AMERICAN 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



AT TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. VIII. 



dece:m:bek, i87a, 



No. 6. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice, 



Bless your heart, old Bee Journal, we really 

 believe we shall have to take off our coat, and 

 go for you in shirt sleeves. 



Right following our article in October No., 

 Gallup recommended a plan of out-door winter- 

 ing, as far from our instructions as can be, and 

 the foreign articles give advice both ways, in the 

 sun, and positively out of the aim, and some one 

 (no name, but thank him for the criticism) says 

 our syrup aint made right, and then Mr. Bureh 

 says we took three columns, etc. Did you ever ! 



It is quite probable Gall up' s bees wintered 

 nicely, as he fixed them ; but can we afford to 

 cumber our apiary with all that trash and rub- 

 bish ? for, were we to prepare our seventy-one 

 hives as he mentions, think of the labor com- 

 pared, to that of just setting in a properly 

 arranged bee house (we have put in sixty in an 

 hour, alone), and then, seriously, can they be 

 wintered on the same amount of honey ? and, 

 then, suppose we prefer small colonies, a la 

 Hosmer. 



Weigh your hives carefully, our "summer 

 stand" friends, and tell us how much honey is 

 consumed, and how many weak colonies are lost, 

 and we will soon have accurate data. 



Quinby remarks, that to get the full benefit of 

 a house or cellar, at least fifty colonies, we 

 think, should be in the one room. Now, how 

 are we to enable one colony, alone, to enjoy the 

 same advantages by making non-conducting 

 walls about, and thus deprive them of the benefit 

 of the sun's rays besides? A dead air space, 

 and the outer wall glass, it is true, as given on 

 page 83, is an approach to it ; but, even then, 

 can we consent to use anything so frail and 

 cumbrous? 



Please don't anybody patent the idea ! 



Now, then, once more ! and we shall keep 

 harping on the subject until Europe and America 

 gives us proof of its fallacy, if they can. Are 

 not bees occasionally wintered well under almost 

 all circumstances, with upper and lower, and 

 even horizontal ventilation, as Gallup says it is 

 called; and even, too, with no ventilation? Adair 

 says they don't need any, and he can give you, 



that have never tried it, powerful proof; for 

 bees do winter sometimes well with no holes iu 

 the top at all; and, too, they don't winter at 

 times when they have every kind of ventilation. 



Is ventilation the trouble at all, that bee- 

 keepers have quarreled so much about? Is it 

 rather not food ? And now we come to it. Will not 

 pure, wholesome food (sugar syrup) winter them 

 with any kind of ventilation, out doors or in, 

 only that out in the weather they heed much 

 more. 



Our unknown friend, page 91, gives us proper 

 credit, but a host of others forget to ; and Alley, 

 besides, page 93, says he has used it for fifteen 

 years. We think he must have forgotten to 

 add that he only knew he succeeded, without 

 knowing why, until we mentioned it. 



Gallup, too, says he had recommended it long 

 ago ; but until some one can show in print 

 where they have ever advised sugar syrup as 

 being safer than honey, we shall claim our 

 "laurels." 



Thank you, Mr. Leuthe, page 87 ; you, and 

 every other beekeeper, can surely get a barrel of 

 honey from every ten stocks, the poorest season 

 we have had iu the last seven years (we did not 

 know a queen before then. ) 



It certainly looks badly to see so many cor- 

 respondents telling about "poor seasons," and 

 the "poorest ever known." It is the "bee- 

 keepers," and not the seasons. If you would 

 only throw away your old honey boxes, and use 

 an extractor long enough to know it far easier, 

 besides, being neat clean and safe. 



At present the complaint is, it don't sell ; and 

 we hereby petition the Editor to allow every 

 beekeeper having extracted honey unsold, to 

 state the same in this Journal, how much, and 

 what they will sell it for. Many are writing to 

 us for it now, and we have sold our last for 

 eighteen cents ; and it retails in Cleveland for 

 twenty-five cents. 



As freight is considerable, those who wish to 

 buy can then send for that which is nearest 

 their locality. 



I thank you, Mr. B. Lunderer, page 87, for a 

 new idea. After using cloth quilts over a year, 

 we could not think of using boards again. 



Make them like pillows, with a case, and when 

 the case is covered with propolis, remove, and 

 wash with benzine, or make a new case. If they 



