THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



163 



uniting weak stocks for the winter, an operation 

 which he thought was usually undertaken too 

 late in the year. It should he done some time 

 hefore, and not alter, the end of the honey 

 harvest. 



The next question on the list was, " Whether 

 it be possible to hinder drone brood in hives 

 with moveable combs, without having recourse 

 to the old method of cutting out drone combs ?" 

 Mr. Daihe was of opinion that it was better 

 not to let the bees build drone cells, by filling 

 up any empty space in the breeding-room 

 of the hive with worker comb so soon as the 

 bees begin drone cells. To suffer bees to build 

 drone combs, and then to cut them out, involve * 

 a great waste of honey and a great loss of time 

 for the bees, who build drone cells over and 

 over again. By filling up the gaps, we should 

 probably have young bees in the same space 

 where, but for this, we should still be cutting 

 out drone comb. Further, the bee-keeper saves 

 himself the time and trouble he would other- 

 wise necessarily have to devote to examining 

 his hives and cutting out the drone cells. Of 

 course in the space devoted to honey the bees 

 may build as much drone comb as they please. 

 The speaker had for eight years allowed no 

 droue brood where he did not wish it, and this 

 without any cutting-out. For this purpose it 

 is necessary, 1, That there should be a division 

 between the brood room and honey room, so long 

 as the bees wish to build drone cells. 2, The 

 bees must not be allowed to build in the breed- 

 ing space after they cease to build worker cells. 

 3, In spite of all care, some drone cells are 

 sometimes built in the breeding space. These 

 should be at once removed to the honey division, 

 using in fact for this part of the hive all the 

 droue cells one can bring together. 



The speaker then added : 1, That worker 

 comb should never be destroyed, but either kept 

 for feeding the bees if necessary, or, 2, Emptied 

 by means of the centrifugal machine, and the 

 empty comb used again. 4, Every means pos- 

 sible should be employed to secure a good store 

 of worker comb from artificial swarms, late 

 swarms, &c, and others which caunot be win- 

 tered. 4, We can compel any hive to build 

 worker comb by reducing it to the condition of 

 a swarm, i. e. by taking out nearly all the combs. 

 5, We may take out all perfect combs from a 

 hive with a young queen ; the bees will then 

 build worker cells, li, and lastly, When com- 

 pelled we limy use artificial comb foundations. 

 These conclusions were supported by Messrs. 

 Hopf and Huber. The latter also suggested 

 that, it would often be a good plan to remove 

 the old queen with the drone combs in order 

 that the bees having then a young queen might 

 build worker cells ; but it should not be for- 

 gotten that till the young queen is ready to lay, 

 only drone cells would be built if the bees were 

 allowed access to empty breeding space. 



The proceedings of the first day were then 

 concluded with a few words from the President, 

 and the appointment of judges for articles 

 exhibited. 



Honey is a favorite food and medicine with 

 the Bedouins in Northern Arabia. 



[For the American Bee Journal] 



Practical Bee-Culture. 



Practically considered bee-culture is some- 

 thing more than the mass of persons who own 

 a few hives each think it is ; for there are com- 

 paratively few that understand the laws that 

 govern breeding and swarming, or the general 

 economy of the hive. Success in bee-keeping 

 depends greatly on the condition in which the 

 bees are in the fall, and how they are wintered. 

 In order lo know their condition it is necessary 

 that all the stocks should undergo a thorough 

 examination, to ascertain, first, whether the 

 swarm has a good queen ; secondly, whether it 

 has sufficient population to form a dense cluster, 

 say from five to seven pounds of bees; and, 

 thirdly, whether it has at least tw T enty-five 

 pounds of honey and pollen ; for honey is to 

 the bee what money is lo the business man, in 

 common with others. 



Wintering bees in special repositories is at- 

 tended with considerable trouble and expense, 

 unless the right kind of cellar is at command ; 

 and then, here in Iowa, the spring of the year 

 is so cold and blustering that, frequently, it is 

 difficult to get a daj that is calm, and clear, and 

 warm enough to enable a fallen bee to rise from 

 the ground again and return to its hive. In 

 this climate there are so many changes of 

 weather that it is extremely difficult to keep 

 bees sufficiently protected from the cold, and 

 have them so ventilated in warm spells as to 

 keep them reposing quietly in their hives. Now 

 in these winter quarters their confinement is fre- 

 quently protracted to four or even five months, 

 during which lapse of time their abdomens be- 

 come very much distended ; t!<ey become rest- 

 less, and will discharge their excrement in the 

 hive and about the entrance. These facts lead 

 us to inquire how bees can be wintered on their 

 summer stands. Mr. Langstroth has published 

 a plan, which I think is well suited to the cli- 

 mate in which he lives ; but in the western and 

 northwestern States, it would not afford suffi- 

 cient, protection to bees in his present form of 

 hives. Mr. Langstroth has done more for the 

 advancement ot the science of bee-culture than 

 any other man in the United States, and de- 

 serves to be held in grateful remembrance by 

 every person wdio has any love for the interest- 

 ing and profitable insects. But still I feel con- 

 strained to say that the shallow form of hive is 

 not a good one for outdoor wintering. I use 

 his hive in three different forms; but piefer one 

 that contains nine frames, and is thirteen inches 

 and a half square, by ten inches deep ; and on 

 top of these nine more frames of the same size, 

 placed three-eighths of an inch above the first 

 set; and over these a crownboard ou which 

 eight boxes are placed, four upon four ; with a 

 summer entrance at the top of the second set of 

 frames, just under the crownboard. This en- 

 trance should be closed at the end of the honey 

 season. My reason for preferring this form of 

 hive, or rather for discarding the shallow' form, 

 is, that in the latter there is a great waste of 

 animal heat; whereas in the former this heat ia 



