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Lkttkhs tliiit. an> coniiiiji in cvciy day s('<>iii 

 tosliowtliat l)ct<s are siill wiiitcriiij; irinarUa- 

 Itly Nv<'ll. Tlioso in (Mir ()\\ n apiary wi'rc Mr\cr 

 in hi'tti'i' ctiiulilioii at tiiis linn'ol' year, and \\v 

 huvt' had an unusuali\' i-oid and scvi'rc winlcr. 

 You will rciucinbcr tiiiit. late last fall, we stated 

 we \V(>i-<> w intcrins colonics outdoors in various 

 t'onditions— some of tlicin w itli scaled covers, 

 sonii' Willi atisorhinii ciishi(nis. in large ehafl' 

 hives, in the small one-story chatV hives, and 

 still others in one-story siiigle-walled hives, 

 witli an outside winter protectiiisi-case. It is a 

 little funny, hut the colonies are all wintering: 

 (•(lually well. Those in the large chafl' hives 

 are doing no hetler than those in the single- 

 walled hives with protecting cases, with only a 

 dead-air space, so called, hetween the two 

 walls. It is funnier still, hut the colonies hav- 

 ing iibsorhing cushions, and those having sealed 

 covers, so far as we can examine the latter, are 

 wintering just about aliUe. ]{ut this does not 

 necessarily prove that absorbing cushions are 

 equal to sealed covers. Our winter has been re- 

 niar.Uably cold and dry. Hut wail until we get 

 a mild muggy winter, with tlie ground reeking 

 with dampness, accompanied by frequent rains. 

 It is then that the sealed covers would assert 

 their superiority. Strangi' as it may appear, 

 we have lost more colonies outtloors during 

 semi-mild winters than during winters that 

 were severi^ly cold. W(> have wintered the bees 

 nicely so far. and it only remains to be seen how 

 well w(> shall xjtrimj them. 



■'Oil. yes I"' some one will ask: '"why didn't 

 you try wintering colonies outdoors in single- 

 walled hives, along with the others, without 

 any protection ? Perhaps they would have 

 wintei-ed eciually well with the rt^st." 



Oh, nol We tried that expeiiment last win- 

 ter on .")() colonies, and lost them all. Those 

 having protection ((?/ wintered. We thought it 

 was useless to throw away any more colonies by 

 trying them without protection. It does not pay. 



CO.ST OF PRODUCING HONEY; GRADING HONEY. 



Vxui and intelligent discussion, without acri- 

 mony, as we believe we have in this issue, 

 brings out many valuable points. While some 

 of the debaters, if we may call them such, have 

 a/>/»((rc/t/?i/ stepped beyond the bounds of broth- 

 erly kindness in their riqjlies. yet we are very 

 sure there is no ill feeling: and if theii' words 

 were uttered in convention they would be light- 

 ed up by many a comical twinkle of good na- 

 tiHv. Quite by accident, the discussion in this 

 issue as it appears on the first pages is handled 

 by the giants in our pursuit— some of the first 

 writers in all beedom. I'nfortunately it is a 

 little lopsided, leaving .Mr. Doolitlle all alone. 

 We desire to have all disi-ussion. so far as it 

 may appear in (;i,k.\.\in(;s. well and evenly 

 balanced: and although Mr. Doolittle is on 

 I'otiier side of the fence to what we are, we have 

 just learned that one of the " giants" in York 

 State favors .Mr. Dooliitle's sidi' of the discus- 

 sion, and we have therefore asked him to write 

 an article for our next issne. We think we 

 shall then have to declare the discussion for 

 the present at an end: and in the meantime it 

 would be pertinent for bee-keepers, who are in 

 position to do so, to keep carc-ful account, so far 

 as ihi-y are able, of what it costs them to produce 

 their crop of honey for the ensuing year. The 

 discussion that we have already had on the 

 subject will give plenty of material on which 

 to work. 



Tile subji^ct of grading honey seems to have 

 received already its fair share of attention: 

 and while there may be some points that will 

 pass unnoticed we think best to declare this 



discussion at an end for the present. The whole 

 subject has been discussed thoroughly and in- 

 telligently, and the only thing that remains 

 now is for a national Ixuiy of bee-keei)ers to 

 agi'ee upon and recommend a system or systems 

 ofgi'ading. li looks now as if it would i)e im- 

 possible for all bee-keepers to agii'e upon any 

 one sciiedule. As we intimated in our last is- 

 sue, we may be obliged to have two and pos- 

 sibly three systems of classification. In this 

 (^vent the bee-keepcMS of t he Kast will have to 

 formulate a set of rules that will be acceptable 

 to them: so also, in a similar way. the bee- 

 keepers of the Mississippi Valley and Tacilic 

 Coast. It may appear that we, are disposed to 

 cut olf discussions prematurely; but it is better 

 to do so a little too soon than to let them go on 

 issue after issue until everybody is tired and 

 disgusted. There is [ilenty of other pabulum 

 in tlie field yet, and we do not wish to wear out 

 any one topic until it is threadbare, and thus 

 defeat the object of real discussion. 



m<;tting bees starve. 



While in California I found several apiaries 

 where the bees were starving. One apiary be- 

 longed to quite a young bee-keeper in his A H C 

 class. As he wanted more bees, he had been 

 raising queens and making artificial swarms 

 the fall before, until he had his colonies up to 

 200 or 300 in number. As the bees fly almost 

 every day in the year in that locality, he rather 

 thought they were getting enough. Hut just 

 before new honey should begin to come in In- 

 lost — how many colonies do yon suppose, by 

 starvation? Well, pretty nearly a hundred. 

 Then when he went to feeding, either he did 

 not feed enough or they got to robbing, until he 

 was getting pretty nearly discouraged. Less 

 than a mile away I visited another very pretty 

 apiary where every thing was tidy and neat, 

 and even a shade was made over the whole 

 apiary, of stakes, poles, and brush. This 

 shade is a necessity in hot climates, to keep the 

 combs from melting down. They wished me to 

 see whether foul brood was in their apiary or 

 not. Well, I did not find foul brood, but I did 

 find bees down on their backs, and giving their 

 last kicks because of starvation. I told my 

 good friend that, if he would give his bees a 

 good big feed, and get them up into tlirifty 

 shape, 1 thought his foul brood would all dis- 

 apijear. xs'ow, this brother has been investing 

 money in queens that produce^r''e-/*f(M(7c(7 hces. 

 and he wanted me to look at some of them. 1 

 told him I would much rather help him get 

 sotne feedei's. and feed every colony that needed 

 it, before another half-hour had gone by. An- 

 other friend told me that his bees were all right 

 in Deci-mber, but he hadn't looked at them 

 since. This was in .March. Now, it may do 

 for a veti'ian Xo let his bees alone from Decem- 

 ber till March: but where the weather is so 

 warm that bees are flying almost every day. I 

 think we had better look them over often, and 

 be sure thai they don't starve, or even come 

 pretty nair starving, .lust think of the labor 

 and pains required to make artificial swarms, 

 getting <'ach one with a good (pieen. the bees 

 taught to ijrotect their hive, and brood-rearing 

 set going so as to give th(;m sufficient force to 

 live through the winter— and after tliis. kicking 

 it all over by a little lack of attention! Some- 

 times it needs only half a pound of honey to 

 fetch them through: and if any of you are let- 

 ting your bees starve while you are sending 

 away for queens that produce five-banded bees, 

 I hope yon will turn over and do better. Uncle 

 Amos may come arotind when you don't expect 

 it. and tell it right out before all the world. 



Moral. — lie i<\ire your bees are not starving. 



A. I. R. 



