©" (•, OLDEST BEE PAPER 

 IN AMERICA f 



_**£?_•. 



DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 26, 1881. 



No. 4. 



a -13 SSil $^Mi3i ^ iS Mi 



M W V WW 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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For tho American Bee Journal. 



Over-stocking and Planting for Honey. 



c. H. DIBBERN. 



the pasturage 1ms greatly decreased. 

 There is no other branch of business, 

 that depends entirely on a volunteer 

 crop. Now over-stocking will not re- 

 main "an imaginary evil" unless there 

 is some kind of proportion between 

 bees and the honey sources in any 

 locality. 



Why is it that so many think it does 

 not pay to plant for honey r The 

 trouble is that bee-keepers lack that 

 confidence in their business so neces- 

 sary to success. I have known patches 

 to be sown " for the bees " 10x20 feet, 

 and because honey did not flow into the 

 boxes the long summer through, the 

 owner concluded it did not pay. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Apiculture— What is it 1 



c. B. WOODMAN. 



Upon this subject I shall write wholly 

 from experience. I had, for a long 

 time, contemplated the manipulation of 

 bees and the production of honey, but 

 to accomplish this desire was a " trick " 

 or science I knew nothing about. I 

 determined, however, to make an at- 

 tempt, I purchased two colonies of 

 Italian bees in Langstroth hives, next 

 procured specimen copies of all the bee 

 papers for inspection and my considera- 



The present season has been one of 

 discouragement to many bee-keepers, in 

 this section. It has required a good 

 deal of " love for the business " to pay 

 any attention to the bees at all, all 

 through, what should be our honey har- 

 vest. All though I did a good deal of 

 feeding, yet swarms would" issue every 

 few days for want of stores. Bass wood 

 gave us the first promise of comb honey, 

 but as nearly every cell in the main 

 hives were empty, they stored but little. 

 After basswood there was great drouth, 

 and the apiary was about as quiet as a 

 graveyard. About the middle of Aug. 

 the bees commenced on buckwheat and 

 the fall blossoms, and did very well, but 

 as their stores had become very light, it 

 took about all they gathered to put them 

 in fair condition for winter. 



Mr. Dadant mentions hauling bees to 

 the Mississippi river bottoms that had 

 been overflowed, with good results. 

 Here these bottoms were nearly as bare 

 as the streets of a city. 



Is there not a lesson in the past year's 

 experience that every intelligent bee- 

 keeper should lieed ? I am glad to 

 notice that ■'over-stocking " and "plant- 

 ing for honey " is attracting attention 

 in the Bee Journal. Over-stocking is 

 a greater evil than most of our friends 

 suppose. '•A'' has but 300 colonies and 

 thinks his location " not over-stocked :" 

 but there are from 100 to 200more with- 

 in \V 2 miles in all dieection. Would he 

 not be better off, as far as his bees are 

 Concerned, it' he had these 700 or (-00 

 colonies all in his own yard? Then 

 they would all have an equal show, 

 Which they have not now. 



Most of us have seen tract after tract 

 of our choicest •• bee range " fenced and 

 plowed up and devoted to potatoes and 

 other crops of no value to the bees. 



In many localities bees have increased 

 from a few colonies to hundreds, while 



teachings failure would be almost im- 

 possible. A Monthly, or Weekly bee- 

 paper is another of the indispensables, 

 pertaining to successful apiculture. 

 Johnson's Creek. 



I have experimented a good deal with 

 honey plains da ring the last 15 years and 

 think melilot clover is the kiny of all. 



Now if bee- keepers would plant say 

 one-quarter as many acres as they have 

 colonies of bees 1 think they would be 

 astonished at the result. But we are 

 apt to think too much of the number of 

 bushels of potatoes or corn that these 

 acres would produce, to ever give it a 

 fair trial. 



It is my opinion that the "bee-keeper 

 of the future" will have unbounded 

 confidence in his business. and will look 

 as closely to the number of acres of 

 honey-producing plants as to the kind 

 of hives, bees and sections. 



Milan, 111., Dec. o, lt&O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Alsike and Melilot Clovers. 



J. H. MARTIN. 



I was much interested in the article 

 by Mr. Baldridge in the Journal for 

 Jan. 5th, upon alsike clover for bee 

 pasturage ; 1 have experimented with it 

 sowing a small field and found the bees 

 worked upon it equal to his recommen- 

 dation. But it blossomed only one year, 

 the next there were but few heads. 

 Others have had similar experience in 

 its non-propagation of itself the third 

 year. We would like further particu- 

 lars from Mr. B. in relation to sowing 

 the seed, should it be sown alone or with 

 timothy, and should it be gathered with 

 a header V 



We wish also to learn the proper time 

 for sowing melilot clover seed. We 

 have some in our immediate locality, 

 but there is plenty of it a. few miles 

 from us upon heavy clay soil. I gath- 

 ered a quantity of seed from the road- 

 side, and sowed it on all waste places 

 along the highway in my own locality. 

 Our soil is gravely- loam but not a seed 

 sprouted. I sowed in the fall immedi- 

 ately after gathering. thinking it would 

 sprout in the spring the same as though 

 it had fallen from the parent plant. 



I have also had poor success with 

 Simpson honey plant. Our soil is rich 

 loam and a good farming country. How 

 shall I get my seed to grow? 



Hartford, ST. Y. 



[As requested, Mr. Baldridge will no 

 doubt answer these questions.— Ed.] 



tion; I finally settled down on there- 

 liable American Bee Journal, and 

 with the perusal of other prominent 

 works on the subject, such as Root's "A 

 15 C," Langstroth 's " Honey and Honey 

 Bee" and Quinby's "New Bee-Keep- 

 ing." I found the trick no trick at all. 

 I am highly pleased with the pursuit, 

 ami would not despair under any provo- 

 cation. I use the standard Langstroth 

 hive and winter in the cellar, with suc- 

 cess. I think any one contemplating 

 going into the business of apiculture 

 would be pleased with it and will surely 

 succeed if they have a love for the call- 

 ing, and start as I did. I heartily 

 recommend Quinby's "New Bee- Keep- 

 ing" for the beginner, and under its 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering in the Cellar. 



E. A. THOMAS. 



A dry cellar is considered requisite 

 for successful wintering by nearly all 

 bee-keepers, but my experience teaches 

 me that it is immaterial whether the 

 cellar is dry or wet, provided, proper 

 ventilation 'is given. I have always 

 wintered successfully in a damp cellar 

 and never lost a colony. 



My cellar has a stone floor, which I 

 think is a very good thing as it enables 

 me to sweep up all the dead bees and 

 keep the room pure and fresh. 



My hives are placed on racks which 

 stand on the floor, so that nothing short 

 of an earthquake can jar them. There 

 are four ventilators to the room, one to 

 the open air. one through a drain, and 

 two in a chimney at lop and bottom. 

 By means of these I can keep the tem- 

 perature very even. In extremely cold 

 weather, and in warm spring weather 

 I keep the open air ventilator closed, 

 and ventilate through the drain, which 

 warms the air in cold weather and 

 cools it in spring. 



I believe in order to winter success- 

 fully in cellar, we should give the bees 

 plenty of fresh, warm air, not letting 

 the temperature vary more than 3° or 

 4°, and keep them perfectly quiet. 

 Much also depends on their manage- 

 ment during the fall months, for if they 

 i go into winter-quarters in poor condi- 



