100 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 18, 



hive perfectly water-proof. This should make it a very dur- 

 able hive. 



Figure 3 shows the various parts of the hive, which ex- 

 plain themselves. An entrance feeder is also shown in Fig. 1. 



Amalgamation : Combining Against Aulteratlon 



BY MRS. L. C. AXTELL. 



Editor York : — We have been a member of the National 

 Bee-Keepsrs' Union for several years, but guess we did not 

 pay up for last year, and do not know if we have a right to 

 vote on the amalgamation of the two societies or not. If we 

 can vote, can you send in our ballot ? 



There has been a great deal written for and against amal- 

 gamation, and probably a great many readers have been like 

 us — have not read it all, and yet want a strong Union, and 

 would vote for it if they knew just whom to vote for, and 

 where to send their money. 



We ought to combine against adulteration and dishonest 

 commission-men. We ought to compel those who mix up 

 honey and glucose, to label it glucose and honey. We have 

 had very nice looking packages of syrup in glass tumblers, 

 with a small piece of comb honey, placed in our stores and 

 sold as California honey, at a low price, and that brings our 

 honey down to a like price, or it goes unsold until the adul- 

 terated article is gone. That which was brought here a year 

 ago last summer was called " California sage honey," put up 

 in Chicago, by so and so, and one of our store-keepers, who 

 was selling it, was loud in recommending it, and said that 

 sage honey was the best honey in the world, and so it went off 

 at first very fast ; but some said they did not want it the sec- 

 ond time, tho it tasted very well. It tasted quite pleasant to 

 me, but could not have been honey, or it would not have been 

 sold so low. Now we can't prevent such articles of food being 

 made and sold, but we ought to prevent it being sold as pure 

 honey, when there is but a trifle of honey in it. 



We ought also to have some one who would look after our 

 honey when it is sent to commission-men to be sold. There 

 are so many ways that they can get ahead of us, and as we 

 know it will do no good to say anything back to them, we 

 must just keep still and take just what they are willing to 

 give us. 



We ought to push our sales of honey at home more than 

 we do. If it has to go cheap, let our neighbors have It cheap. 

 The honey sold at home should be graded just as much as that 

 sent to the cities, and let each one have his choice of price. 

 Many will buy if they can get a cheap honey, and we might 

 as well sell it cheap at home as to let the commission-men do 

 so for us. Many times they are not to blame, for when so 

 much honey is sent to them, they must get rid of it somehow. 



We had about 3,800 pounds of honey froca our 125 col- 

 onies in 1896, and increast to 150 colonies. 



Warren Co., III. 



[Mrs. Axtell's letter reacht as Feb. 5 — four days after the 

 polls closed. No dues have been called for now for two years, 

 except from new members when joining. This is because 

 enough money is, and has been, in the treasury to meet the 

 expenses incurred. 



We presume that to all who were members In 189() were 

 mailed the General Manager's 12th Annual Report. We re- 

 ceived ours Jan. 11, 1897. Others should have had theirs 

 about the same time, if all were mailed together. 



Upon referring to the list of members, we do not find the 

 name of Axtell among them. That would account for the 

 non-receipt of the Report and ballot. — Editor.] 



Preparing and Moving Bees In March. 



By C. r. DADANT. 



QoBS. — "I must move on the first of March. Will my bees 

 suffer by being packt and transported at that time ? and would 

 I better cover them up again ? — W. S." 



An8. — It Is diflicult to answer such a question by yes or so. 

 The safety of transporting bees at that time depends consider- 

 ably upon their condition. After a winter like the present, 

 when they have had a chance to take a flight every few days, 

 there Is much less danger of any loss in transporting them, as 

 early as March ; for they are usually very strong In numbers, 

 and have been breeding quite freely, often as early as Janu- 



ary. The hatching of young bees early in the year is the best 

 security against spring dwindling. 



On the other hand, when the colony has been weakened by 

 repeated losses, due to extremes of cold, or to the death of a 

 part of the cluster, from its being on the outside combs, away 

 from the main body, during a protracted cold spell, there Is 

 but little tendency to brood-rearing and the colony is unable 

 to recuperate its losses, be they ever so small, until the warm 

 days enable them to create a sufficient heat to encourage the 

 queen to lay. Thus, after a long, cold winter, if the bees have 

 barely commenced to breed, there is a great deal of danger in 

 the transporting of them early, as the loss of a few bees that 

 may occur will weaken the colony that much more. If the 

 breeding is not sufficient to keep up the force, there are con- 

 tinuous losses of bees in cool, windy days, especially when they 

 feel the necessity of going out after pollen or water. 



Some of the most noted naturalists tell us that bees do not 

 need water for their brood ; that they can rear plenty of young 

 bees without a drop of water ; but the practical apiarist who 

 learns bee-culture by the experience of daily observation, 

 knows that the bees do use a great deal of water. He has ob- 

 served them, in early springs, around streams, pumping up 

 the moisture from between the grains of sand on the river's 

 edge, or the dew from the moist leaves ; he has seen them ven- 

 ture out in cool days, evidently with no other purpose than 

 that of getting water, and he knows that, altho they may be 

 able to breed some without water when honey is fresh and 

 thin, they surely need a great deal of it to prepare the food 

 for the larvM when the honey is thick and the pollen dry, as 

 it must be after winter. 



We would, therefore, say : After an open winter — one in 

 which the bees have had a flight once every two or three 

 weeks, or oftener — if they have sustained but little loss and 

 have plenty of brood, we would not hesitate to transport them 

 in the beginning of March, and would think it hardly neces- 

 sary to pack them up again, except perhaps the weak colonies, 

 of which there are always a few in a good-sized apiary ; but if 

 the winter has been hard, if the breeding has barely begun, 

 or if there have been heavy losses, we would use a great deal 

 of care, and would surely give them a new packing when 

 placed on their new stands. 



There is one case in which we would entirely abstain from 

 transporting them on March first, and that is, if the weather 

 has been so that they have not had a flight for a month or 

 more previous to moving them, and if the weather is still so 

 rude as to prevent their flight shortly after they have been re- 

 moved. The moving would disturb them and would cause 

 them to scatter about the hive. Probably a number of bees in 

 each hive would be chilled. Perhaps, also, the extra exertion 

 would induce them to consume more than usual, and their in- 

 testines, already loaded with feces, would become so much 

 more embarrast, and the result, unless a warm day came quick- 

 ly, would very probably be disastrous. 



In any case, it is well to move them shortly after they 

 have had one good flight. Rather move them a little earlier, 

 after a good flight, than wait and disturb them during a two 

 weeks' or three weeks' confinement, such as we sometimes see 

 in March, especially in late winters. 



One thing above all, is very important: Be sure that they 

 are compelled, on their first flight after the change, to notice 

 their change of residence. If they cannot fly out the very day 

 on which they are moved, they will be quite likely, when the 

 excitement is over, to Issue out of the hive, as if nothing had 

 happened— that is, without looking behind. A bee, in Its first 

 two or three flights out of its hive, takes a close observation 

 of the surroundings and notices the exact spot of its home so 

 closely that if you move the hive afterwards, if it were but 

 one foot in any direction, it will have some diflSculty In recog- 

 nizing the entrance. 



After the first two or three flights, the bee never looks 

 back, but darts out straight. So if you move them and they 

 do not have a chance to fly for two or three days, or even till 

 the next day, the excitement being over, they will have prob- 

 ably forgotten all about it, and will not even suspect that the 

 location has been changed. The bees will issue as usual in a 

 straight line, and will not notice the change till they are a few 

 feet away ; perhaps they will not think of looking back be- 

 fore they have gone a hundred feet or more. Then, if there 

 are a number of hives close together, there will be some con- 

 fusion, and many bees will be lost. There is a very simple 

 way to prevent this. Place something in front of the hives, 

 so they may know, before they take wing, that there Is a 

 change in the outside conditions. We use a slanting board In 

 front of the entrance, around which they have to fly. This 

 calls their attention to the change at once. Another way is to 

 keep tho hives closed till the middle of a warm day ; but this 

 method will irritate them more than the flrst. 



