THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Jan. 



the strongest colonies, take off one set 

 of partly-filled sections, and put on 

 this doubled up colony, and they will 

 fill it full in a short time, if the flow 

 continues. 



I will say that when you put the 

 first old brood-chamber on a weak col- 

 ony, it is generally best to kill the 

 old queen in the weak one, and rear 

 a new or young queen from a cell in 

 the one put on top. which generally 

 is of the best stock, as the best build 

 up earliest and swarm first, and are 

 the best to gather honey. 



Now for the result of this system 

 of management: I have neighbor 

 bee-keepers who go on in the '• good 

 old way of our fathers," and I think 

 I can safely say I produced from twice 

 to three times the amount of honey 

 they do, and I sell my honey in my 

 home market for 20 cents per pound, 

 while they sell what little they hap- 

 pen to have at about 10 to 15 cents, 

 and it is dear at that. I generally 

 sell to one or two grocery men fur- 

 nishing a nice show-case about 3x4 

 feet, with a glass in front where cus- 

 tomers can see it from the outside.but 

 cannot handle and disfigure the honey. 

 I have kept bees for the last 15 years, 

 and I find the longer I keep them the 

 more there is to learn about them. 



For practical purposes in producing 

 honey for profit, we want actual ex- 

 perience more that theory. As a rule, 

 bee-keepers want money, and let such 

 men as Prof. Cook, Doolittle, and 

 others, do the scientific work, and 

 give their experience to the world; 

 and then the common men and women 

 who keep bees for profit, can have 

 the benefit of their labor. — Alex Rose, 

 in A. B. J. (Windsor, III.) 



WHY VENTILATION PLAYS SUCH AN IM- 

 PORTANT PART IN THE WINTERING 

 OF BEES. 



To the puzzles thick and thin 

 Look a little deeper in. 



In our last, we left you with the 

 testimony of four of Colorado's foul 

 brood inspectors favoring top ventila- 

 tion. There was also present, at our 

 annual State convention last January, 

 Mr. W. L. Porter, one of Colorado's 

 leading apiarists. After hearing the 

 testimony in favor of upward ventila- 

 tion, he decided to look into the mat- 

 ter. Just at this time the weather be- 

 came quite pleasant, and Mr. Porter 

 and a neighbor went out to see about 

 the ventilation question. Mr. Porter's 

 bees were supposed to be under sealed 

 covers in the form of enameled quilts. 

 The bees had; however, made many 

 holes in the quilts. The result of 

 their search was to find every colony 

 with big holes in the quilts dry and 

 nice, while those that had good quilts 

 sealed down, were damp and in the 

 poorest condition. 



This spring we purchased bees from 

 a lady who had a few good hives, but 

 most of her bees were in boxes and 

 old traps of hives. Some of the 

 boxes were not over seven inches deep, 

 and ten to twelve wide by sixteen to 

 twenty long. Many of these boxes 

 were so open that the bees had ceased 

 to work from the lower or regular en- 

 trance — which was in many cases 

 clogged with bees and dirt, as the 

 hives sat right on the ground in the 

 grass and weeds — and were flying 

 from cracks and crevices about the 

 top. Some had openings from a mere 

 crack to an inch, almost the entire 

 length of the box. Yet the bees had 

 wintered equally as well, if not better, 



