25^ 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



though it would leqmre several days to make the 

 chauge. 



Weil, into this house, as we have stated, we 

 put filty-four colonies of bees. Only very^ very 

 few of them were strong in numbers when put 

 in, owing in part to so bad a honey seasf)n that 

 they did not breed in the fall ; and also to a 

 heavy flood, which drowned out mj- apiary. The 

 hives having to be hastily carried out (I being 

 absent some three hundred miles fiom home at 

 the time), they were so mixed up that, on my 

 retura, I could not replace them all in their 

 proper positions, and many bees Avere lost when 

 the weather was such tliat they could tly again. 



We removed the honey boards, put over them 

 wire-cloih preservers, and a straw mat on some ; 

 on others a rag carpet, one thickness, covering 

 the tops of the frames entirely. The entrances 

 at bottom of hives were closed. 



Well, all of these bees, like those in the cellar, 

 had the dysentery. Not a particle of mould ap- 

 peared on the combs. Nearly all the colonies 

 were fed in the fall ; but all were alike as to dys- 

 entery. None of them soiled the combs, but the 

 tops of the frames were stained. Question — 

 What gave these bees the disease ? Was it bad 

 honey ? Well, some of the honey is bitter ; but 

 this is principally the box honej'. Was it too 

 much ventilation ? Well, the strongest stocks 

 were most diseased. Again — about the first of 

 February, a neighbor put into this house some 

 fifteen very strong stocks, leaving the honey 

 boxes on. Of course these had not near as much 

 ventilation as ours had ; but they were much 

 more diseased. Was it too little ventilation ? 

 Who will tell us through the Bee Journal? 



A neighbor once had a large apiary in a yard 

 surrounded by buildings and a fence twelve feet 

 high. The hives were setting on their summer 

 stands Avhen a whirling wind swooped intot his 

 yard as if on fantastic toe, and upset a large 

 number of them. There they lay, on their sides, 

 iu the snow, with the bottoms open to the cold 

 and storms for many days, as their owner did 

 not discover it for some time. Yet no harm 

 came of it, they all wintered finely. 



Was that dysentery caused by the food given 

 to the bees early in September? which consisted 

 of good coffee A white sugar, as before mention- 

 ed ? If so, why were those colonies that were 

 not fed as badly affected as the others — the heav- 

 iest even being the worst ? 



Will some of your numerous correspondents, 

 dear Editor, give us the philosophy of this con- 

 dition of the bees? That of those in the bee- 

 house, where the mercury varied 18°, being pre- 

 cisely the same as that of those in the dry cellar, 

 where it varied only 6". No moisture appeared 

 to have accumulated in any of the ninety colo- 

 nies, except one, and that was a very strong one, 

 and immensely heavy in honey. The amount of 

 bees that perished in each colony would perhaps 

 average two quarts — some more, some less. 

 There w^as very little bad smell about the hives, 

 and the combs were clean. 



It would bring instruction to the numerous 

 readers of the Journal, at least to such of us as 

 are novices, to have more definite statements of 

 the manner the hives are prepared when stowed 



away in special repositories. We lack sufficient 

 statistics. Will our successful friends, who are 

 successful every time, tell us the size'&nd condi- 

 tion of their cellars or depositories, and the varia- 

 tions of temperature therein ? Will they tell us 

 whether the outside walls are laid in mortar, or 

 without? Have the cellars flagged or cement 

 bottoms, or earth ? How much, that is how 

 many square inches of ventilation, and how 

 direct to the repositorj' ? What number of colo- 

 nies deposited? &c., &c. 



Our bees have no foulbrood. We hope to re- 

 trieve our losses; and as we intend to finish our 

 beehduse with upper floor coverings, and bank it 

 in so that the air cannot pass under it another 

 winter; s'lut up th(7 ventilators of the house 

 somewhat more (unless some one tells us a better 

 way); and try again. And we intend to try on, 

 until we can succeed every time. 



Will not our friends and instructors, Quinby, 

 Gary, Grimm, Gallup, Novice No. 1, and others, 

 give us their advice, through the columns of the 

 Bee Journal, and post us up in these statis- 

 tics. 



In all our enterprizes, agricultural, horticultu- 

 ral, apicultural, &c., etc., we need more definite 

 statistical information, to enable us to come out 

 right in the Spring. 



Yours, Hopefully^ 



No-vice No. 2. 



Mount Lebanon, N. 7., April 18, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bees in the Southern States. 



I would answer query No. 2, in the American 

 Bee Journal for February, that from all the facts 

 Avhich I have gathered concerning bees in the 

 South, this climate is eminently adapted to their 

 nature ; and that their iubtinct here, to store 

 honey, is as great as at the North. During the 

 latter part of the summer, iu this locality, they 

 generally cannot procure more supplies than suf- 

 fice to satisfy their immediate wants ; but when 

 an abundant harvest does present itself, they 

 avail themselves of it with preserving assiduity. 

 I have seen hives w:here the bees had built comb 

 on the outside, under the projection of the top, 

 not having further room within. And instances 

 are numerous of bees inhabiting hollow trees, 

 building combs several feet in length, below 

 branches in front of their entrance — thus indi- 

 cating that they do not slack their industry so 

 long as they can obtain honey. 



A large apiary, properly conducted, in this 

 portion of the country, could not fail to be profit- 

 able. I only regret that I am not so situated 

 as to be able to devote myself to it more fully 

 than I can do at present. 



J. E. B. 

 Natchez, Miss., Feb., 1870. 



Nearly all the bees which return from the fields 

 while a swarm is being forced out from the pa- 

 rent hive, will enter the hive if it is put upon its 

 old stand, and adhere to it afterwards wherever 

 it may be placed. — Langstroth. 



