408 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



unobstructed. He says that it has proven 

 to be a very successful wintering hive. 

 At the present his bees are in good con- 

 dition, and the prospect is they will go 

 through the winter nicely. It is a great 

 satisfaction to hear of a successful win- 

 tering hive, for the great drawback to 

 our success in bee-keeping is our loss in 

 wintering. 



PKEVENTING BEE-DIAKKHEA. 



Mr. Hewett's device for preventing 

 diarrhea during winter, which is so dis- 

 astrous to bees when in winter quarters, 

 was shown by means of a model con- 

 structed out of a pasteboard box. A 

 frame 2 or 3 inches deep, the size of the 

 hive, rests upon a loose bottom-board, 

 and the hive is placed upon the frame. 

 Across the middle of the frame a board 

 is nailed, about one-third the size of the 

 frame ; underneath this board the en- 

 trance is made. The object of the cross- 

 board in the middle of the frame sup- 

 porting the hive, is to shield the bees from 

 possible drafts of air. The frame sup- 

 ports the hive 2 or 3 inches above the 

 bottom-boards, thus affording ample 

 space for dead bees, and preventing ob- 

 struction of the entrance. The hive is 

 covered tightly, and the bees have abun- 

 dant ventilation from below. 



Mr. H.'s success during the past 10 

 years is sufficient proof of the success of 

 this device in preventing disease among 

 his bees. He winters his bees in the 

 cellar. 



HOW TO MANAGE SWAKMS. 



Mr. H. Lathrop gave his method of 

 managing swarms, which is, I think, 

 worthy of note, as it is, in his experience, 

 quite successful. He clips the wings of 

 all his queens early in the season, and 

 knows, if he finds a queen undipped, 

 that she was hatched last year. When 

 a swarm issues, he catches the queen 

 and places her in a new hive filled with 

 empty combs on the old stand, and puts 

 the old hive on a new stand beside the 

 old stand, with the entrance turned at 

 right angles from the new hive. Of 

 course the bees not finding their queen 

 with them, return to the new hive on the 

 old stand, and finding the queen and 

 plenty of room, go to work. 



Each day he moves the old hive a few 

 inches around until in a few days the 

 entrances are side by side ; then he 

 moves the old hive to a new stand. By 

 this management he strengthens the 

 new colony, as many of the bees in the 

 old hive go into the new hive with the 

 old queen. 



Although there were not as many bee- 



keepers present at this meeting as usual, 

 many of the members were men of long 

 experience in bee-keeping, which gave 

 weight to their opinions upon the vari- 

 ous points discussed. 



The officers for the present year are 

 as follows : 



President — Franklin Wilcox, of Maus- 

 ton. 



1st Vice-President —Jacob Huffman, 

 of Monroe. 



2d Vice-President — John Towle, of 

 Brooklyn. 



Eecording Secretary — H. Lathrop, of 

 Browntown. 



Corresponding Secretary and Treas- 

 urer — J. W. Vance, Madison. 



J. W. Vance, Cor. Sec. 



l^r Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper wita business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Bees Doing- Finely. 



The bees are doing finely at present. 

 Mine have a "snap." They went out on 

 Sunday and found 2 caps and 2 old box- 

 hixes that had been taken up last fall, and 

 left exposed in an old wood-house with the 

 windows broken, and you may be sure 

 they have been busy these two days 

 " bringing in the sheaves." They are also 

 loaded with pollen, but I do not know where 

 they get it, as no bloom has opened yet. 

 J. E. Prichard. 



Port Norris, N. J., March 5. 



Why Keep Down Swarming ? 



I have 12 colonies of bees in Langstroth 

 hives— 2 Italians, 3 blacks, and 7 hybrids. 

 From the black bees I got no honey. Will 

 some one tell me why it is that all, or most 

 bee-men, try to keep down swarming to get 

 honey ? The money is what all are work- 

 ing for. I had one colony to swarm three 

 times — one first and two after, and I got 

 from that colony and Increase 96 pounds of 

 comb honey, and could have sold the honey 

 at 12 cents per pound, which would have 

 been $11.52 ; and I was offered $12.00 for the 

 3 colonies ; total, $23.52. My next best col- 

 ony of Italians just gave 32 pounds of 

 honey, and no swarm. 



Bankston, Ala. M. W. Gardner. 



