1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



99 



to be found in the lower cells some diseased 

 larraj left over from last year, but in the brood 

 nest all was healthy. I used this remedy again 

 this spring. 



Now I must fulfill my promise to inform you 

 of the result. My bees are cured. I give you 

 my lasting thanks therefor. 



Heinrich Dannenberg, Apiarian. 



This is to certify that the Apiarian, Dannen- 

 berg, is a truthful person, and that the above 

 declarations are worthy of all credit. 



L. S. BORMAN, 



President of the Corporation. 

 Eilvese, June 6, 1873. 



The following is the remedy discovered some 

 years ago by Herr Kaucke, and used with much 

 success by Mr. Dannenberg : 



For preparing food for forty stocks you take 

 1 Ggr. Assafcetida - - - - 6 lbs. Alum, 



" Long Peppers . . - " Cress seed, 



" Camphor - - 6 lbs. Brown mustard, 



" Devils-bit, 



*' Nutmeg, 



" Guinea grains. 

 These nine ingredients are pulverized in a 

 mortar, and are put into a clean flask with 

 one quart of French brandy. With occasional 

 shakings this is left standing for twenty-four 

 hours, when the half of it should be poured 

 into honey, unmixed with water, and fed to the 

 bees. One evening is allowed to pass, and on 

 the third evening the remaining portion is fed 

 in the same manner as the former. On the 

 evening before the first feeding, and one the 

 evening between the two feedings, pure honey, 

 free from water, should be fed to the bees. The 

 feeding should take place at the time of the 

 blossoming of the pear trees, when the bees are 

 building drone comb. Care should also be 

 taken tliat the vessel containing the food should 

 be well covered with straw, cut about two inch- 

 es long, otherwise the bees stupified by the 

 fumes of the brandy, would fall into the dish 

 and be drowned. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Wintering Bees. 



It is a long time since I have written for the 

 Journal, but I haye read it as attentively as 

 ever. Since my return from New Jersey I have 

 not felt permanently located and have not again 

 gone to keeping bees exclusively, though I am 

 keeping a few, having seventeen swarms now. 



There is one little point of considerable value 

 in wintering bees which was brought to my 

 notice some twelve years ago, in connection 

 with Torrey's Maine State Bee Hive. The bot- 

 tom-board of his hive had cleats nailed to the 

 under side in such a way that it might be turn- 

 ed over during the winter and the hive allowed 

 to rest on the cleats, giving the bees an empty 

 space of two inches under the combs. This, it 



was claimed, allowed the dead bees and filth of 

 all kinds to fall clear of the combs, keeping 

 them much cleaner, drier, and more free from 

 mould, besides ventilating them better. I found 

 it a very great advantage, as such swarms al- 

 most invariably wintered better than those 

 having the combs close to the bottom board. 

 Every one who has wintered swarms in hives 

 only part full of comb has most likely observ- 

 ed that such swarms usually winter better than 

 those in hives full of combs, which I account 

 for in the same way. I have sometimes made 

 frames two or three inches high, just large 

 enough to set my hives on for this same pur- 

 pose. For hivea with bottoms fastened on and 

 open movable frames, of course, a narrow sec- 

 tion might easily be attached to the top of the 

 hive by the ingenious beekeeper, to be used 

 only in winter and for the same purpose. Kid- 

 der's double hive gives this empty space, though 

 as it is the same during the summer it is some- 

 time partially filled with comb which must be 

 broken off after the season's work is done. I 

 propose sometime to tell you how I got foul 

 brood and how I got rid of it. 



J. L. Hubbard. 

 W. Chesterfield, K H., Oct. 1873. 



Bees Swarming. 



A sure way to prevent bees from going to 

 the woods when they come out and alight, is to 

 get a pail half full of cold water from the 

 well ; take a broom brush and dip it in the 

 water, and throw it up over the bees, and it 

 will come down on them like fine rain, then 

 hive them in the usual way, and sprinkle them 

 while going in, and sprinkle the ground around 

 the hive, to cool the air ; in fifteen or tvpenty 

 minutes do it again, and continue it until the 

 day is cooler; keep the hive in the shade. 

 There is no need of having any bees go to the 

 woods— not at all. I had over forty swarms 

 last summer, and saved all by sprinkling them. 



" But," says one, " my bees go to the woods 

 without alighting." I don't dispute it in the 

 least ; but during the thirty-five years that I 

 have kept bees, I have never had a swarm come 

 out and go to the woods without alighting 

 first ; and I am safe in saymg that I have hived 

 a thousand swarms. Bees sometimes come out 

 undiscovered, and after a while start for the 

 woods, and are seen on the second start. — 

 Rural Nav Yorker. 



For centuries Italian bees, described by Aris- 

 totle and Virgil, were supposed to be a myth, 

 until discovered during the wars of Napoleon 

 by Captain Baldenstein, who carried a colony 

 across the Alps to Switzerland, in 1843, In 

 1853 they were introduced into Germany by 

 Dzierzon, and into the United States in 1860. 



