THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



50 



lars. A cellar that will kiH'p fruit is consid- 

 ered good, yet the thfriiioinctcr may work 

 as low as '3S or :;o (Icmccs and the fniit not 

 be frozen. This aiipcars tonic to he (luitc 

 too cold. My ciilonu's are kept in a celhir. 

 have ventilation ahovc and hclow so that 

 the air in the hive must he at very nearly 

 the same tcmoerature as that in the cellar. 

 Now 1 have observed that the bctvs are more 

 quiet when the mercury stands at forty-one 

 (le.uTces tlian wlu-n it is either several de- 

 rives above or below. From rci>catcd ob- 

 servations made diirinj]; last winter and this 

 I can judge pretty well as to the tempera- 

 ture, by the sounds issuing from the hives. 

 Upon allowing the mercury to sink to thirty- 

 six degrees, the increased noise of buzzing 

 told plainly that the bees were trying to 

 keep U]) the temperature. I warmed up the 

 cellar to forty tfegrces in four hours, and 

 twelve hours after the bees had (piieted 

 down to their former condition. Of course 

 it is easy enough to keep the temperature 

 from falling below 40 or 4ldcgrces, but quite 

 another matter to keen it from rising alxive 

 that during warm s]ieils of weather, at least 

 it is so in Northern Kentucky ; and just as 

 soon as it becomes impossible to keep the 

 temperature below 48 or 4'J in the si>ring 

 time, I move my bees out to their summer 

 stands. As to 'the other conditions neces- 

 sary to successful wintering, such as ab- 

 sence of light, moisture, and disturbance 

 from the cellar, they are much better under- 

 stood than the proper temperature ; because 

 their effects may perhaps be more easily 

 traced back to their causes. But I would 

 urge upon every bee-keeper, who houses his 

 bees in winter, the .necessity of keejnng a 

 reccu'd of the temperature of his depository, 

 if not daily, at least at every marked varia- 

 tion of the weather. It may be, tiiat in try- 

 ing to comply with the conditions for suc- 

 cessful wintering in the cellar, we have 

 overlooked one of the most important. 

 January, 1874. W. C. P. 



For the American Bee .lournal. 



"A Friend or Enemy." 



Editors Amekicax Bee JourvXAi. :— In 

 reply to Mrs. L. Harrison's connnuuicatiou 

 in your last issue, permit me, for the pres- 

 ent, briefly to say that your correspondent 

 not only fails to quote iny language correct- 

 ly, but that she misconstrues and falsities 

 my statements. My statement that the 

 Phylloxera is more injurious in a clayey 

 than a sandy soil, was hiade in reference to 

 the root-iiihal)itiug form; while Mrs. II., 

 lacking a proper comprehension of the suh- 

 iect, evidently has reference only to the 

 leaf-inliabiting form. In what I am quoted 

 assaying about the honeybee in its rela- 

 tion to horticulture, my language has been 

 so garbled, and my statements so perveted 

 that no greater injustice could have been 

 done me even by one tilled with malice and 

 bent on carrying a point by fair or foul 

 means. I beg of your readers, therefore, in 

 weighing my opinions and statements, to 

 consider them as given over my own name 

 rather than as presented by' others. In 

 speaking of the injury bees sometimes do 

 to fruit I used no uncertain, but <iuite posi- 

 tive, language ; and as no one has ever read 

 anything from my pen that would warrant 

 the cliarge of my being an enemy to tlie 

 honey bee — however much others may have 



misrepresented me— I fail to see where I 

 have "come down," to use the elegant 



language of my censor. 



In reference" to the statement of Mr. Gas- 

 ton that the great nation of Russia * * * 

 are importing humhh^ bees to fertilize the 

 red clover ;" wiiile then; was scarcely any 

 necessity of correcting it at the time it was 

 made, I may as well state, since it is re])eat- 

 ed, that New Zealand and Australia, where 

 the bumi)le bee is not indigenous, are the 

 countries that have been considering the 

 question of importing the insect, in order 

 tliat they may no longer be obliged to im- 

 port all their red clover seed. Russia has 

 no need of such action. C. V. Riley. 



St. Louis, Mo. 



For the American Bee JounuU. 



Chips from Sweet Home. 



It will be remembered by the readers of 

 the AMEiiif'AX r>KK JouKNAi., tiiat we 

 were among those who lost heavily in bees. 

 It is now Jan. 22iid and there is no sign of 

 the disease. AVe think the disease was 

 caused by confinement on poor honey. Last 

 fall we fed two hives or rather put in some 

 combs we had saved from those that had 

 died, and as yet I see no difference. Our 

 bees (100 hives) are in the west half of the 

 cellar, a partition running through the cen- 

 tre, we tilled the two opposite window holes 

 with straw, we can raise the windows and 

 have a current of air without admitting any 

 light, but find the bees ((uieter witli the 

 least circulation. Tiie only veiitilatation I 

 give is an opening in the base of chimney 

 which carries off the damp air. One morn- 

 ing I heard quite a roaring among the bees 

 and upon examination I found the noise all 

 proceeded from one hive, with my knife I 

 raised the honey board a little and all was 

 quiet. The thebmometer has ranged from 

 40 to 45 deg. 



B. Miller, of Lee Co., 111., in answer to 

 some questions from me on wintering bees, 

 said : "I never lost but two hives in winter- 

 ing. 1 winter in the cellar, never allow the 

 thermometer to go below 35 deg., never dis- 

 turb them, give plenty of ventilation both 

 in the hive and in the cellar, leave the 

 whole front of the hive open and push the 

 honey board forward so as to leave a half 

 inch crack at the back, extract 2 or 3 frames 

 and put the emjity combs in the centre, put 

 in cellar the last of October and take out the 

 last of March." 



SELLING SLUXG HONEY. 



We can make more money in selling 

 slung honey at 15 cents than box honey at 

 25 cents. But there is the trouble to sell. 

 Seeing that others were successful in sell- 

 ing it in small jars nicely labeled that "they 

 went off like hot cakes," we were induced 

 to put up over .500 lbs. in jelly jars, nicely 

 labeled, and started out, passed through the 

 town where "slung honey in jars went off 

 like hot cakes," but the grocerynien told 

 me it would not sell although they had them 

 piled up right in view ; and from a man 

 they knew, I sold some of my jars and left 

 most of it on commission, but they write 

 me : "Have tried to sell your honey but 

 can't. And now I have otfered to exchange 

 332 lbs. for 100 grajie vines, and return the 

 jars. 1 sell a good deal of slung honej' each 

 year, nearly all in the county, and prefer it 



