408 



are frames containing some honey that can- 

 not be put in, they should be placed in an 

 upper story or in the cover of the hive, and 

 the bees allowed to carry it down. You 

 should always look at tliem 20 or 80 minutes 

 after they are put into one hive, to see that 

 all is right. If you find any bees fighting 

 give them such a smoking with cotton rags 

 that they cannot tell " which from t'other," 

 and after 15 or 20 minutes, if they are fight- 

 ing again, give them another " dose," and 

 repeat till they are good to each other. I 

 have never failed in getting them peaceable 

 after 2 or 3 smokings. 



If your bees are in box hives, I should say 

 your first job on hand is to transfer them 

 into frames, but if you will not take the 

 trouble to transfer them, you may unite two 

 or more weak colonies thus : Drive the 

 bees up into an empty box (as in transfer- 

 ring) from the hive containing the least 

 combs, and shake them in front of the hive 

 into which they are to go; then smoke them 

 with rags to give them all one scent. Some 

 of the bees may return to their old stand 

 the next day, where you should have a box 

 to catch them; then take them back to their 

 new stand and they will mark their new lo- 

 cation, and you will have no further trouble. 



Nile, Ontario. 



How to Winter Bees. 



E. RODMAN. 



To winter bees well and free from loss by 

 dampness and mold, three things are needed 

 —a steady, low temperature, fresh air and 

 silence. 



The low temperature may be secured by 

 properly covering the hives in long rows ; 

 first with boards set up stout, meeting above 

 the top, and the boards covered again 12 to 

 15 inches of earth thrown over, and duing a 

 freeze watered and frozen ; then covered 

 again with straw or corn-fodder to prevent 

 thawing. Bees so cool and quiet remain in 

 rest, eating very little and unaffected by 

 outside changes. 



To secure the fresh air, so indispensable, 

 it is best to have air-holes in the top of the 

 hives, and, after placing the hives one foot 

 apart on a platform one foot above the 

 ground (3x4 scantling will do), to raise each 

 hive one inch from the bottom board by 

 small blocks. 



A hole or pit near each end of the plat- 

 form, 4 ft. deep by 2% ft. in diameter, con- 

 necting with the outside air by a 3-in. pipe, 

 ;eaching through the covering of dirt and 

 boards ; the end well guarded with wire 

 gauze against mice and other intruders, will 

 admit colder air when needed. A stovepipe 

 15 inches long in the middle of the row, to 

 reach the covering from the top of the hives 

 to the outside air, will give thorough venti- 

 lation from below upward, carrying off all 

 dampness. 

 This arrangement, with a thermometer 



suspended in the center pipe and examined 



from time to time, will give perfect control 



of the temperature, which should be kept 



at 34 c Fah. 



The lower pipes may be tightly closed by 

 small boards when the outside air is too 



warm or too severely cold. The upward 

 current of air will then be supplied by the 

 pits, and all dampness be avoided. 



When weighed and marked, when covered 

 and again when uncovered, colonies have 

 come out well in the spring, vigorous and 

 eager for work, with a loss of only 3 to 7 lbs. 

 each. The cold and silence prevents injuri- 

 ous excitement that uncovered colonies 

 manifest during the changeable weather of 

 early spring, leaving the hives in the warm 

 hours and getting too chilled to get back— a 

 great loss of working force, after eating 

 bountifully all winter to keep from freezing. 



When the season is suitably advanced and 

 the air is 60° ther. or more, the covering 

 may all be removed. The bees will rouse 

 up from their long winter's nap and take a 

 wonderful frolic, and begiu the rearing of 

 young vigorously. If the season is back- 

 ward, a supply of rye meal or middlings is 

 useful. . _ . . 



From the Southern Agriculturist. 



Bee-Keeping in the South. 



H. L. LOXG. 



With all our sources of supply, think 

 what millions of pounds of honey are wasted 

 without benefitting any one. Then let us 

 be up and doing something towards this 

 boon to some good account for man's com- 

 fort and happiness, for its medicinal and 

 health-giving properties were acknowledged 

 by the ancients 2,000 years ago. 



Is not bee-keeping too uncertain to be un- 

 dertaken as a business? I answer, no more 

 so than any other one of the numerous in- 

 dustries now being successfully prosecuted. 

 It is true that all the mysteries of the little 

 busy bee have not been unraveled, still the 

 progress thitherwards is as marked and en- 

 couraging as farming, merchandise, or other 

 callings, and any one who will commence it 

 with the same determination that would be 

 requisite for success In other things, will 

 surely win. To go into it extensively it 

 would be necessary to cultivate largely 

 those plants abounding in honey-producing 

 flowers, and to scatter the colonies in differ- 

 ent localities, adjacent to lands producing a 

 great number of flowers— large swamps for 

 instance. I imagine the orange groves of 

 Florida would be simply splendid. Will 

 some one who is informed on this point 

 make it known through your journal ? It 

 would be necessary to have some simple, 

 easilv constructed, improved hive, and use 

 both'boxes and large and small frames for 

 storing surplus honey, and to ship to large 

 cities, as nice honey commands a far more 

 remunerative price there than in small 

 towns or villages. I would hesitate to state 

 the prices that are sometimes obtained there 

 for nice honey, lest I should not be believed. 

 I think it highly important for anyone com- 

 mencing the business, whether for profit or 

 Eleasure, to have' only a few colonies at 

 rst, and by getting all the information to 

 be obtained from works on bees and fre- 

 quent inspection of hives, to verify the 

 facts learned there, so as to be able to prac- 

 tice them. A small observatory hive hav- 

 ing only one frame of the same size as those 



