Jan. 30, l')l)2 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



75 



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Beginner's Experience with Bees. 



'I'liu iiKiri- I read llio American lice 

 Jciurnal the more I want to, hoping 

 in this wav to Icarn more ahout tlie 

 lillh' licos of wliicli I know very little, 

 although I have l)ccn keeping and hand- 

 line them for five years. 



When I captured my first swarm 

 off some weeds at the end of a corn- 

 row that I was cultivating, I thought 

 I had performed a great feat. I also 

 thought within a few years I would 

 he a full-fledged bee-man. But I have 

 found there are many things lo learn 

 about bee-keening. 



I Kept this swarm in a salt-barrel 

 (with a cross and support) the first sea- 

 son and winter. The following spring 

 (having lots of hogs and only one bar- 

 rel of bees) I traded a hog for a 

 colony of bees in a deep box-hive, and 

 an e-xtra hive; then I transferred the 

 old colony from the barrel to the box- 

 hive. I did not like thp hive, although 

 the man I got them of said they were 

 about as good as any made. 



At this time I procured "A B C of 

 Bee-Culture," and learned of the Lang- 

 sfroth hive. ,ind at once sent for three 

 of them, and I am using nothing else 

 now. 



I got along \ervi nicely for a couple 

 of years; then I had 13 colonies. I 

 had been wintering them on the suin- 

 mer stands, but the winter of 1889-90 I 

 lost eight of the 13 before the winter 

 was half over._ So I out the remain- 

 ing five colonies in the cellar under 

 the dining-room, as we had just com- 

 pleted a new house, and I had built 

 ,a cellar large and roomy; I concluded 

 it was a better pince for the bee'? of 

 Nebraska. Our cellar is 10 feet deep, 

 15 bv 22. brick walls, cement floor, ceil- 

 ing lathed and plastered, and entrance 

 from the east porch. I take the wia- 

 dow out and slat the hole and pack 

 with straw. The mercury stands at 42 

 degrees until near snring or warm 

 weather. I have never lost a colonv 

 in the cellar from any cause. So it 

 is natural for me to advocate the cellar- 

 winterin? for bees. 



The season of 1900 was so dry and 

 hot here, or something, that my bees 

 stored very little honey, and cast only 

 one swarm from the five colonies. 



The past season was a good one 

 here. One colony of hybrids that did 

 not swarm stored 96 pounds of comb 

 honey, and another 80 pounds, which 

 I thought was good. 



I had one colony whose queen got 

 crippled, losing a wing, and she must 

 have been a superseded queen, because 

 she laid nothing but drone-eggs, or all 

 the brood was drone-brood from her 

 eggs. Well. I tried for about three 

 weeks to get them to start queen-cells 

 by giving fresh frames of eggs and 

 brood from other hives, but they would 

 not. So some time in September I sent 

 for a queen to out with them. Well, 

 sir, _ Mr. York, those bees had become 

 so indolent, or lazy, or something (I 



To makd cnws pav. iis« SharplAS rrf^am .Spnarators. Book 

 "BusinesB Dairying"* Cat. 212 free. W Chester.Pa 



HEADQUARTER 



I Ok 



Bee=Supplies. 



ROOT'S GOODS AT THEIR 

 FACTORY PRICES. 



Distributor of same for THE SOUTH, TEN- 

 NESSEE, KENTUCKY, WEST VIR- 

 GINIA, ILLINOIS aud OHIO. 



Complete stock for 1902 now on hand. 



The freights from Cincinnati are the 

 lowest. 



Prompt service is what I practice. Sat- 

 isfaction guaranteed. 



Catalog mailed free — send for same. 



The Standard Honey-Jars, Langstroth 

 Hives, etc., at lowest prices. 



You will save money by buying from 



™e- C. H. W. WEBER, 



2146-214S Central Ave., CINCINNATI, OHIO. 

 Successor to Chas. F.Muth & Son and A. Muth. 

 Please mention Bee Journal •when writing. 



STOVE 

 PIPE 



can be made of 

 h'n metal, because 



it is not exposed to 

 be weather, but 



SMOKE STACKS 



MAIL BOXES 



must be heavy weight or 

 they will prove SHORT 

 LIVED. Ours is the only 

 HEAVY STEEL PL^TE 

 BOX approved by the Government. Send 

 for booklet. Tells all about it. 



Bond Steel Post Go., ftdrain, Mich. 



1 



Please mention Bee jotirnal when •writing. 



Don't Take Chances 



There is no better baUhcrin 



Ihenorl.ithanthellnwk.-.io 



Incobator.Three wallo.cftp- 

 jiir pipe healiDK syMtm. 

 pateatsafety lamp andnum- 

 tiy. Our $10 proposition. 

 1 arpe e'ze, en free trial. 



Write at cncpfor tipe book- 



Ift, or send 10 cents for book aod a leading 1 

 per for one year, 

 Inruhalor r<>. Dop 17,Newton,Ia, 



Please mention Bee Jotirnal wlien writlna 



"What Happened to Ted" 



BY ISABELLE HORTON, 



This is a true story of the poor aad unfor- 

 tunate in cifj life. Miss Horton. the author, 

 is a deacoDess whose experiences among the 

 city poverty stricken are both interesting and 

 sad. This particular short story — 00 piiy:es. 

 5x0-'4 inches, bound iu paper cover — gives 

 somewhat of an insitrht into a little of the 

 hard lot of the poor. Price, postpaid, only 10 

 cents (stamps or silver.) Address. 



ISABELLE HOt=(TON. 



22" East Ohio Street, Chicago, III, 

 Please mentinn B^e Journal "wni^n "wntin? 



75 colonies PiMfBK 



g-uod, dovetail hives, itj in. square by 11^ in. 

 deep All Efood, straight combs. 



5A2t O. HOLDkEN, Gilium, McLean Co., 111. 



Please mention Bee Journal when ■writing, 



of the American Bee 

 JonRNAL for sale. All 

 complete except a 

 mibsing'. Address, 



15 Volumes 



single week's copy niibc 



Daniel Wuss, New Philadelphia, Ohio 



Please mention the Bee Journal. 



.ill let yiiw name it;, that they would 

 ot try to release the queen from the 

 cage. ."50 after about so hours of wait- 

 injf I let her out of the cage, to go in 

 among them, and everything seemed 

 all riprht frurn tliat on. In a few flays 

 she began l.iying, anrl October being a 

 fine nioiith, by feeding I kept her laying 

 all throuch the month, and I think they 

 are all right for winter. 



I fed granulated sugar syrup. And 

 right here I would like to ask. Is there 

 anv danger of this granulating in the 

 cells so hard that the bees cannot get 

 it out? 



W. H. Root. 

 Cedar Co., Nebr., Dec. 24. 



fYcs, thfrc is ilanger if you used no 

 aiid. If you feed as (tarly as August or 

 early in September, and use equal parts 

 of suf^ar and water, the l)ees will so pre- 

 pare the food that it wiil be all right 

 without any aeid. Hut if you feed as 

 late as October and use as much water 

 as sugar, there is danger that the bees 

 will not succeed in evaporating the feed 

 surii<'iently ; and possibly if they should 

 get it thicl< enough they would not pro- 

 duce the chemical changes that prevent 

 jiranulatioii. So if you must use syrup 

 in October, take 2 pounds of water to 5 

 of suojar, and about the time the sugar 

 is dissolved stir into it an even teaspooii- 

 ful of tartaric acid for every 20 pounds 

 of sugar, first dissolving the acid in a 

 little water. — Editor.! 



Wlnteping Bees— Arnica for Bee- 

 Stings. 



I have been a constant reader of 

 the "Old Reliable" for the last three 

 years — have read every issue very care- 

 fully — and noticed the many questions 

 and their answers, and the opinion of 

 dit¥erent bee-men on the honey-bee 

 question. I am well pleased to hear 

 bee-men give their plans and opinions 

 and new ideas for publication in the 

 American Bee Journal, for it is in this 

 way we all learn something new. 



I winter my bees on the summer 

 stands. I have what I 'call a winter- 

 case, made five inches larger all around 

 than the hive, and six inches higher, 

 so as to admit a super on top of the 

 hive. In September I place this win- 

 ter-case over each hive and pack them 

 well with chaff, putting a Hill's device 

 over the frames, then a winter super — 

 that is, a super without any slats 

 across the bottom — then a piece of bur- 

 lap followed by a thick, heavy cushion 

 which fills the super, making four 

 inches right over the cluster. Then I 

 ]mt on a cover on top of the super. 

 then the cover on the winter-case, 

 making all tight and warm. I have 

 used this way of wintering for a num- 

 ber of -ears and have never lost a 

 colony of bees, and we have some pretty 

 cold weather here in Michigan. 



I\Iy apiary consists of 13 colonies, 

 as I live in the city and have not very 

 much room. I keep the increase down 

 and work for comb honey. As soon 

 as my bees fly well in the spring I com- 

 mence to feed ; not because they are 

 starving, but to stimulate them and 

 start the queen to laying. Then when 

 the honey-flo%v comes, which is white 

 clover here, my bees are ready for 

 work, for the hives are full of bees. 

 If the}' choose to swarm I let them 

 come out and cluster, then I set a new 



