36 



THE AMERICAN APICULTUEIST. 



Through the entire season they acted 

 just hke people, and seemingly consid- 

 ered themselves as. such, and the wise 

 .man said Amen. 



A. C. Tyrel. 



Madison, Nebraska^ Dec. 9, 1891. 



NEBRASKA WEATHER. 



While you, in the east, have been en- 

 joying 5uch fine weather during Novem- 

 ber and December we here in Nebraska 

 have been having a little variation in our 

 usual programme. The weather here is 

 generally fine during November and De- 

 cember often being quite warm till Christ- 

 mas. This year cold weather began 

 Nov. I St, and since that time till the pres- 

 -ent, Jan. 6th, there have been but three 

 days warm enough so that the bees would 

 leave their hives for a flight. Dec. 13th 

 and 14th they were out and again Dec. 

 31st. We have had but little snow, and 

 ino very severe cold weather yet ; just 

 cold enough so the bees have kept 

 quiet. 



I looked all my hives over Dec. t3th 

 to see how they were doing and found 

 ithe bees in splendid condition after their 

 ;six weeks' sleep. 



One of the hives containing swarms 

 ;in extra good condition was the one pre- 

 sided over by an Alley queen (the one 

 received June 10, 1891). They are very 

 quiet and up to the present time there 

 have been no dead bees removed from 

 the hives. 



Several of us were talking about the 

 weather the other day when some one 

 said "It is going to storm." 



Another, a beekeeper whose bees are 

 being wintered inside, said "I think not, 

 the bees are quiet." 



"What in the world has that to do with 

 it," was asked? 



Did you never notice in summer how 

 active bees are before a storm ? "Well, 

 if you have bees inside and watch them 

 closely, you will hear a commotion in 

 the hive before a storm," was the an- 

 swer. Sure enough it didn't storm. 

 Can any one else give any testimony on 

 this subject? 



Dr. Miller in Gleanings wants to know 

 "when beekeepers become old begin- 

 ners ." 



I suppose all beekeepers were some 

 time new beginners, but with some of 

 them it was so far back in the dim and 

 dreamy past, that the exact time w^hen 

 they ceased to be new beginners would 

 be a hard matter for even themselves to 

 answer. 



And their wisdom being so great it is 

 a matter of doub. to others, whether 

 there ever was a time or not when they 

 did not know it all. 



Then there is another class who are 

 always looking for something new, even 

 though they may be beekeepers of many 

 years experience. They are not too old 

 to begin something new if it be practi- 

 cal. 



If we are not new beginners to which 

 class of old beginners shall we belong?" 

 Mrs. a. L. Hallenbeck 



Millard, Nebraska. 



FULL SHEETS OF FOUNDATIO^T. 



I wish to give my experience with 

 full sheets of foundation as I see by the 

 Api that your experience is almost the 

 reverse of mine (see page 163, Api). I 

 am satisfied that it pays me to use full 

 sheets of foundation in my hives if the 

 cost were double the present price of 

 foundation. I have combs that were 

 built out on wired frames ten years ago, 

 and they are just as good now as any 

 natural combs and the bees use them for 

 brood from bottom bar to top bar. I 

 also have some combs that were not 

 wired that are good. 



If I did not use foundation for natu- 

 ral swarms they would build from one 

 to four frames full of drone comb, and 

 w^hen two swarms would be hived, one 

 on full sheets of foundation the other 

 on starters, the one with foimdation 

 would fill its hive and be ready for the 

 sections before the other would be half 

 full, and very often they would not get 

 their hive filled with comb until the next 



