180 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Feb. 



here, and that I must take in goods, and cannot 

 sell more than 50 or 60 lbs. at one time. Who 

 knows of a dealer in honey, at a reasonable dis- 

 tance from here to whom honey can be sent with 

 some assurance of receiving pay for it ? 



1 sent a barrel to the " Exclusive" honey dealer 

 in Chicago, sixteen months ago, and have never 

 received a cent for it yet. J. P. Fortune. 



Blooinfield, Davis Co., Iowa, Dec. 12, 1872. 



[From Chicago Tribune. 



The Apiary. 



WHAT MAY BE DONE IN THE APIARY DURING THE WIN- 

 TER, THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF BEE-KEEPING. 



Rural Home, III., Jan. 11, 1873. 



Eight degrees below zero, and the northwest wind 

 soughing through the pines that shelter the house 

 on the north and west, and under whose shelter are 

 the bees on their summer stands. I tap on the hive, 

 and they answer to the summons, " Here we are, 

 but awful cold and drowsy." That is, their low 

 droning implies as much. The last of next month 

 we will begin to feed them, not that they need 

 honey, for their stores are ample, but for the pur- 

 pose of stimulating their breeding. 



All hives that are too full of honey will have the 

 surplus taken out, and empty frames, or frames of 

 comb, placed between, in order to give the queen 

 room to lay her eggs ; and muslin sacks filled with 

 honey, as Mr. Hosmer proposes, will be placed in 

 the top of each hive. 



We have now had two bad seasons for our bees, 

 and I wish to have them in readiness to make some 

 amends, should the spring open with favorable assu- 

 rance of better things. If we build up the swarm 

 by feeding to their full capacity early in the season, 

 we will then be ready to divide our swarms early 

 in the spring; for, just at this time, it is colonies 

 of which we are in particular need. Under no 

 other conditions would I care about feeding, but 

 would otherwise let them take the chances of the 

 season. It is doubtful if this extra feeding would 

 pay for honey, while it may do so for swarms, when 

 they are, as now, very much needed. I wish to fill 

 up the empty hives which the disaster of the winter 

 of 1872 brought us and left on our hands. 



We may now begin to clean up these old hives, for 

 all the frames will need to be scraped clean of the old 

 comb, and, as many of them have become broken 

 by careless handling, they must needs be repaired. 

 And, while we have our hand in, a new coat of paint 

 might be put on. The most convenient and durable 

 paint for this purpose is the Averill chemical. This 

 is ready mixed for use. It needs no further prepa- 

 ration, and may be put on by any lady. In fact, I 

 much prefer to do my own painting to hiring it 

 done ; it is one of the things that we women may 

 claim the right to do. This looking after the bees ; 

 the making, or rather the putiing together of the 

 hives ; the making of frames ; the painting and 

 putting the hives on their summer stands for use, 

 are duties that any young lndy might well be proud 

 of doing, especially if there came a good reward at 

 the end of it in the form of greenbacks. 



ARE THE WINTERS GROWING COLDER ? 



An old pioneer and a bee-hunter, made me a call 

 yesterday, and I asked him if the winters are grow- 

 ing colder. "I can't say that they are," said he, 

 "and yet the winters are different ; one thing is 

 certain, that we have killing frosts earlier than we 

 did thirty years ago, and I account for it in this 

 way : At that time the sloughs were generally filled 

 with water, and the heat they gave off in frosty 

 nights tempered the air and prevented frost. Now, 

 all the sloughs are dry, and the heat is radiated 

 rapidly, and the frost kills the golden rod, the 

 asters, and other late-blooming flowers, and thus 

 the bees have a shorter season for gathering honey, 

 and a longer one for feeding. The changes are 

 greater, and frost penetrates the ground to a greater 

 depth. Even the forests are more dry, and there 

 are less flowers now than formerly ; but I suppose 

 the cattle browsing through the woods destroy many 

 of them. Certain it is that now we have very few 

 wild bees in our groves and along the river-bottoms. 

 I suppose that the bee-moths have something to do 

 with this, but the chief cause is the falling off of a 

 steady supply of flowers ; and I might say that 

 there is another reason, for the people have cut 

 down the basswood trees everywhere, in the most 

 reckless manner." 



What do you think of the prospect of bee-keep- 

 ing in the future, as compared with the past ten 

 years ? 



" Well, as to that, I think we will come back to 

 the old points where we found it, before the plow, 

 and the stock, and the long summer-drouth had 

 made such a change in the supply of flowers. We 

 shall have the orchard, the maples that are planted 

 for shade and shelter-belts, the small fruits that are 

 being so largely planted for family use and for 

 market. Then the white clover is taking the place 

 of dog-fennel along the roadsides, and is spreading 

 over the pastures and meadows ; and the farmer 

 who keeps bees will sow buckwheat for this has be- 

 come a paying crop on account of the great demand 

 for the flour ; and I might also make some account 

 of the flowers that may be cultivated about the 

 house, for I see that the farmers are beginning to 

 lay out a lawn of one or two acres about the house, 

 and to devote it to trees and shrubs, and all of these, 

 with the exception of the catalpa, so far as I know, 

 are honey producing. I must say that we need not 

 be discouraged, but look forward with renewed hope 

 for a return of the old time when honey was abun- 

 dant." Ella. 



Keports for 1872. 



Henry Crist, of Lake, Stark county, Ohio, writes : 

 On account of my poor location, "oft infirmities," 

 and many other cares, I keep only from fifteen to 

 twenty stocks of bees, and more for experiment 

 and pleasure than for profit, but always with refer- 

 ence to the largest amount of surplus honey in the 

 combs, increasing stocks only enough to prevent 

 natural swarmings, and again selling stocks as 

 they increase in numbers. A great, many stocks 

 died here last winter, some of starvation and 

 neglect, and others leaving plenty of honey. The 

 past season was also rather poor for bees, so that 

 the stocks that survived the winter generally did 



