64 ON BEES AND HONEY. 



are likely to die with the rot, or become so weak in the spring 

 as not to be worth much. To prevent this harm to my bees, 

 I have a hole cut in the front of my hives two inches from the 

 top, two inches long and three eighths of an inch deep. This 

 serves as a ventilator and second door. I also keep the holes 

 leading from the hives into the boxes open, which lets off 

 much of the damp air. 



I never kill young swarms because they have not honey 

 enough to stand the winter, but rather unite them to some 

 stock that has enough and to spare, as they Avill more than pay 

 for doing it the next season. Twenty pounds is enough to 

 winter a good swarm. 



I would not recommend taking up old stocks, as the honey 

 is poor, but would recommend cutting out some of the bottom 

 combs when they become furred up with age. This may be 

 done by the aid of a bee dress or the puff ball. Puff balls may 

 be found by the way side, or in pastures ; they should be pick- 

 ed when half ripe and put in a cloth and pressed to half their 

 size, then dried in the sun. When ripe they give a dirty pow- 

 der like smoke ; the smoke of the puff ball does the bees no 

 harm, as they recover in twenty minutes. Care should be 

 taken that the sun does not shine on the hive either in sum- 

 mer or winter. I have said nothing about the bee moth, hav- 

 ing tried several experiments, and none to my satisfaction. I 

 am led to believe that strong and healthy stocks of bees will 

 take the best care of these intruders. 



Ipswich, Sept. 24, 1850. 



JOHN F. KIMBALL'S STATEMENT, 

 In June 1847 I found a swarm of bees in the woods, which 

 was hived in a small old fashioned box hive, aud carried home, 

 a distance of about two miles. They went quietly to work in 

 their new residence, and during the season nearly filled the 

 hive. The next season, (1848,) a swarm came out early in 



