552 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



too high. To-day I have 4 feeble, sickly 

 remnants of colonies left. Some hives 

 had tight bottoms, some were removed ; 

 some had packing above, others none ; 

 some were left without anything above, 

 just the naked frames, not a cover. All 

 fared about alike. From the time they 

 were put out they had several good 

 flights, to be sure. At such times I 

 would feel hopeful, but they kept get- 

 ting smaller and beautifully less. 



James Hamilton. 

 Beason, Ills., April 11, 1892. 



Favorable Spring. 



As a rule, bees have wintered well in 

 this locality. My own results were 

 poor, owing, I think, to ray cellar being 

 too damp. I lost about 30 per cent., 

 caused by diarrhea, although all un- 

 capped honey was extracted last Fall. 

 Does it not seem to be more the condi- 

 tions of wintering than poor food, that 

 causes this trouble ? Bees seem to have 

 wintered better out-of-doors this Winter. 

 So far the Spring has been favorable ; 

 brood-rearing is nicely under way, and 

 willow and poplar are in bloom. 



C. A. Montague. 



Archie, Mich., April 7, 1892. 



Wavelets ol News. 



Water for Bees. 



Persons owning bees, and not located 

 near streams of water, should furnish 

 them fresh water daily, as it will save 

 time which, to the bee, means honey, as 

 it means money to a person. The way 

 they frequent wells and cisterns shows 

 that they prefer water fresh to stale, 

 and they appear to enjoy sipping it from 

 gravel and sand. 



I have used milk-crocks filled with 

 gravel and sand, but, on the whole, pre- 

 fer wooden kegs with cloth put in them, 

 hanging over the sides, acting as 

 syphons. The bees sip water from the 

 sunny side of the kegs. The kegs should 

 be washed out frequently, and one 

 should be a little brackish, about a tea- 

 spoonful to a pail of water. — Exchamje. 



Seasonable Hints. 



Look out for those weak'colonies when 

 you takti your bees out of winter quar- 

 t(M-s this Spring. All such slioild have 

 the entranct^ to the hive contracted so 

 that tlie bees can more easily guard 



themselves from robbers, and also to 

 keep the hive warmer. Remove the 

 frames not occupied by the bees, and put 

 in division-boards close to the frames 

 left in the hive, cover the frames with 

 some kind of cloth, and be sure that the 

 covers of the hives are tight, so as not 

 to leave any draft through the hive. 



Every bee-keeper should prepare for a 

 large honey crop the coming season. 

 Get plenty of everything ready before- 

 hand, then when you need it you will 

 have it ready to use. It is better to 

 have a few hundred sections left unused 

 at the close of the season than to lack 

 100 during the honey-flow. Leave 

 nothing undone that will aid in getting 

 the honey while it lasts, for the season 

 is short, and the one who is not ready 

 for the honey-flow is the one that "gets 

 left."— J. W. Buchanan, in the Western 

 Farmer. 



Keeping the Queen in the Hive. 



Neither clipping the queen's wings, nor 

 any other advice to prevent her from 

 leaving the hive will prevent swarming. 

 It is not the queen that urges out the 

 swarm. Bees will swarm whether the 

 queen can leave the hive or not. The plan 

 of clipping the wing of the queen, and 

 all devices to capture the queen when a 

 swarm issues, are only useful as helps 

 to lessen the labor of managing the 

 swarming nuisance. I prefer the plan 

 of clipping the wing of the queen, to any 

 of the devices yet brought to light. The 

 swarming desire must be satisfied, if 

 bees are expected to work and store 

 honey. — Michigan Farmer. 



Spiders in the Apiary, 



I used to make war on them. Sorry 

 to own it, but I formerly killed every 

 one that I could. Ugh ! the ugly things ! 

 How horrid! They might bite me. But 

 I have repented in sackcloth and ashes. 

 We have kissed and made up, and now 

 we arc the best of friends. I catch 

 every one I can and carry it to a hive 

 containing unoccupied combs, and put it 

 -in. You see our good friend Father 

 Langstroth ("may his shadow ne'er 

 grow less ") called our attention to the 

 fact that the spiders keep all the moth- 

 worms from combs. Where the mother 

 spider has her home, the moths cannot 

 flourish. I sometimes take their eggs 

 encased in a downy web, and place then\ 

 into a hiv(! of unoccupied comb, to live 

 and nourish.— Mus. L. Haukison, in the 

 Prairie Farmer. 



