L894. 



TEE . I MEBIl . 1 N BEE- KEEPER. 



133 



frosts., My bees commenced killing 

 drones early in May. Up to the mid- 

 dle of June they had secured no sur- 

 plus. In July we had a nice run of 

 blue thistle, known in England as Ves- 

 pers Ton-ni', its honey being even 

 superior to clover. We also had quite 

 a run of Sour-wood. The honey from 

 it is of white color and of aromatic 

 flavor, similar to the California sage. 



One of your late correspondents 

 seems to think that some strains of 

 bees develop the instinct for alighting 

 high in swarming time. The facts are, 

 an old queen will almost always alight 

 on the lowest and nearest favorable 

 place, while a queen just hatched 

 will, if her wings are perfect, fly high. 



CLIPPING QUEENS' WINGS. 



The principal objection to this is 

 the danger of losing the queen, and 

 finally the swarm, unless a young one 

 hatches, but on the whole I favor clip- 

 ping. I never catch a queen to clip 

 her wings while she is on the comb. 

 The small sewing machine scissors, 

 with spring to hold them open ready 

 for the pressure of thumb and linger, 

 are the best for wing clipping. There 

 is no danger of hurting the queen, 

 and it can be done quickly and easily 

 if ones nerves are steady. Any per- 

 son who drinks whisky, or tea that 

 will hold up an iron wedge, might not 

 be able to use them- 



llli: STYLE AND 8IZE OF HIVE. 



I find the plain Langstroth style 

 satisfactory for our climate, where 

 there is no trouble in wintering on 

 the summer stands. I find it best to 

 keep both the 8 and 10 frame sizes. 

 I use about one half of each, and 

 change colonies from one to the other 



according to conditions. 1 also find 

 it advantageous to use some with two 

 stories and with 20 frames for ex 

 tracting. Also some with sections in 

 wide frames. I move up one or more 

 frame- of brood, giving the queen 

 more room below and keeping the 

 colony strong, I have had only five 

 or six swarms this season in my home 

 apiary of 70 colonies. 



Amherst, Va.,Aug. 17, b s !»4. 



Wintering and Care of Bees. 



BY T. B DA RLINGTON. 



After two winters' trial of a plan 1 

 have adopted of carrying bees through 

 the winter 1 am much pleased 

 with the result. The insides of the 

 hives kept dry. bees strong and heal- 

 thy .in single wall hives without any 

 outside protection, excepting on the 

 frames. My plan is as follows : In 

 the fall I see that they have plenty 

 of stores to carry them through until 

 the next honey flow. 1 have the oil 

 cloth covering well sealed up by the 

 bees and cut a hole in it as a vent for 

 the moisture to escape. Leave a 

 space between the frames one inch to 

 one and one-half inches long along 

 the side of this vent hole. I lay on 

 each >ide close to it a block an inch 

 square and four or live inches long, 

 then (itit on several thicknesses of 

 pourOUS Stuff — a piece of old phos- 

 phate bag or something similar — cut 

 eight or ten inches square. This lets 

 the moisture through, and on top of 

 this I place several thicknesses of old 

 carpet and fill the super half full or 

 more, and on top of all this 1 always 

 find the moisture from the.bees. When 

 cold weather sets in 1 contract the en- 



