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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Foi' the American Bee Journal. 



A New Repository for Bees. 



Mr. Editor: Of the great number who 

 suffered from the loss of bees last Winter I 

 am one. I lost all I had, forty-two stocks, 

 leaving a large amount of honey. And now 

 after sifting the matter down to a fine thing, 

 I have concluded the cause was in a measure 

 carelessness, in not protecting the bees and 

 giving them sufficient ventilation. The 

 Winter set in about Nov. 12th, 1872, and 

 continued until about the last of March, 

 1873, ^00 cold all that time for bees to be 

 out, except one or two days in February, 

 then but few made their appearance. The 

 consequence was that the frost accumulated 

 in the hive, and then a moderate day would 

 come to melt the frost and make it run down 

 over the combs and thin the honey, which 

 caused dysentery. Nearly all in this section 

 lost all the bees they had; the disease paid 

 no respect to the pattern of hive but entered 

 all alike. 



Last Spring I procured two very weak 

 stocks of black bees from a neighbor, the 

 best that I could do here. I also procured 

 a medium stock (five frames) of Italians 

 from W. J. Davis, of Youngsville, Pa; this 

 stock contained a beautiful queen, and as 

 prolific a queen as I ever saw. In order to 

 make a cross I procured a very beautiful queen 

 from Mr. D. A. Pike, of Smithsburg, Md., 

 and introduced her into one of the black 

 stocks, then after a sufficient length of time 

 formed nucleus, raised queens, which mated 

 with Mr. Davis' stock of drones. No drone 

 brood was allowed to hatch in the black 

 stocks for six weeks after the Italian queens 

 were introduced. I have increased to eleven 

 good stocks with abundant stores for a long 

 Winter, and the nicest, most robust and the 

 best workers that I ever saw. The loss of 

 last Winter is a dear lesson to most bee- 

 keepers — it has proved so to me at least. 



I have built a repository, which I think 

 is complete, as follows: I selected a dry 

 spot which slopes a little to the north, then 

 graded it to the south twelve feet, and ten 

 feet the other way; then set two posts at north 

 end, wide enough apart for a door, then 

 four feet south two other posts, same distance 

 apart, and eight feet farther south two posts, 

 same distance, then pinned perlines on to]) 

 of the i)osts, same as a barn, put stays across 

 the top to keep the posts from leaning in to- 

 ward each other, posts four feet high from 



the floor; then set up two-inch plank of 

 sufficient length to meet at the top, same as 

 rafters, with one end on the ground, thus 

 making a roof eight feet wide; then plank- 

 ing up the ends, all but the door four feet 

 high and thirty inches wide, then planked 

 up the remaining four feet perpendicular 

 and out to the first two posts, then horizon- 

 tal over the top, and then covered the 

 whole over with dirt from twelve to fifteen 

 inches deep, leaving another door at the 

 north end, forming a hall, can open the 

 first door, pass in and shut it, and open the 

 next, this lets no light in nor sudden 

 change of air. Have ventilated at the bot- 

 tom with two inch pipe and at the top with 

 six inch stove-pipe; put a roof of boards 

 above the dirt, and kept a stove and fire in 

 it about four weeks before putting in the 

 bees. Have only the out-side door shut, it 

 is warm enough up to this date. The bees 

 are perfectly quiet with all the holes open in 

 the honey-board. They were put in on the 

 13th of November. The weather has not 

 been warm enough to fly since had they 

 been out. M. Wilson. 



Meredith, Pa., Nov. 28, 1873. 



Hints to Ladies. 



Much has been said and done in relation 

 to "Woman's Rights," but amid all the 

 speeches, conventions and resolutions of 

 the last few years, the most siiccessful 

 women have been those who have quietly 

 gone to work, winning their own wa}' to 

 prosperity. 



All the conventions this side of the gar- 

 den of Eden will not help woman into a 

 position of comparative independence un- 

 less she tries to help herself Rosa Bon- 

 heur did not ask Congress to make her an 

 artist — nature gave her the ability and 

 she wrought out her own problems with 

 patience and earnestness. 



Harriet Ilosmer sought no aid from 

 conventions and by-laws when she began 

 her life work, and Florence Nightingale did 

 not care to vote before she went into the 

 Crimea. But all women are not artists or 

 sculptors. Their gifts vary as much as 

 those of the other sex, and indeed like 

 many of them, some of us seem to have 

 received none at all, that is no bright par- 

 tieuhir talent, which, if cultivated, will 

 l)ring wealth and fame. 



