180 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 8, 



^J 1 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN. 



EDUOB am. Pitoi-uirruK. 



CHICAGO, ILL., .JUNE 8, 1881. 



0*Mr. J. T. Wilson. of Morionsville. 

 Ky.. semis $10, and says : " Record me 

 as a lite subscriber to the Weekly Bke 

 Journal." That is ;t substantial evi- 

 dence of his appreciation. We have 

 pleasure in making the entry accor- 

 dingly. 



<3f We have just learned that Mr. 

 Frank Benton has secured 3 colonies of 

 Apia doraata, as a result of his re- 

 searches in the Bast Indies. He has 

 had a very difficult and dangerous task 

 to perform, and but for bis indefati- 

 gable courage and indomitable energy 

 he never could bave accomplished it. 

 Bee-keepers throughout t be world owe 

 him a debt of gratitude, and will not, 

 we hope, be slow to repay it. 



How to Rear Good Queens. 



The College Report. —The report from 



the College was not correctly given in 

 the minutes of the Central Michigan 

 Association. We sold down in tbs fall 

 to 10 colonies ; 5 of these were win- 

 tered in the cellar, and they are all 

 right to-day. A. J. Cook . 



Lansing, Mich., June 3, 1881. 



(g^We have received a very hand- 

 some Guide Book of the fifth season of 

 the Detroit Evening News Excursions 

 from Detroit to the sea; personally con- 

 ducted by W. II. Brearley. Detroit. 

 Mich. It contains maps, and full in- 

 structions, and is a very attractive 

 book. Any one wishing to join in this 

 excursion should communicate with the 

 conductor. 



^r- The Grangi BiAktm says that bee- 

 keepers will nave lots of company in 

 disasters this year, among fruit-grow- 

 ers, cattle-raisers, and tanners whose 



Wheal winter-killed. What with the 

 army-worm, chinch bugs, locusts, ami 

 caterpillars, which arc destroying thous- 

 ands of plants every day, there is 

 enough to annoy those in other branches 



of business, as much as " wintering " 

 and " springing " does annoy ami per- 

 plex the bee-keeper. 



<g"The Indiana State Fair is to he 



held al Indianapolis, Seflt. 26, to Oct. l. 

 We have received the premium list, 

 and find a premium of $5 for "comb- 

 honey in 5 lb. boxes." What a sad 

 commentary on the progressive ideasof 

 its " Managers." The Vice ['resident 

 of the National Association should 



have prevented such an exhibition of 

 ignorance concerning the popular mar- 

 ketable size of honey boxes. Bees are 

 ignONd entirely. 



I keep a few bees [or pleasure. I 

 have had some now for S years, and al- 

 ways wintered them on their summer 

 stands. 1 have never yet lost a colony. 



The top bar of mv frames are 11, in. : 



bottom. 1-', in.; sides. 13 in. I cover 



the inside of the hive well up with 



woolen cloth. The mercury here was 



■j\ below zero, on several mornings, 



the winter being vei \ long and cold. 



i 'lease to give full particulars of the 

 best was to raise Bi si class queens. 



1 have read in the JOURNAL some 



particulars bow to do it. but have never 



seen a plan so plainly given, so that I 

 felt I could try it. ('. II. HOWARD. 



In order to rear the besl queens, we 



should take the advice of those who 

 bave had the most experience, and the 

 best results in rearing queens. We will 

 then-lore give the plans of several of 

 our most careful breeders. The follow- 

 ing is the plan of ('aid. W. F. Williams: 



In rearing queens, I select a strong, 

 healthy colony, especially strong m 

 young bees, and remove the queen. 

 The next dav, or as soon as the queen- 

 cells begin to develop, I remove all the 

 combs containing eggs or uncapped lar- 

 va'. I then select comb containing eggs 

 only, from mv best colony (usually from 

 imported stock), and place it in this 

 queenless colony, prepared as above. I 

 aim to bave my young queens hatch 

 out on the 14th or loth day. The 10th 

 or 12th day I divide this colony, and 

 prepare as many colonies by dividing 

 strong ones as is necessary for the num- 

 ber of queens wanted. The 13th or 14th 

 day 1 give to each colony, thus pre- 

 pared, a queen cell. I then keep watch 

 of the cells till the queen comes out. 

 If well developed, with good wings, I 



mark the date of hatching ; if faulty, I 

 destroy her and give the colony another 

 cell, orjoin it with another weak colony. 

 As soon as my queens come out, I se- 

 lect my colonies containing drones, 

 with which I desire to mate my young 

 queens. If there is not a good (low ol 

 honey, I stimulate bj feeding warm 

 honey or sugar syrup to those hives 

 containing drones, also those contain- 

 ing young queens. I usually put a few 

 selected drones in the same hive with 

 virgin queens. When my youngqueens 



are 3 days old, I close the entrances of 



my hives containing selected drones, 

 and those containing virgin queens, to 

 prevent egress of drones or queens. I 

 generally do this about n o'clock a. m., 



Or before the drones take their daily 

 Might, which usually occurs about 12 to 



i p. m. Watch carefully their return. 



and when they are all in. lei out your 



virgin queens, giving them a tew min- 

 utes time to make observations regard- 

 ing Locality, then release sour drones; 

 do this daily until all are fertilized. II 



the weather is favorable, and your bees 

 properly stimulated, you will seldom 

 fail in having your queens fertilized by 



the 51 h day. 

 Mr. <;. M- Dooiittle gives bis plan, 



thus: 



Our plan of rearing queens is this 

 (and after the results of the past 7 years 



we have no reason to discard it ): I n the 



spring we select the colonies having the 

 queens giving us the besl results the 



Season previous, and as early as possible 



get them strong in numbers, if we can 

 do this in no other way, we give them 



In- 1 from other colonies; but by a 



jUdiCiOUS spreading of the hi 1 the Ob 



eel can generally be attained without 

 help from other colonies. So we get 



them to swan Ivance of the rest, 



thus getting our cells or q ins reared 



just as the bees used to rear them when 

 they first came from the hand of the 



great Creator, and lie pronounced them 



good. These cells We give to nuclei. 



which are formed to suit the require- 

 ments of the cells, and b\ the lime we 

 wish to use queens in the sluing, we 



bave queens thai are just as good as 



IN 



Gallup hive . 



the empty combs, and put in place 

 thereof frames of mostly sealed brood, 

 from other hives, and in about 1", days 

 thereafter we get another swarm with American hive 



the same queen, and, of course, a line puini.y 

 lol of cells. So we keep on till the Langstroth 



swarming season is over. Thus, by a Champion 



selection of the best queens each year, Betsinger 



and rearing them by the best plan, our 

 bees may be- improving instead of retro 



grading. 



bee-hoi -i s. 



1.IVIIIU. 



lVrct. 

 l)on<l. 



215 



Is 



285 



TO 



The Results of the Past Winter. 



Total ii4"> 



Deep frames 



Shallow frames 





 10 



•J 



29 



.". 

 30 



1_'4 



9 

 4 

 4 

 9 



10 



.S3 



16 



5 



28 



Our requests for reports for a Statis- 

 tical Table, showing the different 

 phasesof the mortality of bees, during 

 the winter of 1880-81, lias brought in 

 quite a number of reports, but as it 



Should be as full as possible, we defer 



the general Table for a snort time, to tirely above the ground, to avoid damp 



ness. 



The reports have 



SUMMARY. 



Perot, 



l.Mnu. Detid. Loan. 



All kinds of hives 5489 5829 I'' 



The reports compiled are from the 

 Northern Stales only, and indicate that 

 the lowest rale Of mortality has been in 

 well-constructed bee houses, with walls 

 from 15tO 26 inches (hick, tilled in with 

 sawdust, tan-bark. etc.. and built en- 



idmit those that will come to band dur- 

 ing the next week or ten days. 

 Meanwhile we give below the tallies 

 furnished by (,. L. Tinker, M. D., 

 which we shall also incorporate into the 

 full table when given, but now give it 

 to show the doctor's views, and what 

 he has learned. On account of having 

 obtained a larger comparative number 

 of colonies that were wintered in cel- 

 lars and bee-houses, than those win- 

 tered on the summer stands, be finds 

 that the mortality has been-above 49 

 per cent. 



Colonies in hives left on their sum- 

 mer stands, with, perhaps, a chafl 

 cushion over the frames or other slight 

 protection, or, more frequently none ol 

 any kind, are classed as 



• UNl'HOTECTED. 



Colonlesin. Livnm. 



Champion hive 108 



BOX " 331 



Graves " 9 



American " 61 



Langstroth " 213 



Gallup " 16 



Kidder & Adair hive 13 



Simplicity hive 9 



Mitchell" " 6 



Perct' 

 Deud. Loss. 



89 

 983 



25 



■2\r. 

 1037 



89 



78 

 si 

 89 



34 



74 



711 

 77 

 s:; 



st 



B5 



•an 

 93 



also shown that 

 bees require more ventilation in winter 

 than is usually given: that the ventila- 

 tion is best given at the top of the hive 

 but may succeed well if given at the 

 bottom : and that much of the loss in 

 protected hives, on the summer stands. 

 was caused by the packing over the 

 frames being too close, or composed of 

 material that would not properly ab- 

 sorb the dampness arising from the 

 bees. 



As to the best winter hive, the tables 

 do not show such a great difference be- 

 tween the standard hives, as between 

 the different modes of wintering. Ad- 

 vocates of deep frames, however, may 

 take some consolation. 



We would suggest those sending in 

 reports to kindly follow the " form " 

 given by Dr. Tinker, on page 168 Of the 

 Bee JOURNAL for May 25. 1881, and to 

 send them as soon as possible. 



TUB 2654 



Kansas for Bee-Keeping.— We are of 



len asked about Kansas as a lOCBl iOD 



for an apiary. Mr. T. J. Berry, Jewell, 



Kan., writes as follows, on (hat point : 



I have kept bees here in Kansas, dm- .. 



mg the past \ear. and lind it a splendid (hose reared bj anj other method, and. 



place for (hem. Ill .lewell conntv the we I hmk . a lit i le bet ter. II we wish a 



bees have all wintered well, so far as 1 further lot of cells from the same 



have heard, and they arc doing well mother, we put the colony c interning 



this winter, so far. I cannot do with- hei m a hive filled With emptj combs. 



out the Weekly Bee Journal, and bo and in two or three days, when she gets 



send ni\ renewal for another vear. | well to laying, we take awa\ one-half Ol 



Total 



Deep frames ** 



Shallow frames S3 



Colonies in hives left on their summer 

 stands, well packed with chaff, sawdust, 

 oi older material, are classed as 



Perot 



I .is,. 



1 

 •J I 



US 

 41 

 44 

 44 

 47 

 19 

 52 

 53 

 53 

 .51 i 

 58 



44 



r, 



46 

 52 



Total 22T! 



Shallow frames 



Deep frames 



Long ami shallow frames . . 



• Thto Inoludei Rool ■ i '•'" l " v ''- 

 IN CELLARS. 



1826 



ColODlOB In. 



Quinby hive 



Simplicity hive 



American " 



T. S. Bull* Son's hive. 



Langstroth hive] 



DooFittle " 



Box " 



Gallup " 



Mitchell " 



Betsinger " 



Thompson 'sGolden hive 



Living. 

 [96 



171 

 145 

 160 



866 



sn 



us 



sn 



6 



9 







Perct 

 lit'iut. Low. 



9 

 28 



25 



60 



864 



r, 

 55 

 50 

 II 

 71 

 21 



Chaff Hives.— Let me assure Mr. O. 

 (). Poppleton (whom I would thank for 

 bis friendly criticism i that I did not 



consider our hives chalf hives. I speak 



of chaff hives and of packing as sepa- 

 rate thods. I judge of chall' hives, 



not from my own experience, but from 

 that of my neighbors. Most of them 

 have lost heavily in using chalf hives 

 during the past winter. The testimony 

 of Mr. Poppleton is valuable and inter- 

 esting. Let others give their exper- 

 ience. A. .1. Cook. 

 Lansing. Mich.. June 8, 1881. 



(&'.'• Any bee-keeper who wishes to re- 

 cruit up his health, could do it with 

 pleasure and profit l.\ going to the 

 White Sulphur Springs in Virginia. 



Mr. E. C. Jordan, its owner, is an en- 

 thusiastic bee-keeper and a ••prince," 

 who makes all his visitors feel happy. 



Weonh wish we could spend a month 

 with him ; but we musl "toil" in the 



Office, and leave the pleasure tO some 

 who bave the time and means to spare. 

 Send for bis illustrated cir.ular.il you 

 want to go to. some good place. 



A New Itiisiness. -Novice remarks: 

 •Our business is principally raising 

 bees by the pound, and now bids fair to 

 01 loi years to conic.'' We must con- 

 fess tO be a little perplexed at this as- 

 sertion. We supposed Novice had a 

 J' t i large factory tor manufacturing "imple- 

 25 incuts for the apiary," and that such 

 was his principal business but, of 

 course, we must be mistaken; be cer- 

 tainly knows besl what bis " business 

 is, principally." But it is "funny," 

 nevertheless. 



29 



32 

 35 



38 



ul 

 88 



mo 



Total 



Deep I rallies. .. 

 Shallow frames 



.1801 726 



is 



■10 



SO 



t . 'there is a ureal demand foi bees. 

 since so many were lost during last win- 

 ter. Many will replenish their apiaries. 



