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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 20, 



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Young Bees and Stores for Winter. 

 — The past winter lias forced me to 

 the conclusion that plenty of young 

 bees with good healthy stores are of 

 more importance than any kind of 

 hive for wintering. I fed one barrel of 

 coffee A sugar to my weak colonics of 

 bees in the fall, and wintered all of 

 them, while the ones lost were all 

 strong in bees and had forty lbs of 

 honey in the fall, 2 of which were in 

 chaff hives, but I find that chaff hives 

 or cellars will not give a new lease to 

 the allotted days of old bees. 



Dupont, Ind. S. E. O'Neel. 



Dysentery, Foundation, etc. — Fol- 

 lowing is a'list of the losses of bees in 

 this section as far as I now know : D. 

 S. had -1-1. has 4; W. B. had 5, has 3 ; 

 A. L. had 3, has none ; G. B. had 7. 

 has 3 ; T. F. had 32, has about 12 ; D. 

 G. had 13, has 2 ; L. 147, has 1 ; we 21, 

 have 19. I think the losses are largely 

 attributable to ignorance and careless- 

 ness, as we wintered in the same lo- 

 cality on stores gathered in the same 

 fields, and our loss was no more than 

 might be expected any ordinary win- 

 ter. On the subject of dysentery I 

 am almost confirmed in the belief that 

 an excess of pollen is the cause. We 

 took up 7 colonies last fall, drove 4 in 

 one and 3 in another hive with empty 

 frames, fed them very little honey, 

 and the rest sugar syrup to winter oh, 

 having no pollen whatever, and they 

 wintered with very little loss and no 

 sign of dysentery, while some of the 

 otliejs, having honey and pollen as 

 they gathered it, were more or less 

 affected. The* season so far has been 

 very favorable ; white clover is just 

 beginning to yield some honey, and 

 we look for a fair amount of surplus 

 if the weather is propitious during 

 the coming month. If a colony is 

 boxed and swarms out. leaving the 

 boxes partly filled, is it best to leave 

 them on the parent colony or move 

 them with the swarm ? Why are full 

 sheets of foundation recommended 

 for surplus boxes in preference to only 

 a smail piece for a starter V I have 

 reference to the thin foundation. 



Pine Grove, Pa. W. II. Stout. 



[The unfilled boxes-are usually left 

 with the parent colony. Most bee- 

 keepers claim that the foundation is a 

 great economizer of time in building 

 comb, and that the larger the surface 

 presented, the greater the number of 

 bees accommodated ; and if, as some 

 of the most expert honey producers 

 assert, the thin foundation is no det- 

 riment to either honey or comb, and 

 no imposition upon the consumer, 

 then the greater the amount used to 

 advantage the more profitable its use. 

 — Ed.J 



Chaff Packing.— I had 13 colonies 

 packed in chaff which have gone 

 through a rigorous New England win- 

 ter without loss, while the bees in box 

 hives were dead before June 1, and 

 also those in the Langstroth hives. 

 With 2 exceptions my bees came 

 through the winter very strong. I 

 have just been examining my hives; 

 I have 3 hives with 13 frames in each. 

 literally filled with brood, bees and 

 honey; size of frame 12x16, outside 

 measure. I have used this hive since 

 1873 and have never had a colony die 

 in them ; I have found them queen- 

 less and united them with others. 

 One gentleman near here wintered 

 some 10 or 12 colonies in a cellar and 

 lost Y 2 of them. My bees never dwin- 

 dle in the spring like those wintered 

 in cellars. Others have wintered in 

 cellars and lost none. Bees are work- 

 ing very briskly, and are gathering 

 honey quite fast. J. T. Davis. 



Shelbume Falls, Mass. 



Plenty of Honey.— I had 12 colonies 

 in the spring, and have 30 now. This 

 is the best season foi honey I ever 

 knew. I shall have 1 .000 to 1 ,500 lbs 

 this season, of a very choice article of 

 honey. I. P. Wilson. 



Burlington, Iowa, July 7, 1881. 



Loss of Bees in Waupaca Co., Wis.— 



Agreeable to request, I will report the 

 percentage of loss of bees in this 

 county. I find, by careful inquiry, 

 that those left out unprotected are 

 nearly all dead. Of those chaff -packed 

 and left out, 85 per cent, are dead, and 

 of those wintered in the cellar proba- 

 bly 50 per cent, are dead. In many 

 cases a large proportion of this loss is 

 from spring dwindling since they 

 have been carried out, as in the case 

 of my own bees. I wintered in the 

 cellar with a loss of only 10 per cent, 

 until the first week in April, when I 

 carried them out ; since then my loss 

 has been 20 per cent. I now have 35 

 swarms to commence the season with. 

 The bees in this locality are mostly 

 kept in the Langstroth hive — some in 

 box hives yet. My own observation 

 tells me that one of the causes of the 

 great mortality among bees the past 

 winter was in not having them pro- 

 tected until after the extreme cold 

 weather came on ; then many of them 

 were removed to their winter reposi- 

 tories with the mercury down to zero. 

 My own experience and observation 

 tell me that in the latitude of North- 

 ern Wisconsin that it is desirable to 

 winter in a good, well-ventilated cel- 

 lar, so arranged that it can be kept at 

 a uniform temperature, ranging from 

 35° to 40° Fahr. If the cellar is not 

 properly arranged they might as well 

 be left out-of-doors. I can, with the 

 multitude of subscribers of the Bee 

 Journal, say that I most heartily 

 welcome the weekly receipt of it, and 

 very much appreciate the custom of 

 bee-keepers reporting their modes 

 and plans of managing bees, and the 

 results of their efforts ; by weighing 

 their experiences in the balance we 

 may benefit each other. 



Harvey Feathers. 

 Royalton, Wis., May 31, 1881. 



Transferring.— Bees have done well 

 here this spring. The swarming is 

 about over, and a great many left for 

 parts unknown — more than usual. 

 Basswood bloom is over, and furnished 

 but little honey. Can a novice trans- 

 fer bees with safety at this season of 

 the year? I like Cook's Manual very 

 much. I. R. Waggoner. 



Grantville, Kan., June 24, 1881. 



[The best time to transfer is in the 

 spring, but it can be done at any 

 time. Care should be taken not to in- 

 jure the brood. — Ed.] 



Short Honey Crop.— I fear that we 

 may have a poor season for honey. 

 Early in the season we had several 

 weeks of continuous rain ; now we 

 have a dry season that is equally dis- 

 astrous to the honey crop. I really 

 did not know the pleasure I was re- 

 ceiving in perusing the Weekly Bee 

 Journal till I failed to get last 

 week's number. I think its weekly- 

 visits are far preferable to a monthly, 

 but I must say I prefer a more con- 

 venient size of page, for preservation. 

 S. E. Thompson. 



Shelbyville, Ky., July 11, 1881. 



Snow as Winter Protection.— I used 

 25 chaff and 17 2-story simplicity 

 hives ; I wintered on the summer 

 stands ; one was lost by accident and 

 one by starvation ; 2 were queenless. 

 Late in the fall the bees were placed 

 in the center of the hive on the few- 

 est, combs possible ; all of the lower 

 story not occupied by bees and all of 

 the second story were then filled with 

 fine chaff. A 2-frame nucleus in a 

 simplicity hive thus protected win- 

 tered quite finely. In mid-winter 

 I frequently raised the lids and found 

 icicles as long as my fingers on the 

 lower side of the lid ; the - upper sur- 

 face of the chaff was wet and moldy. 

 At 2 inches deep the chaff was dry, 

 and from 2 to 6 inches (according to 



the size of the colony) of the chaff 

 next to the bees would not only be 

 very dry, but warm. I did not dis- 

 turb them during the whole winter, 

 and kept them covered with snow 

 most of the time. 



M. Frank Taber. 

 Salem, O.. June 11, 1881. 



That Picture.— On the first page of 

 the Journal, for July 6, I find truly 

 " a picturesque, apiary, designed by 

 Mr. A. I. Boot." It is, indeed, a beau- 

 tiful picture, but it is certainly not 

 practicable. I never saw bee pastur- 

 age that would support 450 colonies, 

 profitably, in one apiary, and in 

 swarming time it would take 10 men 

 to handle them, under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances; and with bad weather for 

 a week, there would probably be 75 to 

 100 swarms in a single day. The pic- 

 ture is all that could be desired, prob- 

 ably, but I would prefer to see a bee- 

 house in the center space, with a lawn 

 around it, with bees all around, etc. I 

 think Mr. Root is better on pictures 

 than possibilities, or rather, more 

 visionary than practical. I think a 

 horse railroad should be added to run 

 all around the walks to carry off sur- 

 plus, •provided they get any. 



C. F. Greening. 



Grand Meadow. Minn., July 7, 1881. 



[The Bee Journal called it pic- 

 turesque. Mr. Greening says the pic- 

 ture is all that could be desired. Some 

 of the criticisms are right, and just 

 what we like to see. Such a picture, 

 when its faults are pointed out, will 

 make a more lasting impression than 

 pages of words without a picture. We 

 shall all do well to remember the wise 

 saying; "There are (laws in diamonds, 

 flies in amber, and faults in every 

 man."' In the discussion of theories 

 wejask no favors, but when we criti- 

 cise our fellow men let us remember 

 our own imperfections, and chide with 

 love. — Ed.] 



Short Crop. — The honey crop in 

 Pennsylvania will be short ; June was 

 so wet and cool. Honey is pretty 

 plenty now, but it cannot last long. 

 R. B. Oldt. 



New Berlin, Pa., July 7, 1881. 



My Management,— I have thought 

 sometimes of sending a report to the 

 Journal, not having seen any from 

 this county, and my methods differ so 

 much from the common practice of 

 bee-keepers. I use the Quinby hive, 

 8 frames and honey-board, no divi- 

 sion-boards, no cushions, no chaff or 

 other absorbents, no upward ventila- 

 tion, the hives ventilated below by 

 raising one inch above the board. On 

 the 18th of Nov., 18S0, I put 39 colo- 

 nies into their room in the cellar un- 

 der the house. It is warm, totally 

 dark, damp, and well ventilated. I 

 put them out March 17; all appeared 

 as well as when put in, but 1 put them 

 out too soon, and had to double up 

 some of the weaker ones. I have now 

 34 that are doing well ; blacks and hy- 

 brids. There are but few bees left in 

 this county. In this township the as- 

 sessor informed me he found no bees 

 alive except mine. L. Eastwood. 



Waterville, O. 



Kingbirds and Drones. — I had heard 

 and read so much about chaff cushions 

 and wintering on the summer stands, 

 that I thought best to try the experi- 

 ment. One trial is enough for me. 

 By the first of February, 6 had gone 

 to return no more. I put the remain- 

 ing 3 in the cellar and saved them. 

 Mr. Quinby, in his " Mysteries of Bee- 

 Keeping," expressed the opinion that 

 the kingbird destroyed only drones. 

 The same sentiment is also expressed 

 in the revised edition. From recent 

 observation, that opinion seems to me 

 erroneous. My bees were lately very 

 busy about some willow trees in my 

 yard; presumably collecting stores. 

 Two kingbirds, early every morning, 

 were equally busy With the bees. I 



have never noticed drones out early in 

 the morning, and have never known 

 them to collect stores ; hence I am of 

 the opinion that the kingbird destroys 

 workers. That his instinct may teach 

 him to reject the abdominal portion of 

 the insect, and thus avoid the sting, is 

 possible, but does not help the case. 

 St. Joseph, Mo. S. P. Hyde. 



My Second Report.— On June 1st I 

 found my number very much reduced 

 to what it was when I reported in 

 February ; then my loss was less than 

 20, but the cold month of April was 

 the hardest on my bees of any part of 

 winter. The 25 colonies in box hives 

 with which I commenced the winter, 

 now number but 3 ; of 123 in chaff 

 hives I have lost 4fi (21 of them being 

 last year's swarms) ; they died of dys- 

 entery, caused by too much unsealed 

 honey ; the others died from different 

 causes, some from failure of old queens 

 and some from bad shaped combs. 

 By careful examination I satisfied my- 

 self that there was a good cause for 

 the loss, taking into consideration the 

 long, cold winter, which has taught 

 me one of the most valuable lessons 

 of my life. It should cause us all to 

 make more thorough preparations; 

 then if the winter is mild we are all 

 right, and if severe, thesmall amount 

 of extra labor will pay us well for the 

 trouble of careful packing and secur- 

 ing proper ventilation, which I con- 

 sider a very important element in suc- 

 cessful wintering. J. M. France. 



Auburn Corners, Pa. 



How to Exterminate Ants, etc.— I 



notice the request for a plan to exter- 

 minate "little black ants" from hives 

 of bees. A solution of salt, or dry 

 salt (chloride of sodium), sprinkled 

 where the said ants infest the hives, 

 sends them a " kiting " — an effective 

 means of getting rid of the pests. 

 Try it. Bees love salt as condiment, 

 and I add a pinch of it in their feed. 

 I also notice the request for a receipt 

 for making grafting wax without com- 

 pounding beeswax with it. A cele- 

 brated pomologist published a receipt 

 for compounding a grafting wax made 

 of alcohol, rosin, and spirits of tur- 

 pentine. I have made and used it, 

 but do not remember the proportion 

 of the ingredients. It has been used 

 by many claiming that it was superior 

 to any other. C. J. Robinson. 



Richford, N. Y., Julv 4, 1881. 



Honesty and Dishonesty. — Honesty 

 is the offspring of conscience. From 

 this first principle all rules of behavior 

 are drawn. It teaches us the difference 

 between right and wrong ; teaches us 

 to shrink from everything evil. There 

 are some men who seem to have no 

 conscience, who come into the world 

 to seek only pleasure and wealth, and 

 care not by what means they are ob- 

 tained. It is for such men that we 

 need compulsory honesty, and it can- 

 not be demanded on too broad a scale. 

 Adulteration is not confined to honey. 

 We poison our drugs with cheaper ma- 

 terial ; we sell shoddy for wool ; we 

 sell veneering for solid wood ; we rob 

 and cheat each other all around, and 

 in every trade and business ; we are 

 rapidly destroying our national sense 

 of honesty and integrity. How is it 

 we elect legislators who need petitions 

 presented in order to get them to make 

 laws for the protection of the people ? 

 We want laws as broad as the United 

 States, protecting honest and innocent 

 men. We do not want a law shielding 

 honest honey-producers alone, and do 

 not want our law-makers to look at it 

 in that light. We hear the complaints 

 of thousands of other honest men, and 

 we want laws protecting all. There is 

 lots of dishonesty in America. Real- 

 ize this, and uphold truth and honesty. 



Covington, Ky. A. E. Foster. 



Repairing Losses. — I have been di- 

 viding my bees, according to the direc- 

 tions given in the Bee Journal on 

 "Repairing Losses by Division." Had 

 I read the Bee Journal 2 years 

 sooner it would have saved me more 

 than $200. Henry Zeis. 



Pacific, Mo., June 30, 1881. 



