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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



work rapidly, they wear out rapidly; and in j frames m each hive. On the last of February 



this case there were no recruits to make up \ I w ™ very sick, and for two weeks did not go 



But the great diminishing of numbers j into the cellar. The weather being very warm, 



did not take place, until the latter part of Octo 



her and in November ; and swarms that slop 

 ped breeding first, diminished first. They did 

 not die with poison, but with old age,_ in 

 every case that came under my observation. 

 When bees die with old age, and the weather 

 will permit, they always leave the hive before 

 they perish. Late swarm?, which were exami- 

 ned about the first of October, were strong in 

 numbers ; but by the last of October they had 

 dwindled down to a quart in bulk, and in some 

 cases to a mere handful ; but the queen was 

 there. The Italians being longer lived, the di- 

 minishing in numbers did not commence so 

 early in the season, as with the. black bees. 

 Mr. H. C. Bernard, in the March number of 

 the Journal, says— "Those hives that contain 

 .arge quantities of honey, and no bees, must 

 certainly have gathered it." This we are not 

 going to dispute. But he adds— u Experience 

 teaches me that bees breed freely when storing 

 honey." Now, friend Bernard, this shows that 

 you are not a close observer, for if you had ex- 

 amined those s'ocks, you would have found 

 that they actually did not breed while storing 

 said honey. When the queen has entirely 

 ceased breeding, by the middle or last of Aug- 

 ust, in consequence of the scarcity of forage, 

 it is almost invariably the rule that if forage be 

 gathered again abundantly in the fall, the queen 

 (loes not "recommence breeding, unless the 

 gathering be of long continuance. There are 

 exceptions to this rule, but I have found them 

 rare, indeed. 



I can assure the reader that there is no 

 poisonous honey gathered in this section of 

 the counlry ; yet the result was just the same as 

 in other sections. I account for the discrepan- 

 cies in the various communications in this way. 

 That the bees are dead, is a fact which all have 

 discovered, and each indulges his own fancy or 

 imagination in seeking for a cause, and imagi- 

 nation seems very wild with some. Allow a i 

 swarm of bees to become queenless about the 

 first of August, and in November the bees are 

 all gone up, in the same manner and with this 

 same bee disease; and this does not prevent 

 their hive from being full of honey. In every 

 case where bees were fed, cither artificially or 

 from natural sources, to keep up the breeding 

 of the queen, I hear that the bees are all right. 

 Yet in those cases, in all probability, as many 

 bets died as in the other, but the increase from 

 brood kept up the population and the loss from 

 natural mortality was never noticed, though it 

 was nevertheless a fact. There has been and 

 there still will be a great loss of stocks in this 

 section of country. I did not feed my bees, 

 and there is where I made a blunder as it turned 

 out; but if we had not had those six days of 

 honey-gathering in September, I had done 

 right. On the first of October I saw that some 

 of my stocks that had stopped breeding earliest 

 were decreasing too rapidly, and I immediately 

 set 1hem in the cellar to stop the cleci ease. The 

 result is, that, out of thirty-four stocks, I have 

 six that occupy with bees only from four to six 



and the ventilaton to the cellar not being open, 

 all my strong stocks commenced brooding 

 rapidly. I am now (March 20th) equalizing 

 my stocks in the cellar, by taking a few bees at 

 a time, every evening, from the strong and 

 giving them to the weak stocks. This sets the 

 queen to breeding, and in spring, when they 

 are first set out, all those old bees are going to 

 die off with old age; and if w r c do not then 

 have young bees to take their places, the stock 

 is gone up with tliat lee disease. But, by setting 

 them to breeding rapidly, before they are set 

 up, they will come out all right. 



The want of pollen has nothing to do with 

 bees dying, for the fact is that bees will winter 

 on good honey, without a particle of pollen. 

 The bees, last season, not raising their fall 

 brood as usual, did not store the quantity of 

 pollen they generally do. 



I never tried the plan of setting bees in the 

 cellar as soon as they cease breeding or gather- 

 ing forage, or of burying them, which, if I un- 

 derstand rightly, is Bidwell Brothers' plan; but 

 I am inclined to think it is a good plan, as it 

 will keep up the strength of the stocks, instead 

 of allowing them to dwindle away to nothing. 

 Thank you, Mr. Davis, for stating facts and 

 not fancy. 



Elisiia Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal . 



The Economic Hive. 



Mr. Editor : — Being your most northern 

 Canadian correspondent, and a constant reader 

 of our valued Bee Journal, while the bee 

 hive question is being so earnestly discussed, I 

 maybe allowed an article on that subject, which 

 — though it may not instruct that well-Rooted 

 novice of yours — may yet be of use to some 

 younger plants, both north and south, who are 

 commencing to read the Journal. 



All will admit that uniformity in the size and 

 shape of hives, throughout an apiary, is a mat- 

 ter of great practical convenience, especially 

 where honey boxes and movable frames are 

 used. Where extra queens are reared and 

 kept on hand, as should be the case in every 

 well conducted apiary, facilities thereto, should 

 likewise be considered. Size and form of hive, 

 also have much to do with success in building 

 up stocks from small nuclei. Moreover, where 

 a large amount of extra honey is desired (and 

 where is it not ?) arrangements should be made 

 to facilitate its storage, suited to the designed 

 method of removal, whether by the centrifugal 

 melextractor or surplus boxes. Due regard 

 should also be had to simplicity of consl ruction 

 and small cost. 



I have carefully studied the instincts of the 

 honey bee, together with skill in controlling 

 those instincts, and economy in handling, and 

 and increasing, and preserving ; and, with 



