Tilili AMlliKiUAJN HtjK JUUKJNAL. 



W7 



liive we secure nearly all the advantaije of 

 an entire straw hive. It is very important 

 that all the little details in this matter of 

 wintering;- should be understood and care- 

 fully observed. In conclusion I will state 

 a little incident that came under my obser- 

 vation last winter, to show how a little va- 

 riation (accidental or otherwise) may result 

 in loss. And, to give a hint to some of our 

 writers who still persist that ventilation in 

 winter is, under all circumstances bad for 

 the bees. 



Calling on friend ]\Iuth about the middle 

 of January I fountl him (as usual) very busy 

 in the store. But when a bee-keeinng 

 friend calls, if the weather is mild, as in 

 this case, the clerks usually have to put in 

 extra licks enough to make his place good 

 while tiie bees are looked into to see if they 

 are rearing brood, to compare the Egyptian 

 queen with Italian or something of the sort. 

 "We Avere soon on the roof and after going 

 through five or six hives we came to one 

 that was quite damp, the bottom board 

 nearly covered with dead bees, and several 

 knots of dead ones between the combs. 



"I can't understand that " says Muth. 

 " I think the cover must leak." 



" Ko there is no leak in the cover, there 

 are two blankets and they are stuck togefh 

 er." 



He pulls them apart and finds on the 

 inside of one of them a pretty nice coating 

 of propolis which had nearly stopped the 

 upward ventilation. The discovery was 

 made in time, and a good swarm saved. 



Cheviot, O. M. Nevins. 



P. S. We are glad to see the Journal 

 constantly improving in interest. I don't 

 know how any beekeei^er and takes any 

 interest in them can atibrd to do without 

 it. There is not one page in all my back 

 volumes that I have not read more than 

 once, and still I think so much of them for 

 reference that I would not be willing to 

 part with them for three times their origin- 

 al co.st. M. N. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bees and Grapes Again. 



In the autum of 18721 had one and one- 

 half acres of grapes mostly of the Concord 

 variety. I also had 24 stocks of bees and 

 there were 16(1 stocks in and near our town. 

 (By the Avay only ten lived through the next 

 Avinter, out of the IGO.) Before the Grapes 

 were ripe the bees were working on rottou 

 apples and sound ones also when the birds 

 picked into them ; but when the Grapes 

 ripened the birds and tame fowls picked 

 into a great many of them, and then, but 

 not till then, the bees were all over them by 

 the thousands, but not once could I find 

 that the bees opened the grapes first — only 

 working on those already open, and I 



watched them closely. There was no hon- 

 ey hi the flowers and the bees were every- 

 where, around stores, (;ider mills, and any 

 place where anything sweet could be ob- 

 tained, no matter how nmch acid was mixed 

 in. I think this is the first cause of the 

 great loss of bees here the next winter, as 

 forage was so scarce that they almost en- 

 tirely ceaseil raising brood by the 15th of 

 September, and all that were already hatch- 

 ed w€xrked nearly their time out before cold 

 weather set in, and were too old to start in- 

 to winter. The honey they gathered, too, 

 contained so much acid that it helped the 

 cholera along. Then the unprecedeutal cold 

 winter finished the business for them. But 

 I am digressing. We had but few bees 

 here the summer of 18713 but what there 

 were worked on grapes again in the fall. 

 As before I could not find that they were 

 the first to begin, but only picked up what 

 would spoil. I shall give my attention to it 

 again this fall as I have the grapes yet, and 

 a good crop too, if nothing happens to it. 

 I do not even think they will work on dam- 

 aged grapes at all if there is any honey to 

 be gathered from flowers. "We now have 

 some 60 or 7(1 stocks of bees here, mostly 

 Italians, of which number I have about 25. 

 They did well in June and the first part of 

 July, but since then, until j^esterday, it has 

 been very dry ; and they only got enough 

 to keep brood well going. They are at 

 work now on buckwheat. "We "bee-keep- 

 ers" furnished the seed for a neighbor to 

 sow about 10 acres and the bees are just 

 swarming on it. I sent to "Wisconsin and 

 got the seed and it is the best variety for 

 honey and grain also. "Wishing the consol- 

 idated Journal success I remain Respect- 

 fully, J. "W. Cramer. 

 Knox Co., 111. 



Jefferson County Bee-Keepers'Meeting. 



Pursuant to a notice for a meeting of the 

 Bee-Keepers in Jefferson County a goodly 

 number assembled at the farm of Adam 

 Robisch, three miles north of the village of 

 Jefferson, August 16th, 1874, for the pur- 

 pose of organizing an association and dis- 

 cussing the different vital questions arising 

 in bee culture. There were 15 bee-keepers 

 present and reported that over 2400 stocks 

 of bees are kejit in the neighborhood of the 

 village of Jefferson, but they could not re- 

 port the yield of the surplus honey at tlie 

 present time, because bees are not through 

 making honey and that nearly all of the 

 comb honey is in the hives yet. 



The meeting being called to order the fol- 

 lowing officers were elected : — C. Grimm, 

 President pro icm and William Wolf, Sec'y. 



Moved by A. Robisch, that a committee 

 to be appointed by the chair to present diff'- 

 erent questions to be discussed in this meet- 



