THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



285 



sumac, and cultivate the various siiruhsand 

 honey n hints, there would be less grnnii)liiiji 

 about nad honey seasons. If we would, I 

 am satislied we could have a honey harvest 

 from the time fruit blossoms ai)})ear until 

 frost. A l)ee farm with all the various 

 honey-producing trees and shrubs and 

 plants, would, if properly cared for, furnish 

 a succession of flowers from April to Nov. 

 In Southern Kentucky we cannot depend 

 on the natural honey resources. 



If we would make" bee-keepin,ii pay, and I 

 am well satistied we can do it, then let 

 every man who can, plant and cultivate the 

 best" honey plants he can obtain, and suc- 

 cess will crown Ids riforts; thousands of 

 pounds of honey will then be Si^thered 

 where bees scarcely make a living now. A 

 friend of mine told me a larsxe linn tree 

 wouhl attord from 1(» to 15 gallons of hoiu'y; 

 and linn will grow on any soil, if properly 

 cared for. N. P. Ali.en. 



Smith's Grove, Ky., Sep. 12, 1876. 



[Reports about alsike clover are conflict- 

 ing. While some report a failure others are 

 loud in its praise. Of the latter class is one 

 who writes to the Maine Far/ncr and calls 

 himself a "Practical Agriculturist." He 

 says that he has given this species of clover 

 a trial. He began ten years ago, and sowed 

 five pounds of seed on half an acre of land 

 in the spring, and he had a good stand of 

 grass in the fall. The next year he produc- 

 ed two loads of hay and 100 pounds of seed. 

 The second year the yield of hay was the 

 same, and 165 pounds of seed. Its superior- 

 ity over red clover was such that he did all 

 his seeding with it up to the present time. 



We should be glad to have others give us 

 their experience with it.— Ed.] 



From tlie iSIicliigan F'armer. 



The Wintering of Bees. 



Jack Frost has already tinted the maples 

 and elms with red and yellow; even our 

 gorgeous fall flowers, golden rod and the 

 asters are fast fading. These sharp morn- 

 ings with now and then a chilling breeze 

 remind us of the colder times we may soon 

 expect and for which provision must now 

 be made. Among other things we must not 

 forget our little pets— the bees. They have 

 labored unceasingly whenever they could 

 find anything to do, and have given us a 

 generous sujjply of delicious nectar with 

 which to grace the tea-table and tempt the 

 palate, and in gratitude we should see that 

 they are made as comfortable as possible 

 during the dreary mouths of winter. Aside 

 from this, it will not pay to neglect them, 

 and it will pay to take good care of them. 



The yield of honey from buckwheat this 

 year has been (juite good in most portions 

 of the State, and as a little has been added 

 from the late wild flowers the hives must be 

 well supplied for the winter. In sections 

 where firewood is abundant, or certain 

 species of golden-rod are plenty the hives 

 are filled very full almost every fall. The 

 asters which grow in our State are not the 

 kinds which furnish the large yields of 

 honey so often spoken of, so comparatively 

 little can be counted upon from that source. 



It would pay our ajiiarists to procure seed 

 of the most common species of wild aster 

 which grows in the middle southern States. 

 We suppose, then, that our hives are fairly 

 supplied with honey this fall, yet, to be sure 

 each hive should be examined, and any that 

 may be delieient, supi)lied by feeding honey 

 or white sugar syruj), or by giving them 

 combs full of sealed honey. While there 

 are many expensive styles of feeders, simi)ly 

 a shallow pan set in the cap or top story of 

 the hive will answer every purpose. A 

 uuart or so of food may be poured in just at 

 dusk, and shavings or cut straw scattered on 

 the surface to keep the bees from drowning. 

 In ord(;r to estimate correctly the (juautity 

 of honey in a hive it will be necessary to ex- 

 amine each cond) separately or to weigh the- 

 whole together and then deduct the weight 

 of the hives as well as something for the 

 weight of the bees, cond)s and pollen. The 

 ea-*iest way I found is to ascertain by weigh- 

 ing the amount of honey which a comb of 

 average thickness will contain, and from 

 that estimate the amount in eacli hive. Of 

 course an allowance must be nuxde for the 

 weight of the combs, especially if old, and 

 the pollen they may contain. A little prac- 

 tice will enable one to judge (piite accurate- 

 ly by simply lifting one comb after another 

 from the hive, how much honey it contains. 

 There ought to be not less than thirty 

 pounds to each stock that is to be wintered 

 on the summer stand; for in-door wintering 

 twenty pounds will sutfice. My experience 

 has convinced me that, other things being 

 equal, those stocks that have a superabund- 

 ance of honey are much more apt to prove 

 the paying stocks duriugthe next year, than 

 those that have to be fed any time after 

 November or even than those that have just 

 enough to carry them through until spring 

 flowers appear. Forty or fifty pounds then 

 would be preferable to thirty. In examining 

 the combs it is well to cut one or two small 

 holes near the center of each to serve as 

 winter passages for the bees ; and, if possi- 

 ble, arrange tne combs in such a manner as 

 to leave some empty cells or such as contain 

 brood near the centre of the hive. The 

 brood soon hatches, and in cold weather the 

 bees crawl into these empty cells aiul being 

 densely packed between the combs the 

 whole mass is enabled to keep up the neces- 

 sarv heat of the hive. It is the natural dis- 

 position of the bees to store their honey in 

 this shape, that is, over and around the 

 brood nest; but during a good yield of honey 

 late in the season they fill and seal all the 

 combs to the bottom. When this occurs the 

 bees, being separated by the cold sheets of 

 honey are liable to perish before empty cells- 

 are obtained. The remedy is to use the ex- 

 tractor on the central combs, removing only 

 a portion of the honey from each. We sup- 

 pose then that one of the conditions upon 

 which successful wintering depends is pres- 

 ent, namely: an abundance «vf honey. 



The second point to be mentioned is that 

 the hive should be well stocked with bees. 

 Carefully lift the cover or turn the hive up 

 some cool morning and if the cluster occu- 

 pies five or six spaces call the stock fair. 

 Yet "the more the merrier," and safer, too. 



Our third point is, every hive should have 

 a good queen, one that has shown no signs 

 of failing and is not past her third season. 



Special repositories with thick walls like 

 those of an ice-house are often constructed 

 for wintering purposes. IJry cellars are 



