THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



«)5 



there was a fire kept day and uight. In 

 this ease the}- bred all winter, and liad 

 no dysentery. Again, we have seen 

 bees wintered, both in Canada and AVis- 

 consin, in the Weeks hive, suspended 

 two feet from the ground, with no |)ro- 

 teetion from winds or weather, and the 

 bottom-boai'd suspended to the bottom 

 of the hive, with one inch space all 

 around the bottom of the hive. On this 

 plan, also, tlie bees did well and had 

 no dysentery'. We have seen hives set 

 on top of a stum]), raised on inch blocks 

 from the bottom-board, exposed to 

 wind and weather with the thermome- 

 ter forty degrees below zero at times 

 during the winter, and no dysentery. 

 We have .seen bees in box hives, with a 

 two inch hole in the top, the hive set 

 on top of a stum]) ex])Osed to Avind and 

 weather, two inch hole ]H"otected from 

 i"ain and snow, bottom closed u]) tight, 

 and no dysentery. 



These Avere all single cased, or single 

 boarded, hives, and, strange to relate, 

 all wintered on their own stores — no 

 coffee sugar or sugar syrup. It would 

 seem that the Almighty, according to 

 some theories, made a grand mistake in 

 not making bees so that they could 

 make their own sugar syrup, if honey 

 was not intended for them. 



We have seen twenty-five stocks 

 wintered in a dry, warm I'oom in the 

 cellar, with cement floor, and ke])t so 

 warm that they bred all winter. These 

 Avere box hives, turned bottom uj), with 

 bottom -boards removed ; and no dysen- 

 tery. We might go on enumerating 

 cases like the above. 



If we understand Mr. Hosmer, his 

 small stocks breed all winter and come 

 out strong in the sjjring, etc. It has 

 been remarked, that extra smart bee- 

 keepers cannot sto]) to theorize ; but we 

 must be allowed to theorize, for it was 

 by comjiarison, or theorizing, that we 

 gained our present knowledge in the 

 business. Our theory is, that bees kej^t 

 perfectly dry, as in the above cases, 

 discharge the excremental jDortions of 

 their food in small and perfectly dr}- 

 pellets, or, in other words, all moisture 

 is entirely evaj^orated from the excre- 

 ment while in the abdomen of the bee, 

 and then their discharge takes jilace in 

 the hive, and lies on or in the bottom 



of the hive without any detriment to 

 the colony whatever. 



Such colonies, in the above condition, 

 do not show any .s])ecks on the snow in 

 their first flight. Their abdomens nev- 

 er show any distention or enlargement 

 from the retention of excrement. Of 

 course, old bees die of old age in the 

 hive, but they are all ])erfectly dried 

 up, no mistake about them whatever.. 

 But in a damp cellar, if our bees breed, 

 we always have to set them out occa- 

 sionally, for the 5'oung, or ])ollen con- 

 sumers, to have a ])urifying flight. 



E. Gallup. 



Orchard, Iowa. 



For tlie American Bee Journal . 



The Use of the Extractor. 



In my article on "How to Feed and 

 Winter Bees," in the January number, 

 there are several mistakes. 



In the first sentence the word keeping 

 should be feeding. I did not mean to 

 say that honey from other hives often 

 jjroves fatal to the bees, but that honey 

 from other sources often does, when the 

 bees have been long confined to their 

 hives. Nor did I mean to say that bees 

 should never be fed much more syruj) 

 than they would consume in preparing 

 food for their young, but that when 

 feeding exjH'essly for the ]3urpose of 

 propagating bees, care should be taken 

 not to give them much more syrup than 

 they would consume in preparing food 

 for the young larva\ and for construct- 

 ing combs for the brood when necessary. 

 When there are more bees in the hive 

 than are necessary for rearing all the 

 brood the queen is capable of producing, 

 they may be fed more, if suitable room 

 is given them in which to store surplus 

 honey, so as to prevent them from fill- 

 ing uj) the brood combs with syruj) 

 instead of brood. 



I would also say that when there is 

 found to be more honey in the brood 

 combs in the spring than is necessary 

 for the colony in rearing brood, it should 

 be removed with the extractor, leaving 

 honey only in the uj^per part of each 

 comb. A good way of converting this 

 surplus honey into combs and brood, is 

 to insert an empty comb-frame in the 

 central part of the brood nest as early 



