THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



57 



BKTTKi: THAN QXUI.TS. 



May 1st, I.ST4, we had a visit trom a hrotlier 

 bee-keeper, and went to examine oui- bees, 

 to show how tiiey wen; doiuf?. He said "I 

 never saw so nmch l)ro(Kl as you liave iu 

 your liives, for the same number of live 

 bees." Tiiis is the way we jjot it: A l)ox 

 on eaeli hive 4 inclics" deep ; some kind of 

 woolen taekcd on foi' a bottom, :> inelu^s of 

 wheat hran packed down firmly, and (piilt 

 nieely taeked down on top : when we i)ut 

 on the eai> or eover wi> raise the (piilt and 

 the bran is warm as toast. J. Buttkh. 



Jackson, Mich. 



For tlu' Ameiican Bee Joiinial. 



Winter Passages— Machine for Cut- 

 ting. 



Those who are in tlie habit of making win- 

 ter ])assa,2;es in the comb (as all should do 

 who undertake out door wintering,) will at 

 once see the utility of the implement I am 

 about to describe. 



I make a tin tube H inches long and % of 

 an inch in calibre, on one end lent teeth 

 similar to those of a rip saw, through the 

 middle of the tube there is a slot in which 

 to drive a tack to hold it in position while 

 turning. I then make a wooden piston to 

 fill the tube, insert this into the tube, drive 

 your tack into the slot, and you are ready 

 for work. To use it, you simply draw out 

 the piston, turn until it locks itself ; place 

 it against the coml), turn it half round and 

 push it gently through and the work is done. 

 To prevent tlie l)ees from filling these pas- 

 sages in the summer, I take a thin pine 

 shaving {% of an inch wide) and place it in 

 the cut, the bees will do the rest. 



I have used this imi)lement forthree j'ears 

 past with nuich satisfaction, it is a decided 

 improvement when compared with a knife 

 used for the same purpose. "B." 



Beaver, Penn. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My First Year's Experience in Bee 

 Culture. 



I commenced in the spring of 1857 with 

 two old box hives, in the last stage of decay 

 from tlie moth, with all the care and atten- 

 tion I could give, increased my stocks to 20 

 in three years and sold not a pound of honey, 

 the war closing out my stocks. I learned 

 two important facts with box hive, that 

 where the bee went, the miller would. Sec- 

 ondly, without soHU' good work on bee-cul- 

 ture one had as well devote his time to other 

 pursuits. But on investigation of the im- 

 proved system, with the movable frame 

 hives, I dctcruiined to make one more at- 

 tempt at bee-keeping. So in the spring of 

 ISTo, I procui'ed the two-story imi)roved 

 Langstroth hive. (I will add and nuike my 

 own hives, what all bee-keepers should do) 

 1 bought of a friend, two box hives of black 

 bees, paid S3.(X) each. May 8th had a fine 

 swarm to issue, hived them in my new hive 

 all right, eager to have my bees in my new 

 liives the same evening 1 transferred the 

 mother hive, did a good job for the first got 

 one sting, but dark found me gathering up 

 the young bees crawling in every direction. 

 Now don't smile old bee-keepers, you can 



imagine my feelings next day on examina- 

 tion to lind young brood all d(>ad, with my 

 new liixc full of good woiki'r coudis. 1 went 

 immediately to my friend paid .si. (lO for a 

 swarm, iiiti'oiluced lheu> and they did well. 

 So much my young bee-keepers, for not 

 having the A, li. .J. or L. L. Langstroth on 

 the hoiu'y bee, both of which 1 have now, 

 that would have instructed me to wait 1.5 

 days helbre making that transfer. I bought 

 .July loth two more box hives, paid .f3.0() 

 each. Iransb-rred them all right. I will not 

 gi\'e in detail, my mode of transferring, you 

 had betti'r have your infornuitiou before- 

 hand. J bought of Dr. T. li. llandin, of 

 Edgefield .JuiK^tion, Tenn., August -Sd, two 

 full stocks of Italians in tlie transiiort box 

 biv»>, i)ai<l Sbv.oo eacli and at the same time 

 three tested (lueeus paid >f-~3M) each, and 

 with Dr. Hamlin's instruction on the mode 

 of introducing (lueens. 1 destroyed o of my 

 black (|ueeus, after six hours, removed hon- 

 ey-board i)lacing my caged queens on the 

 frames, over the greatest cluster of bees, in 

 twelve hours, (had put four workers witli 

 each queen) on examination, found three of 

 workers in two cages dead, the third all 

 alive, and in twelve hours more, found the 

 two queens and remaining worker all dead, 

 and in the third found all alive, which I 

 liberated in the usual manner, and I was in 

 trouble again. Season far spent and my 

 stocks getting low, I made known my loss 

 to Dr, ilamlin and he agreeing to share half 

 my loss, sent me two more tested queens for 

 .'go.oo, Xow some twenty days had trans- 

 pired. My two queens received, on exam- 

 ination fouutl two fine plump black (pieens, 

 killing them and after waiting six hours, I 

 commenced by moving my frames from the 

 center, leaving room to place my cage, end 

 down between the frames, supported" by a 

 wire pin across the frames, being sure to 

 bring the cage in contact with honey, so if 

 necessary tlie queen can reach the honey if 

 neglected by the bees ; and in forty-eight 

 hours I had my two (pieens safely housed 

 and would advise this plan to the novice. 



I should have added if weather is cool 

 place your l)lanket quilts over the frames. 

 "Now this brings us up to September 1st. My 

 first queen has her combs full of young Ital- 

 ians, crawling and quiet. Something I had 

 never witnessed in native bees, I am pre- 

 pared to state the Italians far excells the 

 black in gathering honey, I will add that 

 the superiority and value of Italian bee has 

 not been over estimated or half told. Now I 

 have no stocks or (jueens for sale. They are 

 the admiration of all who see them. 



November the 1st, overhauled my seven 

 stocks ; found as I supposed sufiicicnt stores 

 to run them during the winter and fed some 

 weak stocks some from those that had to 

 spare. I then ma^'e some blanket (luiltsand 

 straw mats. Such as C. F. Muth of Cincin- 

 nati, O,, uses. My bees were out nearly 

 every week through the winter, it being a 

 very mild winter, my bees came through 

 the'winter safe, but we had the worst spring 

 I ever saw in the South. Our fruit trees did 

 our bees no good. 1 lost two stocks during 

 February and March, and came near loosing 

 the third ; had I not taken it in my family 

 room and fed sugar syrup, and kejit it there 

 forty-eight hours they would ha\e perished. 

 My bees made no surplus honey in lS7o, all 

 I got was in transferring. 



I liave in my yard young peach trees 

 planted eight feet apart, with a hive be- 



