Nov. 1, 1906 



American Ttec Journal 



Thursday, Nov. 8 is Bee-Keepers' Day at 

 the Fair, and has been so advertised by the 

 Fair Association. 



At several of the late conventions of the 

 National, the program has been overloaded 

 with papers, thus crowding out the most val- 

 uable part of the proceedings, viz., the Ques- 

 tion-Box; and I have tried this time to rem- 

 edy that objection. 



First Day — First Session. 



The first session will be in the evening of 

 Thursday, Nov. 8. beginning at 7:30 o'clock, 

 and will consist of the reception of members, 

 payment of dues, distribution of badges and 

 numbers, and the Question-Box. 



Second Dat— First Sessiox. 



9:00 a.m.— A paper by E. D. Town6end, of 

 Michigan, on " The Profitable Production of 

 Extracted Honey." 



Que6tion-Box. 



Second Dat— Second Session. 



1:30 p.m. — A paper by R. F. Holtermann, 

 of Ontario, Canada, on " The Difference Be- 

 tween Ripening and Evaporating Nectar.'' 



Question-Box. 



Second Dat— Third Session. 



7:30 p.m —A paper by Dr. E. F. Phillips, 

 of Washington, D.C., on "What Science May 

 Do for Bee Keeping." 



Question-Box. 



Third Dat— First Session. 



9:00 a.m.— A paper by W. H. Laws, of 

 Texas, on " The Comparative Profits of 

 Queen-Rearing and Honey-Production." 



Question-Box. 



Third Dat— Second Session. 



1 :30 p m.— A paper by C. A. Hatch, of Wis- 

 consin, on •' How Can the National Assist its 

 Members in Buying Goods and Selling 

 Honey?" 



Question-Box. 



Adjournment. W. Z. Hutchinson, tiec. 



The foregoing will surely allow ample time 

 for the discussion of questions, which almost 

 invariably proves to be the best part of a 

 bee-keepers' convention. 



Mr. G M. Doolittle, the well-known 

 New York State bee-keeper, reports the past 

 bee-season, in his locality, as being still poorer 

 than that of last year. Yet he secured at his 

 out-apiary an average of over 100 pounds of 

 section honey per colony. If there is any 

 honey to be had at all, Mr. Doolittle and his 

 bees are quite likely to get it. 



Bee-Keepers' Souvenir Postal-Card. 



— We have secured a somewhat comic Souve- 

 nir Postal Card for bee-keepers, primed in 4 

 colors— red, yellow, blue and black. At the 

 left end the following are pictured: An old- 

 fashioned straw bee-hive with bees circling 

 around and above it ; a sad-eyed bear with his 

 "hands" over his sweet-loving heart; a jar 

 and a section of honey ; also a spoon with a 

 card attached, reading, " Come let us spoon 

 awhile." At tue bottom of the card, and to 

 the right, are these words: " Eat thou honey 

 because it is good." — Prov. 34:13. At the 

 left of the bear's head, and encircled with 

 bees, is this sentence: "lean not BEAR to 

 lose you ;" and at the top, and to the right of 

 the bear's head and bees, is this stanza : 



O won't you BEE my HONEY, 

 And cheer this lonely heart ( 



For I would hug you all the time, 

 And we would never part. 



Prices, postpaid : 3 cards for 10 cents 

 (stamps or silver), or free with the American 

 Bee Journal one year at 81.00; 10 for 25 cents; 

 or 25 for 50 cents. There is a blank space on 

 the card about 2 by 2 1 .; inches in size for 

 writing. Send all orders to the office of the 

 American Bee Journal. 



Requirements for Successful 

 Wintering of Bees 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE 



As the time draws near when the 

 bees must go into winter quarters, 

 there is a feeling of uneasiness which 

 comes into the life of the bee-keeper 

 who winters bees out on the summer 

 stands. And well there may when we 

 have so many winters in which the 

 mercury stays below 45 degrees (the 

 point which is needed that bees may 

 safely fly), from the middle of Novem- 

 ber to the middle of March, thus giv- 

 ing 4 months of confinement during 

 which bees must be constantly eating 

 without any chance to void the accu- 

 mulation from the food taken. If the 

 weather and temperature is mild 

 enough so that the bees can remain in 

 that quiescent state which is required 

 for safe wintering, a pound of honey a 

 month suffices the whole colony, and in 

 this state a colony could pass 6 months 

 of confinement with ease; but if the 

 cold is great enough so that they have 

 to consume lots of honey to be used as 

 "fuel," the colonies will become un- 

 easy from their confinement and con- 

 sume from 4 to 7 pounds a month, and 

 soil their hive and themselves so as to 

 cause their loss in from 6 weeks to 2 

 months from the time they " break the 

 cluster " and commence to eat so 

 voraciously. 



To help control this matter cellar- 

 wintering has proven to be the best 

 plan, because from the even tempera- 

 ture maintained the bees need but lit- 

 tle food to keep up the warmth they 

 require during this period of partial 

 activity which winter compels them to 

 pass through. As but little food is re- 

 quired, the body of the bee easily con- 

 tains said food after digestion, and 

 thus all goes well. 



Next to the cellar comes chaff-packed 

 hives, because as the bees are sur- 

 rounded by porous walls which take off 

 the moisture passing from the bees' 

 bodies, and also retain the warmth gen- 

 erated by themselves and the influ- 

 ence of the sun's rays, they are kept at 

 a more uniform temperature than they 

 would be without the chaff-packing, 

 thereby lessening the consumption of 

 honey, and enabling them better to 

 throw off a part of the moisture con- 

 tained in their food, and to contain the 

 rest till the weather shall be suffi- 

 ciently warm for them to fly. This 

 method has a seeming advantage over 

 cellar-wintering, in that it allows the 

 bees to fly, if an opportunity permits 

 during the winter, and were it not for 

 that " if," many more would adopt it 

 in our Northern States. But as that 

 "if " is always there, and this chance 



to fly is always offset by the more uni- 

 form temperature of the cellar, and a 

 consequent decrease in the consump- 

 tion of stores, the cellar is preferable. 

 And as these two ways are about the 

 only feasible ones, let us next look 

 after the other causes which help these 

 plans to be a success or a failure. 

 Those which look toward a failure are 

 these : 



1st. Poor honey ; such as honey-dew, 

 the juice from decayed fruit, soured 

 and unsealed stores, etc., because the 

 bees have to take into their bodies an 

 excess of that which is not real food to 

 them to sustain their existence, there- 

 by distending their bodies uselessly, 

 and, unless a chance to fly presents 

 itself quite often, they must either die 

 or become subject to spring dwindling, 

 which is very often death to the colony 

 in the end. 



2d. All causes which disturb them in 

 their winter repose, because as soon 

 as they are disturbed they take into 

 their bodies more food than is required 

 for their existence and welfare, thus 

 placing them (with the best of food) in 

 the same condition that they would be 

 with poor honey. So we see how im- 

 portant it is that they should have per- 

 fect quiet ; that no mice or rats are 

 allowed in or about the hives, and that 

 the temperature of the cellar does not 

 go so high or low as to make them un- 

 easy. 



3d. But few bees, or mostly old ones ; 

 because if but few bees they can not 

 easily keep up the desired warmth 

 without consuming an undue quantity 

 of food, thus thwarting our object ; 

 if old bees, they will die of old age be- 

 fore the young ones, in sufficient num- 

 bers, emerge the next spring. 



Those looking toward success are 

 these : That those on summer stands 

 have a flight once in from 4 to 6 weeks, 

 and oftener as spring draws on ; that 

 each hive contains an abundance of 

 bees, trie larger part of which are 

 young; plenty of good, sealed honey, 

 or sugar syrup made of the best granu- 

 lated sugar ; a good queen, so that they 

 may be satisfied in this direction ; a 

 hive of such dimensions that the bees 

 may cluster compactly in the shape of 

 a sphere, etc.; because all these things 

 have a tendency toward accomplishing 

 our object of keeping the bees in such 

 a state of quietude that they can con- 

 tain their feces for a great length of 

 time, for, according to my opinion, 

 upon this hangs all the secret of suc- 

 cessful wintering. 



I hear it often said that bees die more 

 rapidly when a loss occurs in the 

 spring, from the middle of March till 

 fruit-bloom, when purifying flights 

 occur quite often, and this when the 

 bees have the very best of stores for 



