IS'X' 



(^MOANINIJS IN 1U-:K Cl'I/PlTRE. 



133 



nKiin: Imt i-nuldii"! i li(\ di 

 it? 

 MaiTiiiro, 111. 



niiic'thinsj towiud 

 Mm MA W II, SON. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



SOME NOTES ON WINTERING. ETC. 



WISK IIINIS KKOM MK 



1 woiiili'i' iiow till' friciulsiil ilic lloiiicor the 

 IIohi'v-Im'cs, aiul also oihci's of our in'c-kccijinii 

 frii'iuis, iiiaiia;;!' to kvf\\ liwir bees in llic i-cjlar 

 oool (Mioiiiili this svaiiii Dt'ct'inbcr woaiiicr. \Vi' 

 Ikivo R':* foloiiifs in our ccllaf. '.'0 x :.'() f(>ot. nn- 

 dt'i- our house, and no tire above, cxecpt at one 

 ooriii'r. Thi'v arc lliitiiiiz: out (|uiti' a yooil deal. 

 We inishl open one or morf windows w hii-h we 

 piastiM'fd lip. cxpi'i'liiiff a I'oid winter: iMit Mr. 

 Axtt'li thi'iUs if h(> docs open tlicni he will have 

 tlicin to plaster up again in a day or two. 'i'h(>y 

 now have one window and a <ioor. and a sub- 

 eartli veiililalor. all opcninir outdoors. 



I can't help fcariiiix that one reason for so 

 many (littinu out is honcy-dcw: and yet 1 can't 

 see that tiicrc are many more on tlie lluor under 

 stioh iiivos than there are under th(^ hivc^s 

 where fed on sugar syrup, as thosi; fed on sugar 

 syrup an> marked for the W(>aker ones, and ar(> 

 put in the center of tlic cellar. Hut surely If 

 this great waste of bees goes on all winter as it 

 has thus far. t lie colonies can't be very strong 

 by spring unless they rear brood in the cellar; 

 and yet. unless there were a good many bees per 

 colony. 1 don't sec how they kcej) the waimtli 

 of the cellar to 4'.' and even to 4('. and 4S. At 4:.' 

 they don't Hit much. I.,ast night it was above 

 M for the first time. I don't know but it would 

 have been better to put in fewer colonies. We 

 have a large entrance by raising u]) the front 

 hoard an inch or so: and this winter and last we 

 have left out the chaff', with the honey-board 

 on top of the lices turned ovci- from what it was 

 in the summer when on top of the surplus. 



I look for a great loss of bees this winter, both 

 in oiir apiary and throughout the West. 



Tlierc seems to be no royal road to prevent 

 bees from swarming. The devices all cost too 

 much to come into general use. and will be par- 

 tial failures: but out of this agitation some- 

 thing will assuredly grow. Except for the loss 

 of time to the bees I would rather a few would 

 swarm than to tit swarm-catchers to eacli hive 

 and have to remove them again in the fall, and 

 no swarms issue. 



For my part, I think where the greatest fail- 

 ure in be(!-keeping is. is in not getting the colo- 

 nies strong enough to swarm, and the fault is 

 away back the fall before. We always get a 

 good crop of lioney when we get lots of swarms: 

 and if we could only do with our bees as well as 

 we know how, they would pay us better. 



Tell the lady who lost so many of her chick- 

 ens from cholera to k'cc]) copperas in their 

 drinking-vessel — about a lablr'spoonfiil to a pail 

 of water — and give them i)li'iuy of shai'ij gi'avel. 

 If they do not have any. pound up broken crock- 

 ery and feed them. Also burn corn and feed 

 them n< '-harcoal. A few chickens will keep 

 heallUN without much care: l)ul when oueut- 

 tempts to raise a large nunil)er they need a 

 great deal more care to keei) them healthy. An 

 ounce of prevention is belter than a poiind of 

 cure among poultry. Mrs. L. C. Axtem.. 



Roscville. Ills.. iV'c. I'.i. 18!tl. 



CONVENTION NOTICES. 



The 9th Sfiui aiiiiuul ine<.tiii;.' ni the Susquehanna Co. liee- 

 keepers will be at Biillard's Hotel, in Brooklyn, on Thnis- 

 (lay. Majr R. at 10 a.m., at which time tlie officers tor the ensuinp 

 year will be elei-ted. -All are cordially inyjted. 



H M.Seei.f.y. Sec. Harford. Pa. 



The Cortland Union Bee-keepers' Asfoeiation will hold it> 

 annual meeting in the W C. T. U rooms. Cortland, on Tues.. 

 Feb. !«. Allinviu-d. M. H. F.ilKBA.NKs. Sec. Homer. X. Y. 



FOITI, KKOOT) R.VOl.NO IN .NPiimASKA; .\N KAK- 



NMOST Afl'i:AI, KOU ACTIO.N TO ST.W 



rrs i'KO(iKK.s,s. 



1 send you by this mail a jMice list sent to inc. 

 Look on |)agcs !!() and 31. \\)\\ said at the .\1- 

 t)any comention you thought, foul brood was 

 diininisliing. If the oi)eratioiis of some of the 

 l)ec-kccpers of Nebraska are a fair sample of 

 the country, then I beg to dilTci' with you. Here 

 is a i)rice list published here. otVering to take 

 bees in exchange for sui)|)lies, jtroliaijly to l)c 

 used in tilling orders. Here is a section of coun- 

 try that I believe it would be haid to find one 

 a|)iary in that is free from foul i)rood. I hon- 

 estly do not liclieve there is one. Here is a 

 littli' city where there were rotten combs 

 thrown out in the street last summer. This is 

 a n^gular hotbed of (ilth and corruption as far 

 as lices are concerned. I find it impo.ssibl(% on 

 account of diseased robber-bees of neighbor- 

 ing bee-keepers, to keep my bees <Mitirely free 

 from it, although I can easily keep it in check 

 so that it does not hurt them for honey- 

 gathering. We have the genuine article here — 

 at least. Prof. Cook so pronounced the samples 

 I sent him last .lune. Can you deny that the 

 Canadian law would be a good thing for these 

 parts, with a man at the head who knows th«^ 

 disease in all its stages, with nervt! enough to 

 enforce the law without partiality? I do not 

 believe that all the bee-keepers in Nebraska 

 are dead in the shell. It is about time some one 

 made a move in this matter. Are we all wait- 

 ing for each other? If so I will start tlu- ball 

 rolling. We have a State law on foul brood. 

 i)ut it is perfectly worthless as it stands. It 

 would do very well if it had only a little intelli- 

 gent tinkering done to it. Ei.mer Todd. 



York. Xeb., Jan. ~'8. 



[We said at Albany, that, so far as we could 

 judge from reports, foul brood was not only 

 diminishing in tlie United States, but that 

 there was very little of it. Our remarks applied 

 to the whole of the United States, without ref- 

 ei-ence to any particular State: and so far we 

 still insist on the truth of the statement. Foul 

 brood may have gotten a bad start in Nebraska, 

 and bee-keepers of that State should b(^ u]) and 

 doing at once. See that the State law is amend- 

 ed so as to be etfectual, and then follow the 

 examjile of the Canadians, and wipe out the 

 ppst.l 



THE I.MPHOVED HOFF.MAN FRAME; OB.JECTIOXS 

 TO V'ING THE SIDES OF THE END-BAK. 



I see that Dr. Miller has ventured to criticise 

 your new HotTman frame in (ii.EANiNos of .Ian. 

 1.5lh. Now . my experience with that frame!, in 

 regard to those V-shapcd end -bars, is just as 

 hi' surmises: that the bees will Mil the space in 

 the V-shaped end-bar with propolis, so as to 

 make thciii a nuisance: at least, that is what 

 they w ill do in Northern New York. 



The first Hoffman frames that I us(>d were 

 made that way. and I was obliged to discard 

 them on that account. I then made them with 

 straight edges, when I had no trouble as long 

 as they were kept close together; but I could 

 devise no way to accomplish this except by a 

 follower at the sides; and as my hives did not 

 admit of any contraction, I did not experiment 

 with them. 



The Hoffman frame, or any other closed-end 

 frame, must be held firmly ♦ogether to pi'event 

 the bees from propolizing the joints. 1 do not 

 believe it can be accomplished in any other 



