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THE AMEKICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



To Novice, on Wintering Bees. 



Novice, in the October number of the Bee 

 Journal,, expresses a vehement desire to get 

 his bees tlirough the coming winter. I have no 

 experience in his Ifititude, aod but little in tliis — 

 and that only witlibeea on 'tlieir summer stands. 

 But th.it little has been completely successful 

 the last few winters, or ever since I tried my 

 plan. The very fact of my bees all getting 

 safely through the last winter, with a few others 

 belonging to my neighbors, that w^re i)ut up 

 on my ))lan, while a'mo-st all others left to them- 

 selves died, speaks in the highest terms of the 

 efficiency of the method adopted by me. 



I do not like the plan Novice contemplates, of 

 putting up forty stands in two rows four feet 

 wide and tive high, as too many bees will get 

 lost, in mild days, by missing their hive. I re- 

 quest him to try at least ten or twelve stands as 

 1 Avill suggest. If he fails, then condemn my 

 plan; but if successful, then adopt it hereafter. 



Move gradually the twelve stands until they 

 are in a straight row, one foot apart, fronting 

 south — others say north, but I prefer south. 

 Then drive down stakes and board up planks as 

 high as the top of the hives, at the ends and 

 back of the hives. Take off the caps and honey- 

 boards. Spread one or two folds of any sort of 

 dry and clean woolen cloth directly over the 

 frames; or any old woolen ratrs will answer, if 

 clean. Tlieu stuff the caps witii hay, straw, or 

 wood shavings, and put them on, leaving off 

 the honey-boards. Next stuff clean, dry sfraw 

 between each hive, at the ends and rear, about 

 as high as the hives, only leaving the fronts 

 open. The straw between the hives should pro- 

 ject out about six inches in front, so as to break 

 the force of the wind. Also, at the west end 

 there should be plank set up four or five feet 

 high and loug, as a protecton against tierce 

 winds. Cover the whole witli boards, so as to 

 exclude dampness. In cold spells contract the 

 entrance to half an inch. Be careful, also, to 

 fix the front entrance so that snow cannot block 

 it up. All this should be done against Novepi- 

 ber 15. I do mine sooner. 



Though my hives generalljr set in rows, from 

 three to four feet apart, I have but-little trouble 

 in m.tving them together, and back again in the 

 spring. I have already commenced moving 

 mine together ; and on examining them to-day, 

 October 6, I fina them all in trim for winter, 

 except one stand, a late thin swarm in a box 

 hive, which will require a little feeding. 



We had a very dry spell of six or seven 

 weeks continuance, iu the latter part of July 

 and in August, which destroyed all bloom and 

 burnt up the grass, but seasonable rains in the 

 last of August and first of September, brought 

 on a fresh supply of bloom on the smartweed 

 and several others ; for it is a fact that the bees 

 were hard at work two weeks in September, and 

 filled their hives with brood, but gave us no 

 swarms, nor any surplus box honey. During 

 this time 1 raisetl some very beautiful Itnliun 

 queens, from one which I had just received 

 from Aaron Benedict, but which I was unfortu- 



nate enough to lose by a careless accident. The 

 nu.'leus I had put her in, sat on top of another 

 hive, and while removing a small frame with 

 eggs and brood to rear queens, I dropped the 

 frame, spilling all the be(?s in front of the hive 

 below. I looked to see whether the queen was 

 among them, in order to put her back, but not 

 finding her, concluded she was not on that 

 frame. But, to my great regret, the next time 

 I opened the nucleus the queen was evidently 

 gone, as there were five or six queen cella 

 started. From these I raised five fine queens, 

 and have already introduced them safely. 

 Lowell, Ky. R. M. Argo. 



[For tte American Bee Journal.] 



On Last Season, and Wintering. 



Mr. Editoh : — I reside twelve miles east of 

 Novice. He, in company with another bee- 

 keeping friend, vi^iied me last week. His bees 

 have done exceedingly well during the season 

 just past (producing forty-eight from eleven 

 stocks and ten queens, as I think he told me, 

 and heavy at that), comparing his Italian bees 

 with the black bees in this or his own vicinity. 



I have tried this summer to build up artificial 

 swarms, giving them four sheets of full combs of 

 honey, young bees, and eggs, from other hives, 

 removing a strong stock, and setting the new 

 one in its i^lace. With all that advantage they 

 came very near being a failure. The Italians 

 must be a superior bee, or they must have had 

 great advantage in location. 



About three hundred stocks are kept in our 

 township, which is five milt-s square. Box 

 honey, by wholesale, sells at thir.tj-four cents 

 per pound in our market. A few boxes are 

 filled, others are half lull, but the majority have 

 nothing in them. We had whi'e clover in atiun- 

 dance, but the bees have not gathered much 

 from it ; they gathered more Irom red clover. 

 We had no liasswood honey this year, and there 

 was very little buckwheat sown. Natural 

 swarming, with only few exceptions, and only 

 about one half of the old stocks swarmed. The 

 old stocks are in fair condition, while the young 

 iu general are poor for wintering. The fore 

 part of the season was cold and wet, with mea- 

 gre secretions of honey ; the latter ]iart rather 

 better. The bee moths worked like Wall street 

 bulls. The bees were slow in killing off their 

 drones. My bees were in prime condition last 

 spring, but did not realize half as much cap 

 honey as last year. I have used and seen used 

 a great many different kinds of hives. The 

 Laugstroth ten inch deep hive I prefer to all 

 others, when you wintei in a rejjository rightly 

 constructed ; but for out-door wintering from 

 ten to fiiteen inches deep is better. 



During the last ten winters I have kept the 

 principal part of my bees in a house, with the 

 best results. House eleven by twelve feet, and 

 six feet six inches between floors. Walls tea 

 inches, tilled in with sawdust, and clapboards 

 outside and sealed inside. Double door in one 

 end ; window in the other ; shutter inside, and 

 in winter the space between window and shutter 



