130 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 27, 



section of the country. There has been 

 some excitement on the subject, but 

 the poor bees were generally left on 

 their summer stands without any 

 protection, and doubtless many of our 

 bee-keeping friends will remember the 

 winter of 1881, as I remember the win- 

 ter of 1&56. That winter set in very cold 

 the 26th of December, and continued 

 cold until April, and we had but one 

 colony left in the spring. But one of 

 the best honey seasons followed that 

 cold winter that I ever knew. This 

 winter the loss will far exceed that of 

 1856, for there were manv more bees to 

 lose. I will venture that there will be 

 a loss of 75 per cent, of all the bees 

 throughout these regions. 



This winter has been exceedingly 

 cold with us, the temperature often be- 

 low zero. Several times way down in 

 the teens, and on the Hist of December 

 and 1st of January it ranged through 

 this valley from 22° to 30 : below zero ; 

 at my office 26°. Now, bee-keepers of 

 this latitude you may winter your bees 

 safelv without much care, but you can- 

 not expect every colony that is not in 

 the very best condition to go safely 

 through such a long cold winter like 

 this without some protection and care. 

 Do men leave their horses and cattle 

 exposed to such severity V No ; they 

 provide shelter and comfort for them. 

 In the far West where stock is not thus 



Erovided for, this present winter has 

 een very destructive on all kinds of 

 live stock. Thousands of cattle have 

 died on the prairies and Western lands. 

 Now, friends in apiculture, who have 

 lost so heavily, consider well where 

 the fault lies before you give up in dis- 

 gust and seek some other business that 

 you may think will not be so destruc- 

 tive, and that will pay better. 

 Double Pipe Creek, Md., March 30. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Relating to Pedigree in Bees. 



WM. F. CLARKE. 



It is about time that bee-keepers were 

 seriously considering what steps ought 

 to be taken to render the breeding of 

 improved strains of bees a more " exact 

 science " than it is at present. The 

 multiplication and wide diffusion of un- 

 tested and cheap queens, while it has 

 no doubt infused a large amount of new 

 vigor into the bee population of this 

 continent, which had become de- 

 teriorated by in-and-in breeding, has 

 nevertheless created " confusion worse 

 than confounded " in many cases. In- 

 experienced bee-keepers who have got 

 untested queens,have hastily concluded, 

 when they saw how different their pro- 

 geny was from that of the black queens, 

 that all was right ; they were genuine 

 Italians, and no mistake. From their 

 ignorance, and with no intention to 

 mislead, hybrids of all grades have 

 been disseminated under the name of 

 Italians, untirthey have "harked back" 

 to the common type, and lost every 

 vestige of the golden hue that gave 

 them distinction. Well, the cross was 

 worth its cost,which was not much, and 

 the common stock of the country is all 

 the better for it. 



But to our best bee-keepers — those 

 who are thoroughly intelligent and en- 

 terprising, that hap-hazard kind of im- 

 provement Is only the " small drop in a 

 bucket " compared with what they are 

 aiming at, and expect to see realized. 

 They Delieve that we have only got 

 fairly under weigh— the voyage of dis- 

 covery is yet to be made. There is rea- 

 son to think as much improvement can 

 be made in bee-breeding as in cattle- 

 breeding, but we are very far yet from 

 having such an advance on the common 

 bee, as the noble short horn is on the 

 scrub race of cattle. Shall we get it ? 

 Yes, with the requisite painstaking and 

 perseverance. 



To-day, the chief drawback to aver- 

 age short horn excellence is the persis- 

 tence of a certain class of breeders in 

 demanding that a specific number of 

 crosses on the original native shall pass 

 for thorough-bred. Yet every well- 

 posted breeder knows that such is the 

 prepotency of the native stock, that the 

 old bad blood will keep showing itself 

 for many generations. It is the same 

 with fowls. A significant feather or a 

 redundant toe will tell a doleful story to 



the fancier, who desiderates absolute 

 purity. 



Until we can control the mating of 

 queens (a consummation not to be de- 

 spaired of, notwithstanding many fail- 

 ures), there will always be some un- 

 certainty as to the absolute purity of 

 stocks bred in the usual way. We don't 

 yet know how far queens will fly in 

 search of a mate. Mr. Jones says he 

 has " proof of mating many miles 

 away." If that be so it would seem 

 that his plan of isolated islands is the 

 only one that is entirely safe. I never 

 was a friend to monopolies or patents 

 in the bee business, but either Jones 

 has gone to a vast amount of unneces- 

 sary expense and trouble to secure in- 

 fallible purity, or there are a lot of 

 queen-breeders who need shaking out 

 of their boots for carelessness, and a 

 too great readiness to guarantee purity. 



Short as is the time since their intro- 

 duction, the market is flooded with ad- 

 vertisements of Cyprian and Palestine 

 queens. How many who offer such 

 queens for sale can pedigree their stock? 

 A pedigree to be worth anything must 

 have a double action ; backward to 

 purity and forward to purity. There 

 must be no probability or guess-work 

 about it. There must be certainty or 

 we are building on a shaky foundation. 



As a contribution toward the discus- 

 sion of this subject I venture to make 

 the following suggestions : 



1. That every imported Cyprian, 

 Palestine, or other choice race of bees, 

 should be certificated as to its history, 

 shipment and delivery. 



2. That queen-breeders should give 

 their customers particulars as to the 

 circumstances under which their stock 

 is bred. There is a sensitiveness about 

 guarantees which had better be super- 

 seded by something equivalent to pedi- 

 gree. This is done with cattle and 

 other stock. It is not enough for the 

 seller to say, " I guarantee purity," he 

 furnishes the record. In like manner, a 

 treasurer not merely guarantees his ac- 

 counts, he produces vouchers. 



3. That every breeder keep a record 

 or register of extra fine strains that de- 

 velop in the course of his experience. 

 Just as there are families among the 

 short horns, like the Duchess tribe, of 

 superlative excellence, so, in propor- 

 tion, is it among bees. Every such 

 strain should be cherished, carefully 

 kept track of, and experimented with, 

 for it is out of the aggregation of these 

 excellent points that the bee of the fu- 

 ture is to be evolved. 



4. Now that we have at least 3 choice 

 races to experiment with, careful record 

 should be made of all crosses. In due 

 time the lucky hit will be made that 

 will give us the longest-tongued, most 

 vigorous, and consequently most desir- 

 able bee. When that hit is made we 

 want to know how to do it again. 



5. Will it provoke a smile to propose 

 a public registry of bees, analogous to 

 the " Short Horn " and other herd 

 books? Well, then, as I don't like to 

 be laughed at I will let some one else 

 make that proposal. 



Lest anyone should suspect me of 

 having an axe to grind I will say that I 

 am in no way interested in queen-breed- 

 ing, except as every bee-keeper ought 

 to De ; that is, anxious that all may get 

 the best. I never sold a queen, and 

 never expect to. Bee-keeping has al- 

 ways been with me a study and a pas- 

 time, " only that, and nothing more." 

 I have never been in a position to keep 

 bees with an eye to profit. 



Listowel, Ontario. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Treatment of Fonl Brood. 



put 2 more together. That made 3 colo- 

 nies of 8, and they filled the frames and 

 reared brood in abundance. I fed them 

 up with coffee A sugarto winter on, and 

 there was no sign of foul brood to be 

 seen last fall. There were 2 strong col- 

 onies left ; these I put in my cellar and 

 starved for 24 hours, put them in the box 

 just at night, and kept them until the 

 next evening, when I put them in anew 

 hive, gave them a comb with about two 

 lbs. of honey, and they went to work 

 with a will on the buckwheat, and no 

 foul brood in either of them. I found 

 one after that, late in the fall, which I 

 brimstoned. Now, I do not kill bees if 

 [ can help it. May be some more in the 

 spring. 



I have 63 colonies in the cellar and 

 doing well, except one that shows dys- 

 entery a little. I expect to lose that one 

 because there has been no time they 

 could fly since last November. 



Albion, Mich., Feb. 10, 1881. 



A. GKIFFES. 



Last spring I had one or two colonies 

 affected with foul brood, and thought 

 when they became strong I would start 

 them anew, but one I brimstoned, and 

 in June I discovered more, until I found 

 some 12. The season being poor, with 

 very little honey, I waited until August. 

 Just before sunset 1 put 3 colonies to- 

 gether in my transfer box and carried 

 then, about V£ miles, so none would 

 come back. I put them into an empty 

 hive that night, witli nothing but start- 

 ers in 2 places on the frames. The next 

 night I took 3 more, and in a few days 



From the Chicago Times. 



How the Bees have Wintered. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



bees through any winter safely. It has= 

 been done in all the trying winters of 

 the past. Where there has been failure 

 inquiry showed that the bees were in 

 a poor condition in the autumn, or that 

 they bad a poor quality of honey, or 

 else the cellar was not so arranged as to- 

 preserve the uniform temperature. The 

 old idea that a cellar must be dry is not 

 wholly correct. I have tried a cellar 

 for the past 2 seasons that had several 

 inches of water in it continually, and 

 with entire success. Such a cellar 

 ought to be well ventilated. Chaff hives- 

 usually may do as well as a cellar. But 

 that thev will prove as safe as a first- 

 class cellar in very severe winters doe* 

 not seem to be verified by the past " sea 

 son." 



As probably % of the bees in the 

 Northern States are dead, we may well 

 look for a corresponding decrease in the 

 honey production ; and with a lessened? 

 supply will come an increased demands 

 and high prices. The prospect for art 

 unusual production in California wilE 

 only partially make up this deficiency. 



Lansing, Mich. 



Each winter at the agricultural col- 

 lege.the bees are protected in the several 

 ways advocated in the country, that we 

 may determine after a series of years 

 which is the safest and best. We have 

 become convinced by our own and 

 others' experience that non-protection 

 is never wise, and so have ceased to ex- 

 periment in that direction. The same 

 holds true as to the method of burying. 

 Last autumn we placed J^ our bees in 

 the cellar, the remainder were packed 

 in straw one foot thick on each side of 

 the hive. One of these latter was in a 

 Shuck hive. All those left out and 

 packed had 6 inches of chaff above the 

 bees. Each of all the colonies was 

 given some 25 lbs. of good honey. All 

 were prepared for winter the 10th of 

 Nov., 1880. 



Owing to the severe and continued 

 cold the bees were not able to Uy from 

 their hives for 5 months. March 10 

 they could fly, and all were examined. 

 Those in the cellar were all in good con- 

 dition. Of those out-doors half were 

 dead and the others weak. The one in 

 the Shuck hive was best off. We then 

 put all in the cellar, except those in the 

 Shuck hive, which have since died. The 

 others are all alive yet, and we feel 

 quite sure we can save all, unless the 

 weather fights it out on this " blizzard " 

 line all summer. 



All through Michigan the same holds 

 true. Bees in good cellars have suf- 

 fered very little. I even know of some 

 that were moved into such cellars as late 

 as the 1st of December that have come 

 through all right. Those in chaff hives 

 are, so far as I can learn, from ^' to \i 

 dead, with the tendency strong towards 

 the dead line. Those left unprotected 

 are all dead. 



Another feature not without interest 

 in the matter is the amount of honey 

 consumed. Bees in the cellar have 

 eaten but very little ; those out doors 

 have consumed 2 or 3 times as much. 

 Our bees in the cellar have eaten, in 

 every case, less than 10 lbs.; those out- 

 doors have in some cases left but very 

 little honey in the hives. 



I have no doubt but that the cause of 

 the great mortality is dysentery, induced 

 by over-eating and long confinement. 

 Bees, unlike most insects, are not dor- 

 mant in winter, but with the tempera- 

 ture just right — from 35 J to45° — they 

 are very quiet and take but very little 

 food. Thus conditioned they will bear 

 confinement 6 months with no apparent 

 harm. But if the air becomes much 

 colder than this, or much warmer, es- 

 pecially if long continued, the bees be- 

 come uneasy, eat more, become dis- 

 tended with the refuse in their food, 

 and unless soon able to fly forth and 

 void their feces are attacked with fatal 

 dysentery. In cold weatherthisactivity, 

 whether of motion or functional, is to 

 supply the heat necessary to pre- 

 serve life, and the extra activity de- 

 mands an extra quantity of food. The 

 heat in a warm atmosphere becomes an 

 irritant which produces uneasiness, 

 and, as a consequence, more food. 



I believe that with good food and a 

 cellar which will preserve the proper 

 uniform temperature we may bring 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Top vs. Side-Storing. 



JAMES 1IEDD0N. 



Yes, I once heard of, and used. 32 

 hives that were strongly advocated, as 

 exclusively side-storing hives. They 

 were called the "New Idea" hive, and 

 were invented by Adair, Gallup & Co. 

 They stored both comb and liquid honey 

 on one side or both sides of the brood- 

 nest. All of us who were induced to- 

 leave the old standard Langstroth and 

 adopt the long hive, either wholly or in 

 part, soon saw our mistake and returned,, 

 like prodigal sons, to former habits. 



Next, I conceived the idea of a com- 

 bination of top and side-storing, and! 

 made a dozen or more hives for that 

 purpose (one of which still occupies val- 

 uable room about my houses), but soon 

 discarded them as no better than the 

 all-top-storing Langstroth, and more 

 than twice as much labor to manipulate. 



Now, I do consider the shape of Mr. 

 Doolittle's hive faulty, because I, like 

 him, prefer small hives, which are more 

 easily kept chock full of brood, and 

 which I have never seen occasion to dis- 

 claim since I so warmly advocated them,, 

 some 6 or 7 years ago at our State Con- 

 vention at Kalamazoo; and if small, 

 they cannot be extremely high unless- 

 very narrow and short — not very long, 

 unless very narrow and shallow. For 

 wintering I prefer fewer ranges of comb- 

 and longer ones, as bees move back and 

 forth with the ranges easily, when they 

 cannot do so across them. The 8-frame 

 Langstroth hive seems to me to be 

 about the happy mean between the ex- 

 tremes. It is narrow enough for win- 

 tering, it is shallow enough and has top 

 surface enough to avoid the necessity of 

 putting boxes at its sides, thus causing- 

 the master to place them twice before 

 removing them. Is it not very plain 

 that one man can care for double the 

 number of colonies with my case system 

 that he could do with your method, 

 where the surplusage has to be handled 

 over twice or more before its removal ? 



Why, side-storing was the original 

 plan, before the skillful Langstroth or 

 any other bee-keeper invented open top- 

 frames, and no doubt has been used by 

 hundreds of apiarists years ago. both 

 exclusively and in conjunction with the 

 newer and better plan, yet for once I am 

 on the popular side of this question, as 

 hundreds to one use and swear by the 

 flat top-storing hives. Still, it might be 

 wrong, but I think not. 1 bring as evi- 

 dence the well known fact that the very 

 first place that bees use the first wax in 

 the spring is in the top of the hive, be- 

 tween the top bars and cover. If I used 

 a hive that had only about one square 

 foot top surface, and used boxes 6 inches 

 high, I do not know but I should look 

 more kindly toward the complicated 

 system of moving boxes from the wrong 

 place to the right one about the hive, 

 rather than tiering up such high boxes 

 whose tops were already so far away 

 from the center of the brood nest. But 

 with hives with once-and-one-half the 

 top surface, and shallower comos used 

 under sections only i}£ inches high, all 

 full of comb foundation that is so well 



