144 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



inh.abited by bees — in a cellar or bee 

 house; but judging from what I have 

 read on the suljject of wintering bees 

 in that way, the best plan would be to 

 kill the poor bees in the fall — using the 

 most merciful means possible to ex- 

 tinguish life — extract the honey from 

 the combs, then " stack the hives up " 

 in some dry airy place. The following 

 spring you can purchase the bees from 

 me with a small advance over the 

 price of the honey you took from the 

 hives. AVhenever you have an excess 

 of combs by following this system, I 

 will take them as part pay for bees. 



I recommend " simplicity" hives for 

 "stacking up." Too serious for a joke, 

 eh?" 



4. All good colonies have no trouble 

 to keep the hives clear of dead bees in 

 our climate. 



5. See No. 3 for answer. 



6. Have no experience in that line. 



7. All that is necessary in our cli- 

 mate is to see that each colony has 15 

 or 20 lbs. of stores, and that each hive 

 has a good waterproof cover — the bees 

 will take care of the balance. In all 

 my experience I have never known a 

 colony of bees to perish where they had 

 plenty of stores and good dry quarters. 



ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS IN AUG. NO. 

 BY W. MCKAY DOUGAN. 



1. Very favorable. 



2. If possible work at least one sea- 

 son with some successful apiarist be- 

 fore embarking in the business alone. 



3. By all means purchase strong col- 

 onies of black bees in box hives con- 

 taining straight combs. Transfer them 

 to movable comb hives and Cyprianize 

 or Italianize. In this way the beginner 

 will save money while getting needed 

 experience. 



4. A two-story chafi" hive. It afl'ords 

 most protection from heat and cold, 

 and has still other advantages not to 

 be found in a single story. 



5. A metal-cornered Root or Laug- 

 stroth frame. Bees do not fasten 

 metal corners to the rabbets in which 

 they hang as they do all wood frames. 

 After lung and bitter opposition the 

 merits of the Langstroth frame have 

 given it a place in the apicultural 

 world unknown to any other frame. 

 More of these frames are now in use 

 than there are o/ all others combined. 

 Odd-sized frames are about as much of 

 a nuisance in an apiary as box hives 

 or "log gums." Bees sell more 

 readily on Langstroth frames now than 

 when ou others. These are some of 



my reasons for preferring the Lang- 

 stroth frame. 



Seneca, Mo. 



ANSWERS BY .J. HKDDOX TO QUESTIONS 

 IN SKPT. NO. BY S. I.. VAIL. 



1. I tiiink they would, when clus- 

 tered in ten or more combs with only 

 sufficient stores in the whole ten to 

 last them; but if tiie .same amount of 

 honey was in five combs, no such mu- 

 tilation need bother you from year to 

 year. 



2. In this location, and I think in 

 most locations, early stimulated breed- 

 ing does not pay. I want no breeding 

 earlier than the advent of natural pol- 

 len especially no excessive breeding. 



3. Now you have " catched " ine. 

 I cannot do more than give my preju- 

 dice formed by observation and 

 experience and some doubtful experi- 

 ments. I should prefer quilts with 

 cushions of packing in some form. I 

 would rather have a tight sealed cover, 

 than simply a cloth. Bees icill have 

 the dysentery, however, with any of 

 these fixtures, if they have the cause 

 of it at hand. This I know by actual 

 experience. 



Dowayiac, Mich. 



LETJEB BOX. 

 Christianshurg., Ky. Oct., 1, 1883. 

 Dear Editor : The early honey sea- 

 son in this state was as good as one 

 could possibly desire it to be. I said 

 jestingly at our state convention that 

 I believed my bees would not have 

 brought in nectar any faster than they 

 did from the white and red clover, if 

 a river of honey had been flowing by 

 my apiary. A brother beekeeper re- 

 marked that he believed that I might 

 have made the remark in good eai'nest 

 and not varied from the truth. I am 

 not certain that my bees at that time 

 would have stopped to interview even 

 a mighty river of honey. I made a 

 practice of taking ofl" cases of honey 

 and just placing them anywhere, on a 

 hive or on the ground in the shade for 

 the bees to leave them and return 

 home. I frequently saw bees stealing 

 propolis from cases, in but a few 

 inches of open cells of the most tempt- 

 ing looking honey without taking a sip 

 from them, or noticing the honey 

 at all. The weather during the month 

 of August, and early part of September 

 being very dry, our usual fall supply 

 for winter stores is likely to be very 

 short. 



G .W. Demaree. 



