170 



1HE AMEBIC AN BEE-KEEPER. 



honey in the tank. We got some water 

 into it last spring when we were build- 

 ing and had one side of the house torn 

 off. We naturally wanted to clean 

 the tank for the new honey, so we put 

 on about 35 feeders and poured in that 

 sour honey. Such a time as it made. 

 The bees left their hives, honey and 

 brood, aud all the larva to which was 

 fed any of the sour honey di d. It 

 played havoc generally. It is no use 

 to tell us better than to feed sour hon- 

 ey, for we know all about it. 



Honey is flowing good now and in- 

 creasing all the time, so we are out of 

 the woods once more, with more bees 

 than I ever had at this time of the 

 year since I have been in Cuba. We 

 have now, and have had all summer, 

 one-third more bees than we had last 

 year, and next spring we expect to 

 put 100 colonies more into this apiary, 

 making in all 700, and I don't expect 

 to cry " overstocked " either. 



Yours, &c, A. W. Osborne. 

 Punta Brava de Guatia, Cuba, W. I., Oct. 



9th, 1891. 



[\Ve are very glad to hear from you, 

 friend Osborne, and of your success. 

 You have doubtless the largest steam 

 extracting plant in the world, and we 

 think \ on will probably save enough 

 honey wiih it to pay for it in a few 

 seasons. If the honey flow here was 

 as sure and abundant as in Cuba there 

 would be almost as many bee-keepers 

 in every State as there are now in the 

 whole country. — Ed.] 



Editor Am. Bee-Keeper, Dear 

 Sir : On page 155 you quote from the 

 Bee-Keeper's Magazine as follows: "The 

 bees should be set out and left to fly 

 once or twice during the winter." I 

 believe nearly all bees in Iowa are 

 wintered in the cellar, and we have 

 been taught by the "old heads" that 



carrying them out during the winter 

 to fly was not only unnecessary but 

 positively injurious. We carry them 

 into the cellar in Nov., tier them up 

 five tiers hiyh if necessary, leave the 

 bottom-board out doors, put not less 

 than an inch piece under each and to 

 give plenty of lower ventilation, put a 

 bee quilt over the bee frames to retain 

 the heat and allow the moisture to pas.-- 

 off by means of ventilating and a stove; 

 keep the atmosphere at 40 to 45 de- 

 grees above zero, and let them alone 

 until about the time of soft maple 

 bloom, ami ordinarily we will not lose 

 five per cent, when set out, in a single 

 wall hive. We set them out in single 

 wall hives and uncover them down to 

 the quilt from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m., and 

 we have very little spring dwindling. 



In April or May bees need all the 

 sunshine they can get to warm them 

 up to stimulate brood rearing. For 

 ten years I have not carried out a hive 

 of bees to give them a fly in the win- 

 ter. The difference in the amount of 

 honey consumed will more than pay 

 for carrying in and out of the cellar, 

 besides, with me,itdoes not take more 

 than half the time it would to pack 

 them and clean up in the spring. 



O. B. Barrows. 



Marshalltown, la., Oct. 9, 1891. 



[When bees are wintered in the cel- 

 lar they should never be disturbed un- 

 til ready to move out in the spring, 

 for as you say, it causes them to con- 

 sume a greater amount of their stores, 

 and is apt to result disastrously. — Ed.] 



Ed. Am. BeeKkeper: Why are 

 the one-story chaff hives to take the 

 Langstroth frame not the best hive for 

 all purposes that are in use today? I 

 would like to ask some of the older 

 bee-keepers' reasons for not using the 



