the extractor at the first. Now we are done 

 with this yard for 10 days, or, if it is stormy, 

 it will do for 12 days. If we don't go until 

 12 days, the first thins when I get there is to 

 open these colonies and cnt out the surplus 

 queen-cells — for very likely they are then 

 coining out of the cells — cage them, one 

 queen or cell in a cage, leaving one cell in 

 each hive to mature. Use the extractor 

 pretty freely when the clover is in full 

 bloom ; I go over the whole, as before, mak- 

 ing more new colonies, and filling out the 

 new ones made last time, up to 10 frames. 

 Now, we give all the new ones, made to-day, 

 a hatched young queen, or cell taken from 

 those started 10 or 12 days ago, and then 

 leave for 10 days more. In this way I breed 

 queens from the strongest and most prolific 

 colonies and keep the comb building con- 

 fined to colonies where there is a prolific 

 queen ; consequently I get nearly all worker 

 comb, as 1 put empty frames into the center 

 of the brood nest, where they build only 

 worker comb. Should they build any drone 

 comb, cut it out and let them try again. 1 

 keep all strong and ready for any emergency 

 or check in the honey harvest. As soon as 

 young queens mature and are laying, clip 

 their wings ; when they get a quantity of 

 brood, treat them as old colonies, taking 

 brood combs from them to help make other 

 new ones. A young, virgin queen is more 

 likely to be accepted than a queen cell. This 

 year my bees have destroyed one cell out of 

 three, on an average, while I have not lost a 

 hatched queen by introducing her right 

 among the bees as soon as the colony is 

 finished. Of course 1 must keep a record of 

 work, a sample of which can be seen in the 

 American Bee Journal, June number, 

 1878, page 185. 



PAINTING HIVES. 



I used to paint all white, but came to the 

 conclusion that 1 lost too many of my young 

 queens on their bridal trip— usually about 1 

 out of 7 — when all were white. Nowlpaint 

 as different as possible— for instance, one all 

 white, one all brown, one with white top and 

 brown body, and one with brown top and 

 white body, etc. I also have a cream color 

 and a brick color ; so with the four colors 

 every hive looks differently from others near 

 it. 1 scarcely ever lose a queen— this year 

 only 2 out of over 60. 



SECTION BOXES. 



I think the 434>434 box is too small, as very 

 few of them get 1 lb. of honey in them, full 

 weight. 1 like the 2 lb. boxes best; my 

 bees will fill out the corners of a 2 lb. box 

 better than the 1 lb. 



It was a backward spring. My bees com- 

 menced to make a little headway June 10th, 

 and did very well up to July 13th, on clover, 

 as there was no basswood this year. No. of 

 colonies in 1877, 100 ; 3 this spring were 

 queenless ; that left me 97 colonies to start 

 with, this spring. Up to July 13th I got 

 5,000 lbs. extracted honey from 57 colonies 

 and their increase; 1,000 l'bs. in section boxes 

 from 40 colonies and their increase. Last 

 year 1 had 7,000 lbs. extracted, and sold it 

 all at home in our little village of 4,000 in- 

 habitants, and to surrounding farmers, at 10 

 and 15 cents per pound. 



WINTERING BEES. 



The .Secretary then read the following 

 paper by Mr. James Heddon, of Dowagiac, 

 Mich.:- 



After 9 years of quite extensive experi- 

 menting, I will give you what I think about 

 wintering. I believe there is a winter epi- 

 demic. I think it is taken through the 

 honey. I believe it causes us more loss than 

 all other causes combined, twice over. Cold 

 aggravates the disease, much. I consider 

 judicious feeding of sugar syrup, to winter 

 on, a potent remedy. I also consider such 

 feeding too expensive to be practical ; I pre- 

 fer taking the risk. Were I to establish a 

 new apiary, I should make one building 

 about 14x48 feet, and two stories high, to be 

 divided into apartments for honey room, 

 work shop. etc. Under this I should dig a 

 cellar the full size of it, and 6>£ feet deep. 

 I should have an 8 inch double floor, filled 

 with saw dust, or the like, to my building, 

 and have the building set within 8 inches of 

 the earth. I want a stove in one of the 

 rooms above— say in the honey room. I 

 would have a pipe, from within 3 inches of 

 the cellar bottom, running straight up, and 

 going into the stove pipe above. Now, I 

 want a vent hole through the wall out doors, 

 and one through the floor, into the honey 

 room. Put a damper in the pipe from the 

 cellar, just above the floor. Now, when this 

 damper is open, and the stove is active, 

 there will be a draft that will nearly carry 

 up a feather from the bottom of the cellar. 

 If you wish to send warmed fresh air to the 

 cellar, open the trap door in the honey room. 

 This should be large enough to go down 

 through, to save unpacking the outer doors. 

 If you wish to introduce cool, fresh air, 

 open the door ventilator through the wall. 

 Now, don't put but 100 colonies into this 

 large cellar, and you will find yourself able 

 to accomplish that most important object, of 

 keeping your bees cool in a warm time. 

 Such a cellar, so arranged, will also keep a 

 few cofonies warm in the coldest weather. 

 Don't take out the bees till all danger of 

 second winter is over. I believe the pack- 

 ing box is a fine thing to spring bees with, 

 but, in your latitude, I should not dare to 

 depend upon it to winter in. It is costly, 

 cumbersome, laborious and mussey, and, un- 

 like the well made cellar, is its bulk worse 

 than a dead loss through the summer, while 

 the cellar is very useful to the honey pro- 

 ducer. 



The above conclusions have been arrived 

 at, not by theorizing, but by experimenting 

 and observing. Something may develop 

 itself that will far excell the cellar for win- 

 tering, but, as yet, I think it has not. 



I will mention that so far as I can deter- 

 mine, by experimenting with 100 colonies 

 for 3 years, I can see no importance as to 

 upward or lower ventilation of the hives. I 

 find no use for "cloths," or any "absorbents", 

 about a hive, at any time of year. 



You will notice by the last tabular report 

 of the N. E. B. K. Association, that the cel- 

 lar, for wintering, came off victorious. And 

 how many of those cellars, do you suppose, 

 were so large as to hold the bees quietly, in 

 a warm spell, and so arranged as to keep 

 them at 40° to 45°, in a very cold time ? 



