86 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



decide when editors disagree? 

 Prof. Cook? He says (see "Api." 

 of last month) that Locke lias not 

 only a new hat but that it is a good 

 one. So say we all. 



The editor of Gleanings says 

 "In the 'Apicnlturist' for Feb. our 

 friend P. H. Elvvood takes the A. 

 B. J. to task for copying (without 

 credit) the plan of the question 

 department, claiming this to be 

 original with the 'Apicnlturist.' " 

 He (Root) carries the idea farther 

 in that this plan was a special 

 feature of the Beekeeper's Instruc- 

 tor for 1882. I have referred to the 

 question department of that journal 

 for 1882 and find it was conducted 

 after the usual plan with no indica- 

 tions that the editor had ever a 

 thought of changing it. I do find 

 an editorial chiefly made up of the 

 opinions of the different honey deal- 

 ers on the subject of marketing 

 honey ; but this has nothing to do 

 with the plan of conducting ques- 

 tion departments, and in the same 

 and in succeeding issues we find 

 this department conducted as it 

 always has been in bee-journals, 

 until the editor of the "American 

 Apicnlturist" changed it. 



The editor of the A. B. J. refers 

 us to his journal of May, 1879, and 

 in making this reference I find an- 

 other editorial article compiled after 

 the same fashion as the one already 

 referred to in the Beekeeper's In- 

 structor and subject to the same 

 criticism. The hat does not fit. 



The facts are these. Tiie editor 

 of the " American Apiculturist " 

 has, ever since the establishment of 

 his journal, conducted his question 



department on a new and original 

 plan. A carefully selected list of 

 questions have been submitted to 

 some of the more experienced 

 apiculturists for answers and these 

 answers with the questions have 

 been printed in each number thus 

 giving to its readers the result of 

 the maturest thought and experi- 

 ence on the many topics presented. 

 This fact is well known and appre- 

 ciated by the beekeepers of America, 

 as is also the additional one that 

 until the present year no other bee- 

 journal had a question department 

 conducted in a similar manner. 

 Starkville, N. Y. P. H. Elwood. 

 3farch 20, 1885. 



WINTERING BEES. 



Br L. C. Root. 



The month of Februar}' was a 

 very uniformly cold month, yet the 

 bees continued to leave the hives. 



From room A, I took one-half 

 bushel of dead bees ; from room B, 

 twenty quarts. 



The stocks weighed as follows : 

 Mar. 1, No. 1, 76 lbs.; No. 2, 

 48 lbs. ; No. 3, 58 lbs. ; No. 4, 84^ 

 lbs. ; No. 5, SU lbs. ; No. 6, 100 

 lbs.; No. 10, 44 lbs. ; No. 11, 50 

 lbs. It will be noticed that No. 6 

 had consumed 27 lbs. This stock 

 died for want of stores. The 

 weather was extremely cold, and 

 as they were under the snow, I left 

 them undisturbed thinking they 

 had an abundance of honey. 



