Oct. 2, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



629 



with them generally handle them at or about the ui)rif,'lits. 

 In whatever way they are liandled (and especially if it Ijc the 

 latter way), a certain aininint of jjropolis or bee-jfliie is 

 bound to j;et on the fin(,'^Lrs in time, and this is a distinct 

 annoyance. With the liritish frames there are neither bcos 

 nor propolis on the part wliere the frames are to be handltd, 

 and if two hands are used this part is the very best part fcjr 

 readily jccttinj; a pood grip of tlie frame, especially with the 

 room that is given for it. I have handled both the regular 

 up-to-date Langstroth, and the IJritish Standard frames, in 

 my apiary, and I must say I can work more (juickly and 

 easily with the latter. 



The projecting ends of the top-bars in the British Stan- 

 dard frame are also very handy if one wishes to carry one 

 or two frames a short distance. Two of them can be carried 

 by the projecting lugs top to top between the thumb and 

 fore-finger of one hand, and the smoker being carried in 

 the other hand. It is astonishing how quickly work can be 

 done. Of course, I am more used to handling British frames 

 than American frames, and it may be that if I were as ac- 

 customed to handling the latter as I am the former I might 

 not find them so inconvenient. 



There seems to be a movement on foot in favor of 

 double-walled hives in America. In such hives the oppor- 

 tunity might be taken to give a longer top-bar a trial. It is 

 difficult to see how the top-bar can be lengthened in the 

 regular dovetailed hive now in use without bringing on seri- 

 ous troubles. Even in such a hive there would still be the 

 drawback — perhaps of little real moment — of the possibility 

 of propolis and bees getting into the part where the frame 

 is to be handled, and the only way to get over this would be 

 to use quilts, and no bee-space, over the frames, as the Brit- 

 ish do. This might be all right for some queen-breeders, 

 but it would not do for honey-producers and the bulk of bee- 

 keepers. England. 



Wintering Bees— Some Experiences. 



Jieiai at t/w lust J/iitiicsota Bee-Keepers^ Cuni'eiitiuii 



BY J. B. DEXTER. 



About SO years ago, while living in Picataquis Co., 

 Maine, I had my first attack of " bee-fever." With lots of 

 pains and some danger I obtained 20 colonies of bees. I had 

 them in nice, little box-hives on a raised platform. I 

 thought at that time that they were very beautiful and in- 

 teresting. They were large, with bright black and yellow 

 stripes around the bodies. 



Well, they worked and multiplied until fall, but then 

 they were attacked with not spring dwindling— but " fall " 

 dwindling, and I did not winter one. They were bumble- 

 bees, and I was 'i years old. 



The next fall a lady gave me a colony of honey-bees, 

 but by the following spring they were all dead. Since that 

 time I have kept bees a good many years, and my thoughts 

 have often been turned to the welfare of my bees in winter. 

 I will now mention a few of the many ways I have known 

 bees to winter. 



While I lived in Maine, as far as I knew, bees were 

 always wintered on the summer stands. I have known the 

 snow to drift six feet dcepovcr the hives, and in the spring, 

 when a crust formed on top, we would count the holes that 

 the heat from the hives melted through the snow. I never 

 knew a colony to die and leave honey in the hives those 

 years. 



From 1870 to 1882 I kept bees in Floyd Co., Iowa. My 

 bees did well in the summer, but I lost more or less each 

 winter, owing, as I thought, to a very damp cellar and to 

 the large amount of honey-dew in the fall. One fall, when 

 I considered them in bad shape, I let one-third of the bees 

 stay on the summer stands, and another third I put into the 

 cellar. For the other third I opened a long, deep trench in 

 a large bin of oats and put the colonies in there and covered 

 them deep with the oats. When spring came I found all the 

 bees in the cellar dead, and also all on the summer stands. 

 I supposed that all would be dead in the oats, and so did not 

 open them until the first of May. Then, to my surprise, I 

 found the hives full to overflowing with bees, and all the 

 frames that were emptied of honey were full of brood. I 

 never had bees do as well as those bees did that summer, 

 and I noticed that the oats was cut up under the hives, as 

 though mice had nested there. 



One lady wintered one colony with the hive inclosed in 

 a tight box under the kitchen table, and another wintered a 

 colony behind the doors of a room used as a sleeping-room. 



I know a man who keeps a small apiary in his chamber, 

 and finds that not more bees die from IS colonies than I 

 could hold in my hands. 



For the last ten years I have lived in Todd Co., Minn. 

 My bees have wintered (1898 excepted) without loss, in a cel- 

 lar kept at a temperature of about 33 degrees, Fahr. Mr. M. 

 Osborn, of Wadena County, has wintered bees directly un- 

 der his stationary engine, which was running most of the 

 winter. 



To sum it all up, bees with plenty of stores of light, 

 sealed honey, will come through a long winter under cir- 

 cumstances that would prove fatal to bees with dark, poor 

 honey. 



I The Denver Convention. I 



•^ ■ ^ 



^ Report of the Proceeding's of the Thirty-third Annual Con- C- 



^ vention of the National Bee-Keepers' Association, 5^ 



^ held in Denver, Colo., on Wednesday, Thurs- ST 



^ day and Friday, Sept. 3, 4 and 5, 1902. «^ 



The first session began Wednesday 

 evening, at 8:30 o'clock, with J. U. 

 Harris, president of the Colorado State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, in the chair, 

 and, after the invocation by the Rev. 

 R. H. Rhodes, and the rendering of a 

 musical selection by the .Eolian Quar- 

 tet of the College of Music, Denver, 

 Gov. James B. Orman was introduced 

 to the convention in the following 

 words : 



Mr. Harris — Ladies and Gentlemen : 

 It gives me great pleasure this evening 

 to have one speak to the National con- 

 vention the words of welcome who has 

 done more as a Governor of this State 

 in the interests of bee-keepers than any 

 Governor it has ever had since its in- 



auguration as a State. I have pleasure 

 in introducing to you our chief execu- 

 tive, the Hon. J. B. Orman. 



Address of Welcome by Gov. Orman. 



Jfr. Pyctikh'ut, it)id delegates to the Xathnal 

 and iState Bee- Keepers^ Convention : 



On behalf of all the people of the 

 great State of Colorado, I wish to ex- 

 tend to you a most hearty welcome. I 

 consider the bee-industry one of the 

 greatest and noblest in the United 

 States to-day. In traveling over the 

 State of Colorado, and other States 

 which I have been in during the past 

 10 or IS years, and, more particularly, 

 the past 4 or 5 years, I have noticed 

 bee-culture on nearly all of the farms 



and ranches. Take it north of Denver, 

 up and in and about Boulder, Greeley, 

 and along the Platte River, you can 

 hardly find a ranch or a farm but has 

 more or less bees. Take it along the 

 Arkansas River, in and about Rocky 

 Ford, and all the way from Pueblo to 

 the State line, and almost every farm 

 or ranch has its bee-hives. This is 

 something that is very noticeable in 

 traveling over the State. 



Take it on the western slope, at 

 Grand Junction and Montrose, and a 

 number of otherplaces along the Grand 

 River, and along the Gunnison and 

 other rivers and streams where there 

 are a number of ranches, and you will 

 find bees on almost everj- ranch and 

 farm. Gentlemen, as I have already 

 stated, the industry is one of the larg- 

 est that we have at the present time, 

 and it is becoming larger yearly : it is 

 something- that is becoming very no- 

 ticeable, much more so than it was 

 some years ago ; and these conven- 

 tions and gatherings tend to help along 

 and increase the industry. The people 

 of this State are taking more or less 

 interest yearly ; their meetings here 

 are advertised well all over the State, 

 and not only in this State, but all 

 over the United States. The news- 

 papers are advertising it, the people 

 are reading about it ; they know- it is 



