216 



too many queens lost, entering the 

 wrong way. Practice : queens seldom 

 lost. 



Two Colonies in same Tree.— On 

 the 8th inst., I discovered bees in a tree 

 about 300 yards from our apiary. We 

 cut it down and found that two colonies 

 had taken up quarters in the tree. They 

 were about 12 feet apart. The bees now 

 find a home in our apiary. 



Culleoka, Tenn., March, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The April Number— Wintering. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



It has been my intention to write 

 something in each number of the Jour- 

 nal for 1879 ; sickness, however, nearly 

 prevented my doing so this time. I will 

 not let any more time pass without men- 

 tioning some of the splendid points, and 

 some of the mistakes that (to me) shine 

 in the pages of the last Journal. 



First, I want to say to our friend C. 

 E. Isham, that when bees conclude to 

 "draw out" thick foundation, they make 

 it as thin as need be. When they don't 

 (and perhaps they would not consider it 

 worth while to commence on that which 

 is nearly as thin as natural), his thin 

 foundation will easily be detected. ]STo w, 

 I would advise its use, if at all, in sur- 

 plus boxes, as guides only, and the less 

 the better. Let us go " slow and sure," 

 keeping up our reputation. 



We do not have any bee moles here, 

 but we used to be pestered with the 

 ground mole, till our apiary was a mire- 

 hole. A party here has invented and is 

 making some traps that never fail to rid 

 the premises of these little pests. I 

 cleaned out both apiaries in a week, 

 catching eight on one "run-way." 



Next comes my friend Tomlinson, and 

 the bee-feeder question. Now, I wish 

 to say that 1 have, this spring, bid good- 

 bye to all atmospheric and cloth bee- 

 feeders, and that I have gotten up one 

 that can be made in any machine shop, 

 or upon a foot-power table, that is 

 in every respect all that I desire. It is 

 not, nor will it be patented, but it is free 

 to all. If I thought it would pay, I would 

 patent it ; but I do not consider the 

 feeding of bees of sufficient importance 

 to patent what I believe to be the best 

 feeder ever invented. I got over the 

 notion of stimulative feeding some 

 years ago. I now feed only such colo- 

 nies as need stores, and I wish to feed 

 liquid feed, because I generally have 

 some 50 to 150 lbs. of honey that by ac- 

 cident gets damaged in one way or 

 another, and is good for nothing else. 

 I can feed bees at any time of year, and 



without daubing a bee or losing any 

 heat (except to heat the feeder), nor 

 coming in contact with a single bee, and 

 can see just what is going on, and how 

 the honey stands in the feeder. What 

 more is needed ? On the first oppor- 

 tunity I will send you one, Mr. Editor, 

 and then if you see it as I do, you can 

 describe it to your readers. 



Friend Baldridge is "after my own 

 heart" on the standard size of the Lang- 

 stroth hive, and where A. I. Root and 

 numerous others got their dimensions 

 from, I do not know. I read in his book 

 that the hive measures inside, in the 

 clear, 18^x14^x10. 



Tell friend Bingham that the reason 

 why hens do not pay on a large scale is 

 because they do not pay on any scale, 

 and not until the large hennery was 

 established, were all the debits charged 

 up against the business. Bee-keeping 

 has caught many in the same way. 



The article by John F. Eggieston, 

 headed "Improvement in Bees," should 

 be electrotyped and put on the first page 

 of the Journal for one year. Bee- 

 keepers, if you will read closely and 

 heed promptly what is there said, if you 

 are not great gainers thereby, I will 

 be willing to lock arms with Mr. 

 Eggieston, and step down and out. 



I have been wintering my 400 colonies 

 in about eight different ways, and I 

 must confess that I am nonplussed to 

 say which plan is best, unless it be the 

 cheapest one. That chaff-packing in 

 every style will not save them I have 

 demonstrated to a certainty, as well as 

 have many of my neighbors. Acciden- 

 tally, no doubt, the best wintering I can 

 report is of five colonies left entirely 

 alone, and setting some foot or more up 

 from the ground. These were all I had 

 entirely let alone, and every one is strong 

 to-day. Were I forced to favor any one 

 plan, I should lean toward the cellar, in 

 which I put 19 colonies ; but that by no 

 means succeeded perfectly. My bees 

 wintered better than any others near 

 here, so far as I have learned. I lost, 

 up to date, about 55 colonies. A neigh- 

 bor, who had 22 colonies, part packed 

 and part in cellar, has one weak colony 

 left. Another has 8 out of 23 ; and 

 many apiarists have lost all. I give the 

 credit of my partial success through 

 this fatal winter to the Italians. We 

 are told by some writers that " all this 

 evil to some one, will make good for 

 somebody else ;" that" lots of bees are 

 dead, and honey will be higher." But 

 these same men always say that " there 

 is no danger of honey declining if bees 

 get ever so plenty." Consistency would 

 be a jewel here, would it not ? 

 Dowagiac, Mich., April 14, 1879. 



