156 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 11, 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN. 



EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



CHICAGO, ILL., MAY 18, 1881. 



^•Sweden has this season had one 

 of the severest winters ever known. 



®° We have received a crate of Giv- 

 en*s foundation in wired frames' which 

 we will test and report on, as soon as 

 venient. 



^° Trees by hundreds of thousands 

 in southern Wisconsin were destroyed 

 by ground mice during the snow block- 

 ade. 



Retrospective and Prospective. 



KTWe have received Mr. O. II. 

 Townsend's Catalogue for 1881, consist- 

 ing of 10 pages. He has supplies and 

 bee-implements for sale at Hubbards- 

 ton, Mich. 



0- The Bill against " Foul Brood " 

 was passed by the Michigan Legisla- 

 ture, on the 5th inst., and now only 

 needs the signature of the Governor to 

 make it a law. 



^ Mr. B. Salisbury gives the fol- 

 lowing statistics : " At a meeting of 

 the Southern Michigan Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, held in Battle Creek last 

 Wednesday, 39 bee-keepers reported as 

 follows : Last fall 771 colonies; on May 

 11—325." 



^" Prof. A. J. Cook writes as follows: 

 " Editor Weekly Bee Journal :— Al- 

 low me personally to thank you for the 

 communications from our venerable 

 friend and the great apiarist. Rev. L. L. 

 Langstroth. All that we can gather 

 from his rich, ripe experience is most 

 valuable. Let us hope for many com- 

 munications." 



^° Mr. G. M. Doolittle is better. 

 This intelligence will be welcome news 

 to our readers. A postal card just re- 

 ceived says : " After a short but very se- 

 vere illness I am again about, although 

 quite weak. Hard maples are in full 

 bloom, with the mercury at 80° in the 

 shade. Bees are prospering; I have 

 bees in 72 hives yet, but shall double 

 down to 40 to commence the season 

 with." 



g^ We give considerable space this 

 week tothe able article from the pen of 

 Count Gaetano Barbo, President of 

 the National Society of Bee-Keepers in 

 Italy. It is not necessary to apologize 

 for so doing, as it will be read with deep 

 interest by all our subscribers, who will 

 recognize it as a masterly production of 

 a scientist of no mean attainments. 



ig-We have received a letter asking 

 " how would bees do in the northern 

 part of Dakota, Minnesota or the North- 



west Territory ? Is there a supply of 

 honey plants there, or are the winters 

 too long for them to do well ?" Will 

 some of our subscribers in the localities 

 mentioned be kind enough to answer 

 the queries ¥ We can only give conjec- 

 tures, and these are not always reliable. 



Until the founding of the American 

 Bee Journal, some twenty years ago, 

 but little thought had been devoted in 

 this country to bee-keeping as an occu- 

 pation, and still less to it as a science. 

 True, many kept a greater or less num- 

 ber of " gums" or " skeps," and a few, 

 comparatively very few, master minds 

 had conceived rational scientiiic views 

 regarding many of the internal myste- 

 ries of the hive ; some had to an extent 

 comprehended the physiological history 

 of the honey bee, but they were so very 

 few that their wisdom was almost cov- 

 ered with disrepute by the ignorant and 

 superstitious ideas of the masses, who 

 kept bees as did their great-grand fath- 

 ers, and whose comprehension had only 

 kept pace with their improvements. 

 The master-works of Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 stroth and the late M. ^uinby gave rise 

 to much thought and study, which in 

 turn led to experiments, and these crea- 

 ted the necessity for a periodical, in the 

 columns of which new discoveries could 

 be heralded, accepted theories be dis- 

 cussed, old prejudices be combatted, 

 and apiculture be elevated to its proper 

 position among the progressive sciences. 

 That much progress has been made 

 during the twenty years of the Bee 

 Journal's existence all will acknowl- 

 edge. Many doubtful problems have 

 been solved, and new ideas promulga- 

 ted ; all the standard works on apicul- 

 ture have been revised time and again, 

 as published experiences have proven 

 to the several authors that their books 

 inclined to error, and none but the most 

 conceited have dared to assume that 

 they knew it all. In nothing, perhaps, 

 has opinion been more divided than 

 ufftm the subject of preparing bees for 

 winter, and here, again, the Bee Jour- 

 nal has fultilledVits mission in publish- 

 ing the hundreds of letters giving the 

 results of last winter's experiments— 

 for mostly they were experiments. As 

 we foreshadowed in our issue of Febru- 

 ary 9th, the winter has been disastrous 

 alike to the veteran and the novice, the 

 specialist and the amateur ; where loss 

 was least expected, it has been as heavy 

 as where success was not anticipated. 

 It has but demonstrated that no general 

 method is absolutely certain, and to our 

 mind it has proven that in the Northern 

 States there is much less risk in a prop- 

 erly prepared cellar or bee-house, than 

 in any other method in general use. Of 

 course, there are anomalous exceptions, 

 but they are not numerous enough to 

 establish a rule. 



While we fully sympathize with many 

 whose losses have been peculiarly try- 

 ing as individuals, we feel almost 

 tempted to congratulate the bee-keeping 

 fraternity upon the disasters of the past 

 winter. We think we can see many 

 ways in which good may arise from it. 

 It will discourage and drive out of the 

 business many laggards who have only 

 kept bees because they had them to keep; 

 who have kept down the price of good 

 honey by selling their poorly-prepared 

 commodity for what it would bring, be- 

 cause it had cost thtm nothing. This 

 class of people will probably give it up, 

 or adopt more progressive ideas. The 

 thinning down of our numbers will also 

 prove of great assistance to our Socie- 

 ties and Conventions in uniting bee- 

 keepers upon the general issues : an- 

 tagonism to adulteration ; a reliable 

 market for our products ; uniformity in 



preparation for market; a good, living 

 price for an honest article ; a general 

 dissemination of scientific and practi- 

 cal knowledge, and the cultivation of a 

 feeling of fraternity among the bee- 

 keepers of America. Should these re- 

 sults be attained, the experience and 

 losses of the past winter, while causing 

 temporary commiseration for a compar- 

 ative few, will be a source of congratu- 

 lation for all in the future. 



Bee-keeping, heretofore, has been an 

 occupation influenced largely by local 

 and spasmodic causes. Two or three 

 seasons of plentiful yield and good pri- 

 ces were sufficient to induce scores of 

 unthinking persons to start in the busi- 

 ness; if a good honey-flow rewarded 

 their efforts, prices immediately de- 

 clined—but if the season was poor, bees 

 were disposed of very cheaply, or Prov- 

 dence was depended on to protect the 

 bees till a remunerative season should 

 come. And this is the class of persons 

 who have persuaded themselves that 

 box hives are as good as any, and success 

 in bee-keeping '"depends upon luck." 

 They have mostly quit the business I 



On page 84 of the Weekly Bee Jour- 

 nal for March, we indulged in some 

 speculations regarding the prospects for 

 this season, and the favorable outlook 

 for an abundant honey flow. Our sub- 

 sequent correspondence convinces us 

 we were not over-sanguine. White clo- 

 ver was never more plentiful, and the 

 sod is well matted ;_ basswood buds are 

 bright and green, and they lavishly 

 promise, while wild flower plants ex- 

 hibit a thriftiness seldom equalled. 

 From the South come reports of grati- 

 fying honey yields, while in the Central 

 and Northern States bees are thriving 

 remarkably well, and vegetation every- 

 where, though tardy in starting, is ma- 

 king amends by its unparalleled rapid 

 growth. 



We estimate the losses the past winter 

 in the North at over 50 per cent., but 

 there will be larger gross receipts in cash 

 if even only 25 per cent, of the bees are 

 saved, than have been realized the past 

 two seasons, as the honey flow will be 

 abundant, prices rule high, and reckless 

 producers out of the market. We can- 

 not advise any one to go into the bee- 

 keeping business— nor into any other— 

 but we do say, if any one contemplates 

 ever going into it as a specialty, they 

 will never And a more encouraging time 

 than now. 



To our unfortunate friends we extend 

 our sympathy— no, not sympathy, but 

 encouragement. Fill up your hives im- 

 mediately—build up strong ; one or two 

 failures should not. will not, drive you 

 from a chosen occupation. Look well 

 at every occupation ; what one affords 

 the facilities for retrieving losses ? In 

 what occupation can you engage where 

 success is more certain? 



to our feet to-morrow, and try again. 

 Perseverance is the mainspring to suc- 

 cess, and the man who has good hives 

 and plenty of combs, can very soon 

 work up a good yard of bees. Take 

 courage ; go ahead, and all will be well. 



I put 90 colonies into a winter-house 

 on the 22d of November ; they had a few 

 hours' flight on the 15th of March ; put 

 them out the 9th of April ; found one 

 dead and two queenless. Since they 

 were put out two more have died, mak- 

 ing, up to date, three dead and two 

 queenless. I put the queenless colonies 

 with the others. 



1 never had my bees, taken together, 

 look better or stronger at this time of 

 year. I have had orders for all of my 

 bees, but sold only ten colonies. I can 

 only say, respecting other bees for many 

 miles around here, if reports were given 

 they would about tally with the reports 

 given in the Bee Journal— very heavy 

 losses. R- Bacon. 



Verona, N. Y., May 9, 1881. 



We commend the foregoing sensible 

 letter to those who are doubtful as to the 

 future, and beg to assure them that they 

 need pluck, more than sympathy. No 

 one's loss, however great, has been 

 as bad as it might have been. 



Forcing Bees to Work in the Boxes. 



Mr. J. W. Hinsdale, of Raleigh, N. 

 C, under date of May 11, says : 



" I have some 30 colonies, but cannot 

 get the bees to work iu the upper sto- 

 ries, though the colonies seem very 

 strong, and there is a tine honey flow at 

 this time. What is the best thing to 

 do r" 



The brood-chambers are too large ; 

 that is, the queens do not keep them 

 sufficiently packed with brood to pre- 

 vent the bees storing considerable honey 

 there, and they become loth to leave 

 the brood unless forced to do so. The 

 best course to pursue will be to takeout 

 the outside frames, which you will find 

 well tilled with honey, and put division 

 boards in their place ; if any others are 

 tilled with honey take them out, extract 

 the honey, and replace them in the cen- 

 ter of the brood chamber only as fast 

 as the queen can use them. By thus 

 contracting the brood chamber, you will 

 force the workers up in the second story 

 before they have made preparations for 

 swarming, and once there, they will be 

 slow to encroach on the queen's domain 

 in the lower story. The size of the 

 brood chamber is the only tenable ob- 

 jection that can be urged against the 

 standard Langstroth hive with ten 

 frames, and we have found them none 

 too many in breeding up, and easily 

 lessened when the sections were neg- 

 lected. Many of the most successful 

 apiarists use hives holding only seven or 

 eight Langstroth frames. 



"If at first you don't Bucceed, try. try again ; 

 You will conquer, never fear. try. try aRaln.'' 



The following letter is from one of 

 the progressive men of the age : 



I have been very much interested in 

 the reports giving the successes and 

 failures in wintering bees the past cold 

 winter. I fully sympathize with the 

 unfortunate ones in their losses and dis- 

 appointments. It is a hard blow to very 

 many. Bee-keeping has its ups and 

 downs, like all pursuits. The man that 

 plants to-day is not sure of a crop of 

 grain ; he who rears up a flock of sheep 

 knows not but that to-morrow they may 

 be cut down by disease. But the old 

 maxim is quite as true to-day as ever : 

 "Nothing venture, nothing have. 

 Though we fall to-day, we should spring 



^ The bee-keepers, of Missouri will 

 meet in Convention at Mexico, Mo., on 

 June 2, 1881, at 10 a. m., and hold a ses- 

 sion two days. Dr. N. P. Allen, of 

 Smith's Grove, Ky., President of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, is expected to be present to assist 

 in organizing a Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion ; other leading bee-men are ex- 

 pected, due notice of which will be 

 given. The programme will be pub- 

 lished in a short time and'will embrace 

 such questions as will be of interest 

 both to the novice and practical apiar- 

 ist. All are invited to partake of and 

 assist in this much needed organiza- 

 tion. Those that cannot come will con- 

 fer a favor by giving us a communica- 

 tion on some subject of interest to bee- 

 men. P- P- Collier, Vice Pres. 

 N. A. B. K. Association, for Mo. 

 All papers of Missouri please copy. 



