AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



407 



are not opened as yet. We have had 

 hard freezing nights, 24^ yesterday, and 

 14° below zero this a.m., with nice, 

 sunny days. 



My bees, in all three bee-cellars, 12 

 miles apart, seem to be contented so far. 

 I am sure that they feel better than if 

 they were left on the summer stands, 

 packed ever so good. I found out long 

 before this that a good cellar is the best 

 place to winter bees, in this northern 

 country. Those who winter bees on the 

 summer stands will have lots of trouble 

 in winters like this, to keep their bees 

 from smothering in the snow and ice, 

 with heavy losses besides. The snow in 

 my bee-yards is from 4 to 5 feet deep, 

 and it looks now as if it will be a long 

 time before It all will be melted away. If 

 big snow means a big honey crop, then 

 we should get our dishes ready now to 

 hold it all, and not let any go to waste 

 when it does come. I hope we all may 

 «njoy a big harvest the coming season. 



C. Theilmann. 



Theilmanton, Minn., March 6, 1893. 



Holder for Sections. 



On page 148 Mr. Doolittle presents a 

 good way of holding sections tight. My 

 way is similar, only a "shorter cut," 

 namely : I make a key like a tap to a 

 wooden faucet, only smaller, something 

 like a fiddle key ; tie to it a cord of 

 binder twine, and the other end to a 

 tack. Have a %-inch hole to put the 

 key in, and a saw-kerf in the corners for 

 the cord to come around. A twist 

 tightens everything snug as a drum. I 

 use the same on the brood-chamber with 

 closed-end frames. M. Haas. 



Mendon, Mich. 



Mating of Queen and Drone. 



Some twenty years ago I was in the 

 habit of visiting a bee-friend, who was 

 the priest of a Catholic institute on a 

 beautiful hillside near our city. One 

 Sunday afternoon when I drove up, my 

 friend told me that one of the " broth- 

 ers " (of the order of Franciscans) and 

 himself had seen a queen and drone 

 locked, and fall on the porch, just an 

 hour or two before my arrival. The 

 " brother " had put his foot on the pair 

 before my friend had a chance to prevent 

 him. I had reason to believe that the 

 story was true. 



In the Centralblatt of Jan. 15, 1893, 

 on page 21, is a picture of a pair — drone 

 and queen — locked in copulation, as 

 they are still kept in alcohol by Mr. H. 



Reepen, of Jugenheim, Germany. A 

 Mr. I. B. Buchholz found the pair in the 

 grass, near the hive, just after a second 

 swarm had returned to the hive. The 

 queen and drone were locked, and each 

 trying to get away in opposite direc- 

 tions. When Buchholz picked them up, 

 they were alive, but before he put them 

 into alcohol, they had died and turned 

 on top of each other, as shown in the 

 picture, with their abdomens together. 

 The above may be of interest to our 

 friends, and cause the iSnding of more 

 pairs hereafter. Ghas. F. Muth. 



Cincinnati, Ohio. 



Bees Doing Well in the Cellar, 



I have 22 colonies in the cellar, and 

 they are doing well so far. They have 

 sealed brood in the combs, and all but 

 two have plenty of stores. This is the 

 second day that I thought fit for them to 

 be out. They did no good last season 

 until harvest, owing to the cold, rainy 

 weather, but the latter part of the sea- 

 son they did fairly well on Spanish- 

 needle and smartweed. I had one 

 swarm issue about the middle of July, 

 and it tilled an eight-frame hive, and 

 gave me 30 pounds of surplus in sec- 

 tions. I had 13 colonies, spring count, 

 and got 465 pounds of comb honey, 

 which I sell at 18 cents per pound. I 

 hear of a great many bees dying. They 

 were all left on the summer stands, as 

 far as I can hear, except my own, which 

 are perfectly quiet yet in the cellar, and 

 while they remain so, I shall leave them 

 in there. J. B. Dunlap. 



Rochester, Ind., March 7, 1893. 



Bees and Prospects in North Carolina. 



We have just passed through one of 

 the most severe winters. Just think for 

 a moment, down here in North Carolina, 

 snow on top of snow, ice and sleet, and 

 the mercury playing close around zero 

 all through January, and our bees out 

 on the summer stands in single-walled 

 hives, without any protection whatever ! 

 Well, we wondered and waited to see 

 how our little pets were going to pull 

 through this very cold spell. 



At last, about Jan. 25th, there came 

 a nice, warm day. Walking out through 

 the snow to where my bees are located, 

 I at once discovered that they were un- 

 easy, and wanted to get out of the hives. 

 I at once got a hoe, and began scraping 

 the snow away from the entrances of 

 the hives, when out came the bees, and 

 had a nice flight. I found them all O. 



