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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL-. 



not go, sheltered by trees, or orchard, 

 or along some hedge, and on every farm 

 this corner might as well be occupied by 

 bees as by weeds ; and if a season comes 

 when the corn-field or the stubble are 

 are overrun by weeds, owing to too much 

 rain or other unfavorable circumstances, 

 the farmer may rejoice in the fact that 

 these same weeds will increase his 

 honey-crop. 

 Hamilton, Ills. 



Xoii-Swarming —House-Apiaries 

 — Bees in Minnesota. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY BARNETT TAYLOR. 



FoRESTViLLE, Minn., June 14. 



Friend York : — I have several of my 

 non-swarming hives filled with bees. I 

 wish you could be here and see two 

 swarms with two queens working peace- 

 ably and indiscriminately together as 

 one family. I know you would be as 

 much pleased as I am. If the working 

 of two swarms by alternating the work- 

 ing bees from hive to hive every six days 

 to prevent swarming proves profitable, 

 then the plan that has no traps, that 

 uses a hive cheaper than common hives, 

 will " take the cakes." 



My new house-apiary is proving even 

 better than expected. The bees in it 

 are far stronger than equally good colo- 

 nies when put out in the open yard. 



The outlook for a good honey crop 

 here, where there are any bees to gather 

 it, is first-class ; but the destruction of 

 bees in Minnesota last winter and spring 

 was terrible. 



I inclose a letter from my friend Mr. 

 J, L. Gray, of St. Cloud, Minn., which 

 gives an idea of the feeling of bee-keep- 

 ers here. Perhaps a portion of Mr. 

 Gray's letter would be a valuable lesson 

 to bee-keepers, if published. Mr. Gray 

 is an extensive bee-keeper of long ex- 

 perience. Yours truly, 



Barnett Taylor. 



As suggested by Mr. Taylor, we pub- 

 lish portions of Mr. Gray's letter: 



St. Cloud, Minn., June 12, 1893. 

 Friend Taylor : — I have read your 

 reports in OleaninQS and the American 

 Bee Journal, and have been much in- 

 terested in their perusal. I agree with 

 you in all your suggestions. Sealed 

 covers did the mischief for me the same 

 as for you, only to a larger extent. I 

 lost 40 colonies out of 46 with sealed 

 covers, and not more than 3 out of the 



remaining 6 are worth counting ; 30 

 colonies with cloths with much propolis 

 did not fare much better in this apiary, 

 as there are not more than 6 or 7 that 

 will build up. 



In my " Farm apiary," as I call it, I 

 did not lose a single colony out of 66 ; 

 only 3 were queenless, which I success- 

 fully united with others, and the whole 

 apiary is in fine condition. 



I have bought 18 colonies in fair con- 

 dition, at an average cost of $6 each, 

 and can buy more — but I think I had 

 better not, as the prospects for a honey 

 crop are very poor indeed. There is 

 some sort of a caterpillar stripping the 

 basswood of all its foliage, I am told, 

 which, if true, will leave us without 

 much surplus. I shall build up this api- 

 ary by hiving many of my first swarms 

 at the Farm apiary in full hives of nice 

 combs, which I have moved up there. 



Now, friend Taylor, I think we are 

 about old enough to quit following any 

 suggestions in bee-papers that are con- 

 trary to common-sense — like wintering 

 bees without any ventilators, or using 

 sealed covers to condense all the vapor 

 and steam from the bees, to sour the 

 unsealed honey, and give them the 

 diarrhea. 



My bees on the farm were put into 

 the cellar on Nov. 12th, as I have 

 always put them in, with simply a clean 

 cloth over the top, and entrance wide 

 open ; top and sub-ventilators to the cel- 

 lar open all winter, and quite a portion 

 of the time one, and sometimes two, of 

 the three doors to the entrance. They 

 were taken out the evening of May 3rd, 

 and had their first flight on the 4th, 

 after a confinement of nearly six months. 



I am quite well posted on the condi- 

 tion of bees within a radius of 20 miles, 

 and can safely say that 75 per cent, are 

 dead or worthless. The apiary from 

 which I bought my bees is owned by one 

 of the most slovenly of bee-keepers — did 

 not put the bees into his excuse for a 

 cellar until December, and many of the 

 hives were full of ice and frost. He 

 stripped off the old cloths, put on 7-cent 

 sheeting, a rim 3 inches high filled with 

 oat chaff, and set them in, one on top of 

 the other, three hives high, and took 

 them out the first of April, and had 

 never looked them over till the last of 

 May when I bought mine. There was only 

 one colony dead when he put them out, 

 out of 143 put in. 



The combs are as bright as a new 

 cent, and the bees healthy, with no sign 

 of diarrhea on any of the hives. 



Very truly yours, 

 J. L. Gray. 



