18irj 



(JLKAMNliS IN liKK ("Ul/rUIlK. 



253 



■ff'O/Ll^ 





-■^Jt PAGes7xI0 



If any of vtui lack wImIoiii. l.-t him ask of CkkI. that trivcth to 

 all moh iiiH-rally, and ii|<lii'aiilt'tli iu>l: and it ^liall ue ifiven 

 lliin.— jAMK-i !:.'>. 



TiiK oHii-oi-s of the Ontario Hce-koepors' Asso- 

 oiatiun an- as follows: ricsidciit, F. A. (Jcm- 

 ini'll; Vic('-pn>si(ltMit. A. IMt'kotl; Tivasiircr, 

 Siai'tiii Eniiiiii: SiH-rcIary. \V. ('oii-^c. The as- 

 sociation is well oniocird. and we heartily wish 

 it iiiiIhuiikIi'iI siil-ccss. cvimi though it has not 

 st'cii lit to al>iliaU> again tiiis y'eai' with the 

 North Ann'ricaii. 



Wk rcgivt to learn that 15ro. Newman, of the 

 AxuricdU Bee JouriKil. has been quite unwell 

 of late, as a result of the ix\]\). and tiuit it will 

 he absolutely necessary foi' him to takt^ a va- 

 cation of a month or six weeks. In tlie mean- 

 time an old employe. .Mr. <'. ^V. York, will take 

 cliarge of thi> journal. (ii.i'^.^xiXGs sincerely 

 hopes that the much-needed nsst will restore 

 him to Ileal til. 



SixcK our last issue. Mr. \V. O. Fx^ach. of 

 I'oldwater. Out., the inventor of the foundation- 

 fasliMier illustrated and dest-rilied on paffe 80.5. 

 Oct. l.">. ISUl. has demonstrated to us personally 

 that his fastener is a success— not only in fold- 

 ing sections but in puttint.' in foundation, both 

 operations being performed with one swing of 

 a lever. The macliines, we understand, are to 

 l)e made in this country by the \V. T. Falconer 

 Manufacturing Co.. of Falconer. N. Y. While 

 here. .Mr. L. told us that he could fold sections 

 and fasten starters in tlie same at the rate of 

 1,")(X) an hour. Some time ago. when we stated 

 that our girls, with the Daisy foundation-fas- 

 tener, could put foundation in the sections at 

 the rate of 1(X)() an hour, the statement was 

 challenged as Ixdng pretty big. It seems we 

 were not f)verstating. in view of .Mr. I^eacirs 

 acliievement. because Mr. Leach can do both 

 opei'ations at once^ 



Oi'K honey statistics for this year have hard- 

 ly got under way. In the meantime, we request 

 every siibsci'iber to send us a postal card, and 

 on it answer these two questions: ]. W'luit per 

 cent of your bees have wintered up to daU'V 2. 

 How <loes their condition compare with former 

 years? It is hardly possible that we shall get 

 a postal card from each of our ten tiiousand 

 subscribers, but we look for a large number. 

 Hee-keepers all over the land want to know (or 

 at least ouglit tO) how well bees have wintered, 

 liecanse it will have a direct bearing on tlie ex- 

 tent of the honey crop the coming .season. 

 .Simply answer the questions by number, and 

 sign your name, nothing further, and we shall 

 know what the cards are for. DoiTt put this 

 matter otf but irrite (it on<c. The answer, to be 

 available for tiie next issue, should be in as 

 soon as the lijth. and this may block out some of 

 the more distant subscribers. 



SIGN YOUK X AMK, KTC. 



T<)-i).\v we have liad three letters without 

 any signature, and two more containing drafts 

 without any indorsement. Now. we liave 

 scolded a great deal about this already; and I 

 have strongly emphasized the nece.ssity of hav- 

 ing your name printed on your statiom-ry, (m- 

 velopes. and letter-heads. I'>ut Ernest just now 

 says that, if you don't want to do that, vou can 

 have a rubber stamp made for only -M cts., with 



\dur name and addii'^--. If >-ou ari' loo i)usy to 

 print it on your let lei-heads and envelopes, 

 \ our li\e-year-old bo\drgirl will just like the 

 Inn of <ioing that i<ind (d' |irinting for yon. If 

 vou iiave no live-yeai' old boy or girl, nd a 

 brol lier or sister, or hire some of the neighbors' 

 children. IJnt please do do something, so as to 

 abater this annoyance both to ourselves and 

 yourself. Wr do not com|)lain, mind you. b<(- 

 caiise yon foigel once in a while. The best of 

 people do that : Init now aiia\s t here are plenty 

 of ways of avoiding the disastrous conse<|uenc(^s 

 of such forget fulness. If you haven't done it 

 ali'eady. go this minute and iiut your name and 

 address on both your paper and envelopi's; then 

 when you come to w rile a letter noii can wriUi 

 as fast iis yon i)lease. and don't need to botluM' 

 about th<' address or any thing of the sort. I 

 think. how(>ver, you had b<!tter liave that lub- 

 ber stamp. A. I. R. 



now Till': Hi',i;s ii.wk wixtkrkd .\t .Mi:nix.\; 



THK HESUI/r OF OfH IIXI'EIM.MKXTS 



WITH sK.M.Ki) C'<)vi';i{s Axn 



AHSOHBIXfi Ct'SIIIOX.S. 



Although the wint<'r has been unusually 

 severe, bees both in and out doors have winter- 

 ed the best so far that we have ever known 

 them to do. We w-ent into winter quarters last 

 fall with a large force of young bees, and took 

 extra precaution that every colony should l^e 

 well supplied with sealed stores, even feeding 

 some as late as the last of November. 



Of the 26 or 37 in the cellar, there are the 

 fewest dead bees on the floor, in proportion to 

 the numlier of colonies, that we have ever 

 known. In former winters we have had to 

 sweep up the cellar bottom two or thi'ee times, 

 each time scooping up a good jieck of bees. 

 The paucity of dead bees on the cellar bottom 

 this spring w(^ attribute not only to the fact 

 that the colonies had young bees largely, the 

 fall previous, but to tlie fact that there were 

 fewer colonies in the cellar, and consequently 

 very much better air and better ventilation. 

 We have always noticed this: We have lost 

 fewer bees, in proportion, on the cidlar bottom 

 when we had only a few colonies in the cellar, 

 than when we had a large number; consequent- 

 ly, as we have betoiT' stated, we are beginning 

 to believe more and more in better ventilation 

 in bee-cellars, and that tin; idea that little air 

 or no ventilation is necessary, has worked mis- 

 chief, as some bee-keepers who have tried it 

 know to their soitow. One prominent bee- 

 keeper writes us that, by following this advice, 

 or theory, or whatever it may be called, that 

 too much ventilation in the cellai' is detrimental 

 on unnecessary, he lost several hundred dollars. 

 P. H. Elwood. who winters a little over one 

 thousand colonies in om^ cellar, believes in 

 plenty of ventilation of the sub-earth sort; and 

 when bees are noisy he lets them have more ail*. 



So much for cellar wintering. As toour colo- 

 nies outdoors, we havt> so far at this date, 

 March •.'(), not lost a single one out of a total of 

 about \'>(). With the exception of two weak 

 ones which we united, the rest were all strong 

 and showed no signs of dysentery, and all seem- 

 ed to be wintering about alike, and it did not 

 seem to make very much difference w hetlier 

 they had absorb! iilt cushions or sealetl covers. 

 If anything, the difference is a little in favor 

 of the sealed-cover hives, judging from those 

 having glass tops. Another fact should be 

 observed— that the sealed-cover colonies have 

 had only about two inches of chaff or planer 

 shavings, while the colonies with absorbing 

 cushions liave had anywhere from six to ten 

 inches of chaff. 



There is also another reason why our colonies 

 are wintering so well. We have had contin- 



