-rmm wm.mm.icjiH wmm jQ'Ufihmiu. 



469 



The 



Amoiiiil of DcsicI Bcc8 

 Cellar- Wintering^. 



Wiitten for tlic Amcriain Dee Journal 



one to two gallons. — J. M. Ham- 



QuEUY 716.— What amouut of dead bees, 

 consistent with fair wintering, might be 

 found in a cellar where 100 colonies had 

 been tor four months i — Wisconsin. 



Two bushels.— Euo.ENE Secor. 

 Two bushels.— Mks. L. Haurison. 

 Perhaps a bushel.— C. C. Miller. 

 Half a bushel or more.- Dadant & Sox. 

 A bushel or two. — Will M. Barnum. 

 One or two bushels.— G. L. Tinker. 

 Prom a peck to one bushel.— G. M. Doo- 



LITTLE. 



From 



BAUGH. 



Never having wintered bees in a cellar, I 

 do not know.— M. Mahin. 



A bushel would be a liberal allowance. — 



C. H. DiBBERN. 



It will vary from 2 gills to 4 quarts. 

 Neither extreme need cause alarm. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



From one to two bushels, if the bottom- 

 boards are off, so that the dead bees are all 

 outside the hives. — R. L. Taylor. 



There are so many different conditions to 

 be taken into consideration, that it would 

 be impossible to say just how many. — H. 



D. Getting. 



Who can tell ! In some cellars more 

 would be found than in others. This ques- 

 tion reminds me of the " old chestnut," viz : 

 "How big is apieceof chalk?"— J. E. Pond. 



Sometimes more and sometimes less. I 

 have known bees to winter Hrst-rate where 

 there were great quantities of dead bees 

 upon the bottom of the repository, and the 

 same when only a few were to be seen. — 

 Jambs Heddon. 



It must depend a gi-eat deal upon the 

 relative number of the old bees in each 

 hive, as to what proportion of the colony 

 will survive until spring. I believe that 

 half of all the bees in my apiary die before 

 spring opens, and yet, with the increase of 

 young bees, gives me good, strong colonies 

 to commence with.— G. W. Demaree. 



A bushel, more or less, according to the 

 age of the bees when placed in winter 

 quarters. — The Editor. 



Hanaiin^ Bees.— This is the title of 

 a nice pamphlet containing 28 pages and a 

 cover, published by Chas. Dadant & Son. 

 It is a chapter from their book, Langstroth 

 Revised, and is an excellent thing for be- 

 ginners. Price, 8 cts. For sale at this office. 



A IVice Pocket Dictionary w ill be 



given as a premium for only one nevt- 

 subscriber to this Journal, with $1.00. It 

 is a splendid little Dictionary— just the 

 right size for the pocket. Every school boy 

 and school girl, as well as everybody else, 

 should own and use it. Price, 35 cent!«. 



HONEY. 



Ilow 



lu Work to Get 

 Kesuits. 



the Bent 



Written f 01- llic American Rural Home 



BY (i. M. DOOLITTLE. 



If we have been successful in work- 

 ing our bees for brood, so as to obtain 

 a multitude of bees in the right time 

 for the honey harvest, we are ready for 

 the next step in working for honey. 

 This will be ])iitting on the honey 

 sections, or rather a part of them, for 

 I contend that it is poor policy to give 

 any colony (unless it is in the case of 

 two prime swarms being hived to- 

 gether), all of tlie surplus room at the 

 start, as such tends to discourage 

 them, as they do not as j-et have a 

 sufficient amount of bees to take pos- 

 session of so large amount of room. I 

 generally give surplus room amount- 

 ing to from 20 to 25 pounds at the 

 start, and as the bees take possession 

 of it, give as much more room, and 

 finally the full capacity of the hire (60 

 pounds), when the force of bees in- 

 creases so as to want it. However, as 

 a rule, the swarming season arrives 

 before all the sections are put on, when 

 no more sections are added until the 

 old colon}' gets a laying qneen. 



Always, in managing bees, the api- 

 arist should have an eye on the future 

 as regards his honey harvest, until the 

 harvest arrives, and when it arrives, 

 then bend his every energy for the 

 time which is present. For instance, 

 my honey harvest comes from bass- 

 wood, or during the last half of July, 

 so all my operations previous to this 

 time, must be in reference to this 

 harvest, or all my efforts will result 

 only in failure. 



Now the time of the bees' swarming 

 has a very important bearing on what 

 I get as cash out of the apiary. If 

 they swarm too early, they defeat my 

 plans, and if too late it is nearh" as 

 bad. The thing is to have them" all 

 swarm at the right time, which is 

 brought about as nearly as it may be, 

 by keeping back the strongest and 

 building up the weakest. This is done 

 by drawing bees and brood from the 

 strong and giving to those which are 

 weak, until all are brought to a uni- 

 form strength at the desired time of 

 swarming. 



But says one : '-When is the proper 

 time for increase ?" to which I reply : 

 " About 15 to 20 days before the msiin 

 honey harvest." Why ? Because this 

 gives time for the young queen in the 

 old colony to become fertilized, and 



not enough time to the swarm to gfi 

 so strong as to desire to swarm again. 

 Remember, I am talking exclusively 

 of producing ('onib honey, for the pro- 

 ducing of extracted honey requires a 

 very differiMit mode of procedure, in 

 my opinion, and I have extracted as 

 high as b&> pounds from a single col- 

 ony in one season. 



Nothing ran detract more from our 

 crop of comb honey than to have our 

 bees get the swarming fever during 

 the honey harvest, unless it is having 

 them so weak at the time that they are 

 of little or no value. 



In the forepart of June one jear I 

 was accosted by a neighbor saying, 

 " Have your bees swarmed yet ?" No, 

 said I, nor do I expect them to gen- 

 erally for the next three weeks. 

 "Well," says he, " I guess you won't 

 get much from them, for Mr. S. is hav- 

 ing lots of swarms." All right, says I, 

 I shall be glad to have Mr. S. get a 

 good crop of honey. 



Well, the result was, during the 

 height of the honey harvest Mr. S. 

 was having lots of swarms, which he 

 was putting back, cutting out queen- 

 cells, etc., in the vain hope to get 

 them to work, while only now and 

 then a swarm was issuing in my api- 

 ary, with the sections being flllecl as if 

 by magic. 



I have often said the getting of the 

 bees in the right time for the honey 

 harvest counts more toward cash and 

 fun in the apiary than anjthing else, 

 which is true, but next to this is the 

 managing of those bees, so that thej- 

 will be only bent on storing honey 

 during the honey harvest ; for the lack 

 of either gives the apiarist only small 

 returns for his labor among the bees. 



After doing all in mj' power to get 

 all swarms out between June 25 and 

 July 4, I frequently get some as early 

 as June 20, and as late as July 15. 

 Those issuing before July 4 are hived 

 on a new stand, and a part of the sec- 

 tions are put on two or three days after 

 hiving, while the date of swarming is 

 put on each hive, thus : " N. S. 6-22" 

 being put on the swarm, and "Sw'd. 

 6-22 " on the old hive, if that is the 

 date. 



On the evening of the eighth day I 

 listen for a moment or two at the side 

 of the old hive, and if swarming has 

 been done "according to rule," I 

 hear the joung queen piping, when I 

 know a young queen has hatched, and 

 an after-swarm will be the result if it 

 is not stopped. If no piping is heard, 

 I do not listen again until the evening 

 of the 13th <lay, for the next rule is 

 that the colony swarmed upon an egg 

 or small larva being in the queen-cell, 

 which allows the queen to hatch from 

 the 12th to the 16th day after swarm- 

 ing. If no piping is heard by the 



