286 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



also devoted to the same purpose. These 

 (rooms should be dark, and, if possible, kept 

 at a temperature of about 42 deg. F. The 

 hives should be set in as soon as cool wea- 

 ther makes its appearance; and before the 

 <;ombs become trosty, the top of the hive 

 may be removed and a blanket or straw mat 

 laid on the frames. 



If the stocks are populous, and have good 

 'queens and plenty of honey, and the hives 

 can be properly packed I would rather liave 

 them remain on tlieir summer stands. Make 

 a box just the width and length of the hiva 

 and three inches deep and set the hive over 

 it. This will give an air space below the 

 •combs and preclude the possibility of the 

 freezing up of the entrance. If the hives 

 are large so much the better. Place the 

 ■eight or ten combs containing the winter's 

 food near the center, and hang on each side 

 a division board, niiide by nailing together 

 pieces of lath with an even layer of straw 

 between them; place above a cap or top 

 «tory several inches deep, lay a quilt or 

 straw mat across the tops of the frames, and 

 pack chaff or cut straw over and around 

 them very closely. The cover should not 

 shut very tigiitly but should admit no water. 

 If snow-drifts cover the hives, they wi 11 be 

 much better off. 



To sum up, then, the conditions for suc- 

 cessful out-door wintering seem to be the 

 following ; Strong stocks, plenty of honey, 

 good queens, large hives well packed above 

 and at the sides with dry absorbing material, 

 an air space of two or three inches below the 

 •combs, and a chance for the moisture caused 

 by the heat of the bees to pass off very grad- 

 ually without permitting any draft of air 

 through the hive. 



I have had stocks prepared in this man- 

 ner that reared brood all winter and were 

 in splendid condition tor tlie next season's 

 work. There will be no trouble about 

 "springing" such stocks. When thus pre- 

 pared I have never lost any colonies in win- 

 tering, but I have lost them when they were 

 placed in a cellar or buried in pits, or when 

 they were neglected on their summer stands. 



Knoxville, Tenn. Fkank Benton. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Chips from Sweet Home. 



We started with 103 hives, increased to 

 175, got 1,920 lbs. box honey and 940 lbs. 

 slung honey, and about .30 lbs. beeswax. In 

 taking off our boxes we had 122 section 

 boxes that were more or less filled, of the 

 sections partly filled and not salable for 

 comb honey, my wife slung out iiOO lbs. Of 

 the sections that were filled and capijed 

 nicely 1 filled 38 boxes, weighing 013 lbs., 

 the empty combs are saved for next year's 

 filling, i have 70 G-lb. boxes partly filled 

 containing about 200 lbs., of which I cannot 

 well make any use; this alone makes con- 

 siderable difference in favor of the sections. 

 This season was very favorable for swarm- 

 ing, and the forei)art was favorable for 

 honey, but the month— from Aug. 15 to Sep. 

 1.5 — that we count on for honey was very 

 wet, raining nearly every day, so our crop is 

 quite short. 



Here is an idea and plan to prevent 

 swarming, or at least to do the next best, 

 for which 1 am indebted to J. L. Wolfenden 

 of Adams, Wis. 1 give it as he wrote to 

 <Oleaiiings and also on a postal card to me, 



as I wrote him to tell us "all about it." I 

 have had better success with box honey this 

 season. The way i fool them is this: When 

 they swarm put them in an empty hive just 

 beside their old one. When nicely at work, 

 say in one or two days, give them their old 

 combs and boxes and everything goes on as 

 though nothing had happened. I keep 

 queen's wings clipped when swarm issues, 

 watch her, turn old hive half way round 

 and cover entrance, put new hive with one 

 frame of brood close by old one with queen 

 in front,when bees return release her, when 

 all in, ttirn old hive to its former position; 

 let them remain that way a day or two,thea 

 give them their old combs minus queen 

 cells. I tried it on (5 or 8, and no failures, 

 they worked in boxes as thotigh nothing 

 had happened. 



If we can prevent increase, then we will 

 have attained the four things for profit, viz: 

 movable frames, Italian bees, honey slinger 

 and no increase. D. D. Palmek. 



Eliza, Mercer Co., 111., Oct. 9, 1876. 



[The above was all written on a postal 

 card. Friend Palmer thinks printers have 

 good eyes and magniflying ones, at that.— 

 Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Sundry Observations. 



THE BEE MOTH. 



We never considered the moth-miller an 

 enemy to bees. Whoever knew a hive of 

 bees destroyed by these pests, unless the 

 hive was first greatly reduced in bees? It 

 is only after a hive has become queenless 

 that the bee moth gets control and destroys 

 the combs. The moth worm does not like 

 the taste of honey, and that part of the 

 combs containing honey are the last to be 

 eaten by them. Novices, as a general thing, 

 get the idea into their heads, that the moth 

 IS in their hives, and they fear that they 

 will soon lose them. All hives have more 

 or less moth worms about them, but no 

 strong stock of bees was ever injured by 

 them. 



Hives with " patent moth traps" attached 

 to them are only got up to swindle the 

 novice who does not understand the habits 

 of the moth. All such clap-trap fixings are 

 a perfect humbug. Of course if the miller 

 can be destroyed they won't do any damage 

 to even a queenless colony. Moth traps 

 won't do much towards destroying them. 

 At this age of movable comb hives no stock 

 of bees need be destroyed by worms, and 

 only a careless bee-kceixT will permit such 

 a thing to occur on his i)rtMuises. 



Last winter we read an article in a certain 

 bee iournal and the writer acknowledged 

 that he had lost a hive by worms, and this 

 writer has takiMi it to himself to teach 

 other bee-keepers the art of bee-keeping, 

 aiul I notice tiiat there are several bee- 

 keepers who have had iu)t ov(!r five years' 

 experience, undertake the job to teach the 

 same art. We old ducks must take a back 

 seat and look on. Appearances about the 

 entrance of the hive indicates what is going 

 on in the hive. Most observing bee-keepers 

 have no trouble in determining whether a 

 liive is (lueenless or infected by worms 

 without examining the combs. If a hive is 

 known to have been queenless for a month 



