M 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Upright Ventilation. 



Bees have done better this year than they 

 have for several years past. Two-thirds of 

 them died in this county, last winter, on ac- 

 count of not giving them upright ventila- 

 tion. The frost accumulated in the hive 

 tuitil the bees were frozen, in a solid mass. 

 The first warm day they would thaw and 

 fall down dead, and leave plenty of honey. 

 Some old fogies came to me to know what 

 was the matter with their bees. Tiiey died 

 with plenty of honey, I replied, nothing 

 but laziness. Had you done as I told you, 

 you would have had all of your bees now ! 

 ''Oh," said they, "they died with some dis- 

 ease. I know they did, for they had plenty 

 of honey left. Did not your'sdie?" "No, 

 not one. I fixed them, as 1 told you to do. 

 Take off all the honey; then pack the top 

 of the hive with corn cobs, just high enough 

 so your cap will cover them; put 2 one inch 

 holes in your hive, one on each side, cover 

 well, and your bees will be all right next 

 spring, on their sumer stands." 



We have quite a large bee firm here. It 

 consists of some 200 persons. They all be- 

 long to the Methodist Church. Their 

 church has a very tall slender steple. On 

 their church, about 20 feet from the top are 

 4 small holes; left for ventilating the steple. 

 Above those holes the cross timbers are so 

 close together, that I can scarcely get my 

 hand through. Above this is a large space 4 

 feet at the bottom, and running up to a 

 sharp point. A large swarm of bees 

 have been working all sunnner. Ilow long 

 tliey have been there I don't know; the 

 members all, claim to be members of a new 

 bee firm. H. Faul. 



Council Bluffs, Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My Method. 



The philosophy of my method I believe to 

 he this : The b('(>s when hived in an empty 

 hive, want brood-comb first; and being 

 cramped for room, starts combs in little Idts 

 Dear togetlier, along all the triangular guides 

 which they join at the edges before they 

 have extended tliem so far as to get tlien'i 

 materially diverged from line. I have some- 

 times, (though seldom) had them wavy, and 

 if the fraiiK'S are not i)roperly spaced, they 

 will Iniild to one side, and get iiivgiilar. The 

 difticulty which causes this is having estab- 

 lished their brood nest; the next thing is, 

 to store, for which they need room. 



Having filled the cells adjoining the brood, 

 they lengthen the cells next a vacant space, 

 before starting comb on the next frame, so 

 that they have to set off a i)rop(n- distajice. 

 Or having started rightly, in extending cond) 

 edgewise, they come to the lengtliened cells, 

 and (liv(>rge from line, to avoid crowding, 

 and()l)tain room for full length cells next to 

 lengtliened ones. This tendency to length- 

 en ccllsv adjoining a vacant space, coiitin- 

 ues; and the further tliey go, the worse tliey 

 get. 



Of course as soon as they get well started 

 they should have additional room; but hero 

 comes another ditticulty, growing out of this 

 sauK! tendency to lengthen cells for storage, 

 lu building. (ui the fran;cs inserted between 



those started, they are apt to come in con- 

 tact with those lengthened on the adjoining 

 frames, and hence nave to make short cells 

 to preserve space between combs, which 

 gives irregular surface. This has to be rem- 

 edied by so placing them between straight 

 combs as that they will properly lengthen 

 the short cells on the new comb; but by in- 

 serting the new frames as needed between 

 broad combs or sealed cells, this difliculty 

 is largely avoided. 



I^nade the discovery accidently by placing 

 two very large swarms in one hive in a hur- 

 ry, when they were coming fast, and the 

 next day having some friends call, and wish- 

 ing to show them what my big swarm had 

 done, I opened them and found the state of 

 things desribed above. The hive used was 

 six and one-half deep, 143^ in width, taking 

 21 inch frames and they had as stated above, 

 stacked combs close together the whole 

 length of all the 10 frames. 



This was a grand success under diificulties, 

 which I had found so great that I had be- 

 gun to think camb frames and modern bee- 

 keeping a humbug. I acted on the sugges- 

 tion and had no farther difficulty ; obser- 

 vation and reflection have convinced me that 

 the theory 1 have given you is correct. At 

 all events the method succeeds. 



H. HUDSOK. 



Douglass, Mich. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Queen Raising- 



I promised to give more facts on queen- 

 raisnig, in my last letter. This is the main 

 point in bee-keeping; if every bee-keeper 

 sells full colonies or queens it would give 

 them a better reputation. If you send for 

 good stocks of course you want a yovmg and 

 prolital)le (lueen. If I pay the owner the 

 price he asks for good colonies, has he aright 

 to send it with a worn-out queen, that I have 

 to ti'y S or 10 days or a month to raise ; when I 

 have paid for a good hive. Such men should 

 be published through the JouKNAL, so that 

 strangers may know them. 



After every stock had a good queen, they 

 became strong and yielded over 5 per cent; 

 I had from one good swarm, inSLangstroth 

 hives. Sold 2 queens ($h) and about 9 gal- 

 lons of Extracted Honey, at 2o cents per lb. 

 I had a swarm that was weak in the spring 

 that did not give quite so much. 



JOHX P. Gkunthek. 



Theresa, Wis. 



For nie American Bee .Tournal. 



The Tulip Tree Again. 



On page 2S3, October Xo. of the Ameri- 

 CAX Bi-:k .Touunai., I notice an article from 

 the pen of J. lialston Wells, upon tiie value 

 of the tulip as a honey producing tree. As 

 lie says there are many making imiuiries 

 liow they may be obtained, I will take this 

 method of iiiforming the readers of the 

 .lornxAi. that I can furnish a few hundred 

 of the young trees— 1, 2. and 3 years old. 

 The tulip tree will not grow from cuttings, 

 but lives readily when transplanted, from I 

 to 5 years old. 'Older than two years would 

 be unhandy and dilficult to ship long dis- 

 tances. W. E. Fkeeman. 



Olustee Creek, Tike Co., Ala. 



