays of the sun. 



For myself, I have had less loss, on 

 the whole, from cellar-wintering than 

 wintering bees out-of-doors. This must 

 include colonies of all sizes and condi- 

 tions. Wintered in a temperature so 

 far above freezing as to aft'ord the best 

 conditions — 38^ to 40^ — there is less 



