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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 4 1906 



details that have nothing to do with bee-culture. It is hard 

 to refrain from reminiscences of old times. 



The first thing that my father met. on the subject of bees, 

 after this, was a statement in the American Agriculturist that 

 Moses Quinby had just harvested a crop of 22.000 pounds of 

 comb honey which he had readily sold at 30 cents per pound. 

 This was a revelation of possible success in a line of occupa- 

 tion of wdiich he was fond. So he bought Quinbv's "Mysteries 

 of Bee-Keeping Explained." and with the help of a dic- 

 tionary — for you must remember that he did not know the 

 English language at that time— he began an investigation of 

 the best known methods of bee-culture. 



The Quinby hive, like the Langstroth hive, had a hanging 

 frame with a bee-space all around, while the Debeauvoys hive 

 had a tight-fitting frame, which it was impossible to" move, 

 after 2 or 3 seasons, without tearing the walls apart, owing 

 to the propolis used by the bees to fill up crevices everywhere. 

 How many new and ingenious inventions in bee-culture have 

 been tried and cast aside because of propolis, with which the 

 inventor had not reckoned! And it is propolis vet to-day 

 which causes us to condemn many useful implements that 

 become almost entirely useless when once coated with it. 



The Quinby hive, then, was the one to adopt, hut my 

 father was slow to give up the shape of the Debeauvovs hive 

 which had a frame of about the same size as that of H \ 

 Kmg—a square frame 12x13 inches— and we therefore made 

 half of our hives with American frames, the other half with 

 Quinby frames. 



We very soon had occasion to find what a mistake it is 

 to keep several different kinds of frames in an apiary, espe- 

 cially when that apiary is small, for you cannot exchange 

 frames, hives, supers, or bottom-boards, as you may wish 

 Let me then urge upon the novice who reads this, the necessity 

 of using only one kind of frame, one size of hive, super, sec- 

 tion, etc. The multiplicity of sizes is the curse of the apiary 

 If you have two or more sizes, or wish to trv something new 

 divide your apiary in two distinct parts, and be sure to have 

 enough m each part to enable you to make exchanges without 

 difficulty. The experimenter will never be a practical pro- 

 ducer unless he keeps at least a goodlv number of hives of 

 uniform size which have oeen tested and found practical. . 



The transferring of bees from the box-hives to the 

 movable frames was a difficult task, and was gone over again 

 and again, for the first seasons were seasons of success the 

 crops being good, and we invested all the results of the bees' 

 work in more bee-hives, containing common bees— mostly 

 bee-gums of hollow trees that had been found in the woods". 

 Ihe bees had to be transferred to be made profitable. 



u^ he c Sl,pers used at that time were wood and S lass boxes 

 holding 5 or 6 pounds of comb honev. with just one auger- 

 hole in the bottom of each box, and" 6 of these boxes werf 

 arranged on the honey-board of a Quinby hive. The Quinby 

 hive as made then had 8 frames, 10'/,xl8 inches inside measure. 

 Swarming was plentiful and the apiary enlarged rapidly. 



At this time, or about 1867. we had one misfortune. We 

 had tried wintering bees indoors, in a very crude cellar— a 

 hole in the ground rather than a cellar— under the log-houss 

 which was our home. This had proven satisfactory, but room 

 was wanting and we tried silo wintering with a dozen colonies 

 This succeeded so well that we buried the entire apiary the 

 following season. But we made the mistake of not making a 

 drain to our ditch. The former winters had been dry, cold, 

 snowy, and such as could be satisfactory for indoor wintering; 

 but that winter was mild and wet. Rain after rain came, the 

 ground hardly froze at all. and when the bees were at last 

 uncovered and taken out. a number of colonies had perished 

 from dampness. 



In the cold climate of our Northern States I believe that 

 I would not hesitate to practice silo wintering if I had no 

 cellar. A ditch 3 feet deep, fairly well drained, a few poles 

 over the top, after putting in the "hives on two timbers a foot 

 or so from the ground; a lot of straw and earth, sloping 

 enough to act as a roof and shed water, a few air-pipes made 

 of narrow boards, half of them reaching near to the bottom 

 of the pit. the others to the top of the air-space m tin- trench 

 for ventilation, and tin bees may be trusted during a cold 

 winter in a trench of this kind as well as in the best cellar. 

 But in a moist country, where freezing and thawing alternate 

 often, moisture is to by feared, and outdoor wintering should 

 be given the preference. 



It took us but one season to recuperate from the losses 

 of that winter. "I he cause of so prompt a recovery was in 

 the empty combs we had on hand from those dead colonies. 

 We read a great deal about the low cost of combs to the bees. 

 After more or less accurate experiments some bee-keepers 



have held that 3 pounds of honey would produce one pound 

 of comb. But let two bee-keepers begin again, after a hard 

 winter loss, the one preserving all the good worker-comb, the 

 other melting it into wax and neglecting or refusing to use 

 comb foundation, and results will soon show that not less than 

 7 to 10 pounds of honey must be reckoned as the cost to the 

 bees of a pound of comb. 



The cost of the comb lies not only in the actual consump- 

 tion of honey to produce it. but also in the delay and loss of 

 time to the bees in harvesting, as well as in breeding, when 

 they have to produce the wax and build the comb. 



I ascribe a part of our success before the invention of 

 comb foundation to the fact that my father often sent me to 

 buy the combs of the colonies that had died during the winter 

 in our vicinity. Very few people attached to those combs the 

 value that we did, and very few people realize it even now. 

 These combs were carefully sorted, as only the worker-comb 

 was saved and fastened in the frames. ' Hamilton, 111. 



Preparing in Advance for Next Season 



BY G. M. D00LITTLE. 



TALKING with a bee-keeper of a few years' experience — one 

 of those persons who is not so enthusiastic about bees as 

 some of us are — he said that he had his honey all sent off 

 to market and his bees ready for the winter, and then added, 

 "I have bidden the bees good-bye for the next five months, as 

 there is nothing further to do along the bee-line till spring 

 opens in April." 



After he had gone I fell to thinking and wondering how 

 many of the readers of the American Bee Journal were 

 managing as this man was. The person who thus reasons and 

 works will surely not make the greatest success in our pursuit. 



As soon as the honey is marketed and the bees in winter 

 quarters, the successful man will begin to prepare for the next 

 season, no matter whether that time is November 1. or a few 

 weeks later. I do not mean that he will bend every energy, 

 and work every hour, as hard as he did in June. July and 

 August, but I do mean that he will be as much interested 

 during the winter months as in the summer, and spend much 

 of his time in storing his mind with something useful about 

 the bees, by reading and planning, and at the same time work 

 with his hands by getting ready all the paraphernalia neces- 

 sary for a successful season, so that he need not have to stop 

 during the hurry of the honey-gathering season to nail up 

 hives, sections, or anything of the kind. In fact, if the mind 

 is engaged through reading and posting up on apiculture, it 

 will be almost impossible to keep the hands from going right 

 to work in the matter. 



Get around the back volumes of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, and any other bee-papers, if you have them, and by the 

 index look up all you can find on the subject of hives, sections, 

 putting in foundation, swarming, artificial increase, prevention 

 of swarming, etc.. studying by subjects, rather than a pro- 

 miscuous reading, sticking to one subject till you have read 

 everything you can find on that subject in all the papers and 

 books you may have, and until you feel an enthusiasm in the 

 matter that makes you "master of the situation." 



Now, if you take Hives as the first study, while you are 

 studying on this matter, get around all the hives you may 

 chance to have and repair them where necessary, and fix them 

 all ready to use at a minute's warning when the season for 

 increase is at hand. And if you do not have as many as you 

 think you will need, make new ones till you are sure no more 

 will be needed during the next summer. Thousands have lost 

 swarms by their going to the woods while the owner was 

 hurrying to get a hive made to put them in. or artificial in- 

 crease has been delayed till the best part of the season was 

 over, because the hives had to be made before the increase. 



Then when the frames are made, and the section matter 

 studied up to your satisfaction and their completion, you will 

 be ready to take up the comb foundation matter, and post 

 yourself on that: finding out how much you will use in the 

 frames, and also in the sections; deciding whether they are to 

 be filled full or contain only starters; and. as you decide, go 

 to work at getting these ready with the desired amount of 

 foundation in each. 



I have been censured several times for advising the putting 

 in of foundation during the winter months, those doing this 

 claiming that the foundation should he put in only at the 

 commencement of the season, and using that fresh from the 

 mill, otherwise the bees would not work it to the best ad- 

 vantage. I have put the matter to test again during the past 

 season, using fresh foundation in part of the sections, and that 



