1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



75 



as it may entice the bees out to perish on the 

 snow every sunshiney day. Two of my hives 

 set on the south side of the grove directly in the 

 sun, and those I shaded with boards. The large 

 32 frame hive set in the grove facing the east, 

 and entirely in the shade, and the bees never 

 even attempted to come out unless the weather 

 was sufficiently warm for them to have a regu- 

 lar Might, which only happened twice" a day 

 during the winter, yet on stooping down and 

 looking into the inch hole, the bees could be 

 seen at all times, and that, too, in the coldest 

 weather. The New Idea hives made this sum- 

 mer I have doulile-cased sides, and otherwise 

 they are calculated to winter with some prepa- 

 rations of the others on the summer stands. 

 Don't send us any dollars, as we certainly shall 

 do as we have heretofore done. That is, 

 whether our ideas are worth anything or not, in 

 due time the reader will get them free of charge. 



E. Gallup. 



[Translated for the American Bee Journal.] 



Letter from Bruce, Canada. 



Mr. Editou : — I am still an admirer of the 

 Journal, and have been so now for some years. 

 The varied and most interesting reports, con- 

 nected with beekeeping from so many parts of 

 the globe, would justify the change of its title 

 from that of "American Bee Journal ' to that of 

 the Wor'd. 



Generally the reports that reach you are from 

 places favorable for bees. I should like to see in 

 the Journal more reports from apiaries further 

 north ; for the nearer we are to the north pole 

 with our bees, the greater obstacles will meet us 

 in beekeeping. 



Thousands of colonies of bees perished last 

 winter on this side of the lines, but no report 

 has yet reached you of the calamity. Here, it 

 is common to see some homesUads, formeily en- 

 livened with the hum of bees, and ornamented 

 with rows of beautiful hives, now desolated, as 

 far as bees are concerned. Here and there we 

 meet a person lamenting over his loss, saying : 

 "All my bees died last winter. I have not a 

 bee left me. They had plenty of honey, and I 

 cannot understand what destroyed them." The 

 cause of this general destruction of bees last 

 winter can easily be accounted for. The winter 

 was unusually long and severe. Just think, Mr. 

 Editor, I put my bees into winter quarters on 

 the 24th of November, and could not venture to 

 take them to the light of the sun till the 5th of 

 April following, and then the snow was two feet 

 deep. Besides, last fall was very unfavorable 

 for bees in these parts. Breeding ceased very 

 early, and as but few are hatched in winter dur- 

 ing confinement, the most of the bees were old 

 when taken out in the spring, and perished in 

 their first flight. This, cf course, left their 

 colonics so weak as to have made hatching im- 

 possible. I am satisfied, the rapid decrease of 

 colonies in spring, is owing, to a great extent, 

 to the age of the bees composing them ; and 

 how to carry bees successfully through long and 

 severe winters, so as to prevent their rapid de- 



crease in spring, is a question of great import- 

 ance among beekeepers, at least, among those 

 whose lot has been cast in these northern 

 climes. 



If we could do as Novice did, air our bees on 

 the 12th of February, even at the risk of newly 

 washed white clothes being spotted, we would 

 be all right, but such a thing is out of question 

 here. 



Can you, Mr. Editor, tell me why the strongest 

 of bees, when put info winter quarters, often 

 come out the very weakest in the spring? This 

 I frequently find to be the case. May a hive 

 have too many bees for wintering safely ? To 

 enaole you, or any of the readers of the Journal 

 to account for this, I may give you my mode of 

 wintering. I put my bees in a cellar, which is 

 perfectly dark, dry, and well ventilated ; remov- 

 ing the honey-board, the chambers for the honey- 

 boxes are kept, full of air, by three inch holes 

 through the caps. I close the entrances, and in 

 this condition I leave the hives for winter. Or- 

 dinary colonies, in this way, winter to my entire 

 satisfaction ; but those that ate" extra strong 

 with bees and heavy with honey, are for the 

 most part of the season in a restless state ; and 

 consequently, large numbers of them die, leaving 

 their combs besnn ared with their excrements. 

 I anticipate the general answer of ray query? 

 "Your bees are too warm," you will say. Well, 

 I am inclined to agree with you ; but how can I 

 avoid it? The resi of my colonies do well. They 

 could not do bett r anywhere. Should I put 

 very strong colonies in a cooler place than a cel- 

 lar ? Would they do outside, where the winter 

 is long and severe? What would Novice do, if 

 in my -tead? What would Grotnm or Gallup 

 do? 



Gentlemen, let us hear from you through the 

 Journal. Of course you must have had the 

 same difficulty in your day. How did you over- 

 come it? 



But, Mr. Editor, though beekeepers have dif- 

 ficulties in this locality connected with long 

 severe winters, yet they have advantages. They 

 have no need of planting basswood trees, for 

 they have a forest of them now, in full bloom, 

 and if the woodman's axe would only spare 

 them, the plantation process would not be re- 

 quired here for ages to come. We have also 

 white clover in great abundance, and natural to 

 our soil, from the 1st of May to October, and 

 many other honey producing plants too numer- 

 ous to mention here. 



In my communication to the Journal, last sea- 

 son, I stated my belief that a queen may pair 

 more than once. I am now more fully convinced 

 that my belief is correct, for I have just now 

 a most beautiful Italian queen, which produced 

 last season as pure progeny as could be desired ; 

 but the most of her offspring this season show 

 not a trace of Italian gold. She was hatched 

 last year, early in the season ; is now rapidly de- 

 clining, and is actually an old queen. Can any 

 one account for the change in the color of her 

 progeny, but by the supposition that she paired 

 with two different drones ? 



Let me relate another fact of some interest. 

 Last spring I had a $10 queen, nearly three 



