226 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 20, 



For the American Bee Journal. 



An Excellent Canadian Apiary. 



WM. F. CLARKE. 



There are many excellent bee-keep- 

 ers, quite unknown to fame, who are 

 pursuing the even tenor of their way, 

 and quietly enjoying their favorite 

 pursuit, without much opportunity of 

 association with those of kindred 

 tastes. I unearthed one of this class 

 on Dominion Day, July 1. A cheap 

 excursion trip tempted me to go to 

 Kincardine, the Lake Huron terminus 

 of our railroad, 57 miles from here. I 

 wanted to see.the place and the lake, 

 but was chiefly anxious to ferret out a 

 man who had the repute of being 

 "daft" on bees. Whenever you hear 

 this kind of argument about a man, 

 you may suspect that, you are on the 

 track of a scientific apiarist. The 

 multitude regard it as a sign of lu- 

 nacy for a man to lie a clu>e and ear- 

 nest student of bee-life. Common- 

 sense people, you know, keep bees on 

 the free-and-easy, "go-as-you-please " 

 plan ; soon discover that bee-keeping 

 is a humbug; quit it in disgust, and 

 rail against it on every available op- 

 portunity. 



Air. George Sturgeon makes tin- 

 smithing his business ami bee-keeping 

 his pleasure. I was agreeaiily sur- 

 prised to find in his out-of-the-way 

 little town, one of the neatest, best ap- 

 pointed apiaries I have ever visited, 

 it was a holiday, and the proprietor 

 was finding his fun among his bees, 

 which were having a jolly time of it, 

 swarming. Mr. S. is one of those bee- 

 keepers who. after full trial of artifi- 

 cial swarming, prefers the natural way 

 of it. lie thinks he gets better 

 queens, more vigorous colonies, and 

 more satisfactory results generally, on 

 Dame Nature's plan. The state of 

 his apiary goes far to justify his prac- 

 tice. A more uniform, nicely marked, 

 even-tempered lot of Italian bees I 

 never saw than these. Mr. S. pro- 

 cured a dozen queens from Tennessee, 

 I forget how long since, and also im- 

 ported a few direct from Italy. He 

 lias practiced judicious selection, and 

 the "survival of the Attest" with such 

 results that if any bee-keeper can go 

 through his apiary, and not break the 

 Tenth Commandment — he is a bet- 

 ter Christian than lam. I coaxed my 

 newly-found friend to sell me one of 

 his colonies, and it is now humming 

 away in my garden very musically. 



Like my apicultural brethren in 

 general, I am studying up the ques- 

 tion of wintering. Now here comes 

 Mr. Sturgeon's experience to compli- 

 cate things. He wintered % his bees in 

 A. I. Root's chaff-packed hive, and 

 the rest in a brick bee-house. All his 

 out-door colonies did well ; one, how- 

 ever, proved queenless. Out of 20 

 wintered in the brick bee-house, he 

 lost 15, and the remaining 5 were 

 rather weak. Of course Mr. S. is en- 

 thusiastically in favor of chaff-packed 

 hives. We all praise the bridge that 

 carries us over safely. I should like 

 to know from parties who have tried 

 chaff-packed hives with such diverse 

 results, how these hives were treated 

 in other respects ? Had they any 

 shelter, or did they stand out in the 

 open air? Mr. S.'s hives were in a 

 well protected place, close under the 

 lee of a tight board fence, and I am 

 inclined to think that even a chaff- 

 packed hive is none the worse for such 

 a friendly shelter. 



We opened some 20 hives to inspect 

 the queens. In several cases we had 

 no need for a puff of smoke, so quiet 

 were the bees. There are no other 

 bees near there, and I think when 

 there is no intrusion of strangers and 

 the consequent quarrelling, pacific 

 habits are formed, a sort of family 

 feeling gets established, and gentle- 

 ness becomes a characteristic. Why 

 should we not breed for apeaceable and 

 quiet spirit among our bees, if it can 

 be had without the sacrifice of other 

 important qualities ? 



Mr. Sturgeon is a disciple of A. I. 

 Root's, uses the simplicity hive, and 

 runs his apiary by the "A B C" book. 

 He has made up ins mind that he must 



either quit the tin-smithing or quit 

 bee-keeping. His heart is evidently 

 with his bees, but the care of them 

 encroaches too much on business. He 

 is happier in his apiary than he is in 

 his tin-shop, and my private opinion 

 is that the bees will gain his undi- 

 vided attention, and that he will make 

 it pay. 

 Listowel, Out., July 7, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Common-Sense Apiary. 



DB. W. Q. PHELPS. 



It has been well said that the best 

 evidence of a successful life is for one 

 to succeed. Success, in any channel 

 of life, is only another word for pa- 

 tience and persistency. Success in 

 bee-keeping comprehends the exercise 

 of both these valuable traits of char- 

 acter, and still more, it means the ex- 

 ercise of economy. Observe well these 

 3 and success will, ordinarily, crown 

 any intelligent apiarist's efforts, close 

 and sharp as may be the competitors 

 in bee-keeping. To receive the great- 

 est aid in practicing these, the aver- 

 age bee-keeper "hankers" after facts, 

 when lie searches his bee literature 

 and preserves his Journal. The 

 "old heads" in apiculture may talk 

 learnedly, and the untrained tire off 

 their enthusiasm, but plain hard facts 

 are what we want. While others are 

 hammering away on the wintering 

 problem, or the bee dysentery puzzle 

 (neither of which have ever troubled 

 me, save once, when seduced into 

 using that first-class bee poison, grape 

 sugar), I will try and give your read- 

 ers directions for getting up a cheap 

 and serviceable foundation machine. 

 In using the columns of your widely- 

 circulated Journal I shall doubtless 

 aid many who are groping in the dark, 

 and save myself the trouble of an- 

 swering personally the many inquiries 

 that have been directed to me. 



Mine is, in some respects, " the old, 

 old story" of utilizing plaster casts to 

 produce foundation. This subject I 

 introduced to the public through the 

 columns of Gleanings in 1877, and have 

 ventilated the matter at intervals sub- 

 sequently. The development of this 

 matter has been a real case of patient, 

 persistent study, forced upon me by 

 economic motives, and I can truly say 

 I have "got it" at hist. Gleanings for 

 August, 1880, contains an article of 

 mine, giving a general review of what 

 had been done up to that time. The 

 credit due me is of little moment in 

 comparison to the importance of get- 

 ting a press that will answer every 

 purpose and yet be inexpensive. 



My press is made as follows : Two 

 cast or wrought iron pans, }£ inch 

 deep, are hinged together ; to the up- 

 permost one a handle 2 feet or more 

 in length is attached; daps with screw 

 holes are made on the lower pan. 

 Within these pans are accurately ar- 

 ranged and secured the plaster casts, 

 previously run. 



Guides of iron are put on each side 

 to conduct the two halves into 

 juxtaposition when brought together. 

 Screw down the lower half to a strong 

 bench, place a sheet of wax, pre- 

 viously softened in warm water, be- 

 tween, and exert a moderate pressure, 

 and your foundation is made in 

 quicker time than it takes to tell it. 

 The sheets of wax I place close by the 

 press in a pan of water, kept at uni- 

 form temperature. Of course a dip- 

 ping apparatus is necessary to pre- 

 viously prepare the plain sheets, as 

 with any other mill or press. 



It seems hardly necessary to give 

 directions for making the plaster 

 casts, so often described before, yet I 

 will do so briefly. I place the sheet 

 of foundation, from which I get the 

 casts, on a piece of glass, and rub into 

 each cell, with an old tooth brush, a 

 strong solution of soap. Around, and 

 closely fitting the piece of foundation, 

 I place an iron ring, well oiled. With 

 plaster, mixed thin at fust, 1 pour the 

 same, rubbing it well down into each 

 cell with another old tooth or paint 

 brush. When full, place over and 



press down well to the iron another 

 piece of glass, slightly larger than the 

 rim, to give a smooth back to your 

 casts. These casts, when taken from 

 the rims, should just fit the pan in 

 press, and when properly hardened 

 with baryta water and soluble glass, 

 will stand a great deal of use. 



I .will add, for the benefit of eco- 

 nomical .bee-keepers, that this press 

 need not cost over $6. In my own I 

 use a set screw on the hinge, to regu- 

 late the thickness of the foundation I 

 wish to make. Hoping these points 

 may be of benefit to some of your 

 readers, I will close with a "long live 

 the Bee Joubnal." 



Galena, Md., July 8, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal 



The Hive that I Like Best. 



L. A. PENNOYER. 



Bees are doing well now, but swarm 

 too much. The first day of June I 

 took off 7 two-lb. boxes from one hive. 

 the earliest I ever obtained. I put Hi 

 colonies in the cellar November 15th, 

 and April 15th took out 9 in fair con- 

 dition. I left 13 on the summer stands 

 in double-walled hives, packed with 

 chaff 4 inches thick, front and rear, 

 and 5 inches at each end. I use the 

 Doolittle hi ve,except that I build them 

 18 inches high instead of 12 inches; 

 this gives me 6 inches of chaff above 

 the brood frames, and 6 inches air- 

 space in the cap, with air-holes bored 

 in the side of the cap to give a free 

 circulation above the chaff. I banked 

 sawdust on the ends and rear of the 

 hives as high as the brood chamber, 

 and stood the shade-board in front. 

 Result : every hive except one hail 

 combs as bright as in summer; the 

 exception had a little mold in one end. 

 When I opened them, on the oth day 

 of March, I found from 3 to 5 combs 

 of brood. I have the Gallup frame; 

 there was capped brood within one 

 inch of the bottom of the frame, and 

 eggs within half an inch of the bot- 

 tom-bar. The colony which had 5 

 combs of brood is the one from which 

 1 obtained the honey June 1st. Early 

 breeding has worked well with me. 

 Those I had in the cellar dwindled 

 badly ; I think I should have lost some 

 had I not kept them up with brood 

 from those wintered out-of-doors. A 

 great deal of the loss here was after 

 April 1. 



Winona, Minn., June 14, 1881. 



For tbo American Bee Journal. 



The Army-Worm and Basswood. 



B. T. DAVENPOBT. 



About a week ago my bees were 

 "weighed in the balance and found 

 wanting." I have but 31 colonies out 

 of the 87 put in the cellar Nov. 20. 

 They were put out and had a good 

 flight on March 18, at which time they 

 were suffering with dysentery, but 

 only 5 had succumbed to " that sleep 

 which knows no waking," and 2 of 

 these had starved. They were put 

 back in the cellar on the morning of the 

 10th, and remained there until April 

 15, when I found 15 dead, and more 

 than that many weak. I use the 8- 

 frame Langstroth hive, and for winter 

 put cushions of burlap over the 

 frames, after removing all honey- 

 boards. I think my bees were dis- 

 turbed too much during the fore part 

 of winter ; they should not see a gleam 

 of light, if possible. Our cellar is 

 damp, but well ventilated, and the 

 temperature ranged from 30- to 44 ■'. 

 I believe that ~ ;i , if not % of the I ices 

 in Waushara county are dead, and, as 

 far as I have learned, they are 

 "deader" still in the county east of 

 this, but what are left have just been 

 booming since fruit, bloom. 1 never 

 saw bees get so much honey from dan- 

 delions ; I had to extract some to 

 give the queens room. Clover is be- 

 ginning to bloom and promises well. 

 The latter was also true of basswood 

 until the army-worm put in an ap- 

 pearance, and now, in my immediate 



vicinity at least, nothing but the 

 naked limbs remain, both leaves and 

 blossom-buds being stripped. A 

 Weekly Bee Journal is just what 

 we need and must have. Long may it 

 "be." 

 Auroraville, Wis., June 2, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Practical Bee-House. 



C. F, GREENING. 



In answer to the request for a de- 

 scription of a bee-house that success- 

 fully wintered bees last winier, I will 

 describe mine for the benefit of D. S. 

 Kalley, and others. I have studied 

 the requirements of the bees, then 

 tried to meet them. I excavated a 

 pit 12x16x3 feet deep, at the west end 

 of my apiary, and not over 150 feet 

 from the farthest hive. Pit-wall, of 

 brick, to level with ground, wain- 

 scotted inside, with 2-inch air-space. 

 Frame 6 feet high on top of wall, of 

 2x6 studding, using shiplap lumber for 

 insides and ceiling, with 8-inch drop- 

 siding for outside. I tilled in the walls 

 solid with dry sawdust. For rafters 

 I took 2x12x12 feet, beveled down to 

 4 inches at ends, leaving full in the 

 center, filled over ceiling with 4 

 inches of dry sawdust, making solid 

 from 6 to 4 inches of sawdust from 

 sill to sill, and over-head. Roof- 

 boards lengthwise, 16 feet, then fin- 

 ished with match flooring, coal-tarred 

 together, and Jg-inch battens to .break 

 joints, on top of all, with a good coat 

 of boiling coal-tar over all, making 

 top of house same as freight car roof. I 

 put one 7-inch ventilator through roof 

 and ceiling, 4 feet from each end, let- 

 ting one extend to within a foot of 

 the bottom of the pit, the other just 

 through the ceiling. The cold air 

 strikes the bottom of the pit and cir- 

 culates all over the room, while the 

 hot, damp, impure air escapes through 

 the slrbrt one. One window in south 

 side of bee-house, with storm sash 

 outside, and another inside, lined 

 around edges with heavy wool cloth. 

 My window is then always clear of 

 frost. One door in east end opens 

 outside, and another door inside, both 

 battened with cloth, with hooks to 

 draw tight. My floor is " mother 

 earth." with 2 inches dry sawdust. 

 My bee-house is always fresh and dry, 

 with no draft, but plenty of air. 



If very cold, say 20° to 30 c below 

 zero, I close both ventilators with, 

 cloth, until the temperature rises in 

 the bee-house, then open short ventil- 

 ator, and the other as required. The 

 coldest weather last winter, mercury 

 32 below zero, with a howling blizzard 

 in progress, my pets were closed up, 

 air-tight, comparatively, but no sound 

 was heard inside except their low, 

 quiet, cheerful hum, as natural as a 

 summer night. I keep the window 

 heavily curtained so that it is absolute 

 darkness within. I use a tiny bees- 

 wax candle when visiting them, and 

 watch the thermometer closely, and 

 keep it as near the freezing point as 

 possible. A few nights it went some 

 degrees below, but by closing the ven- 

 tilators a few hours it went up to 35° 

 again. 



I place my hives, one row,the strong- 

 est, around the outside next to the 

 wall, but not touching it, and 3 rows 

 of shelves around, and stack them up, 

 making 4 tiers, but none touching one 

 another or the wall. Thus I get ab- 

 solute quiet and darkness (most essen- 

 tial requisites). 



In the winter of 1879-80 I had 27 col- 

 onies in bee houses, wintered with a 

 loss of only one colony, which starved, 

 through my neglect. In the winter of 

 1880-81 I had 50 colonies and lost 2' 

 which died with plenty of stores, 

 but no dysentery. Why it was thus I 

 do not know, unless they tired of life. 

 They clustered over 5 frames and died. 

 My 4s colonies came out A 1, after a 

 " total eclipse " of 135 days. Two 

 spring dwindled some and 10 I dou- 

 bled up, believing that in " union 

 there is more strength." 



How my management will work 

 with blacks 1 do not know; I keep 

 only the best Italians to be had, and 



