istc 



i.l,K.\\l\i.S IN |{1:K Cll/l'IKH. 



01 



ii'isiii. AiMunir (itliiT tliintr>. I >lit>\\ cd i he ;;cii- 

 tlcnu'ii tlu' llt'ilirrintfloii-<,>iiiiil)y liivi'. and liou 

 it difTcri'd fnnii iIk- (triirinal «^)iiiiihy. Wliilc Mr. 

 Dadiint acUiiowlrdircd iliaiitwas tu'ilcr tliaii 

 tli<- (ui^inal liivc and w liilf it iniixhl l)t> llic 

 only tliinir thai the hcc-Ui'ciMMs in S'orU Stali'. 

 aim Ml IT I In- hills, could nsr. he i-ould not toi('i"al<' 

 it tor his section id' countiT he was snrc Mr. 

 Ilamhaiisrh took no particular side in this dis- 

 iMission. \N'e next wtMit out into the apiary, 

 where I showed them w hat experiments I was 

 maUinji in the mallei- of outdoor w iiilerinii - 

 why I was <;i-adiially leaiiinj; toward liavinu; no 

 absorbents over chalT-packed colonies, and w by 

 I was lieirinniiiir to believe that a sealed cover. 

 covered with plenty of |)acl<inff material, was 

 belter. Mr. Dadaiit disagreed again. Of all 

 the experiments ihey had made, they had coiue 

 to the decision that absorbents are (piite neces- 

 sary for outdoor wiiiterinir. 1 showed tlnin 

 outdoor colonies packed both ways: Imt it was 

 too early in the season to notice any practical 

 difference. We finally strolli'd over to that por- 

 tion of the yard where the Shane bees are 

 located, and which was illnsiiated recently. 

 Tiie hives of tliis apiary are all inside of our 

 new outside w inter packing-cases. Mr. Ifam- 

 bangli and Mr. Dadaiit both seemed to like the 

 arrangement. 



liut I must not forget to tell you a little inci- 

 dent that liappened while w(^ were in the yard. 

 The two Illinois men were discussing the meth- 

 ods of wintering outdoors. .\s they disagreed 

 on politics, so they disagreed here. Of coui'se. I 

 <lid all I could to make the discussion wax 

 warm: but to me they paid no attention, so 

 intent was each in making his point. Very 

 fortunately for our readers, a Kodak tieiid 

 happened to be near the scene, and secured a 

 picture while they were in the height of dis- 

 <'USsion. Fig. 1 is the result — a snap shot, as 

 you see. 



A few minutes later, they came to an under- 

 standing: and after all their talk they found 

 they agreed after all. At this juncture this 

 same Kodak tiend took another pictui'e. Well, 

 he and the writi'r were working in collusion, 

 and I have sei-ured the pictures. 



Those who are acquainted with the gentle 

 men will at once recognize them: and Fig. 2 

 shows the disputants just as they had come to 

 an agreement, and had. said. "Oh I I .see now 

 what you mean." Hut even then they would 

 not listen to me. although I had been talking 

 to them about the winter case. They finally 

 turned to me. and I i)resume they noticed a 

 smile of triumphant pleasure on my face, for I 

 had just seen the Kodak tiend slip out of sight 

 with his treasures of pictui'es. '• Root is cooking 

 up some mischief." said Dadant: but I pi'otest- 

 ed my innocence. When I bade them good-by 

 as they took leave on the tiain. they botli seem- 

 ed to think that I had gotten them into some 

 sort of "trap." Their last words were, as thev 

 siuig out. " We'll get even with you." 



FIXED DISTANCES. 



\VII.\T AN .\f.STK.\I,lA.\ THINKS OF TIIK.M. 



I am somewhat i)uzzled at s()m(^ of your bee- 

 men advocating eight fianies in the bi'ood-nest. 

 I am using tin. Laiigstroth size, and tliest; are 

 not sufticieiit foi- thi- queen, and she takes 

 chai'ge of three of foui' frames in the up|)er 

 chamber. With regaid to frames at fixed dis- 

 tances, about six years asjo 1 gave you a de- 

 scription, will) drawings, of the hive and frames 

 I devised and iiad in use. Vou pronounced it a 

 good hive. l)ut said bee-keepers in .America 

 t-ould not toleiate frames at fixed distances. 



However. I have stuck to it. and havi' laken 

 lirst iioMors eveiy time at the exhibitions: and 

 now I lind the Americans are <'oming around to 

 my way of I liinking. and I don't think thev will 

 r<'gi'''t it. 'I'lioM.vs Dixon. 



.Mastertdii. New Zealand. .Nov. :.'.S. 



I Difference in localion makes considerable 

 difference as to the size of hive. The S-frame 

 hive gives the best results foi' most localities.] 



Ladies Conversazione. 



SPRAYING 



FRUIT-TREES AN 

 BEES. 



INJURY TO 



OIT- Al'l AlilKS I.\ I'OOi; SK.\S()X> 



Have any of the fiiends in i)e<' culture experi- 

 enced troubli' from bees dying off bet'ause fi'uit- 

 ti'ees were si)i'ayed near their apiary".' Mr. 

 Axtell sprayed our fruit-trees and vines four 

 different times, but sjirayed none while in blos- 

 som. l>ut at the right lime after th<' fruit had 

 set. as per A. J. Cook and Wm. Stalil. of 

 <^iincy. III. Our bees, when taken from the 

 cellar, were in fair condition, and seemed to 

 piosper as well as bees usually do in tlie si)i-ing. 

 all the while having all the biood they could 

 take care of. so that the most of our colonies, 

 we thought, would be strong enough to gather 

 honey w lien w hite clover canu'. without fui'tlier 

 building up. This time of looking througli 

 them was about the time api)le-trees were 

 sprayed. Two weeks later, in looking tlirougli 

 they were no stronger, and we feared that not 

 many would be strong enough for the honey 

 harvest, so we took out brood fr-om some and 

 built up others, so as to have as many sti'ong as 

 possible, and yet ih(>y did not build up. There 

 seemed to be but few old bees in the hives the 

 first of .June, although the combs all the while 

 were full of brood, and cover(>d with young 

 bees: but they seemed to die off as soon as they 

 began to work. This was the condition of the 

 hives all through .lune in our home apiary. 



At our out-apiary, four miles away, ne'ai' the 

 timber, thecolonies were not thusaffected. They 

 were wintei-ed out of doors, and built upinto line 

 strong colonies by the lirst of .lune. neai'ly eve- 

 ry colony, and gathered some .^OO lbs. of surplus 

 from honey-d(!\v l)esides increasing to as sti'ong 

 colonies as I ever saw: yet theic was no swarm- 

 ing. They seemed to know what a hmg dearth 

 of iuuiey was before them. 



In the home; apiary there were so few old bees 

 that they could not (!ven fill up their brood- 

 combs with honey. There was a strip of hick- 

 ory timber about one mile away, from which 

 they gathered .som(^ honey-dew — enough to 

 have caused the colonies to become pojjulous. 

 They were not so strong on tlu^ first of July 

 as th<'y often are no th<! first of June. Could 

 this have been a case of common p])ring 

 dwindling'.' It.seemed different from any thing 

 we ever had before, as, in othei' years when we 

 had spring dwindling, they died off as soon as 

 taken from the cellai'. which they did not do 

 this spring. They acted just as if some one 

 had |)oisoned them: but we have no r(;ason to 

 think any neighbor or any one el.se would do so. 

 If poisoned they must have got it from the vines 

 and trees at home, perhaps si|)ping water fiom 

 the leaves or from the forks of the branches or 

 limbs of the tn-es weeks after. Mi'. Axtell 

 thinks it was not from spraying the trees, 

 as he watched tiie bees for several days after, 

 and could never see bees sippi:ig water from the 

 leaves. Hut I have feared that it was. What 

 do others think'.' Have thev heard of such a 



